THE TENSION: Update: Nevada Dems Cut and Run From Fox Debate

If Democrats can't deal with Fox News, how are they going to deal with terrorists?
Open thread:

The Nevada State Democratic Party is pulling out of a presidential debate scheduled for Aug. 14 in Reno, according to Democratic insiders, the Politico has learned.

The debate was being hosted by Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio, the Nevada State Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.

Democratic activists have protested that Fox is not a suitable partner for the event.

Updated: More from the Las Vegas Sun:

"Comments made last night by Fox News President Roger Ailes in reference to one of our presidential candidates went too far. We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments," state Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid wrote in a letter sent Friday to Fox News.

Ailes reportedly made a comment playing on the similarity of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's name to Osama Bin Laden.

"And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?" Ailes said at a Radio & Television News Directors Association Foundation event in Washington on Thursday, according to a transcipt provided by Fox.

With the cancellation at hand, MoveOn.org quickly declared victory.

"We hope this sets a precedent for all Democrats, that Fox should be treated as a right-wing misinformation network, not legitimized as a neutral source of news," Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action, said in a statement.

I posted here yesterday about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' decision to not participate in the Fox sponsored debate.

Edwards' deputy campaign manager, Jonathan Prince, sent an e-mail to the liberal blog DailyKos discussing the decision, which was posted on the site.

This is part of an emerging trend where Democrats feel the need to make public statements through far-left blogs ... an often times favorable forum where popular Democrat candidates are rarely asked to explain their motives and decisions.

I'll say again what I said yesterday. If the Democrats feel so threatened by Fox News, what makes them believe they can handle extremists whose only goal in life is to kill Americans?

Roger Ailes said this in a message to the media: the pressure to boycott debates "must be resisted."

This pressure must be resisted as it has been in the past. Any candidate for high office of either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake about journalists. And any candidate of either party who cannot answer direct, simple, even tough questions from any journalist runs a real risk of losing the voters.

Posted on the Drudge Report, David Rhodes, Vice President, Fox News said the following:

“We have not received official word from the Nevada State Democratic Party disclosing a change in debate plans. Rumors are being circulated and if true, news organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus which appears to be controlled by radical fringe out-of-state interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party. In the past, Moveon.org has said they ‘own’ the Democratic party -- while most Democrats don’t agree with that, we’re waiting to see if that’s the case in Nevada.”