Quote:What is puzzling is how those on the very far right (examples of whom I stated earlier, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham) can be so clearly behind Donald Trump.

The people you've mentioned (along with others who favor Trump) are members of the media first and conservatives second. Trump is a flashpoint for conversation. It's not like John Kasich, who is remarkably nondescript and doesn't generate huge discussion because, well, no one loves him and no one hates him. I have yet to talk to someone who's indifferent about Trump, and the reasons people love or hate him are as varied as the colors of the rainbow. Talking about the policy ideas of Dr. Carson will probably put listeners/viewers to sleep after a few minutes, but throwing Trump's name out there will buy you an entire seven-minute segment and then some, and get your audience engaged and waiting for more. Why are prominent female conservatives behind Trump? Because when the same guy calls in every day and asks how a woman could possibly support Donald Trump, they get to repeat the same impassioned defense of his policies over his mouth, and they generate the sort of intense, visceral response from their audience that keeps people engaged in the show.

 

TL;DR - ratings

 

Quote:Let me ask you this.  How do you think that the FOX News moderators handled the debate?  Was it fair?  Do you see any candidate being treated more or less favorably?

Not directed to me, but I'll answer it anyway. It seemed like Trump was flat-out abused by the moderators, although he brought a lot of that on himself with the way he was answering them. Everyone else had some curveballs thrown their way. No one was really handled with kid gloves, although Huckabee and Kasich seemed like they were given lighter questions overall. Cruz definitely got a few softball questions, although I seem to recall a couple of them coming right after a moderator body-slammed Trump, so maybe they just felt easier by comparison. One could speculate that Huckabee's status as a former colleague (and, soon, a former candidate) probably won him some favor, and Kasich just doesn't have the type of resume that Rand Paul or Jeb Bush bring to the table, nor does he have the type of mouth that Cruz, Rubio or Trump possess.

 

I'll say this: considering that it was a Republican debate on Fox News, I was expecting them to absolutely hammer a few candidates that Murdoch doesn't want around, and throw wiffle balls at guys they want to see in it down the road. I didn't really see much of that, certainly not to the extent that I would expect an MSNBC Democratic debate to beat Bernie Sanders into a pulp then hand his remains to Hillary Clinton.

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