Breaking News: Kucinich sues NBC over Nevada debate

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has just sued NBC-TV in Las Vegas over his exclusion from the MSNBC debate among top Demcoratic candidates in Nevada tomorrow.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Kucinich filed his lawsuit moments ago seeking a temporary restraining order allowing him to participate in the nationally-televised debate among Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama. A copy of the lawsuit is available here.

As reported here over the weekend, Kucinich was originally informed that he was invited. But that invitation was later rescinded, prompting an outraged press release about giant corporate powers controlling voters' access to all candidates.

Kucinich's lawsuit claims, “Kucinich is a credible and serious candidate in Nevada, where he is actively and vigorously campaigning and has statewide headquarters in Las Vegas.” The suit could threaten tomorrow evening's debate.

It comes just days before the hotly-contested Nevada caucuses that has drawn all the Democratic candidates, seeking votes and endorsements. A District Court hearing was scheduled for this afternoon.

Kucinich's exclusion from Tuesday's debate is the ....

latest of several. The perennial president candidate from Cleveland was also barred from participating in the ABC-TV-Facebook debate in New Hampshire and the Des Moines Register debate in Iowa.

Also Fox News excluded Republican Rep. Ron Paul from its GOP debate just before last week's New Hampshire primary, even though it did include Rudy Giuliani, whom Paul had beaten in Iowa, and Fred Thompson, who wasn't campaigning in New Hampshire and was trailing Paul in polls there. Paul was also in Nevada today campaigning.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[lochukung]

Should we also include Mr. Gravel too? I think Mr. Kucinich has been given more than enough opportunity to present his views and positions during the 2004 presidential election as well as this one this year. At this point, I don't think including Mr. Kucinich who never amassed any substantial support to propel him to the forefront. Getting him to the debate with all other front-runners is effectively depriving the Americans more opportunity to listen to them in details. Let's face it, Mr. Kucinich has no chance of getting nominated. He will only play the role of a party-crasher at best. Like track and field, those running behind will be eliminated and only the fastest will go to the final. there are only 3 left in the Democratic final now and Mr. Kucinich is unfortunately not one of them.

[Emlyn]

The other Democratic--and Republican--candidates should SAY something about these exclusions DURING the debates in question! How else will citizens know that some candidates are being left out of the public eye? Unforgivable.

[Tom]

Gee, here's a thought, Dennis: buy air time for an infomercial. You're like Ron Paul: a fringe candidate with zero chance to get the nomination or even improve the level of debate. Most people don't know your names, and probably don't care to. The only time you make headlines is when you sue someone because they don't want to give you broadcast time in a debate in which you are nothing more than a fringe candidate with no chance to win.

I'm serious about buying time for an infomercial. It did wonders for Ross Perot when he did so, and there are many examples of candidates who buy blocks of air time when they can't get noticed any other way.

Lyndon LaRouche comes to mind. Between you and Paul, Dennis, you almost add up to a LaRouche.

NBC isn't obligated to give you a seat at the table when you're only capable of getting 3-5% of the vote. If you and Ron Paul stop deciding to be the popular "outsider" candidates and start deciding to take this and any other election seriously, you should then have all the access to the spoils you want. Until then, don't expect every media outlet to kowtow to one of your frivolous lawsuits just because you SAY you are a viable candidate. Prove it with words, not legal fights.

[Jim]

Re: Chuckling Chris - nice try. I'm not buying a product and these corporations don't own our democracy. Or perhaps I should say shouldn't. It's more than apparent that our government is for sale. And with shills like you they don't even have to advertise.

[Rikgw]

Dennis should have his time on the playing field: however, he's not my choice
to run this country. Can you imagine his wife as first lady greeting celebreties? Everytime she opened her mouth these people would see a ball of metal hanging from her tongue. They would think culture in the USA has slipped to a new low. This, plus the fact, this metal ball on the tongue would cause an uncontrollable fad. It's just not a nice thing to see.

Rikgw

[Sam]

Chris...who said, "Your idea of promoting freedom is to force a corporation to do something against their will? Do you not see the irony there?"

Sir, the serve at the benefit of us because the airwaves are owned by us. Additionally, broadcast licenses are supposed to be renewed if the station meets the "public interest, convenience, or necessity."

[mike read]

Rush calls them the 'drive by media'. I don't give them that much credit. They sit in their offices in front of their computers and follow the directions of their keepers. It used to be the crooks that feared the media, now it's us!

[Realista]

Chris... A U. S. Election must not be controlled by Large Private businesses!

[Focus]

Andrew, you keep calling Kucinich the perennial candidate for president. He has only run for President once before. For that matter so has Edwards, McCain, and Paul will you call them all perennial candidates every time you mention them?

Your intentions are obvious...

Kucinich should be in the debate, period!

(Relax! He is.)

[naytiv]

Wow. How rediculous is our government/media going to get. This is so rediculously blatant it makes me sick. For the sake of AMERICA, pray for a Ron Paul/Dennis Kucinich final debate! The slobbering dumbed down masses are a sad testament to our IQ as a society....

[Ryan]

Thank God for Kucinich..how many others are championing people's rights over multinational corporations?

[Armando]

I just read that NBC is APPEALING this decision to include Dennis Kucinich. NBC and it's parent company Microsoft feel they know better than the American people and are ABOVE THE RULE OF LAW. They are now going to court to overturn a judges decision. This will not stand. They only understand in the pocket book: Call NBC/MSNBC at 212 664-4444 and ask for the Comment Line or email them at letters@msnbc.com Tell them you will stop watching NBC or buy MS products (or better yet, tell them you will buy Apple from now on) because of this appeal - I did. This is all we can do. I'm e-mailing them now, I hope you find it in your heart (and pocket book) to do the same. Thank you.

[Maggie Hittinger]

Now I absolutely know what censorship is about its not about what is told rather its about what is ommited. The slence is as powerful as the lies told.
We the people here hoping the people we voted for would care for us. Now we find that is not so.So many of them just used us to make it better for themselves. George Bush told the world we were somethijg we never were.

[April Anderson]

Everyone should be aware that the only 2 real candidates are Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. The rest are paid off puppets. The people's votes are never counted anyway! Our elections are rigged! The TV stations are ridiculous and there are very few real journalists left in this country because they are all paid off too.

[Jason]

We cannot let corporations tell us who we can hear and not hear. Where is our Democratic leadership on this??

[Pete]

Makes you wonder what sort of a democracy we're talking about, when candidates claim we need a national dialogue, and an international dialogue, but media and party bosses think they know whose central to it and who isn't. Looks more and more like techno-fuedalism everyday. You can pretty easily extrapolate what this means for foreign and domestic policy, without needing a PHD in international relations. I guess it will take more effort to appear to be offended when we get called a 'failed state' as time goes on - but I don't think all of us are so easily fooled - the fact that these keeps happening (not just to kucinich or paul, but to 'unselected' 'unapproved' candidates in every 'election') should serve as a pretty obvious indicator. To paraphrase Wendell Berry 'reality isn't a great metric, but it does let us know not to look for eggs in a cuckoo clock'.

[Danno]

My brand new American History textbook seems to contain a slight variation of Lincoln's Gettysburg address. The final words are:

"...and that government of the PEOPLE, by the MEDIA, for the CORPORATIONS, shall not perish from the earth."

[borat]

Leanne: Are you serious? A corporation that has been given the right by the American people via the FCC to use our airwaves does not have the right to censor what the American public gets to see, especially in a Presidential debate.

re: Starbucks
Again, seriously? If my "corporation" is a big box retailer that abuses it's employees by not providing them with a living wage and decent benefits all while actively crushing any attempt by those employees to form a union to address these abuses... is all of that ok because they have "like really awesome inexpensive totally sweet stuff"? But that probably would never happen in America anyway...

For the sake of what's left of the USA, I hope that you are either 10 years old or kidding.

[John Choy]

According to the Bill of Rights, " the right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be be
denied..." As such, our rights to know whom we can
vote for and what are we voting for are the most
critical factors in exercising our right to vote.
Since ABC/NBC has denied Congressman Dennis
Kucinich the opportunity to present his viewpoints to
the American people and to challenge other presidential
candidates in the debate, NBC/ABC, in essence, has
"misled" the American public in believing and assuming
that there are only three viable democratic
candidates.
Such action by ABC/NBC would only led us into the
downfall of the American Republic because the
democracy that we know today has been taken over by
corporate censorship.
Such corporate censorship is now dictating to the
American people whom we should vote for while opposite
viewpoints and information are being suppressed.
Equally speaking, we see the same kind of freedom
that the American soldiers are so dearly asked to
sacrifice their lives for, are no longer provided to
us, and yet, we see billions of dollars and million of
lives are lost in Iraq to achieve the same. This a an
irony beyond comprehension.
It make us wonder if such overture is perhaps
caused by the same machinery that had driven us to war
for profits, if not the same corporate greed that has
taken away Congressman Kucinich his freedom of free
speech (to the American people).
To further silence one of the great leader of
the peace movement which we definitely need in the
world at this time, can only provide a disservice to
humanity. To eliminate one of the great debaters, who
has won many national polls among the progressive
democrats, is in fact, settling in a sad chapter in
the American political process. Media should not
decide these election. We, the voter does. Just because
Rep.Kucinich does not take Corporate money doesn't
mean he should be treated as a 2nd class candidate.

[CORPARAnoid]

When Hilter took power in Germany, it was in strategic installments from 1928. We already have: 1) secret/visible prisons for torture-outside the Rule of Law. 2) Black Water+ 'brown shirt' thugs as our privatized/para military force-outside the Rule of Law. Halli-Burton-> KBR Rape-outside the Rule of Law 3) bullying Americans at Airports, enforced servitude with no objections - R U a Terrorist?-. 4) control of our Airways by the few Elite/Corporate -Disney, GE, Fox (minded intent on their Candidate(s) of CFR, Bloomberg, Nafta, u Know the RAT Pack!. 5) the Patriot Act and loss of Habius Corpus. 6) the Firing of People who Speak Out or Challenge their core theme of WAR4Profit, GettingOFGas & going GREEN Energy, our Critical Thinker's, the Scientific Challenger's, the Innovators . .100MPG on WATER cross country, 100-50 MPG on Gas. (7) Established Watch Lists - from Tree Hugger's, Green Peace to the True Majority, MoveON, Women's League of Voters. 8) Illegal wire tapping on AMERICAN's; with only slaps on the wrists for participating Corp's. 9) Desperate -Corp's working w/Gov 4-Life support -> hidden agenda, New World Order, no matter that it could mean DEATH, Sterility, Maimed Americans, profit 4 blood 10) the subtle merging of MEGA Corp's-Monopolies. 11) 6 degree's of separation of CEO, Board of Directors from political party/gov/elite affliations to ensure profits, payoffs4crimes & expanded group control. (12) Nafta, the Super Trucking HW and reduced 4cent/Dollar to become the Amero$. (14) the gradual changing of our Republic to a National Socialistic -- President&VP that Bullies Congress & the World-at-Large. Anyway, you get the point. It's Here's, It's Happening!
'We the People' must STAND UP NOW and Speak Out. We must VOTE and PARTICIPATE in our electorial process. Voting your HEART -- Not your Wallet, Not your Party. Vote Because they (Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Ron Paul...) are Different and they Promote CHANGE! Think OUTSIDE the BOX. VOTE, because THEY have the VALUES you Repect, because they SPEAK UP & and are Our Voice in the Wilderness. We must inspect & ensure our PAPER Ballot is accurate; because the voting machines(w/Modems& BAD Printers) R run by Private Corps who have their OWN political agenda. If you don't defend the things you Love in America, they will be Going, Going, Gone.
Where will the Sea 2 Shining Sea be OILED; our Mountain Top Removal 4 Coal (not-GREEN) W.Va Blue Ridge trashed, our corn fields turned into Ethanol (Not-GREEN) and it's FOOD4 the Starving ...dead, more Nuclear Power Plants (NOT-Green) and by-product=Depleted Uranium is only Good4Weapons, world Cancer, and forced Sterility-i.e., changes to DNA...more DEATH. Our Forrests, Woodlands ..clear-cut and Public Parks Closed due to lack of State/Federal Funding. What will U say 5-10 years from now? Nothing! If you haven't been dragged off by their private Militia, put into Rail Road cars made by RAND, put in FEMA camps, forced Flu & drug shots 4 your children, have a Motorola RFID chip implanted into U, secure IBM Voice Database on ALL forms of (hidden Chipped) Comm systems that U own/wear, Video Survelliance YOU WILL BE SAYING NOTHING -- ALL PAID By U w/Interest FED Debt4 your children/techno slaves. And that once Great Nation US will be quiet, like in 1934 'Night of the Long Knives' when the 'Brown Shits' were given power to Kill.
Get out there & Vote, Get out there & BoyCOTT the Corporations who will usurp your RIGHT as a HUMAN BEINGs TO BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE & Not in an ARMY as Fodder for Kings & Queens of Industry.
I want to see a political candidate that Challenges US to exceed our Wildest Dreams -- Free/Low Cost GREEN Energy, Free/Low Cost Health Care not by being the 49th randking in the World--but the 1st, Low Cost HIGH Education (5 languages, Math, Science, Geography, Music, the Arts, Holistic Health, Green Architecture, Global Warming -> Pole Shift ..Engineering Science & Mechanics for Protecting our Coastal cities, low-lying cities, waterways, protect & stabliize our OZONE). Free/Quality Water, AIR, earth. Homes, food, health, nature generously transformed to support our needs & for ALL . With all the Bells & Whistles we can Dream Of. A fair Tax system. Where CORPs can choose their Life Expectancy 100 yrs ++++, 50 yrs +++, 30 yrs ++, 20 yrs +, and then they divest themselves, sell off their ASSETS and give it to their Shareholders. If the employee's want to start it back up - it's IBM.2, IBM.3. A stable economy that doesn't demand 5-8% or more growth, they are happy for their 'Good Will'. A world where active Artist Community Centers (training from apprentice to journayman to master), Sports Arena's -- Life games (as Animal tribes, for the whole family), Historic Arena's (where U can portray the Good/Bad/Ugly but not be them- from different Era's in Human history). What can YOU DREAM ??? Now VOTE 4 IT!

[Roger]

http://forpresidentronpaul.blogspot.com/

We the People need to awake; We the people need to grasp the depth and seriousness the main media role is in manipulating us the People of this beautiful country.
The majority of the main well known media are private own and they serve their own interest do not believe by one minute they exists to serve ours. For many years they have been injecting their spin by silencing voices they do not want to gain any traction, it is done under the cover of many words which are nothing more than deceptions.

The sad part is that while we are sending our man and women soldiers to far and unknown lands, to kill or get kill, here at home the process established by the US Constitution, this master piece where 56 founding fathers full of courage signed knowing full well that if it fails they will pay with their life, that process is being tramped by those pretending to brings us the “news” thinking they know what it best for us.
I will leave you with some Thomas Jefferson Quotes to think about it.
Please note the word Newspaper in today’s era is also “Radio, TV and Internet”
- “Advertisements... contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper."
- "The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood."
- "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day."
http://forpresidentronpaul.blogspot.com/

[chris]

so, they want to silence dennis. what are they afraid of? dennis is the only candidate who opposes the death penalty. he is the only candidate who opposed the war, and the patriot act. he is the only candidate who opposed the aerosol spraying known as chemtrails. the media is desperate to silence these issues, and fix the election. dennis also called for a re-count in new hampshire because the outcome was very suspicious. voting machine results differed from all poll results by double digits. google chemtrails.

[JimS]

Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul should be in the white house - this ticket would fix each others flaws and just OWN the compatition. One could only dream.

[Anthony Prasad, Seattle, WA]

When Hilary Clinton becomes President of the United States, we, as a people, will no longer be able to accept our lands as democratic, but totally new form: polyarchial fascism. The only chance we have as people to save our way of life and to make PROFOUND CHANGE, would be if we demand to be heard, and the mouthpiece of the poor, working class, middle class is Dennis Kucinich.

But here's what most people fail to realize about Mr. Kucinich:
His campaign suffers from comparitively little money because the people he's attempting to represent have little as well. This is the reason we must show the powers that be that we will not take this lying down. We are the people, the whole reason the Constitution was put in place. We MUST begin having peaceful demonstrations in every major city to show this is not only a revolution for the people of this land, but a revolution to once and for all put corporations in their place; to serve the people, just like the government.
WE CANNNOT AND MUST NOT TAKE THIS LYING DOWN. REGARDLESS IF YOU PLAN TO VOTE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT, THIS TYRANNY IS A DIRECT ASSAULT ON YOUR DEMOCRACY. Make your voices be heard. Talk to your friends and get them talking to their friends. Blog. Organize. Lets finally live up to what WE THE PEOPLE means! These are historic times. It's up to us alive today to change it for the better.

WE LOVE THIS COUNTRY! LETS PROTECT IT!

[gary]

to Chris and all,
OF COURSE corporations are not EVIL, ppl don't even understand what one is. It is a business of any size that has asked for and accepted government (public) protection against liability and tort for it's owners and shareholders. They are created by lawyers, by government edict, on a written Charter, and their existence relies on VOLUMES of very expensive Corporate Law and judicial precendents which DEFINE them. One of those precedents is that Corporations are "PERSONS", under the law, with civil rights protections from interference against actual HUMANS which are created by 'God', not by lawyers. Legally, NBC, GE, Walmart, and the rest are granted special protections meant for humans and especially freed slaves (14th Amendment).

"Private Corporation" is an oxymoron. By definition. One can't exist. A corporation can only exist IN LAW.

Isn't is *gross* that a fictional legal construct manuvered by a bunch of fat cats, bean counters, and corporate hitmen attorneys is considered a PERSON??? A kind of SUPER-PERSON. Can own other corporations. Can live forever. Can knowingly kill and maim a few or thousands and get away with it. Can disappear and appear again intact with a new name. Can hold the collective power of thousands or millions of shareholders, dollars, stocks, and employees.

Especially true of NBC, which uses public airways, public right-of-ways (cable), and publicly-developed science and technology (transistors, silicon), to deliver it's product: newscaster lies and half-truths. News media sued for the legally protected right to LIE to it's audience ... and won that right.

Even moreso for NBC's parent GE, GE is a HUGE welfare freak, getting humungous fat Federal payouts for decades, now big fat checks in Iraq, and is currently selling equipment to Iran (... not that anyone in power *seriously* thinks Iran is a threat anyhow, it's an "opportunity" to bomb ... could easily be an opportunity for trade and cooperation ... even some hotshot Pentagon bigwigs want to trade with Iran ... Iran cooperated with the USA actions in the M.E.) ... but I digress ...

All the bling, all the free govt handouts for GE and for NBC and MSNBC, and zero accountability to the People who pay it's bills. Pretty dam arrogant. And a lot of Americans think it's cool and clever or sensible or even morally just to smugly defend that trespass. This is how MENTALLY ILL decades and billion$ of corporate propaganda (see Alex Carey, Steve Kangas) has made us, so we can sound all *opinionated* while not knowing up from down.

The 'math' of untrammeled corporations is that MONEY = POWER. The game behind the Enlightenment and our republican democracy was that the past feudalistic arrangement of liberty-crushing power of wealthy lords and barons ruling over serfs and peasants would be corrected, or at least mitigated, and the Great Experiment moved forth. It's stalled. On purpose.

Global Corporatism as a ruling entity is designed to roll back individual liberty and social power by suppressing it under the boot of wealth, bribes, special legislation, and their very own police forces, including the Army. James Madison warned: Don't wait until ALL your freedom is gone to start fighting back. Refuse to surrender an inch of it. [my paraphrase]

We're not communist China or even like Chile under Pinochet. The govt is not currently lining up freedom-loving people to be shot in the stadium to protect corporate interests and silence critics. But we're moving swiftly in that direction. I dread the day when private corporate military has the absolute rights to shoot on sight liberals -- I mean American citizens -- and even conservative-minded citizens who get smeared as liberals for having the gall to declare a limit to how far this can go. Let's not wait until then.