Topic: Media
Attention CNN: Please Fire Bill Schneider No matter how you feel about Ralph Nader, the matters at issue here are democratic rights of both candidates and voters. The author calls for CNN to let go Bill Schneider based on his branding Nader a "public nuisance."by John Kusumi
(centrist liberal)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Attention CNN: Please Fire Bill Schneider
My viewpoint in this open letter is due to valuing accuracy, not "political correctness." Accurately viewed, the U.S. Constitution says absolutely nothing about a two-party system. It's not in there. America's founders distrusted political parties, for the same reason that the American people distrust them now. To the degree that CNN acts as an arm of the two-party system, the American people should distrust CNN as well. Also, the two-party system is inculcated into people through nurture, not nature. It arose through the mind of man, and it should exist and serve only at the pleasure of the mind of man.
American citizens have an absolute right to run for office – even if they are named Ralph Nader. If you would deny Nader's right, you would deny your own, and those of your progeny.
Furthermore, an accurate mind would realize that all arguments that "Nader took Gore's votes" in 2000 are specious. Nader votes are Nader votes, and Gore votes are Gore votes. The anger of some Democrats revolves around conjecture that Gore was the SECOND CHOICE of the Nader voters. This line of argumentation should be tossed as conjecture – this is the realm of "coulda, shoulda, woulda." (I may feel that some Democrats are being sore losers.)
American citizens have an absolute right to cast a vote – even if it is for Ralph Nader. If you would deny the rights of American citizens – well, it sounds like the reason why citizens have grown to despise the news media.
Another reason why people would despise the news media is because they are interested in substantive debate, viz, "Let candidates present their positions. Let the people decide, without the filters." –Without the filters such as Bill Schneider and his ilk – being all about the horse race.
Not long ago, CNN made a great stride forward when it pulled the plug on the Capital Gang, a group of Watergate-era political pundits. They had assisted politicians with running America into the ground, by way of talking the political discourse into the ground. Thank God for your decision to retire those people; enough was enough of them. (A 30-year term limit for pundits is a start….)
Now, it is time to pull the plug on Bill Schneider. Some of us know all about the anti-democratic games that are played against Ralph Nader by the news media. Some of us know that in 2000, while Bush and Gore drew crowds of 1,000 and 2,000, Nader was drawing crowds of 10,000 – suggesting far more voter enthusiasm. It was handily hidden by Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather.
Bill Schneider seems steeped in an ancient mindset – one where three networks were the bottleneck for political information. In that old mindset, Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather could look at democratic political information and "head it off at the pass." America lived in a box canyon under ABC, CBS, and NBC. And it is to be admitted that CNN followed the same formula during the era of Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather.
That era is over. The message has not gotten through to Bill Schneider. On the same day that Ralph Nader announced his 2008 campaign for President, Schneider called Nader "something of a public nuisance." That comment is anti-democratic and it seems a technicolor revelation of CNN bias – if the network stands behind Schneider.
That should be all the public needs to evaluate CNN. We already know where it stands. Those of us who value the democratic rights – both of candidates, and of voters – should now turn off CNN. "Thanks for coming out." It should be the end of you, unless it is also the end of Bill Schneider treating us to Capital Gang-style political punditry.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of John Kusumi only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. John Kusumi is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2008-03-02 13:59:17
It's true that the Constitution says nothing about a two-party system. However, that's only half the story. The other half is that the Electoral College (which is heavily featured in the Constitution) insures that America will always have a two-party system, because it's so difficult for a third party to compete in that environment. Add in all the rules and regulations imposed by incumbent legislators on third parties in non-presidential elections, and it becomes almost impossible for a third-party to compete.
If Bill Schneider were to be tossed by CNN, where would we get the extremely important info like, 47% of people under 5ft. 7, voted for Clinton and only 32% voted for Obama.
Men over 55 yrs. of age, that wear a tie to work, voted for McCain at a 60% level, while Huck got less than 20% of that group.
This kind of information that Schneider imparts is very important. I'm certain of that. Sort of.
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