The American Spectator

p> FAIRLY UNBALANCED br> Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Fear of Fox : /p>

Mr. Tyrrell’s depiction of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama as “Chicken Democrats” needs refinement. As any graduate of Texas A&M’s animal sciences programs could tell you, this trio is not comprised of chickens, but of a hen and two capons. (Well, at least you got the “Democrat” part right.)

In more serious timbre, our feathery fearers of Fox News should reevaluate their phobia The intrepid Democrats are not boycotting a news network as much as they are boycotting an audience of millions of Americans who will vote come November 2008.

p>Slightly weird, to say the least. br> — Doug Roll br> Jacksonville, Texas /p>

In your latest column, you imply that the Democrats who withdrew from the Fox News-sponsored debates are cowards and state that ”the liberals’” favorite debate is no debate unless the forum is totally dominated by them. Even then there will preferably be no argument, just the liberal point of view sedulously propounded in a forum shaped completely by them.

The latter part of that statement offers no supporting evidence that liberals, or even the Democrats in question, prefer to avoid debating against dissenting voices. The former part indicates that you believe a forum can be dominated by a particular group. If you are justified in being suspicious of their chosen forum (and you offer no compelling argument for why anyone ought to agree with you), then they may have equally valid concerns about your preferred forum.