After the Cruz-Paul dust-up didn't materialize, a disappointed Mr. Baier asked Governor Christie why New Jersey is such a mess: the equivalent of the have you stopped beating your wife question Democrat moderators ask Republican candidates.
There's no truth to the rumor Candy Crowley helped the three amigos prepare for the debate.
Christie answered competently, and with blood from her eyes (to quote Mr. Trump), an obviously seething, Ms. Kelly returned to the Democrats' favorite accusation -- The Republican War on Women. Like a heat-seeking missile, the Harpie who looks a lot like a Barbie doll zeroed in on Governor Walker, pithing the affable and soft-spoken governor for opposing abortion even when the life of the mother is at stake. (Take that, Scott!)
Ms. Kelly's question-- when she finally got around to asking it (1) -- proved American women care only about contraception, and if that doesn't work--abortion -- and if that doesn't work -- more taxes for the teachers' unions to educate the little accidents. This, of course, shows that women while focused entirely on contraception, abortion, women's rights and forcing taxpayers to pay for an education system that doesn't work are eminently qualified to represent men and women, run a zillion dollar economy, protect the citizens from terrorism, the government from cyber-attacks, control the Canadian border (the Southern border doesn't exist) while serving as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, confronting ISIS and dealing with Iran, China, Russia and North Korea.
Chris Wallace followed with a broadside at former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, for opposing same-sex marriage, Bret Baier stepped up to skewer Rand Paul about a statement he made suggesting ISIS exists because of Republican hawks. Take that, Rand, you little snot!
Finally, Ms. Kelly asked a question that wasn't about women. She sheathed her War on Women rapier (no pun intended) to remind Republican voters that John Kasich expanded Medicaid under ObamaCare. (Gotcha, Johnny. Let's see you squirm out of that one!)
Note: There is no truth to the rumor that the Fox interrogators got their questions and directions from the DNC. It's far more likely they suffer from Roberts Disease which manifests with an obsessive desire to curry favor with Democrats and get good ink from the Democrat media.
Kasich gave a credible answer to the Medicaid IED, as he did when he, like Huckabee (a former minister and Evangelical Christian) got hit with the same-sex marriage question, such things being of primary importance in a time when Russia is on the march, China is bugging the Pentagon, North Korea is testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, Iran is about to get the bomb, Saudi Arabia is threatening to buy a nuke from Pakistan, Iran is threatening to wipe out Israel, Greece is going bankrupt, millions of Americans are unemployed, our borders are as leaky as the Titanic, and racial tensions are worse than they've been in decades.
Once Governor Kasich said he attended a same-sex wedding, Mr. Wallace gave Governor Bush an opportunity to explain his statement that illegals living in the United States: "...broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family."
Say what? If invading a neighboring country is an act of love, Vladimir Putin just popped the question to Ukraine and Crimea, and ISIS is about to marry Iraq and Syria.
Twenty-four million people watched the Stump Trump Debate, and Fox News's three amigos are basking in the glory of the largest cable audience in history. Not that they didn't earn it. They must have had to employ half the archaeologists in North America to dig up so much dirt on the candidates. Most questions weren't really questions, but rather long, drawn out accusations where the candidate was supposed to explain why he used to be or still is --a jerk. Often it took longer to make the statement/question than the candidate had to answer. (The Inquisitors' questions took 31.7% of the time or an average of 10.57 minutes each during which to launch their salvos while their targets averaged 6.68 minutes each to answer them. (1)
The only questions that were questions and not gotchas came from the one or two Facebook participants.
So who won the Stump Trump Debate?
While all the candidates conducted themselves reasonably well -- even Trump who was set up with the first question and hit with incomings not seen since the attack on the embassy at Benghazi--the clear winner was the Democratic Party since Fox's inquisitors has already done most of the Democrats' oppositional research for them. Fox won because 24 million people tuned in to see that Fox can attack Republicans with the same verve as CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, the Washington Post, etc. , etc., etc. so maybe they bought a little love from those who hate Republicans.
If the Democrats won, then who lost?
The 24 million viewers who tuned in to find out if the candidates had ideas about:
*Fixing race relations.
*The problems in the inner cities.
*Will you cut regulations that are choking our businesses?
*Will you build the Keystone Pipeline?
*Any ideas on how to get people back to work? What are they?
*Do you have a plan to control the southern border, something every Republican since Ronald Reagan has promised but none, including Ronald Reagan, has done in spite of winning repeated elections? (One explanation for the Trump Phenomenon).
*What about fixing Health Care? ObamaCare isn't working.
*Do you have the guts to take on the biaed mainstream media? (The other explanation for the Trump Phenomenon).
*What about the VA?
*Tax reform? Be specific.
*ISIS?
*Homegrown terrorists?
*Restoring the trust of our allies?
*Regaining the respect of antagonists like Putin?
*What would you do about Putin?
*Will you send arms to Ukraine?
*Troops to our NATO allies?
*What about China's cyber-attacks? Any idea how to stop them?
*What if the Iran deal goes through and Iran gets a nuke? How will you help Israel defend itself?
Instead we got a lot of silliness. The only thing the three amigos didn't ask is whether any of the candidates had ever sung "Dixie" a sure disqualifier if there is one.
