Fox News’ Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer scored poor marks with left and right media Thursday for their supposedly lazy and “insulting” handling of the first GOP primary debate.
“‘Hit me with your best soundbite, please,'” Mother Jones’ Patrick Caldwell joked. “A+ moderating here.”
BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski added, “The losers of this debate are both of the hosts from Fox News.”
“Would’ve been great if someone had responded to these insulting questions by asking moderators why they’re not hosting the big debate,” Politico’s Eli Stolkos followed up, referring to a second debate Thursday night featuring the top-polling GOP candidates.
The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto said, “‘You’re all very well-behaved so far.’ Moderators have graduated from insult to backhanded compliment.”
Members of the press also voiced their displeasure with what appeared to be an attempt by the Fox moderators to goad the candidates into fighting one another on stage.
“The moderators are now actively trying to get the debaters to engage with each other, over Medicaid expansion. No one is taking the bait,” the Wall Street Journal’s Sloan Dickey said.
Stolkos added, “Moderators effort to goad candidates into sparring underlines same truth as Trump’s ascent: at this point, 2016 is all about entertainment.”
ABC News’ Ali Weinberg contributed, “So far, the most the moderators have pressed a candidate to answer the question is when they want them to take shots at a fellow candidate.”
The Fox moderators asked the nine runner-up Republican candidates, including former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, about the continued polling dominance of former reality TV star and fellow GOP candidate Donald Trump. The moderators also asked the candidates to explain how they would deal with the rise of the Islamic State as well as Planned Parenthood’s fetal organ harvesting scandal.
Reporters were unhappy with specific debate questions, claiming that both Hemmer and MacCallum indulged in misinformation.
“Moderators were wrong, [Guantanamo] was not Obama’s first executive order,” Bloomberg News’ Josh Rogin said, referring to Hemmer and MacCallum incorrectly stating that President Obama on his first day in office “First two were about federal records and lobbying.”
Hemmer said exactly: “On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba?”
The Huffington Post’s Alyona Mink meanwhile added, “Aside from shockingly pointing out that Saudi Arabia also funds terrorism, there is a mind-blowing lack of facts in moderators’ questions.”
The majority of criticism for Fox, however, came from media figures who were unimpressed with the uninspired questions, and for the failure on part of the moderators to push the nine candidates to clarify their respective positions.
“FOX moderators: Obama bad. Other presidents good. You are like good? How?” the Huffington Post’s Paul Blumenthal joked.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt was unimpressed that the Planned Parenthood scandal was mentioned only after a candidate – and not the moderators – brought it up.
“Moderators were awful. Whole thing deeply sad,” Time magazine’s Alex Altman said.
The Star Tribune’s Patrick Condon added, “Moderators setting a high bar with this question. Reagan … JFK … FDR … match their rhetoric – GO!”
New York Daily News editor Josh Greenman stated, “These are most certainly the bottom-tier Fox News moderators.”
“If this were a courtroom, judge would slap @FoxNews moderators for asking leading questions. ‘Fair and balanced’?” the Sacramento Bee’s Foon Rhee asked.
Even reporters who felt more charitably towards the Fox anchors felt compelled to say their questions and moderating left much to be desired.
“The Fox moderators have had some sharp, tough questions, but asking a candidate for inspiring slogan isn’t one of them,” the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker said.
Perhaps summing up everyone’s feelings on the issue, National Review’s Jim Geraghty quipped, “Man, are these moderators pissed to be stuck with the second-tier candidates!”
