Judge Orders Kucinich Into Debate

Judge Orders Kucinich Into Debate

Update: Nevada Supreme COurt overturns. Debate goes on, no Dennis.

A judge in Nevada has just ordered MSNBC to include Rep. Dennis Kucinich in Tuesday's Democratic Party presidential debate in Las Vegas or he will cancel the forum.

I'm going to risk the wrath here. First of all, MSNBC should have invited him and shouldn't have then canceled on him.

But even though it's buried in the language of "breach of contract" law, does anyone else see a First Amendment problem here? A judge has just ordered a news organization to report the news a certain way. That's really scary, and is a greater harm than excluding a marginal candidate from a debate. What's next? Am I going to get a court order forcing me to give Chicago Bears fans equal time on my bandwidth? The question of whether or not Kucinich should be in the debate is a very different question from whether or not MSNBC should be forced to include him.

MSNBC wants to have a debate between the three people who might actually be president, without a candidate who has interesting viewpoints, a hot wife and no chance in hell of being elected. They should be able to make that choice, just like the Des Moines Register chose to have a really crappy, boring as a budget hearing, wonky debate format. MSNBC should be persuaded to include Kucinich, not ordered.

Even odds they cancel the whole thing rather than give in...

This is a poor precedent to set. So here's hoping he debates tomorrow night, then loses on appeal. Then, before 2012 or even before the fall, let's set some even-handed standards about who should or shouldn't be in a debate. Personally, I'd like to see two tiers: Everybody debates and a Top Contenders debates. That way you'd get the in depth discussion from the people who might actually win, and the fresh wide-ranging ideas from the broad field.



Fire away, people.