Kucinich gets the shaft in Democratic Party debate (CNN/Judy Woodruff)

Interesting breakdown of who got to talk most, least in the CNN sponsored debate. The article is worth reading in its entirety.

http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols/58757.php

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The grumblings from Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are so laughable that no one in America - with the exception of the recently institutionalized Rush Limbaugh and his fairly imbalanced friends over at the Fox News Channel - has even tried to take them seriously. Media coverage of this administration and its war is still about as aggressive as Pravda's coverage of Stalin.

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This is National Journal's breakdown of how much time each of the candidates was permitted to speak during Thursday's debate:

Howard Dean - 14 minutes, 7 seconds.

John Kerry - 12 minutes, 31 seconds.

Wesley Clark - 10 minutes, 36 seconds.

Richard Gephardt - 10 minutes, 2 seconds.

Joe Lieberman - 9 minutes, 26 seconds.

Carol Moseley Braun - 8 minutes, 39 seconds.

Al Sharpton - 8 minutes, 28 seconds.

John Edwards - 8 minutes, 0 seconds.

Kucinich - 5 minutes, 9 seconds.

As a result of the lopsided nature of the debate, it might have been easy to think that the range of debate within the Democratic Party with regard to the war runs the gamut from the "it was a bad idea, but we're stuck now" crowd (Dean, Clark, Kerry) to the "it was a good idea, but we're stuck now" crowd (Gephardt, Edwards, Lieberman).

Though Kucinich had just released a detailed plan for turning over responsibility for Iraq to the United Nations - which would, by any measure, have been a fine topic for discussion in a debate among candidates who could end up dealing with that precise issue - he was accorded dramatically less time to explain his views than Braun and Sharpton, whose campaigns have been shamefully neglected by most media.

more...

I am woefully out of touch with the debates. I watch them but I do not know how many are left and who sponsers them. Is there a sponser out there who will not direct the debate in this manner? There are so many important issues that are just not being covered well. I am not specifically talking about the time factor, although it disgusts me, but do they really have to spend their time discussing how out of touch they are with the American public? Just wondering.

it was the "It's All About Judy" show. :eyes:

but...but...but...OK...Ok...but... She sounded like some kind of control freak out there trying to direct her kindergarteners. My husband and I walked around the next day saying but...but... It was so very unneccesary and annoying.

that there was something that needed to be harnessed and controlled, ie, that the Democrats were misbehavin' and fussin' and a fightin' with each other (which was the media spin immediately after the debate -- all the headlines were "they're attacking each other").

The reality of that debate was one thing, and the perception the media wanted to create of that debate was an entirely different thing.

whoring of CNN. How DARE they try to chose our candidates for us by deliberately shorting "some" candidates in time?

Kucinich should have gotten a rebuttal, too, on the "lack of leadership" slanted question. He was right out there against the "unPatriotic Act." AND against the war and he gathered 132 colleagues in the House to join him. Now THAT'S leadership.

Someone give me the CNN comment line. I'm STILL enraged!!

Not an easy feat when you are expressing a non-conventional viewpoint.

...who has most consistently and effectively challenged the president's war-making: Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-chair Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio."

Kucinich - 5 minutes, 9 seconds.:mad: