DBKP Can Find NO Confirmation at the moment
After Calls to the Paul Campaign,
Fox News and NH GOP,Paul's Exclusion
Remains classified as a "RUMOR"at This Moment
After Calls to the Paul Campaign,
Fox News and NH GOP,Paul's Exclusion
Remains classified as a "RUMOR"at This Moment
Has Ron Paul Really Been Excluded From
the Republican Debate on Fox News?
Rumor or News?
7:11 pm OK, We found the AP story in question and it answered some of our questions, while raising others. The New Hampshire Republican Party is holding a forum for Republican candidates a day after the ABC debates. Although it will be broadcast on Fox News, the Forum is sponsored by the New Hampshire GOP. As such, they can invite or not invite who they wish. That is their right. It is also the right of the Ron Paul supporters to voice their disapproval or approval of this move to the New Hampshire GOP. But, be forewarned, it doesn't seem like they are much interested in listening. At this moment, to blame Fox News for who the New Hampshire Republican Party invites to the New Hampshire Republican Party Forum would seem to be a misplacing of responsibility. We say let the blame or credit for this move be placed squarely where it belongs: the New Hampshire Republican Party. Fox News is merely broadcasting the event as something newsworthy. The reader can agree or disagree with this assessment, but the fact remains, if the New Hampshire Republican Party had invited Ron Paul, he would have appeared on Fox. * UPDATE 7:40 pm - From USA Daily: "We have verified from [Paul campaign spokesman] Jesse Benton that the NH GOP has confirmed Paul's exclusion and they said it was Fox's decision." This occurred in the last 10 minutes. Ron Paul Excluded from Fox News Forum Again, we ask the question: It was the New Hampshire GOP who issued the invitations, according to the original AP report. IF they had invited Ron Paul, then Fox News would have not put the camera on him? Is this a case of both parties pointing fingers at each other? Whatever the case, is this decision set in stone? We await further details. * We have all the details, conflicting statements, finger-pointing, rumors, phone calls, press reports, press releases and emails we think we're going to get until Sunday. We will publish a timeline for the entire affair tomorrow: after we sleep on it all. We hope we've provided enough information for readers to make up their minds or at least form an opinion until new, verifiable info is available then. In the meantime: Whew! We're tired! |
After seeing numerous stories pop up in the last hour about Fox News excluding Ron Paul from the Fox News debates, DBKP decided to check on it.
Lew Rockwell, US Daily News and other Internet sites report that Fox News has excluded Paul from their debates; there's even a quote from the Boston Globe.
"They are scared of me and don't want my message to get out, but it will," Paul said in an interview at a diner here. "They are propagandists for this war and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative."
As we type, we can find NO evidence that Ron Paul has been excluded. The Paul quote has been cited as evidence of the exclusion, but Paul was responding to a question.
Numerous Ron Paul websites and some news stories all have appeared, each citing an unsourced "AP story" that the Texas Congressman is going to be left out of the debate the week before New Hampshire.
The Ron Paul campaign press release asks the question about Paul exclusion from Fox and ends its headline with a "?".
One website, Nolan Chart, actually labeled their story as not being true, asking the question at the end, "Would Ron Paul supporters be surprised if it were?"
This may have been where the story originated.
DBKP called Fox News in New York and were told that no spokesman was available and that there was no one there that knew anything about the exclusion of Ron Paul.
We called the New Hampshire GOP Press Spokesman, Barney Keller, and were told,
"Talk to the Paul Campaign. I can't answer any of these questions. Thank you."
Andrew at the Ron Paul Campaign told us "We don't know anything either. We've heard the reports that Ron Paul, as well as Duncan Hunter, had been dropped by Fox, but we haven't been able to find out anything for sure right now. We're still trying."
This all occurred between 4 and 4:25 pm December 29, 2007.
The Paul campaign, RonPaul2008, also hasn't been able to confirm the AP story, which DBKP cannot find anywhere on the web or at the AP site itself.
Is this a rumor?
It's been speculated that someone at Fox News leaked the information, and the Paul campaign is aware of this, but because Fox has issued no statement, there is nothing to comment on officially.
Ron Paul himself has already been quoted as saying "Fox News is scared of me".
The question we have is where is the AP story referenced by the Ron Paul campaign press release?
And the New Hampshire GOP, which is also referenced, has no comment whatsoever and refers all questions back to the Paul campaign.
All we can say at 4:30 pm is that this is a rumor.
It may be a well-founded rumor, based on inside information or a leak, as one source speculated, from Fox that has not been verified.
Stay tuned. DBKP will try to run down what is exactly the scoop. But at this moment, this "news" remains a "rumor" to us.
by Mondoreb & Little Baby Ginn
* Still no sign of the unsourced cited AP report. Anyone having any info on this AP story, we'd love to hear from you. * We have received an email from John in Tampa who says that after calling Fox Tampa, I spoke with Andy after I asked to speak with someone who could answer questions about the upcoming Broadcast. Andy told me that it looks like Ron Paul was omitted from the debate and he would check to see if the omission was a typo or oversight. We're trying to get this confirmed at Fox New York and Fox Tampa and find out who Andy is. * We have emailed James Pindell, who wrote the story at the Boston Globe and asked, "What question did you ask Ron Paul that he responded with the quote in your story?" We found it odd that this quote would appear while his campaign says, "We don't know...we're checking it out." hat tip to John B.(not sure if you want your name published or not.) * LBG's Latest: Rumors Ron Paul Dissed by Fox News Untrue |
Sources:
* Press Release: Has Ron Paul Been Excluded by Fox?
* Paul: Fox News "Scared" of Me
* Fox News Confirms: No Need for Paul at Debate
* Fox News to Exclude Ron Paul from Debates?
* GOP Candidates to meet in NH forum
That story from AP is as follows.
The New Hampshire Republican Party is sponsoring a forum for Republican presidential candidates on Jan. 6, two days before the state's first-in-the-nation primary.
The forum, where the candidates will be questioned by Fox New Channel's Chris Wallace, will be held a day after ABC holds back to back Democratic and Republican presidential debates.
"Never underestimate New Hampshire voters' appetite for politics," said Fergus Cullen, the chairman of the state Republican Party.
Participating in the forum will be Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.
Unlike a debate, the candidates will face questions from Wallace around a table in a studio on the campus of St. Anselm College in Goffstown, N.H.. The 90-minute encounter will air live beginning at 8 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and on Fox News Radio.
5:40 am December 30 2007 "Ron Paul: Debates, Forums, Fox, NH and What is Known" |
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
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