'Thanks, Kelly Loeffler, I think we got the message': Fox News mocks Georgia senator for repeating herself during debate

• Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler was mocked for repeating a handful of phrases during Sunday's debate in the Georgia Senate runoff election.
• Her catchphrases of the night included "radical liberal Raphael Warnock," mentions of living "the American dream," and suggestions that President Donald Trump "has every right to every legal recourse" to challenge the results of the 2020 election.
• The Fox News host Steve Hilton showed a montage mocking Loeffler and said, "I think this could be put in the category of 'thanks, Kelly Loeffler, I think we got the message.'"
• Several political commentators and comedians also compared Loeffler to a robot.

Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler gave a bizarre performance during a debate on Sunday in Georgia, repeating phrases regardless of the question being asked.

Loeffler was appointed to the Senate in 2019 by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp following the retirement of Johnny Isakson.

Loeffler and her Democratic opponent, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, are vying for one of Georgia's Senate seats in a runoff election on January 5.

Loeffler found a descriptor for her challenger - "radical liberal Raphael Warnock" - and stuck with it to such an extent that even a Fox News host poked fun at her.

—Rex Chapman (@RexChapman) December 7, 2020

"I think this could be put in the category of 'thanks, Kelly Loeffler, I think we got the message,'" Steve Hilton said.

Hilton is one of President Donald Trump's favorite Fox News hosts, despite Trump's recent grievances with the network.

Read more: Meet Donald Trump's new nemeses: The 15 prosecutors and investigators from New York who are primed to pepper the ex-president with history-making civil and criminal probes

Hilton wasn't the only one who picked up on Loeffler repeating herself.

Several reporters, comedians, and political commentators mocked Loeffler as the debate went on, and some compared her to a robot.

—Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) December 7, 2020

—J-L Cauvin (@JLCauvin) December 7, 2020

—Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) December 7, 2020

Warnock didn't call out Loeffler's repetition, choosing to stay on message and draw policy parallels to his personal story.

The moderators pressed Loeffler on issues such as whether members of Congress should be allowed to trade stocks and whether she thought President-elect Joe Biden won the election.

Loeffler dodged the questions. She said Trump "has every right to every legal recourse" to challenge the results of the election, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.

—CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 7, 2020

She also kept going back to a line about living "the American dream," using that to pivot from the question on trading stocks. Loeffler was the focus of an investigation into trades she made at the outset of the pandemic; Warnock has used it to describe Loeffler as out of touch and self-serving.

—philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) December 7, 2020

Loeffler's performance also elicited some comparisons to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at a 2016 Republican primary debate. Rubio kept going back to a line about how President Barack Obama "knows exactly what he's doing."

Unlike Warnock, one of Rubio's opponents seized on the repetition.

"There it is," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at the time. "There it is, the memorized 25-second speech."