Brian Brown Has The Fox Debate Sadz

"The nation watched the first debate of the presidential cycle this week, as Fox News hosted the affair from Cleveland on Thursday evening. As many NOM supporters have observed, the mainstream media rarely treats the marriage issue with the importance it deserves, and even Fox News has been reluctant to give it fair and balanced coverage. Regrettably, this was evident in their handling of the marriage issue during the presidential debate. Only two candidates were asked about marriage, and it was phrased in an adversarial way, pitting support for traditional marriage as being at odds with support for a gay family member. How ridiculous! Sadly, when it came to the marriage issue, Fox News bumbled badly. We hope that future debates will give the candidates a fuller opportunity to expound on their views about protecting marriage and the actions they will take as president to reverse the illegitimate ruling of the Supreme Court. NOM is committed to helping the American people separate out the marriage champions from the pretenders by issuing our Presidential Marriage Pledge. A number of candidates have signed onto our pledge, and we will be announcing those names soon." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, writing for NOM's blog.

Donald Trump On Megyn Kelly: There Was Blood Coming Out Of Her Wherever

The GOP Debate: Songified

Todd Starnes Swipes At Megyn Kelly

Hillary Campaign Mocks GOP Debate

Fox Debate Breaks Viewership Record

CNN reports:

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.

Last night may have been the most-watched Fox News telecast ever.

Taiwanese Animators On GOP Debate

Frank Bruni: Hooray For Fox News

"This wasn’t a debate, at least not like most of those I’ve seen. This was an inquisition. On Thursday night in Cleveland, the Fox News moderators did what only Fox News moderators could have done, because the representatives of any other network would have been accused of pro-Democratic partisanship. They took each of the 10 Republicans onstage to task. They held each of them to account. They made each address the most prominent blemishes on his record, the most profound apprehensions that voters feel about him, the greatest vulnerability that he has. It was riveting. It was admirable. It compels me to write a cluster of words I never imagined writing: hooray for Fox News." - Frank Bruni, writing for the New York Times. (Read the full piece.)

Today's New York Daily News

GOP Debate Audience Cheers When John Kasich Expresses Support For Gays

The Huffington Post recaps:

“Our court has ruled and I said we’ll accept it,” Kasich said in response to a question from moderator Megyn Kelly about what he would do if his child were homosexual. “And guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who is gay." "Just because they don’t think the same way doesn’t mean we shouldn’t love them,” he added. “That’s what we’re taught when we have strong faith." The crowd cheered Kasich’s response. The reaction contrasted starkly with a 2011 Republican presidential debate in which audience members booed Army Capt. Stephen Hill, a gay combat veteran, for speaking favorably about the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

It really was a surprising moment.

Drudge Readers: Trump By A Landslide

According to over 185,000 Drudge Report readers, Donald Trump won last night's debate. Trump took 50% of the poll's total vote with Ted Cruz coming in a distant second.

GOP Candidates Reveal Pre-Debate Rituals

Via Bustle:

We're just hours away from the first Republican primary debate on Thursday evening. At 5 p.m., seven candidates who trailed in the polls will present their stance before the 10 leading candidates take the stage for the main event at 9 p.m. Some have participated in dozens of these debates — or, at the very least, similar speeches, interviews, and campaign events — so, naturally, they've developed certain habits and traditions to help them prepare. In a video made by the website Independent Journal Review, the 2016 Republican candidates reveal their pre-debate rituals that help them get centered and focused. Some of these will surprise (and delight) you. The video, which was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday just hours before the debates, appears to have been made before Fox News announced its lineup of the 10 candidates who will be partaking in the primetime debate, as it features several of the candidates who will be taking the 5 p.m. stage. That distinction should not matter, however, because the earlier debate will be equally important in shedding light on the GOP candidates' positions.

HomoQuotable - Michelangelo Signorile

"In a Washington Post column headlined 'Silence Is Golden on Gay Issues,' my longtime colleague and friend Jonathan Capehart heralds it as 'a great thing' that gay issues weren't discussed in the presidential debates this year. The Human Rights Campaign's Fred Sainz agrees, telling Capehart, 'What we're seeing is proof positive that gay issues aren't the wedge they used to be and furthermore, the public has moved on.' [snip]

"I don't buy that. There's a stark difference between these two candidates on LGBT rights, more than between any presidential candidates in history, just as there's a stark difference on women's issues and a stark difference on economic policy. Sure, the economy is taking precedence right now as an issue, but few doubt that it was important when ABC's Martha Raddatz got around to the issue of abortion and contraception with the vice presidential candidates. And it's too bad that neither she nor any of the presidential debate moderators asked about gay issues. On this one, silence is golden only for Romney, as he tries to present himself as a moderate and win the election." - Michelangelo Signorile, writing for the Huffington Post.

Debate Meme Watch

From Horse & Bayonets, the Tumblr. Probably not as much fun as binders full of women.

Round Three: Who Won?

Reactions and analysis, please!

Final Presidential Debate: Open Thread

Tonight's final presidential debate begins at 9PM Eastern in Boca Raton, Florida. The below stream from ABC News should go live just before things begin. React in the comments as things happen.

UPDATE: The live stream has concluded.

Billboard Of The Day

The Friendly Atheist reports that the above billboard truck has been spotted near the venue for tonight's final debate in Boca Raton.

Google's Debate Poll

Tagg Romney Wanted To "Take A Swing" At The President During The Debate

Tagg Romney today told a radio audience that he wanted to punch the president during last night's debate.

During an interview with North Carolina radio host Bill LuMaye, Tagg Romney said that hearing the president call his father a liar made him want to "jump out of [his] seat and ... rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him." He continued: "But you know you can't do that because, well first because there's a lot of Secret Service between you and him, but also because this is the nature of the process, they're going to do everything they can do to try to make my dad into someone he's not. We signed up for it. We've gotta kinda sit there and take our punches and then send them right back the other way."

The reason Tagg Romney didn't physically assault the sitting president of the United States is because there were Secret Service agents in his way?  Let's hope some of those agents "get in his way" before the final debate. He should not be allowed to attend.

UPDATE: Via my pal Karl Frisch, here's the audio.


NOTE: I misidentified Tagg Romney in the photo used for the first draft of this post. Thanks to a kind tip from Karl, I've replaced that photo with the correct Romney son.

Songified: Presidential Debate #2

Super-catchy. Love the dancing Romney. From Brooklyn's genius Gregory Brothers, who used to bring us Auto-Tune The News.