Much has been written about the
first Republican debate on FOX. Opinions are all over the map. What merits
further discussion, however, is how Roger Ailes’s ratings smash Thursday night
was little short of a dismissive lynching. Featuring Donald Trump as the
lynchee. Mercifully, most of the onstage political mob (with a few, notable
exceptions) were on their game and refused to be whipped into the frenzy Megyn
Kelly, Chris Wallace and, to a lesser degree, Brett Baier tried their hardest
to compel.
To borrow a phrase from a
Facebook post Thursday night, “the RNC Assassination Squad” was out, in full
force. This, from a prominent member of the Republican Party who is documented
to despise Donald Trump. If he noticed, how suspect are the glowing
reviews of the FOX circus, from both sides of the political aisle?
Megyn Kelly was, shamefully,
the key offender. From transcripts of the
debate, Kelly asked reasonable questions of the other candidates focusing on
policy, Medicaid or security:
–“Dr. Carson. You are a
successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign
policy, saying there’s a lot to learn.”
— “Governor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight…”
— “Governor Christie. You’ve said that Senator Paul’s opposition to the NSA’s collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable…”
— “Governor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight…”
— “Governor Christie. You’ve said that Senator Paul’s opposition to the NSA’s collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable…”
But Kelly’s first question to
The Donald, made FOX’s position absolutely clear:
— “Mr. Trump …You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.’”
— “Mr. Trump …You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.’”
Fair and balanced. Yeah, right.
The attacks became even more
pronounced. Chris Wallace, in his familiar, autocratic role, tried to force Mr.
Trump to speak “directly to” Governor Bush about Bush’s opinion that Trump’s
statements about immigration were “extraordinarily ugly.” Trump replied “This
was not a subject that was on anybody’s mind until I brought it up at my
announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because
they’re a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics,
they didn’t cover my statement the way I said it.” Wallace got even more
confrontational: “I’ll give you 30 seconds to answer my question…” Wallace
tried, unsuccessfully, to get other candidates to vilify Trump on the
immigration issue.
To Wallace’s annoyance,
Governor Kasich praised Trump instead. Wallace, frustrated, then attempted to
get Senator Rubio to badmouth Trump, stating “let me see if I can do better with you…” Wallace’s next question to Trump dealt with Trump’s
bankruptcy, staging it as if Trump had heartlessly booted orphans out in the
snow. It didn’t work; Wallace tried to cut off Trump’s response. Trump wouldn’t
allow it.
“Mr. Trump…in this campaign,
your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, (your)
calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets.
When did you actually become a Republican?”
Needless to say, Mr. Trump
handled the attacks well and had rational responses which the FOX
“assassination squad” did not want its audience to hear. Bloomberg News even
cited FOX’s unprofessional behavior rebuking Fox News host Megyn Kelly for her
questioning comparing it to “something Rachel Maddow would ask.”
The meme that Donald Trump
“attacks” fellow candidates is, plainly put, a lie. What he did do is respond
to attacks made on him by other candidates, first. Unwillingness to take a
beating is a large part of Donald Trump’s wide-spread appeal. When political
wishful thinking is questioned, however, it’s like football. Often, the guy
responding to a blow gets tossed out of the game.
There was plenty to despise
about FOX’s disgraceful performance, other than how they attempted to relegate
the number one candidate in the polls to the dog house; refusing to ask more
than two questions of Ted Cruz, talking more than the candidates, highlighting
a Frank Luntz focus group that was entirely about trashing Donald Trump, FOX
commentators waxing about how “mean” Donald Trump was to Megyn Kelly (?!?), and
Megyn Kelly immediately following the debate with commentary devoted almost
entirely to devaluing Donald Trump, including interviews with DNC chair-harpy
Debbie Schultz, the two practically cackling about Donald Trump’s “misogynism.”
The good news was that,
largely, the candidates conducted themselves intelligently and respectably,
with a few stars emerging; not the ones perhaps preordained by FOX but,
emerging nonetheless. Brett Baier was the only moderator of any value among the
mediators. Baier was all that stood in the way of the debate completely
deteriorating into just another reality show.
The next Republican debate
will air in September on CNN with moderators Jake Tapper and Hugh Hewitt. CNN
won’t have to raise the bar much to improve on FOX’s circus.
Comments
It seems like the goal of these
“presidential debates” is to “thin the herd” with gocha questions and see who
is skilled in surviving these questions by turning them around. I’m not sure that presidents need this skill,
but it is good blood-sport for the media.
It would also seem that whoever
scripts these lynching parties should know the priority issues from the trivial
issues from the partisan issues, but the media fails to do this on a daily
basis, so why should I think they would exercise reasonable judgment in
presidential venues?
This is not a debate. A debate
has a single topic pro and con with two speakers who disagree given enough time
to make their case. The real debate is
between the finalists. Our presidential “debates” are gotcha question matches.
The first candidate showcase
should allow each candidate to
Identify their priority issues.
Most viewers will not have done their homework and they need to know what
problems these candidates want to correct.
Trump led the way by already starting this process well before the Fox
gotcha show. We need to know what they agree on before we wade into the swamp
to determine differences.
Candidates contend with the
current line of questioning by reciting their talking points rather than
answering the questions. None of this helps them.
Statements like “making the
hard decisions” on the budget tips us off that they are “can kickers”. Most of
the federal budget is waste and these are not hard decisions.
I read their books and pull their positions on issues from their websites. I like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz because of their Constitutional votes. I like Donald Trump because he is the most outspoken Constitutional Conservative and he could actually produce a “landslide”. He is focused on jobs and restoring the US economy and isn’t opposed to imposing tariffs to do it. He could single-handedly turn us around.
I read their books and pull their positions on issues from their websites. I like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz because of their Constitutional votes. I like Donald Trump because he is the most outspoken Constitutional Conservative and he could actually produce a “landslide”. He is focused on jobs and restoring the US economy and isn’t opposed to imposing tariffs to do it. He could single-handedly turn us around.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea
Party Leader
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