Question RE: MSNBC

[mr715]

Why would they exclude Kucinich? And I'm serious - the answer is not they want to silence him. He doesn't have the kind of power.

It just seems so stupid that they'd waste legal money on appeals to keep Kucinich out of the debates when they can just marginalize him as theyve done in previous debates.

Most here know I am not a fan of the Representative from Cleveland, but this just seems bizarre...

[Blue_In_AK]

1. They want ratings.

If they could have gotten away with excluding Edwards, they probably would have. It's all about Obama/Clinton with them.

[K Gardner]

4. I agree with this. They want a slugfest for ratings between their two Chosen Ones. Anyone else gets

in the way. It has nothing to do with being afraid of Kucinich or his ideas. Its all about money and how THEY are able to frame the debate/race from here on out. The more contentious it is, the more they can run the same out of context clips over and over; the more the talking heads can blather; the more commercial air time they sell at higher $$.. once again Corporate Control. Anyone who wants to vote for the corporate candidate this time deserves what they get. Which will be more of the same.

[rocktivity]

2. What I find odd is that they invited him, rewrote the rules, and disinvited him

which has me wondering if it was really MSNBC's idea.

:headbang:
rocknation

[redqueen]

3. What other explanation could there be?

"the answer is not they want to silence him. He doesn't have the kind of power."

He doesn't, but IDEAS DO!

[MadBadger]

6. Its all about ratings and news. They can run with this whole big three debate thing

I personally think they have to let him in, but Id rather DK not be there.

[redqueen]

7. Thank you for sharing your opinion.

We disagree.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. They're corporations. They don't want the real issues brought up.

If the real issues are brought up, our electorate would be informed, and that would mean no more right wing or centrist candidates.

[Tejanocrat]

8. For the same reason MSNBC excluded Roland Aranjo, Willie Carter, Randy Crow, Phil Epstein, Michael

Forrester, Wrendo Goodwin Henry Hewes, D.R. Hunter, Keith Judd, Karl Krueger, Frank Lynch, Grover Cleveland Mullins, Larry Reed, Lee L. Mercer Jr.

[inthebrain]

9. They don't want another Tom Brokaw moment

GE is amongst one of the top weapons contractors and largest beneficiaries of the war in Iraq.

[no name no slogan]

10. They're afraid

that DK will make Russert and the other candidates look weak.

[onenote]

11. My take: they don't regard him as having a serious chance so they see no reason to include him

In their view, I suspect, DK is no more likely to get the nomination, or even to have a significant impact on who does get the nomination, than any of the fringe candidates who don't even register in the polls. He is closer in the polls to those candidates than he is to Clinton, Obama or Edwards. And he has a track record from 2004 of not doing any better than he's doing now.

When Richardson and Biden and Dodd were still in the race there was more of a continuum of candidates that would justify including DK; now, the separation between him and the rest of the field is so great that his inclusion, I suspect, seems pointless to MSNBC and takes away from the battle between those with a realistic chance of winning or influencing the outcome.

That's my take, fwiw.