Modern Day Machiavelli

Fox has a long and interesting history with the GOP when it comes to right leaning pundits, slanted news stories, and favored guest. So I guess it was no surprise when the GOP debate last night was produced by Fox News, with Bret Baier the moderator and Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace leading the way with the questions. Also sponsoring the debate was the Washington Examiner with Byron York and Susan Ferrechio also asking questions. Although I believe Baier did good job moderating the last night, I think overall Fox dropped the ball. I’m not sure if Chris Wallace was making it his personal mission to debunk the notion that Fox is right leaning or what. Now I know that Wallace is a registered Democrat and has been known for being somewhat confrontational with Republican Candidates in the past, but his conduct during last night’s debate raised it to the next level. Now before you jump to conclusions let me explain why I believe Chris Wallace and Fox dropped the ball.Several times Wallace showed an obvious disdain for several of the candidates and even somewhat of a pompous attitude about him when asking questions and even responding to certain answers by the candidates. For one I loved Herman Cain’s response to Wallace asking multiple questions, almost bombarding, knowing that Cain could not possibly answer them. Wallace’s only objective was take what Cain had said in the past, bring them to the front on a national stage, and cast Cain in bad light. Cain came back quick with the appropriate response. Although some of his other tactics were uncalled for, he really dropped the ball when it came to Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Wallace not only seemed to have a personal vendetta against Gingrich, he also seemed to have a look of joy on his face knowing that he was getting next to the former GOP power. Wallace’s actions hurt Fox, the GOP, and everyone that attempted to watch the debate to see the best candidate shine. By sparring with Gingrich and asking irrelevant questions, he wasted time effort, and face time that could have been better spent. Gingrich came in struggling and left on top, he may not have won the debate but Wallace helped make him relevant last night. Fox must be held responsible for this as well. Should Wallace have even been on the question panel after his treatment of Bachman? It is definitely up for debate. Gingrich seems like a good guy and he has a record that he can be proud, but most conservatives, and especially moderates, believe his time has come and gone. Maybe it was Wallace’s intent to elevate Gingrich into the mix of candidates for no other reason but to water down the GOP process or maybe he is just a confrontational guy who inadvertently allows his biased political views to surface during the debate. If a journalist, who registered Republican, would have acted that way in a Democratic debate, you would have read about it way before this blog. Either way Chris Wallace has no business being directly involved in any political debate. Let’s just hope that his future questions are relegated to Sundays.