Brzezinski urges Warren to do Fox News town hall: Candidates should be able to 'walk into any fire'

[brooklynite]

The Hill

MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski on Wednesday urged Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to agree to a Fox News town hall, after the 2020 presidential hopeful turned the network down.

The "Morning Joe" co-host argued that a candidate "should be able to walk into any situation, walk into any fire" and answer questions if they hope to be elected.

The comment comes the day after Warren publicly declined a Fox News town hall invite while calling the network a "hate-for-profit racket."

“I think just because there are a bunch of good journalists who work there doesn’t erase what’s going on there, which one could argue is exactly as Elizabeth Warren describes it: A direct connection from a corrupt president who is a racist, to megaphones, to people who parrot it, like a bunch of dupes,” Brzezinski said. “That does happen on Fox, that is clear.”

“But I would argue that a presidential candidate should be able to walk into any situation, walk into any fire, and have the confidence and the ability to put it out by spreading the democratic values and his or her beliefs,” she continued. “And I think they should go into Fox and do all the town halls they can do because Fox, you could argue, is smart to be doing these.

I concur: it's good practice for the eventual GE, it's not the equivalent of going on (and validating) Hannity, Ingraham, etc. and there ARE voters to be won over.

[robbedvoter]

1. have you seen her statement?

She is walking in all fires in red states. Without helping racists in the process. Lat 2 paragraphs are your answer

Link to tweet

[blm]

2. Warren isn't avoiding a situation, she's revealing why FOX profits when Dems accept

those invitations. Then FOX uses those profits to launch further attacks on Democrats as they further the divides in this nation.

Mika is ful of sh!t on this and deliberately distorting Warren’s reason for declining.

[Thekaspervote]

12. Yes..fux will twist those interviews at a later date and look nothing like what was originally said

Last edited Wed May 15, 2019, 11:12 AM - Edit history (1)

[shanny]

15. this

[PBC_Democrat]

3. I agree also ...

Our candidates need to go proudly into any situation and talk about their polices and priorities. I still firmly believe that there are a lot of voters that can be swayed once they hear 'our side of the story'.

The other option is to let others use sound bites and distort or flat out misrepresent proposals.

If EW, or any candidate, can't make a convincing argument for their positions - we end up stalled in the political divide that we're in now.

Engaging, rather than demonizing, Independents and Republicans -while not comprising our principles - is the only way to move forward and start to solve the country's problems.

[blm]

11. Why are you claiming Warren is avoiding having to make the argument instead of

accepting the FACT that FOX gains financially from these brief ‘shows’ of access?

There isn’t anyone running who enthusiastically answers EVERY question posed, without reluctance, without avoidance or diversion, like Warren does.

[SidDithers]

4. Mika's dumb as a box of rocks...

Warren isn't avoiding the "fire" of Fox News.

She's denying them the opportunity to profit off her words.

Sid

[brooklynite]

5. How "dumb" were Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders?

An hour of TV -- even Fox News -- will reach a lot of people who don't have the time, proximity or inclination to attend a campaign event.

[SidDithers]

13. IMO? Very...

They shouldn't have gone onto Fox and given the network an air of legitimacy. They helped Fox sell ads, and provided non-offensive content that Fox can use to show balance against all of the racist shit they spew every day.

Sid

[Cha]

36. Yeah.. coincidently..

didn't BS' polls go down after that?

I don't know anything about Amy Kobuchar's, though.

[LanternWaste]

21. You can support that empty premise with actual numbers, yes?

Hearing a thing ain't the same as reaching a thing. I thought you'd know that... I guess not.

[marylandblue]

25. They weren't dumb, they just chose a different strategy.

Klobuchar and Sanders decided to reach some voters through Fox. Warren chose to highlight Fox's corruption and reach the same voters through other means.

[MrsCoffee]

28. Extremely.

[Irishxs]

34. I agree, brooklynite.

[delisen]

14. Warren welcomes FOX to cover her meetings at grass roots level in coal

country and other Trump-voting states.

Warren knows what she is doing.

[WeekiWater]

6. It's not walking into a fire in any way at all.

Fox uses them to legitimize their network. They aren't doing hit jobs in these town halls. They are using them to appear "fair and balanced." There are zero points for going into the lions den in these town halls. It's not the lions den.

I give far more credit to those who do forums like She The People.

[Paladin]

7. Back off, Mika.

Senator Warren has faced a hell of a lot more fire from the trump reich, and retaliated by spreading more democratic beliefs, than you have in your entire oh-so-comfortable career. Fox "news" drew the lines, not Elizabeth Warren---her actions are completely justified, and should be emulated by all Democratic candidates.

[Golden Raisin]

8. Warren's eschewal of Fox is fighting fire with fire.

I back Warren in this decision 100%.

[still_one]

9. Maybe, we should do Town Halls with the KKK while we are at it according to Brzezinski logic

What Warren has stated very clearly is that she does not want to legitimize a hate-infested propaganda medium

So Brzezinski disagrees with that opinion. Big deal.

[leftofcool]

10. I agree with Mika on this one.

[RLG]

19. Well, she is a Mayor Pete supporter. LOL

Seriously, Warren is trying to make a point regarding FOX News.

It's not about confronting their audience. It's about the mission statement of FOX News and how irresponsible they are.

[katmondoo]

22. I don't, I am proud of Warren, all Republicans can go to hell where they belong

[nini]

16. She's right

No more normalizing any of those fascist organizations. They are not worthy of any credibility while they help destroy our democracy.

[comradebillyboy]

17. Meeeeka and Schmoe aren't our friends, they never have been

and never will be.

[Irishxs]

18. A president must govern and speak to all the people. I want compromise and sense. Now we

have someone who governs only one side. I want more than that. I just posted the same feeling in the other thread, except in that one I was definitely swimming against the tide.

[CentralMass]

20. I agree with Senator Warren.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. "Walking into a fire."

More like walking into a toxic waste dump.

[StevieM]

24. Mika is wrong, as usual. And Warren has impressed me here. (eom)

[DetlefK]

26. I am on a conspiracy-theorist forum. You CANNOT convince those people.

1. They have their own wrong understanding about what is going on and how things work and they will REFUSE any effort to teach and correct them.

2. They will ignore what you said and instead attack a strawman of your position. And you cannot convince him that your side doesn't believe what he thinks you believe.

3. The belief-system of a conspiracy-theorist is truly marvelous: You cannot pin him down, it is everchanging, it is riddled with loopholes and unproven claims and tailor-made assumptions that make it impossible to disprove them. At the same time, even the flimsiest of evidence is taken as rock-solid proof that he is correct.

4. And all throughout this, they imagine themselves as wise men, as calm and recollected rational people who have uncovered a secret, and anybody who doubts them is a ridiculous fool and a hysterical zealot.



I have asked them multiple times on their forum what kind of evidence would count as proof that they are wrong. Photographies? Documents? Witness-testimony? I have never gotten an answer. The thought of being proven wrong is alien to them.

[dubyadiprecession]

27. Warren was a Republican up until 1996.

She could explain why she left that party to people who never watch CNN or MSNBC.

She might be able to peel off some women who normally wouldn’t vote Democratic.

[LibFarmer]

29. ...

Ohhhhhhhhhh Mika
Where's your vodka?

[More_Cowbell]

30. Mika's argument, that candidates should be able to go anywhere, is beside the point

Elizabeth Warren wouldn't be uncomfortable on Fox. I'm not sure I've ever seen her in a situation that she couldn't handle.

But Fox makes a lot of money in advertising dollars when legitimate people show up on its programming.

I've participated in a lot of efforts to stop advertisers from letting commercials appear on Fox. I support Elizabeth Warren's willingness to stay away.

[treestar]

31. that's legitimizing Faux and what they do

It's not a real "fire."

[Raven123]

32. I don't see a FOX appearance as a box to be checked by candidates

Each candidate has his/her reason(s) for/against taking a campaign to that venue. I think it would be smart for Mika, Joe and the rest of the MJ crew to follow the issues that concern voters. I find myself tuning out a lot for the lack of reporting on topics of substance. I would prefer they help sort out the differences between candidate positions, priorities and approaches to our challenges, rather than offering their “expertise” to those who are knee deep in a campaign.

[Cha]

35. Not the point.

[ecstatic]

37. I agree with EW. IMO, we're at war. It's time that we all realized that

and acted accordingly. Stop giving these assholes an inch. Look at where all the compromising has gotten us.