I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and while I will never be a McCain fan I have to say he was very good last night — particularly in suppressing the Mr. Hyde tendencies so on display Saturday night, and subtly reminding people of his heroism without clubbing them over the head with it. But I did find something peculiar, and I didn’t see it covered in the Corner commentary so I’ll raise it now.

There was a point toward the end, on immigration, when Romney pointed out that McCain himself had once called his own (McCain’s) proposals “amnesty.” McCain came right back and asserted that, in 2005 (if I’m remembering this right), Romney had been very complimentary about the purported reasonableness of McCain’s proposals. Right at that moment, as McCain was speaking, Fox cut to a graphic which spelled out the core of Romney’s prior statement — so that it was written for viewers to read while McCain was talking about it. That seemed very choreographed to me. It would not have stuck out if it had been a constant feature of the debate; but while Wallace used video from time to time, this was the only time I can recall video’s being used to help a candidate make his point. And I thought it helped McCain, especially since Romney’s original charge was not supported by any similar graphic assistance from Fox.

Am I wrong to think this was strange? And while I don’t contend Fox is in the tank for McCain, I do think it suggests (a) a concentration by the moderator on Romney’s biggest weakness which the weaknesses of the other candidates did not get, and (b) a predetermination by Fox to tap into the fray between Romney and McCain/Huckabee — I’m thinking, too, of the montage Wallace showed of Romney’s “negative” ads — which had the effect of marginalizing Giuliani and Thompson as if they were second-tier.