Exactly 32 seconds after the debate ended, Fox anchor Megyn Kelly began spinning the debate as biased as a consequence of the questions asked by the undecided voters in the audience. Here’s what she said:

KELLY: And the questions! 11 questions asked in all, and some of which will certainly be discussed tomorrow. Topics that we haven’t heard at all in this campaign — equal pay for women, in fact there were a lot of women’s issues discussed…abortion, contraception, women’s pay as I mentioned. Some might argue it was obvious pandering to women because the female vote is so important in this election. Apart from equal pay for women, we heard a discussion about assault weapons ban, a question to Mitt Romney about how are you different from President Bush, and then a question to President Obama, what have you done to earn my vote? The one question on foreign policy by my count was about Libya, and seemed to cover ground that we already knew the answer to: it was who denied the request for increased security. Well, we heard great testimony about that last week, there were State department officials who answered that question. So there will be some questions about those selections, Bret.

Watch it straight from the end of the debate:

Contra Kelly’s implication, State Department cables prove that there was no request for increased security at the Benghazi diplomatic location, let alone a denied one.

This morning ThinkProgress reported on the sexist tweet by a Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin in response to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s admission of responsibility for the attacks in Libya. Making a reference to Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, Rubin wrote:

First Bill humiliates her and now Obama does.. Hillary no feminist, more like doormat

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 16, 2012

But she was not alone in making a gendered assessment of Clinton’s decision to take the blame. Other conservatives joined in, either sexualizing the situation, pointing to Clinton’s physical appearance, or citing the fact that she is a woman as a way of mocking her:

So after shoving her aside in 2008, Obama now hides behind Hillary’s pantsuit. #Leadership

— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) October 16, 2012

Obama throws Hillary under the bus, blames Libya on her. And they say it’s the GOP waging a war on women!

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) October 16, 2012

Hillary Clinton is the Democrats’ battered woman.

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2012

Hillary has Obama’s manhood in a vise. He fires her, he loses. He doesn’t, her “falling on the sword” means nothing, and he loses.

— benshapiro (@benshapiro) October 16, 2012

Rush Limbaugh, who has perhaps the longest and most sordid history of sexist claims against powerful women, piled on to the gendered criticism of Hillary Clinton, calling her a “doormat.” Listen:

A candidate for State Senate in Kansas believes that Catholics, and Christians more broadly, who support Democrats cannot be true believers in Christ. Republican Steve Fitzgerald, challenging incumbent Catholic Democrat Kelly Kultala, told the left-leaning Polish American Club that the Democratic Party had become un-Christian. When asked if he stood by his remarks by the Huffington Post, Fitzgerald escalated:

My main point is that the Democratic platform and policies nationally are an attempt to redefine marriage in effect to say what Christ has said about marriage is a lie. Christ said marriage is between one man and one woman and the Democratic platform said that it’s not true. So therefore, my point was that one cannot support the Democratic platform and be a follower of Christ. …The contention that I said that one cannot be Catholic or Christian and a Democrat is not an unreasonable summation of what I actually said. My actual message was fix the party or leave.

Fitzgerald explicitly excommunicated his opponent, saying that “she calls herself a Catholic and I don’t know how she does that.” However, on the issues Fitzgerald cites, American Catholics are much more in line with Kultala than him: two-thirds support keeping abortion legal and three-quarters favor either full marriage equality or civil unions, with a plurality supporting the former. Catholic theology on assisting the poor is also far more in line with Democratic policy priorities, which seek to sustain a strong social safety net, than Republican ones.

This isn’t the first controversial comment made by Fitzgerald, who has said that Obamacare has put “the American Republic…on the endangered species list.” But when asked about the controversy generated by his remarks on Catholic Democrats, Fitzgerald said that “I can’t believe this is getting attention.”

The Drudge Report, Mitt Romney’s favorite website, is stirring up another race-baiting conspiracy theory. Since Friday, Drudge has linked to two articles on conspiracy site Infowars.com warning of “massive riots” of black people attacking white people should Mitt Romney win the election.

Infowars excitedly posted the second article, above, after their first one “was picked up by the Drudge Report over the weekend and has since gone viral.” Drudge linked to the second story on Monday.

The Infowars story from Monday collects 11 tweets — all from accounts with African American avatars — talking about rioting if Obama loses the election. Infowars claims they only included 11 because “there are simply too many to track.”

“If obama dont get re-elected & romney wins .. on life every white persons getting pistol whipped and im startin a riot.”

“If Obama don’t win lets start a riot so Romney know what he’s getting himself into.”

“You know you ain’t shit if you gotta “MAKE” Mafukas vote for ROMNEY ! …. Mannnn OBAMA better get back in office . Or BLACK FOLKS will riot.”

“If Romney wins im goin on a rampage.”

“If Mitt Romney wins the election I think its our duties as Black folks to riot and fuck shit up.”

“If every action IS met with an equal and opposite reaction ..what should workers do to employers if Romney’s elected? #Riot in the streets!!”

“If Romney becomes president let’s all start a riot.”

“I Heard Mitt Romney , Tryna Take Away Food Stamps , If He Do .”IMA START A RIOT , IMA START A RIOT.”

“If romney wins, imma start a mf’n riot! Rns.”

The original Infowars story cited right-wing blog Twitchy, which compiled more black people talking about rioting on Twitter. As these sites have limited audiences, a Drudge link can explode their traffic and circulates their otherwise fringe theories.

As the election looms closer, right-wing groups and bloggers have amped up their racially-charged attacks on President Obama, such as in a Tea Party ad falsely accusing Obama of giving poor minorities phones. The Drudge Report has led the charge, most recently with an old video, condoned by the Romney campaign, meant to stoke fears that Obama is inciting aggression against white people.

Debates move quickly. The candidates toss out facts at breakneck speeds, trying to get across their entire plans in just 90 minutes. Tonight, Obama and Romney will square off in a debate that’s been billed as high-stakes — Obama will seek to regain the momentum, while Romney hopes to sustain his.

So as the candidates barrel through the details of their respective plans, here are some facts you should keep on hand:

1. The deficit is largely a product of tax cuts and wars. The newest report out from the Congressional Budget Office shows that we have a still-large but slowing budget shortfall, with the deficit at $1.1 trillion for 2012. But the issues that are adding the most to our deficit aren’t health care costs or the stimulus; wars and tax cuts are responsible for that:

2. When US officials asked for more security in Libya, they wanted it in Tripoli, not Benghazi. The attack on the United States embassy in Libya was a tragedy that has had a confusing aftermath. Republicans have claimed that employees at the Benghazi embassy asked for more security in the days before the attack, but actually it was the embassy in Tripoli, not Benghazi where the attack occurred, that sought longer hours for its security guards.

3. 72 million people would be uninsured under Romney’s health plan. A recent study of Romney’s health care plan shows that it would increase health care premiums for most Americans, and would leave 72 million people uninsured. If the Affordable Care Act were repealed, 60 million Americans would remain uninsured. Under Obama’s plan, that number is expected to drop to 27.1 million:

4. If the DREAM Act were passed, it would add $329 billion to the economy by 2030. President Obama has vowed to pass the DREAM Act — a bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for young, undocumented students and service members — while candidate Romney has said he’d veto it. According to a joint report by the Center for American Progress and the Partnership for a New American Economy, passing the DREAM Act “would add $329 billion to the U.S. economy and create 1.4 million new jobs by 2030.”

5. The “six studies” that Romney cites in defense of his tax plan are actually 3 blog posts, 2 right-wing reports and 1 op-ed. The idea that a Romney administration could give a 20 percent tax cut to everyone, and then pay for it by eliminating loopholes and deductions for the wealthy has been strong refuted by the Tax Policy Center. Romney has cited six other “studies” that confirm his plan could work, but those are dubious: One is a report by the conservative Heritage foundation, one is a paper from a former Bush adviser, one is an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, and three are blog posts.

During a heated debate in New London, CT, Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon was confronted with her recent claim that Catholic-run hospitals should be allowed to deny emergency contraception to rape victims.

McMahon, who has been trying to convince her Democrat-heavy state that she is pro-choice, quickly reversed herself, claiming she was talking about a church being forced to administer the morning after pill, rather than a hospital:

MCMAHON: It was really an issue about a Catholic church being forced to offer those pills if the person came in in an emergency rape. That was my response to it. I absolutely think that we should avail women who come in with rape victims the opportunity to have those morning after pills or the treatment that they should get.

Watch it:

Though McMahon now claims she thought churches were being required to administer the morning after pill, the original question, asked repeatedly by the Hartford Courant editorial board, clearly referred to a hospital, where a rape victim is far more likely to seek help.

Connecticut passed a law in 2007 requiring all hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. Catholic hospitals in the state now do a pregnancy test before administering Plan B pills. The Hartford Courant reported at the time that the bishops did not believe Plan B amounted to an abortion even if the woman was ovulating, saying, “To administer Plan B pills without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act.’”

McMahon, however, says she would have voted for the Blunt Amendment, which would have allowed any employer to refuse any kind of health care on moral grounds.

Tonight, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took responsibility for the tragic death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya. Clinton told CNN: “I take responsibility. I’m in charge of the State Department’s 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts.”

In response, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin took to Twitter with a series of sexist, personal attacks against Clinton:

 

First Bill humiliates her and now Obama does.. Hillary no feminist, more like doormat

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 16, 2012

 

She then attacked Clinton for moving to Arkansas after her graduation from Yale law school:

 

@stevenjduffield yeah once you take your Yale law degree and go to Arkansas you basically are putting your career in the hands of others

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 16, 2012

 

In response to Obama adviser David Axelrod, she said Obama was trying to “hide behind her skirt”:

 

@davidaxelrod so is Obama going to hide behind her skirt Tuesday night? Why would the president let Hillary end her career in disgrace?

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 16, 2012

 

The right-wing, including Mitt Romney, began politicizing the tragedy in Benghazi almost immediately after the attack.

This is not the first time the Washington Post has been involved in over-the-top insults directed at Hillary Clinton. In 2009, columnist Dana Milbank suggested that Hillary Clinton should drink “Mad Bitch Beer” in a video featured on the Post’s website. Milbank, along with fellow columnist Chris Cillizza, later apologized. The Post’s Executive Editor, Marcus Brauchli, called the segment a “serious lapse in judgment.”

In October, the Washington Post ombudsman said Rubin did “damage to The Post and the credibility that keeps it afloat” with an inappropriate tweet, calling Rubin’s conduct on Twitter “a huge disappointment.”

Disclosure: The author worked for the Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2008 presidential primary