Entities I have gained respect for tonight:
Fox News - Those moderators asked legitimate questions and really did try to clarify the overall picture with all these candidates. Sure there were some soft-ish setups for pandering, but that's par for the course considering the environment. Not overdoing it is what mattered. They were handed the crazy task of moderating 17 people and damn near pulled it off optimally. Shoutout to Megyn Kelly for not taking a garrote to Trump's neck during his response to the question about his attitude/views on women.
Jeb Bush - He gave straight answers and invoked his own successes when they were relevant to the topic at hand. Of all the people I watched tonight, this guy is the only one who I could see as President of the United States of America and not recoil. He asserted that he isn't just another Bush without over-correcting and sounding disingenuous, which was quite a difficult tightrope to walk.
N.W.A. (Or whoever was in charge of promotion, but I digress) - Did they seriously advertise Straight Outta Compton during the Republican Primary Debate on Fox News?! That's amazing, and I love it.
Entities I have lost respect for tonight:
The doctor guy - I didn't bother learning his name and I'm planning on forgetting the vague awareness of his existence I currently have. He demonstrated strong rhetorical skills, but every one of his answers also revealed a blatant lack of actual plan or knowledge of how to lead/govern. Seemed like a smart dude, for sure, but not even remotely ready to run for office, much less run the country. Politics ain't brain surgery, but brain surgery ain't politics.
Chris Christie - Invoking 9/11 once was already a stretch, talking about hugging the families of victims in response to someone accusing him of hugging Obama was just crass. He came off as the same combative douchenozzle he always has, when he had a real opportunity to show off a more reasonable side of himself.
Whoever arranged the background - Since Facebook sponsored and was intertwined with this debate, the Facebook "f" symbol was behind the candidates along with the "FOX NEWS" symbol. Since the two symbols were alternating, it said "f FOX NEWS" behind half the candidates. Which is hilarious, but pretty damn sloppy.