Hillary agrees to debate on Fox

I cannot understand why any Democrat, let alone a finalist for the party's presidential nomination, would do anything to legitimize Fox "News."

But this is what Hillary Clinton is risking by agreeing to a debate hosted by Fox.

"There is an enormous interest in these debates an clamoring on the part of the Democratic Party for them," said Clinton's spokesperson Howard Wolfson. "We have not had a large number in which two people have participated. We've had multi-candidate debates... the fact is Senator Clinton has enjoyed the opportunity to debate and get her message out. Certainly as we move to the next exciting day of this nomination calendar, voters want the opportunity to see these two candidates compete against each other."

Though Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have frequently appeared on Fox News for interviews, Clinton may be debating alone. Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, said that no plans existed as of now for his boss to participate in upcoming forums.

"As of right now, there are no debates on our schedule at all," Burton told the Huffington Post. "We'll figure out our schedule, including any debates, soon."

When the Democratic candidates declined to participate in a FOX-sponsored debate last April, their choice was readily greeted by Democratic bloggers and party activists, who did not wish to legitimize the station as a neutral political forum. Officials at Fox News were apoplectic.

"The candidates that can't face Fox, can't face Al Qaeda," said Roger Ailes, the Fox News CEO.

During a campaign conference call on Tuesday, Wolfson defended the campaign's decision to accept the Fox News debate, citing the reach the network had in the Chesapeake area (the debate will be held in Washington D.C.) and prior appearances by both Clinton and Obama on station.

This is ridiculous.

Fox is not a real news organization. It is a cog in the Republican message machine. Hillary might as well agree to a debate hosted by the Weekly Standard or WorldNet Daily.

One the best strategic moves Democrats made in the last year was freezing out Fox for primary campaign debates. The Republicans shrieked and howled and called them out as cowards. Nobody cared. Why? Because Democrats can do just fine without lending credibility to the poisonous partisan hackery in the house that Roger Ailes built.

And the move yielded immediate results in exposing Fox "News" for what it is. When Ailes responded by comparing his network to al Qaeda, he effectively admitted that Fox is openly hostile to the Democratic Party. What else could that mean? It wasn't as though the Dems were shying away from debates altogether. They simply were not willing to legitimize a network that shills as openly for Bush and the GOP as does the National Review.

But here is Hillary Clinton agreeing to debate on Fox. Well, good for her. Maybe she really does think that there is an untapped vein of Democratic voters in the Fox viewing audience. Or maybe she is trying to put Obama in the position of turning the debate down, and then wondering aloud why he's afraid to face her. I honestly can't figure out what she's thinking, but I do know that there is nothing for Democrats to gain by going along with the charade that Fox is an objective news outlet.