Fox News is reporting that Fred Thompson has “no plans to attend Thursday’s Florida debate” sponsored by the network. Thompson is still in the GOP presidential race, although there is speculation that he will soon be dropping out.
In the past, Fox pundits have repeatedly attacked Democratic candidates who opted out of their debates. Some examples:
“The candidates that can’t face Fox, can’t face Al Qaeda.” [Roger Ailes, 6/5/07]
“These people use techniques perfected by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of information. They lie, distort, defame, all the time. So it’s not surprising that MoveOn objected to a debate sponsored by Fox News and the Nevada Democratic Party. … That was simply stupid. Fox News has sponsored a number of debates in the past, all of them fair and balanced.” [Bill O'Reilly, 3/12/07]
“They [liberals] just want to stop at any of their — any Democrats from participating in this because it is a Fox thing, and they’re willing to intimidate them to do it. This is junior grade Stalinism on their part.” [Mort Kondracke, 3/10/07]
We await Fox’s sharp condemnations of Thompson as a coward.
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