Predator and prey

Fox was both predator and prey

GOP candidates feel free to pick fights with a network famed for its conservatism.

By Hadas Gold

Fox News was both the host of Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate and one of its subjects, as Donald Trump repeatedly goaded the network at his own competing event while Ted Cruz took his lectern and his place as the one to take shots at Fox, a once-unthinkable move for a conservative Republican.

"If you guys ask one more mean question, I may have to leave the stage," Cruz said, after a spat with co-moderator Chris Wallace over how many of Fox’s questions were designed to provoke attacks on the Texas senator.

Wallace didn’t let it stand.

“It is a debate, sir,” he said.

Beltway Twitter crowed.

"Chris Wallace throwing shade at Ted Cruz is everything,” tweeted Meghan McCain.

"Chris Wallace is 1000% right. Debates are about sussing out policy disagreements. Which is what the moderators are doing,” The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza added.

It’s common for Republican politicians to attack the media for asking loaded questions — but less common when aimed at Fox, whose ability to draw attention to red-meat conservative issues was long viewed by Republicans as a corrective to the biases or omissions of the mainstream media.

On Thursday, however, Fox was not only the target of disdain by Trump and Cruz, but also chose to defend itself on traditional journalistic grounds — asserting its independence by refusing to negotiate with Trump over its choice of Megyn Kelly as co-moderator, while also insisting it was a fair and neutral forum where all candidates would get an equal shake.

The network says there’s a stark difference between its news reporters — a category in which the moderators fall — and its opinionated hosts like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. But the network is still seen by many on the political right as the very voice of heartland conservatism.

But in this campaign, in which Cruz and Trump have largely defined their candidacies against the Washington-based Republican “establishment,” Fox has gotten lumped in with the D.C. crowd.

In the first GOP debate last August, Trump became agitated over a question from Kelly about his past statements about women, and he took to the airwaves and Twitter to condemn the anchor. That feud, which Trump fanned for five months, culminated in the candidate’s decision to skip Thursday’s debate, after Fox not only refused to replace Kelly as moderator but also mocked his unwillingness to face her questioning.

Thus, on Thursday, many viewers found themselves flipping channels between the official GOP debate in Des Moines, Iowa, and Trump’s event across town. While Kelly, Wallace and co-moderator Bret Baier were busy questioning the seven candidates on the main stage, Trump was declaring victory in his fight with the network by saying Fox News CEO Roger Ailes had apologized to him for the mocking statement. The network immediately demurred.

Ailes had had three short conversations with Trump, acknowledging his objections to a teasing statement that questioned how he would deal with Iran’s ayatollah and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the network said. But it refused to negotiate with the mogul.

"In the last 48 hours, we've kept two issues at the forefront — we would never compromise our journalistic standards and we would always stand by our journalist, Megyn Kelly," the statement said. "We have accomplished those two goals and we are pleased with the outcome. We're very proud to have her on stage as a debate moderator alongside Bret Baier & Chris Wallace."

Even before taking the stage, the moderators made it clear they were expecting some attacks on the media. All three knew they were likely to be in the cross hairs. In fact, in an interview last week, Baier noted that at the CNBC debate, Cruz had one of his best debate moments by going on a tear about the media and the moderators’ questions.

“Frankly, from a political standpoint, Cruz couldn’t have benefited more from that moment,” Baier said.

But after Cruz reprised his attack on Thursday night, this time against Fox, the debate calmed down and, by the second hour, the moderators were able to provoke some truly illuminating moments between the candidates.

Bush, Rubio and Cruz all got grillings on immigration.

Questions were posed in ways that called attention to the ways in which candidates had shifted their positions. Old videos of the candidates themselves were even played to make the point.

Kelly, showing she wasn’t intimidated by Trump, was praised for her tough questions and follow-ups.

“Megyn Kelly is throwing fastballs tonight,” wrote New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

"This is a brilliant part of the debate. Megyn Kelly’s accountability project,” wrote radio host Erick Erickson.

"Just gonna say it: Megyn Kelly's a badass,” Time Magazine’s Dan Hirschhorn wrote.

But while Kelly was being complimented by the media, Trump — competing for attention — was sounding off against the network. The Trump event was carried live by Fox’s two top competitors, CNN and MSNBC.