After the Big Ten Fox News Debate on August 6th, there has been nothing but hate toward news anchor Megyn Kelly.
A growing cohort of conservatives, many attracted to Real Estate Mogul Donald Trump’s lack of a “political filter”, were outraged that the female Fox News anchor asked such pointed, attacking questions of the current GOP front-runner. Yet before Kelly asked a question, Trump set himself up for rancor. At the outset, the first question of the debate, Bret Baier (not Kelly) asked if any candidate would refuse to take a pledge to support the nominee and not run on a third-party ticket.
Trump raised his hand, full of self-righteous confidence. That kind of bravado is appealing when arguing about illegal immigration or the overgrowth of Washington at the expense of the states and the people, but such self-serving posturing will hurt rather than help the cause in General Election 2016.
His remarks already signaled that Trump was creating his own troubles:
I cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee.
The incoherence of the response was telling. He goes from saying “”I cannot say” to “talking about a lot of leverage”” to “we want to win” and then “I want to win”. He did not answer the question, and demonstrated right away what he had said before: “I am no debater”.
Trump was already looking bad before Kelly asked a question. He got the first long set of boos that night, too.
Don’t blame the game, Trump fans, blame your player.
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| Megyn Kelly (Source: Matt Gagnon) |
Now, Kelly asked a number of hard questions to every contender forcing candidates to stand by or disavow previous statements. She did not direct her first question to the front runner, but to one of the middle-ranking candidates, Dr. Ben Carson. She recalled the number of policy and personnel gaffes he had uttered in the past, including comments that the Baltic states were not members of NATO. He even misunderstood Alan Greenspan’s role in the Federal Reserve. Those mistakes were fair game for her to ask, but Carson handled the alleged subtext of “unprepared candidate” very well. Even today, interested partisans should notice that no one in the Dr. Ben Carson camp is complaining about the “unfair treatment” he received from Kelly.
The first question she directed toward Trump was well worth asking:
Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women.
Right away, Trump interrupted her question and stole the show with: “Only Rosie O’Donnell”. Even ardent opponents of The Donald found that retort hilarious. So, no one should roll and over and complain that Trump was victimized without any recourse.
Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?
For this reason, a number of conservatives have not gotten behind Trump for President. His comments toward women have not just targeted liberals, but he also unloaded on Kelly herself:
"@timjcam: @megynkelly @FrankLuntz @realDonaldTrump Fox viewers give low marks to bimbo @MegynKelly will consider other programs!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2015
So, she’s a bimbo?
One comment beneath Trump’s "beneath contempt" tweet was spot on:
@realDonaldTrump @timjcam @megynkelly @FrankLuntz bimbo? Maybe her attitude towards you was the correct one.
— Sikes (@PaulSiakew) August 7, 2015
Kelly went after Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for his views on abortion. Some could claim that she had it out for him, too. He handled it with grace.
Final Reflection
Instead of bashing Kelly interrogating all the candidates, including Trump, with expert savvy, conservatives in general and Republicans in particular should embrace that on a more friendly, balanced network, the Presidential candidates submitted to an array of difficult questions which the Marginalized Media were prepping to ask anyway.
Do conservatives want liberal propaganda machines bringing up these terrible questions and then destroying these candidates for weeks on end afterwards.
I commend Megyn Kelly for her tough questions, not just for The Donald, but for all the Big Ten Presidential candidates, and all of them performed well on the debate floor Thursday.
As for those who contend that Trump got an unfair hand dealt to him, this tweet offers the best response:
@realDonaldTrump You are a a gigantic baby like this gigantic baby pic.twitter.com/F4MQaNULzK
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) August 7, 2015
In short, Trump fans: quit crying. Don’t hate Megyn, or the game, but hate your player.
I had a problem with many of the questions beginning with Bret Baier's first question. It has been widely reported what Trump's position is regarding wanting respect as a Republican candidate from the party and the other Republican candidates, and the question absolutely and intentionally singled Trump out. Most of the other questions of the other candidates would be questions I would expect to be asked more by a tabloid or lesser respected journalists. There was so much hype around this debate and I was one of the masses who was looking forward with great anticipation to hearing some ideas, some policy out of the candidates not them spending time having to defend themselves before they could get to the meat of the issue somewhere in whatever the question was that was asked. I have followed politics since high school and am now 59 years old. I have been a Republican since I could first vote, and have worked, volunteered, and contributed to the Republican party and individual candidates, but after Romney's defeat; which I contribute mostly to Romney listening and caring too much about old school methods and points of view, I started looking at how dysfunctional our party actually is, Whether you love Trump or hate him, the ONLY reason ANYONE is talking about the illegal alien issue and FINALLY building a wall is because of Trump. I also believe some credit is due him for setting the tone or the lack thereof to inspire the other candidates to be bolder as well. I can appreciate most all of the 17 candidates, but with the exception of a few, they are mostly part of the problem and they are funding their campaigns from money and they are going to have to pay up once in office.
ReplyDeleteBack to the Megyn Kelly issue which should include the entire debate, I believe Fox did a disservice to the record number of viewers who tuned in. Maybe that is why Ms. Fox and others aren't getting it, the people who watched and who are speaking out are the VOTERS who aren't involved in the daily grind of political information and next time it would be a good idea if instead of coming up with all those "smart" questions as they did for this first debate, the come up with some questions the American People want answers on. It is great to partner with Facebook, but the majority of voters in the older demographics don't Facebook! BTW I LOVED the first debate! Great questions and the moderators where terrific! The second one left me feeling like I went to have a fabulous meal at a five star restaurant and was served day old McDonalds, and they forgot to put the napkins in the bag!
Megyan Kelly is sensitive to comments about women? How come she didn't pounce on Christies comment during an interview about "punching teachers n the face" an then saying the remark was geared for teachers unions? We all know that teachers are predominately women. Christie wouldn't dare say this about cops firemen, sanitation, etc. Nor would he dare to defund any of their pensions.
ReplyDeleteI am a woman making these next two comments: Megyan Kelly had on way too much make up. It looked like war paint on her face and gave her a hard mean look. As far as birth control. Some women out there are using abortions as birth control when they should be considering voluntary sterilization. As a taxpayer, I have an issue with paying for someone's birth control pills abortions and "good times".
ReplyDeleteWas that a Trump tweet or a retweet of someone else's tweet? In other words was that comment a "direct" Trump quote or not? The earlier debate was so much more informative and professionally presented. The moderators asked good questions and did not seem to have an agenda of out to get anyone. I am not necessarily a Trump rooter, but I did feel it, the debate, was a "Let's get Trump" show. If you watch Megyn Kelly's show nightly you know she has no love for Trump, and her bias showed thru in this fiasco, I mean debate. It also seemed Trump teeded off more on Mike Wallace after his question on bankruptcy than on Megyn Kelly, why then isn't anyone coming to Wallace's defense? What Mike's a big boy and can take care of himself, but we have to take care of poor little Megyn, who could be just as vicious in her attacks. Oh I forgot, it's a war on women.
ReplyDeleteWhen the country is being gradually destroyed, with an unhinged, lawless Marxist launching a wrecking ball against the suburbs, nationalizing local police departments, unleashing federal agencies against American citizens who dare to exercise our Constitutional rights and endangering our national security with his politically-motivated amnesty for illegals and very dangerous foreign policy, it's RIDICULOUS for Fox to dredge up years-old comments that were part of a feud between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell. Seriously? This is what we want the whole country talking about? Such a wasted opportunity to talk about substance, but of course that wasn't the agenda. It was a ratings seeking reality show, with Fox eager to get big ratings, which they are crowing about, and Ms. Kelly eager to get out of the makeup chair and get the whole country to talk about her. Mission accomplished, Guys, and the future of the country be damned. IMO, Ms. Kelly proved again, that like nearly every TV anchor, she is NOT a serious person, and like the rest of the media, not conservative. "War on women?" She actually used that phrase. I thought I was listening to George Stephanapolous, for heavens sake! Sorry, not sorry. It's just the truth. For the record, Trump didn't call her a bimbo. He retweeted some other guy's comment that called her a bimbo. I thing the other candidates were NOT hit with questions that were so personal. They were asked questions about public policy issues. Clearly there was a secondary agenda by Fox (primary agenda ratings and Megan Kelly ego), which was to boost Jeb. I think the establishment is realizing that Jeb is a total loser with his stumbling, bumbling do-overs, so now they are switching to another obnoxious RINO, Kasich. God help us! Not concerned that anyone is "picking on" Trump, although clearly they did want to go after him specifically. He can take care of himself, but this whole reality show was a pathetic disgrace. I'm sure that Ms. Kelly is thrilled though, that EVERYONE is talking about her rather than anything substantive. And yes, I agree re the makeup. I don't understand why all the anchors on Fox have to look like they escaped from Moochelle Obama's full-time makeup artist, who makes her look like a female impersonator. The freakish false eyelashes are way too much! I read on remark on line that called Ms. Kelly's makeup "porn star" style. I'm not a porn viewer so I can't vouch for that, but you get the idea.
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