With over a quarter of a million signatures in two weeks and countless phone calls to individual campaigns, the Democratic Party of Nevada got the message loud and clear: FOX News is not a legitimate news organization and should not be dignified by sponsoring a Democratic candidates' debate.

The last straw came last night when the president of Fox News, Roger Ailes, made jokes about Senator Barack Obama as a terrorist: "And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?'"
What some are defending as a joke made at Bush's expense is a classic FOX tactic, a carefully crafted guilt-by-association smear.

Tom Collins, Chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party, and US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) sent the following letter to Marty Ryan, Executive Producer of Fox News Political Programs in Washington DC:

A month ago, the Nevada Democratic Party entered into a good faith agreement with FOX News to co-sponsor a presidential debate in August.

This was done because the Nevada Democratic Party is reaching out to new voters and we strongly believe that a Democrat will not win Nevada unless we find new ways to talk to new people.

To say the least, this was not a popular decision. But it is one that the Democratic Party stood by. However, comments made last night by FOX News President Roger Ailes in reference to one of our presidential candidates went too far. We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments.

In light of his comments, we have concluded that it is not possible to hold a Presidential debate that will focus on our candidates and are therefore canceling our August debate. We take no pleasure in this, but it is the only course of action.

The proverbial camel's back was already badly strained by you, and over a quarter of a million like-minded grassroots activists who signed the petition to disassociate the Democratic Party of Nevada from FOX News. This correspondence went out to MoveOn members and supporters today:

Today, the NV Democrat Party decided to drop a FOX-sponsored debate scheduled for August, following FOX President Roger Ailes remarks last night comparing Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden.

“We hope this sets a precedent for all Democrats – that FOX should be treated as a right-wing misinformation network, not legitimized as a neutral source of news,” said Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn.org Civic Action. “John Edwards, Harry Reid, the Nevada Democratic Party, and grassroots progressives across the nation deserve credit for standing up to Fox’s right-wing agenda.”

John Edwards had announced he would not attend the Fox debate—and yesterday Nevada Senator Harry Reid sent shockwaves through his home state when he said publicly, "I don't like Fox."

Over 265,000 people signed a petition stating, “FOX is a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, not a legitimate news channel” and urged that Fox be dropped. Over 280,000 people had viewed Outfoxed director Robert Greenwald’s new YouTube film “Fox Attacks: Obama” – located with the petition at www.FoxAttacks.com.

Fox critics have urged NV Democrats to pick a legitimate news source to host the August debate.

“This is a victory for truth and journalism,” said (Robert) Greenwald. “By standing up to FOX’s right-wing smears, the patriotic grassroots, netroots, Senator Reid, Senator Edwards, and the Nevada Democrats have all worked together to protect one of the most important elements of a free society – the press.

Having spent years studying the lies and distortions of Fox, I am proud to have worked with all the partners in creating FoxAttacks.com as a home for integrity, honesty, and exposing this right wing mouthpiece.”

Members of the public can sign up at www.FoxAttacks.com to participate in future Fox accountability campaigns.

Danny Coyle, one of thousands of MoveOn members in Nevada, is on the Executive Board of the Carson City Democratic Central Committee. This Wednesday, he offered a resolution calling on the state party to drop FOX – it passed overwhelmingly among the grassroots Democrats in attendance.

“I am glad and relieved that the Nevada Democratic leadership has come to its senses,” Coyle said. “Any kind of relationship with FOX is bad for the party.”

“The lies of FOX News and Roger Ailes have no place in public discourse, journalism, or the Democratic Party presidential debates,” said Matt Stoller, president of Blogpac, who wrote about this issue on national progressive blog www.MyDD.com, “FOX sees truth as the enemy, and misinformation as a tool to hurt their political opposition.”

“I'm gratified to see that the Nevada State Democratic Party made the right decision and called out FOX News for being part of the right-wing smear machine,” said Myrna Minx, who wrote about this issue on Nevada progressive blog, www.RenoDiscontent.com. “Now let's start working on making the upcoming caucus a success and finding a legitimate news outlet to broadcast our August debate.”

This is a great moment for the media reform movement. This public repudiation of FOX News as a legitimate, objective news network is a well-earned humiliation. They did this to themselves; pandering to the right-wing and rallying the Republican base all these years has exposed them for the biased agenda-driven tools they are.

Make no mistake: FOX has been badly embarrassed by this rejection, and will behave accordingly, upping their attacks on Democrats and progressives. Keep checking back for more actions and future videos. And keep on reading News Hounds for your daily dose of FOX propaganda.