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Real-estate magnate Donald Trump reamed Fox News moderators and associates during a lengthy Twitter rant early Friday morning, hours after the first Republican presidential debate. Trump went off on moderator Megyn Kelly, who he said "bombed." Kelly had perhaps the most contentious exchange of the night with Trump when she asked him about a slew of past offensive comments toward women.And Trump had harsh words for Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who conducted a focus group of Republican voters that gave Trump brutal reviews after the debate. He called Luntz a "clown" and a "slob."Trump cited two polls frequently during his...

I predicted the debate could be a letdown, in some ways I was right. There were, however, times such as when Chris Christie and Rand Paul mixed it up on government data collection that makes these debates worthwhile in the first place. If only we had more of those. That is what real debate is, not some ultra-controlled environment where candidates give canned answers that are even less appetizing than oven fresh Spam. Candidates like Rubio, Cruz and Walker went about as well as would be expected from them. A major screw up from them would be like an NFL...

During the Republican debate Thursday night in Ohio, moderator Megyn Kelly called nominee Donald Trump out for misogynistic comments he's made in the past, which included referring to calling women fat pigs and slobs. Before Kelly could get to her full question, Trump quipped, "Only Rosie O'Donnell." As laughter died down from the crowd, Kelly pointed out that "for the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell," to which Trump snickered back, "Yes, I'm sure it was." So Trump managed to not answer the moderator's question about being disparaging towards women with a disparaging joke. Kelly continued on, pointing out...

-- Snip --Donald Trump: F (if you hate Trump)/A (if you love Trump)/F (if you’re indifferent). Poll frontrunner Donald Trump clearly took the brunt of the heat during the evening. But the very fact that the moderators seemed so pleased to bruise him – combined with the punch-throwing at Trump by other candidates – forestalled what could have been a serious campaign to take him out of the running.-- Snip --Scott Walker: C. Governor Walker didn’t do poorly, but he didn’t do well. He was simply… there. No big answers, no big moments. On immigration, he gave the right answer...

Marco Rubio won the first GOP presidential debate on Thursday night. He was confident, energetic, eloquent, knowledgeable, and figured out the way to handle Donald Trump. The importance of debates is vastly overrated, and it’s a long, long time before the first caucus in Iowa, but Rubio proved he belongs in the first tier of presidential contenders, and will be in this race for the long haul. The debate itself was entertaining, combative, and had several gripping moments—and not all of them involved Trump. This field is much stronger than the one in 2012. John Kasich and Chris Christie gave...

Early overnight Nielsen ratings suggest that Thursday's Republican debate was not just the most-watched primary debate in history -- it may have been twice as big as the previous record-holder. The debate on Fox News had a 16.0 household rating between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to Nielsen. Translation: 16% of United States homes with TV sets tuned in. Fox News usually has 1% or 2% of the household audience. For the sake of comparison, the highest-rated Republican primary debates in 2011 and 2012 were watched by approximately 5% of households. The Democratic primary debates in 2008 were bigger,...

I missed the first 5 or ten minutes looking for a good internet connection

Fox News Channel tried two different approaches to political debate moderation yesterday: a rather straightforward approach by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum in the second-tier candidates’ debate and a far more pointed and combative approach to the first-tier candidates. Evaluating which was the better approach depends on the criteria being applied. From the standpoint of entertaining, memorable moments, the work of Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and especially Megyn Kelly in the prime-time debate triumphed. It was far livelier and more entertaining than I expected. Many respected conservative commentators were upset. The first-round debate was a snoozer by comparison, though it...

We might have had a different president, America would be far better off. However one feels about the Republican Party, the multitude of candidates for president, and Donald Trump, last night’s debate was an example of how journalism should be practiced. The Washington Post’s James Hohmann has a round-up of key points made last night – and they were blows against the Donald.  But they were blows based on his own words and history: He started the debate on the defensive over his refusal to rule out an independent bid. Megyn Kelly, one of three moderators, then memorably pushed...

A few hours before Thursday’s Fox News debate, a friend of Donald Trump’s confided to me that Trump was nervous. Not about the competition — he could handle them. No, Trump worried about Fox News, and in particular, debate moderator Megyn Kelly. She’d been hammering him all week on her show, and he was certain she was out to get him. He had canceled a Fox News appearance on Monday night, the friend said, in order to avoid her. (Trump’s spokeswoman wouldn’t confirm or deny this.) It turns out Trump was right. His toughest opponents Thursday night weren’t the candidates...

Overnight on Twitter, Trump said that Kelly “bombed” as a moderator. “Wow, @megynkelly really bombed tonight. People are going wild on twitter! Funny to watch,” Trump tweeted. Trump added that Kelly, along with moderators Bret Baier and Chris Wallace, were not very professional. “I really enjoyed the debate tonight even though the @FoxNews trio, especially @megynkelly, was not very good or professional!” he stated. Trump even retweeted a post that referred to Kelly as a “bimbo.” The billionaire also lashed out at Luntz after getting a poor review from a focus group following the debate. Trump referred to Luntz as...

Struck me as desperate, maybe Karl Rove is spooked- and thinks it's their last chance to slow him down----------------------------------------------------------- I personally don't think Trump has serious, detailed plans for tackling the nation's problems, but as an experienced executive he would likely get the right people in there to put it all together... And he does know how to fix things. I always liked how Trump said some things I wanted to hear -yet never did elsewhere- starting in 2012 ('Take the oil!'). But outside of shaky 'conservative' credentials, I also don't think he's the kind of guy that should be...

It’s still all the Donald.

President Obama mocks Donald Trump over his Presidential ambitions, birth certificate conspiracy & Celebrity Apprentice!

From the very beginning you could tell that Trump on a debate stage was going to play much differently than Trump has the last several weeks. It’s one thing to flirt with a third-party run in statements to the press and another to say you’re considering it while participating in a Republican presidential debate. Same with bragging about buying off politicians, and taking advantage of bankruptcy procedures. He, of course, couldn’t answer about his evidence that the Mexican government is pushing people over the border. And his slap at Megyn Kelly was a classic case of not knowing your audience....

In last night's Republican debate on Fox News, there were a few moments of tension, most of which featured Donald Trump. However, the big story is that there is no big story. Trump was not his normal bigger-than-life personality, nor was he just another candidate. He and Jeb Bush were polite to each other, although Trump did bump elbows with all three moderators on one occasion each – and also had a pretty testy exchange early with Rand Paul. Rand also had an angry exchange with Chris Christie, and Rand got off a good line about the "big hug with...

Of all the questions Thursday night during the Fox News debate, one of the biggest moments was when Fox News host Megyn Kelly challenged Donald Trump on making crude comments about women. Trump was displeased with the tone of the question, and after the debate, he criticized Kelly while talking to reporters in the spin room.

By any objective measure, Thursday night's debate was a trainwreck for Donald Trump. In one night, he refused to rule out a general election bid as an independent if he lost the Republican nomination, praised the Canadian socialized healthcare system, defended past sexist comments, threatened to be mean to popular Fox News host Megyn Kelly, and demonstrated a lack of understanding of important national and international issues. By any law of politics, the Trump bubble should burst after tonight. But so far, Trump's candidacy has defied the laws of political physics, so it's difficult to predict the extent to which...

The night was, beyond anything else, predictable. There were some fireworks — Megyn Kelly demanding Donald Trump defend his misogyny (“I’m not politically correct”), Chris Christie and Rand Paul in a spirited debate about whether and how to conduct surveillance on the American people — but for 90 percent of their first presidential debate, Republicans said exactly what you’d expect. They’ll repeal Obamacare. They’ll undo President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. They’ll cut taxes, mostly in ways that favor the wealthiest Americans. They don’t like transgender people in the military, and ISIS is somehow Obama’s fault. What was on display...

Complete Headline: Donald Trump fires angry tweets at Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly, analyst Frank Luntz – at 3 a.m. Someone needs a Twitter time out. Donald Trump was still on the offensive in every sense of the word, hours after the GOP debate ended. First he elbowed his way through the crowded field of Republican presidential hopefuls on stage in Cleveland. Then he lambasted Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly and analyst Frank Luntz, saving his most pointed attacks of the night for the media personalities. [Snip] Kelly’s pointed remarks about The Donald’s portrayal of women turned any pretense of...