Glad Kasich made the cut. He has no chance in the primary, but he does seem to be the most decent human being of the whole lot.
"Ben Carson, John Kasich, and Mike Huckabee are all former Fox News employees. Donald Trump was such a regular on Fox News that he had a special Monday morning segment on Fox and Friends. All told, 40% of the Republican debate field were regularly featured on Fox, but only 30% were paid employees. The entire setup of the debate demonstrates how deeply intertwined Fox News and the Republican Party are. It is not a coincidence that the debate lineup is populated with former Fox employees and Fox favorites like Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. One can only imagine the outcry from conservative and establishment media if CNN hosted a presidential debate where 30% of the field were former employees of the network, but the mainstream press is so terrified of Fox that no one will utter a peep about the obvious hypocrisy and conflict of interest that surrounds this debate. A news network should not be selecting the candidates who will be participating in a debate. Fox News does not practice journalism, and the conservative media bubble was made even smaller by this con job of a debate selection process." 30% of The Participants In Fox News’ Sham Debate Are Former Fox Employees
Really looking forward to what Jim Gilmore has to say. I think he has a great shot at winning the nomination.
I wonder who is missing from this picture... Trump was originally running as a goof, I think (like everyone else) but I think he's done a 180 and can see this thing actually working now. I cannot wait to watch Trump debate the field. I think the field is either going to shy away from the Donald in fear of being targeted, or they are going to try to team up with each other to take the Donald down. I think the first strategy will be a major failure as it will show the field to be even more spineless, and voters are looking for a spine these days. If everyone teams up to take Trump down, I think it could go either way. An embattled Trump who comes out swinging and landing good shots will look good. Trump's handlers just need to make sure he keeps the name-calling to a minimum. He just needs to use the term "lightweight" whenever he wants to insult someone. "Lightweight" isn't too ugly a word. Calling people idiots and losers will be a bit too harsh (although hilarious, obviously). This has to be the most highly anticipated first debate in a long time. I am rooting for, and anticipating, a Trump domination.
I don't really have a problem with it, honestly. Everybody knows (or should know by now) that Fox is the de facto media organ of the Republican Party. It's a good platform for the leadership to use to communicate regularly with its membership and sympathizers. As long as you aren't oblivious to the fact that it's a party organ, there should be no confusion and no problem. And, within it's function as a party organ, it is just sensible that they be the ones to host debates for leadership and to set the rules for how those are conducted. It's also totally sensible that much of the party leadership has ties to Fox, since it's part of the Republican Party solar system. Just like some of the big leadership of the Soviet Union had written for or been editor for Pravda. I hate the 'just imagine' arguments, but I'm imagining CNN (or my choice, MSNBC) doing the same for the Democratic Party. They wish they could be so lucky. I don't think it'd be any different for them, though, than it is now for Fox.
You don't have a problem with one of two American political parties being aligned with and indistinguishable from one of the couple major American news organizations like the Soviet Union leadership with Pravda? I would say that kind of relationship is pretty screwed up and dangerous.
