Comments on: Take Action — Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Excluded from New Hampshire Presidential Debate

By: Save Blogcritics

Save Blogcritics — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:25:00 +0000

I found my way to this page via a link in the article “Why is Gov. Gary Johnson Not in Next Week’s Debate?” published on June 9 at Blogcritics.org. Its author, Dave Nalle, devotes 1,080 words to chastising CNN for excluding a Republican presidential wannabe from a debate the network is staging. Mr. Nalle neglects to mention, nor is it disclosed on his Blogcritics author’s page, that he is National Chairman of the RLC, and that the presidential wannabe is an RLC Advisory Board member.

Nalle’s position stands in stark contrast to the advice he tendered at Blogcritics (BC) only 11 days earlier to a writer unfairly blacklisted at BC. “Irvin,” wrote Dave, “this is a privately owned and operated website…. You can’t force this site to give you a venue if they don’t want to. I sympathize, but from a libertarian perspective their rights of ownership trump your desire for access.”

So which is it, Dave? Why do Blogcritics’ rights of ownership trump Irv’s desire for access, but Gary Johnson’s desire for access trumps CNN’s rights of ownership?

Obviously the answer is that it suits Mr. Nalle’s self-interest to champion Johnson over CNN, just as it suits his self-interest as BC’s senior politics editor to defend BC against a blacklisted writer.

I predict that under Dave Nalle’s leadership, the Republican Liberty Caucus will go far in national politics. In that arena, hypocrisy is valued above all else.

Alan Kurtz
Redwood City, CA

By: Vatiildal

Vatiildal — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:28:00 +0000

It seems that cnn has locked out the comments section on their web site.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Doesn’t that criterion also exclude some of those they have already invited?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:08:00 +0000

Just called WMUR and it appears that they have a criterion set forth by their masters at Hearst News Corp and CNN to exclude candidates that hadn’t polled above 2% in national polls from April – May. Kinda hard for Gov. Johnson to do this since he hadn’t been seen on national tv until May. He also was to have reached a 2% threshold in a NH poll in mY.

By: Dan Sheill

Dan Sheill — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:21:00 +0000

You would hope that Ron Paul supporters would take a stand by supporting this effort since there were similar attempts to exclude Congressman Paul from the debates four years ago using the same rationale (“he’s not a serious candidate”). If the movement is truly about the ideas and not the man (Ron Paul), then liberty advocates ought to support Gary Johnson’s efforts to get into the presidential debates.

By: Charles Lupton

Charles Lupton — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:21:00 +0000

My name is Charles Lupton. I have started a petition at change.org to get him included in the debate. Johnson has long stood for Liberty and smaller government with a record as one of the most fiscally conservative governors in history. Please help by signing the petition at: http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-cnn-and-sponsors-invite-former-gov-gary-johnson-to-the-june-13th-nh-primary-debate