TwitterThe Republican National Committee decided to make sure that debate night started off with the party's own brand of zinger.
As reporters, bloggers, et al. settled in for the fourth GOP primary debate (or debates, because there was once again a four-person happy hour edition leading into the main event), they soon discovered that the RNC has quite the sense of humor.
"StopHillary" was the wi-fi password that the RNC—which handles debate logistics in each location—chose for the evening being hosted by Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal in Milwaukee.
We imagine that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who continued to take on Hillary Clinton during the earlier debate as if the rest of the GOP field didn't exist, was particularly tickled...
Members of the media certainly found it something to write home about, with many of them taking to Twitter to make sure we were all aware of the partisan jab.
"Brilliant troll from the @GOP for the debate: Making every reporter type 'StopHillary' for their WiFi," Independent Journal director Benny Johnson appreciated the creativity.
While this was guaranteed to be one of the most talked-about moments of the night, it was also a none-too-subtle swipe at the mainstream media—which has been accused by the Republicans of being biased against the GOP field.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called the CNBC debate a couple weeks ago—during which Sen. Ted Cruz slammed the moderators for asking disrespectful questions—a "crap sandwich." Apparently they were intent on serving up some revenge for this go-round, because even the reporters who planned on providing bipartisan coverage of the evening were forced to type in a partisan message if they wanted to use the, er, complimentary Internet.
Clinton, whose campaign sent out text-message rebuttals of various GOP points during the last debate, didn't immediately respond to the wi-fi jab—but she's staying on top of tonight's proceedings on Twitter.