Rather than comment on the debate itself (Sister Toldjah has a good rundown), because it wasn’t really a debate (you can’t have a debate with that many candidates), I’ll contrast the first and second debates. The first was brought to us by MSNBC and hosted by Chris Matthews, and the second was brought to us by Fox News and hosted by Brit Hume. Let’s contrast the questions asked:
| MSNBC | Fox News |
|---|---|
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What do you dislike most about America?
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If the gererals were to come to you and say they didn’t have enough troops there [Iraq] . . . would you be open to significantly increasing our presence in Iraq?
|
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Bradley Winter of New York would like to know if there’s anything you learned, or regret, during your time as Mayor in your dealings with the African-American community?
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What would you do to resolve this nuclear issue, and would you launch a pre-emptive strike of they [Iran] were close to achieving a weapon?
|
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Is Karl Rove your friend?
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Tell me why your decision to take the [No New Taxes] pledge shouldn’t be seen as a blatant appeal to the party base?
|
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Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?
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How will you push a Democratic Congress to make those [Bush] tax cuts permanent?
|
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Governor Romney, what do you say to Roman Catholic
bishops who would deny Communion to elected officials who support abortion rights? |
You’re pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, you supported Mario Cuomo for governor over George Pataki, are those the stands of a true conservative, sir?
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Quiz time: One of the stations corresponds to the children, and the other corresponds to the adults. Which is which? And looking at the adult questions, is there any question why Democrats are afraid to debate on the Fox News Channel?
