Politics –
CNBC Debate Canceled Over GOP Ire
The Republican Party is so PO’ed over how they believe their candidates were treated during last week’s CNBC Presidential Debate, that they’ve canceled an upcoming February, 2016 debate and ended their partnership with NBC altogether!
Politics
In a terse letter from Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, CNBC was read the riot act. Priebus criticized the network for failing to monitor candidates’ speaking time, as well as for questions he called “biased” and “downright insulting.” One such question was aimed at Donald Trump, when the moderator asked “Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?”
“While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates,” Priebus wrote. “What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas.”
Bitter feelings between the RNC and CNBC began brewing even before the debate ended. One reporter witnessed a heated discussion between Jeb Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz and a CNBC producer while the candidates were still on stage.
The ill-feelings continued after the debate, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio launching one of the first bombs against CNBC, saying “Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC, it’s called the mainstream media.”
Others have since chimed in.
“The campaign supports the RNC’s decision to suspend the debate on February 26th due to the total lack of substance and respect exhibited during Wednesday’s night’s debate,” Donald Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Friday. “We look forward to pursuing alternatives along with the RNC to ensure candidates are given ample opportunity to outline their vision for the future of our country.”
“The campaigns are having constant conversations with each other about how to get this back on track,” said Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. “How can we have a real debate when moderators are more interested in promoting themselves than in getting answers from the candidates? That’s the cardinal sin of journalism, and everyone’s sick and tired of it.”
A spokesman for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky praised the RNC’s move. “We hope networks and future moderators realize that what happened in Colorado should never have occurred,” said Sergio Gor, whose candidate complained Wednesday night about a lack of speaking time.
In response to the criticism, NBC News called the RNC’s decision “disappointing,” while leaving the door open to a possible reconciliation.
“Along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party,” the network said.
Rarely do I agree with Repubs on anything. And I only agree with them IN PART when it comes to the media. I watched about 40 minutes of the CNBC debate and it WAS indeed a spectacle. But not because of any "librul" bias. The American news media has a "idiocy" bias and a "do anything for rating$" bias. As I've expressed before, it's mostly a BS and Hype industry. If there's NO actual news they just make isht up. If there's little-to-NO conflict happening they just stir things up. It's what they do. Frankly, IMO, the CNBC moderators are typical "news journalists" you see any day of the week 24/7 on any of the major news station and programs. Most of them are snarky, stunningly UNinformed, intellectually lazy AND incompetent. The only reason their performance is taking a HUGE hit is because ALL OF THAT was on full display… Read more »