Contact: Bob Sturm, 703-396-6974; after 6 PM Eastern time, Vi Shields or Bob Sturm, 703-906-6542 or 703-368-1812

MANASSAS, Va., Jan. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Richard A. Viguerie, the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause (Bonus Books, 2006), issued the following statement in response to word that the Fox News Channel apparently plans to bar Ron Paul from its January 6 New Hampshire presidential debate:

"I am dismayed that the Fox News Channel apparently plans to bar Ron Paul from its January 6 presidential debate. I have not yet declared my support for any candidate, but I find this action inexcusable.

"Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News, is a brilliant political operative and businessman. In his 2003 interview with Broadcasting & Cable magazine, he said, in regard to liberal bias in the mainstream news media:

"Bias has to do with the elimination of points of view, not presenting a point of view."

"Well said, Roger. However, that's exactly what you are doing now.

"Ron Paul is a traditional limited-government conservative in the grand tradition of Robert A. Taft, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. He has astounded the political world by raising almost $20 million in campaign funds during the last quarter of 2007. In the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, he is ahead of Fred Thompson in New Hampshire. Yet Fox News is inviting Thompson and barring Ron Paul.

"In my book, America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power (Bonus Books, 2004), I devoted a chapter to describing how Fox News ended the liberal monopoly in TV news. Perhaps I spoke too soon.

"While Fox has ended the Democratic monopoly in TV news, it is becoming disturbingly clear that it is perpetuating the pro-Big Government monopoly in TV news. A Republican presidential debate without Ron Paul is a 'debate' between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. All the other Republican candidates would continue the Big Government policies of President George W. Bush, and the differences between them are mostly minor and cosmetic.

"Fox News itself apparently wants to limit the GOP discussion to variations on a Neocon theme of perpetual war for perpetual big government."

Richard A. Viguerie pioneered ideological and political direct mail and has been called "the funding father of the conservative movement" for his role in helping build dozens of conservative organizations. He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed--How George W. Bush and Other Big-Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause (Bonus Books, 2006).