Tea Party Express and CNN to host 2011 Republican Presidential debate in Florida

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12/17/10, "Tea Party Express and CNN to host 2011 Republican Presidential debate in Florida," Politics Daily, Tom Diemer

"The Tea Party Express, one of several grassroots conservative groups with similar names that sprung up in the last two years, is teaming with CNN to stage a Republican presidential debate

• next September in Tampa, site of the 2012 Republican National Convention.

It's an unusual marriage between political activists and a news organization. A joint announcement said the pairing of the Republican-leaning outfit with the straight news cable network would produce

• "a first-of-its-kind presidential primary debate." It is set for Labor Day week in 2011, but an exact date or venue was not disclosed Friday.

CNN Political Director Sam Feist called the "tea party movement a fascinating, diverse, grassroots force that already has drastically changed the country's political landscape." The movement's impact on the political balance is indisputable. Tea party-backed candidates, assailing President Obama's policies and calling for smaller government and less spending, had considerable success in the Nov. 2 election. The tea party and allies like Sarah Palin can rightly claim credit for playing a significant role in the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives.

But In Florida, the Orlando Sentinel called the tea party and CNN "strange bedfellows." CNN, the first all-news network, strives for objective news coverage, falling between Fox News, which has trumpeted tea party successes, and MSNBC, which has a liberal bent....

• A number of groups use "tea party" in their title, but the Tea Party Express is believed to be the largest, and probably the most prominent....

"We've proven ourselves in this last campaign, election cycle of 2010," said Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer. Tea party activists want to hear the candidates' ideas, Kremer said, "their thoughts on turning this economy back around . . . paying down some of our deficit, getting a balanced budget and reining in spending." "...

A left wing website (12/19) is outraged, recalls they got ABC to ditch Andrew Breitbart from election coverage, says let's do it again to get CNN to cancel the program with Tea Party Express:

• "Earlier this year ABC News tried to hire smear artist Andrew Breitbart as an election analyst. The public outcry against it (and Breitbart’s own prickly personality) resulted in Breitbart getting thrown to the curb.

• That should serve as an example that we can have a positive influence on these sort of decisions.

Everyone who who cares about ethical media and fair elections should let CNN know that this is inappropriate and unprofessional. You can use this form on CNN’s web site to tell them that they should not be partnering with Tea Party Express or any right-wing wing PAC (or left-wing for that matter). ""

• (They'd take the old reliable GOP any day over a Tea Party person. ed.)

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