It appears that steps are finally being taken to dispel the ugly cloud of bigotry that has hung over the Democratic primary. I refer, of course, to the bigotry against short-statured, low-polling progressives who have seen UFOs. A Nevada judge has ruled in favor of Dennis Kucinich, compelling MSNBC to invite him to its Democratic presidential debate tonight. According to the Associated Press:
Kucinich’s lawyer had argued that MSNBC at first invited him to participate, then last week reversed course and told him he could not.
A lawyer for the network said MSNBC decided to go with the top three candidates after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.
Thompson called it a matter of fairness and said Nevada voters will benefit by hearing from more than just top contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.
The judge may have a point. (Kidding aside, Kucinich does address a subset of people on the left who vote Democratic but tend to get ignored beyond the early stages of primaries–even if they seem to have picked other candidates in the polls by now.) But I’m not clear as to the legal reason a court can compel a private network (only broadcast, not cable, networks are bound by public-interest-programming regulations) to include certain persons in a debate, unless it was held to be a contractual obligation. Regardless, you have to like a presidential candidate who reacts to sudden surprising news with the expletive “Holy smokes!”