Obama, McCain say no to Bloomberg, ABC town hall meeting

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

NeW YORK - Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama rejected an offer by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News to host the first general election town hall meeting because they do not want it limited to one network, their campaigns said Sunday.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had asked his Democratic counterpart last week to join him in 10 meetings with voters in the coming months, and campaign managers for both sides had agreed in spirit to schedule some type of joint appearances.

But the campaigns said no to a formal offer outlined in a letter from Bloomberg and ABC on Sunday envisioning a 90-minute primetime broadcast moderated by Diane Sawyer to kick off the town hall series in New York City. The campaigns said the candidates intend to make the town hall meetings open for broadcast on all television networks or on the internet, rather than sponsored by a single network or news organization.



Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1099476&srvc=rss

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McCain, Obama reject NYC offer on town hall
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_el_pr/bloomberg_town_hall

[glowing]

1. Good for them.

[stillcool]

2. Good!

[Joanne98]

3. GOOD!

[Warren Stupidity]

4. smart

[grannylib]

5. Wooohooo! Good! The more access to more people, the better.

[annabanana]

6. Good. Having the media frame everything and maintain

edit authority is dumb.

[SpiralHawk]

7. "We don't want no steenkin corporate media to run the show." - Patriotic Americans

"We've already swallowed enough steenkin propaganda from the disgraceful corporate media toadies, so you cannot control this show. Ptoooey."

- Patriotic Americans

[Kahuna]

8. GOBAMA! Just say no to ABC. One ambush is enough. nt

edit to add: :patriot:

[Jefferson23]

9. Excellent decision..screw abc..hacks the lot of them.

[Wizard777]

10. Good! This campaign should not be about the post 9/11 world.

9/11 is the day 3,066 americans were killed and the republicans started using that to try to kill America. I hate the way they say, This isn't the pre 9/11 world. They say it like it was the day America died.

[Barb in Atl]

11. Did they miss something?

I could have sworn that part of the "charm" was NO MODERATOR.

Did Bloomberg and ABC just conveniently miss that part?

Idiots.

[Robbien]

12. AP is saying that Bloomberg is behind the push for ABC sponsored townhall debates

Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor who toyed with running for president as an independent, has sought to hold onto the spotlight that began to fade after he ultimately decided against a White House run.
A spokesman indicated Bloomberg would not give up on trying to influence the town hall meeting process.

«We're committed to finding a similar format that works for a joint town hall meeting between the two candidates in the nation's largest city,» Stu Loeser said.

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said the network is open to discussing a wider distribution for the town hall.

http://www.pr-inside.com/mccain-obama-reject-bloomberg-abc-r631315.htm

Corporate media hacks.

[krkaufman]

16. Yes, they seemed to miss that bit, too.

(both the "open broadcast" and "open forum" bits)

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Great news!

I'd like to think our guys added 'fuck you ABC' as they showed them the door. The primary debate, the 'Path to 9-11'....just so no to ABC!

[uppityperson]

14. Good, and for a good reason. Good to get that reason out front.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

15. Good!

Obama is campaigning on his terms!

[LiberalFighter]

17. Diane Sawyer SUCKS

[Kaleko]

18. Cool. Kick the Mouseschwitz channel to the curb.

Anyone who's ever worked for Disney will thank you for not buying whatever they sell. Guaranteed.

[MashupPublius]

19. Why ABC a chance to screw up again

After that last ABC debate, I'm not eager to see Gibson or Stephanopoulos moderate anything again.

[Deja Q]

20. Agreed.

[katerinasmommy]

21. ABC can go to hell

After that utter bullshit they pulled during that debate. I wonder how many interviews President Obama is going to grant them.

[UTUSN]

22. AND, now, Obama, take the NEXT step & say NO to Bloomberg as our VP!1 n/t

[johnnyrocket]

23. Excellent! The networks are owned!

And it's a new day in media politics!