I didn’t get to hear much of Rush Limbaugh yesterday, but I knew he’d cover the important things from Thursday’s debate — and he did. Below are a few things from three of the transcripts he posted at his website after his show.
As important as the performance of the candidates was the behavior of the Fox News Channel panelists. Everyone on the political right understands that the liberal media is a huge impediment to getting good information to our fellow citizens. Social conservatives have long known that Fox is not fair and balanced. After Thursday’s debate, more people now understand that fact.
RUSH: It’s Open Line Friday, and I am your host, the award-winning Rush Limbaugh, all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-everything Maha Rushie. We are here on the day after the first Republican presidential debate last night on the Fox News Channel from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, and we go to Rocko up in Westchester County to kick it off on the phones today. Hi, Rocko, great to have you with us.
CALLER: Rush, thank you for taking my call. I tuned in to the debate and I had to check the channel because I thought I was watching MSNBC. The moderators methodically torpedo each candidate, with Donald Trump being the biggest target. Scott Walker worked miracles in Wisconsin but they dug up some statistic that he hadn’t reached the economic growth he promised. Jeb Bush sat on a board of a Bloomberg organization that donated to Planned Parenthood. Jeb didn’t even know it, but Fox News did. And the worst was Megyn Kelly, who you just referenced, who thinks she’s all that and just too cute, asked that ridiculous name-calling question and referenced the nonexistent War on Women. I have lost all respect for Fox News.
RUSH: Yeah, you know, you’re not the first. (laughing) I’ve heard this stuff from the beginning last night. And it is frustrating. I don’t know about you, Rocko, but we’re in the middle of seven years of an all-out — you talk about war, we got a war on the way this country was founded being conducted right now by Barack Obama and the Democrat Party. And these guys on that stage have not done one thing, they have not contributed one iota to the mess in this country, and they have to justify themselves?
Read more: Fox Backlash Across the Fruited Plain
* * * * *
Who do you think got the most, call it camera time, airtime, voice time, whatever, who got the most airtime last night in this debate? (interruption) Just take a guess, for crying out loud. (interruption) Who? (interruption) Marco Rubio. No. Dawn, give me a name. Who do you think it was? (interruption) Megyn Kelly is right. The Fox moderators got 31% of the airtime last night. Not a single candidate came anywhere near it. Trump was the closest, and he was second.
The Fox moderators were heard from more last night than were the candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination. There were time limits on the candidates and their answers and replies and rebuttals and rebut-but-buttles, but there were no time limits on the moderators. They could take as long as they wanted answering a question and as long as they wanted interrupting an answer.
Read more: My Initial Thoughts on the Debates
* * * * *
[T]he first half of this debate was Beat Up the Candidates. The first half of the debate was Trash the Candidates.
Beat Up the Candidates. Trash the Candidates. Make the Candidates Justify Their Existence. Make Them Justify Things They’ve Said in the Past, Done in the Past (or what have you).
…
Our guys are not the problem. I know we have some guys on that stage who want amnesty. I know we have some people on that stage who don’t like conservatives. But even so, not a one of them has really been in positions of power to implement anything, other than some of the governors. Scott Walker’s done great things with his governorship. So there’s a lot of potential there. But I just found there to be an elephant in the room that wasn’t mentioned or discussed.
Read more: Massive Audience for Fox Debate Proves There Is an Overwhelming Thirst for Change in This Country
Image credit: Fox News.
