Fox News throws a temper tantrum over GOP debate: "Walk off the stage!"

The conservative propaganda network wasn't impressed with CNBC's performance last night

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published October 29, 2015 3:18PM (EDT)

  (AP/Reuters/Fred Prouser/John Locher/Frank Franklin II/Photo montage by Salon)
(AP/Reuters/Fred Prouser/John Locher/Frank Franklin II/Photo montage by Salon)

Nobody's got a lock on the mainstream media persecution complex like Fox News and when the Republican presidential candidates on last night's debate stage ganged up on the CNBC moderators to whine about unfair questions, Roger Ailes' dutiful employees were quick to cry foul, echoing the anti-media laments their network helped seed among the conservative base.

Megyn Kelly

After being attacked by outraged Fox News viewers who launched a social media campaign (#BimboBarbie) against her following the first GOP debate she co-moderated, Megyn Kelly shared some words of advice on Twitter for CNBC moderator Becky Quick who failed to promptly fact-check Donald Trump when he lied about his own campaign website last night:

"Fox & Friends"

The morning after the debate, co-host Steve Doocy declared CNBC "the big loser," before asking Marco Rubio about a possible librul media conspiracy during the debates. "What kind of agenda did they have going, going into that debate with you guys last night?"

His co-host, Elizabeth Hasselbeck complained that "the moderators did such a lousy job getting to the issues," and then offered Rubio a Fox News viewer's question that she felt should have been asked during the debate instead.

"Had you been president the night of our consulate in Benghazi was attacked, what would you have done differently?"

Fox News' media critic, Howard Kurtz

Kurtz appeared on the "Kelly File" following the debate to offer his critique of CNBC:

Megyn, this was an absolute trainwreck for CNBC. Many of the moderators' questions seemed to be snide, hostile, condescending, borderline insulting. And let me just make clear: I'm totally in favor of tough and provocative questions. When you do that, sometimes audience doesn't like it, sometimes the candidates don't like it. But a lot of the questions were not drilling down on facts or record or policy. When John Harwood says Trump, comic book campaign, or do you have the moral authority to be president? When Carl Quintanilla asked Marco Rubio -- who had a good night by the way -- are you a young man in a hurry? Shouldn't you wait a few years to run for president? It just validated what a lot of people think about the mainstream media -- and this channel is affiliated of course with NBC News -- that they cannot be fair to Republicans.

Charles Krauthammer

Krauthammer appeared with Bill O'Reilly following the debate to complain of the obvious bias from the CNBC moderators, whom he insisted were “all flaming liberals.”

“This was the most appalling performance by the moderators that I can remember seeing in a debate,” Krauthammer told O'Reilly after the Fox News host asked whether the business network anchors were directed by the "liberal" NBC News bosses to attack the GOP candidates.

And the rest of the Fox News gang weighed in on Twitter

Watch some of Fox News' anti-CNBC outrage:

VIDEO: We took a look back at how often candidates mentioned Clinton at the previous three Republican presidential debates. Can you guess how many times we counted?

[jwplayer file="http://media.salon.com/2015/11/ClintonVGOP_Asha_11.2.2015.mp4" image="http://media.salon.com/2015/11/2014-06-11t155415z1813105711gm1ea6b1uc101rtrmadp3usa-politics-clinton.jpg"][/jwplayer]


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

MORE FROM Sophia Tesfaye


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