And of course embarrassing GOP candidates with George-Stephanopolous-style "Governor Romeny, would you outlaw birth control pills?" type questions.
Ed Morrissey quotes a few of the left-framed questions, coming from Dana Perino (of course), Jim Varney, and ringer from Univision who only cares about "Dreamers," amnesty, and leaving the borders open.
[The left-flavored intro] led to the first question from Stuart Varney, which if it didn't come from MSNBC might have been written in the West Wing:
Senator Scott, you recently reacted by praising Ronald Reagan for firing air traffic controllers in the 1980s, saying, you strike, you're fired. Would you fire thousands of striking auto workers today, Senator?
A show of hands, please: how many GOP primary voter think the UAW strike is the top issue of the election cycle? It's not even the top economic issue facing the US. Tim Scott tried to move the topic to immigration. Dana Perino stymied that by promising to discuss "the economy and jobs," but then returned to the UAW strike instead:
PERINO: Well, I can promise you we are going to have a lot of questions on the border and immigration. But in the meantime, we want to talk about the economy and jobs, and especially want to talk about this strike for just a moment more. Mr. Ramaswamy, you've said you really empathize with the strikers. You're standing next to Senator Scott and do you agree with what he said or I do you think he's wrong?
Once again, Fox "News" is determined to move the discussion from what Republicans want to talk about to what urban liberals want to talk about.
Next up, Varney channeled his inner AOC:
VARNEY: Together the CEOs of General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis make 336 times the number of rank and -- the member -- number of rank and file workers. That's just part of a wider income inequality trend in the country. The richest 1 percent now controls one-fifth of all income. Vice President Pence, last week you said you side with American workers, but you also support how these companies operate. Which is it?
Oh we'll get to your nativist ravings on immigration -- but first, will you declare your devotion to the Great Socialist Cause of Income Inequality?
Morrissey concludes:
This wasn't a debate aimed at edifying choices for conservative and populist voters. This was a forum for media to take potshots at these candidates, get them to fight amongst themselves, and to make them look extreme. Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott took the bait (Haley repeatedly); Ron DeSantis, Christie, and Doug Burgum did not.
In the first half hour of the debate, the moderators never asked about China. They never asked about crime. They didn't ask about the national debt. Not a question about energy until later, and I don't recall the moderators asking anything at all related to national security or military preparedness. Various candidates brought these topics up, only to be slapped down by moderators in favor of topics like day-care subsidies, DACA and Dreamers, and so on.
More at the link.
PJ Media's Paula Bolyard was similarly incensed.
The Fox Business GOP presidential debate was a total trainwreck--and that's putting it mildly.
If you watched, you were treated to nearly two hours of left-wing talking points from the moderators, who not only had no control of the debate but ignored their own rules and allowed candidates to attack one another without the opportunity for rebuttal.
The leftist Univision moderator--Emmy award winner!!! Ilia Calderón--who had trouble speaking English clearly, kept asking questions about Dreamers and DACA, turning the questions into speeches to condemn GOP policies on immigration.
She also went after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, repeating a hoax perpetrated by Kamala Harris claiming that Florida's education standards are racist.
Another moderator asked DeSantis how on earth Repubicans could possibly expect to win when they support limits on abortion. DeSantis slapped that down by noting that he, a strongly and vocally pro-life governor, won Florida in a landslide and turned his purple state solidly red--and even won a previous Democrat stronghold county.
Then there was Dana Perino's stupid question at the end asking the candidates who should be voted off the GOP "island" to clear the field. DeSantis spoke up and called her out for asking a question with no substance in what should've been a serious debate. The other candidates quickly united behind DeSantis, nodding their heads.
Dana Perino is a superficial, vacuous, liberal dum-dum and always has been.
You know what didn't get asked in the debate? Anything about Covid--arguably the most critical issue of the last four years. No one was asked whether they want masking to return or support school closures and mandatory vaccines now that the virus is ramping up again. Wouldn't you have liked to hear those answers and compare them with the candidates' past positions and statements? Wouldn't it have been great to hear Mike Pence--who stood mutely by Anthony Fauci during his endless pandemic press conferences--debate DeSantis, who quickly opened his state, refused to mandate vaccines and masks, and sent kids back to school early on?
Once again, more at the link.
It is imperative for conservatives to actually blackball and deplatform all these fake "conservatives" from our spaces, because fake conservative liberals will always get to dominate our institutions if they are permitted to even exist at the fringes of the movement. NeverTrumpers, neocons, and outright liberals are never content to merely represent a small part of the party. They always demand to be in control -- or they quit the party and join the Democrats.
Below, some of the "feistiest" exchanges as chosen by leftwing Fox News. These clips are all about Real Housewives-style sniping, instead of answers about what Republicans actually care about.
And that's by design.
So much fun!
Hey Dana, how much help did you get from your BFF and podcasting partner, the smug, arrogant, fired liberal Chris Stirewalt?