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Having watched the "debate" hosted by Chris Mathews and the Politico on MSNBC several weeks back, and now last night’s hosted by Brit Hume on Fox News Channel, I couldn’t help but notice the contrast. While many questions asked by the panel on MSNBC seemed somewhat irrelevant or designed as "gotcha" type questions, those posed last night by the Fox panel (except for the stupid question to McCain about the Confederate flag) were well thought out and pertinent to ask persons who would be President.
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If anybody was still wondering why the Democrats won’t debate in a forum hosted by Fox News, last night’s event provided the answer. Whenever liberals and Democrats find themselves in a situation in which they must explain their beliefs and policies, they discover that they cannot. As a long-time watcher of cable news programming, I can attest that the Fox News people like Hume and Wallace are serious about their work and well informed. They do not tend to let their guests and interviewees get away with talking points, platitudes, and spin as answers to pointed questions.
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As far as the candidates themselves, I think that a group of Republicans in general, more fact and reality-based than their emotional Democratic counterparts, come off better in a forum like we saw last night. This is nothing that I wouldn’t expect, anyway. The Republicans have always been more like "adults" while the Dems are the "children" of American politics. While I don’t believe that all of the ten Republican candidates are of presidential timber, I think we’ve got one of the best "crops" we’ve had to choose from in many years. More on this in another post.
Anyway, Kudos to Fox News for a job well done!