"We thought CNBC did a horrendous job and a disservice, and we agree with the RNC that they should be ashamed of themselves," Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Senator Rand Paul, told CNNMoney early Thursday morning...
Senator Ted Cruz accused the moderators of trying to instigate a cage match. Donald Trump slammed the "ridiculous questions," and Christie grew visibly irate at the moderators' decision to discuss fantasy football instead of other issues.Linked from Drudge under the headline "Shame of the Nation."
"Wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt, we have people out of work, we have ISIS and al-Qaeda attacking us and we're talking about fantasy football?" Christie shouted. "Can we stop?"
ADDED: "CNBC Debate Moderators, Ranked." (#1 is "Fake Louis CK," AKA Jim Cramer.)
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73 comments:
This is how we are supposed to choose a president. By who can best fight off a ridiculous debate moderator. How much did we actually get to hear about them last night? We got to hear them fend off character attacks and talk about minutia (Fantasy Football).
The good news is, other media outlets can see how it looks. Harwood has been a highly respected journalist. They got to see Becky Quick talk about "our cause" over the fake female pay stats. They got to hear Marco Rubio talk about Hillary Clinton's Best Week Ever media hype. Maybe it will be a turning point that way.
But of course....this has to be about the Republican response to the horrible debate. The headline can't be "CNBC runs horrible debate, GOP candidates justifiably seethe"
The GOP is going to regret these irresponsible, extremist attacks on our impartial, unbiased media. I predict a quick walkback next week.
That was an epic shit show. Dems would never win an election if they had to deal with this nonsense.
It was ridiculous right off the bat with the "greatest weakness" question, which is always such bullshit. It's a pointless gotcha question that is asked by unimaginative job interviewers who waste everyone's time. Makes sense why it was asked at the CNBC debate.
A good answer for a candidate would be something like "not being able to hide my disdain for dumb questions." At least no one said "being too much of a perfectionist."
I wish the RNC would just ditch the mainstream media and host the debates on Youtube with a conservative moderator.
If they can't handle a moderator how can we trust them to handle Putin?
Harwood lied. Do lies count? When the Moderators cannot even get the facts straight - isn't that worthy of "seething"?
"Seething GOP candidates escalate their CNBC grievances" is a headline a smug editor could use, if he so chose. Here's another:
"GOP debate sparks epic smackdown of biased CNBC moderators"
The arrogance just permeated from the moderators. The whole media culture is just sick. Even on GMA this morning, the showed clips, but when the went to talk about the moderators, they simply said, "well...the moderators have a tough job managing so many candidates...."
No discussion of bias, or journalistic integrity on GMA, because you have George Snuffleupagus hosting the show.
It their own fault though. Does anybody thing the Dems would be stupid enough to agree to Rush as a debate moderator? And yes...last night's hacks are that biased.
Ironically, the bad moderation turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to the Republicans. It sharpened them as well as united them. This debate was the best of the batch, thus far.
Harwood lied, but so did Candy Crowley in a much more critical moment and debate - and yet Crowley was never punished.
We see this in government today: Reject a FOIA request? No problem. Lie to Congress? It takes enormous effort to get them to vote you in contempt, and then the DOJ won't enforce their contempt ramifications.
And now in the media: Make up stories to promote yourself? 6 months suspension then back in a high paying job. Lie deliberately and obviously? No problem.
Very clever of the GOP to let CNBC moderate the debate and then attack for liberal bias. They should have done this year's ago.
I'm surprised one of the candidates didn't criticize the ineptitude of the moderates and simply walk off the stage.
That would get coverage.
I am Laslo.
garagemahal said, If they can't handle a moderator how can we expect them to handle Putin.
Uh, perhaps you missed it: they did handle the moderators. Extremely well, as a matter of fact.
Garage, they handled the moderators just fine. Calling them out was needed and justified.
The people in the media are no better than Ellsworth Toohey from "The Fountainhead".
John Harwood is a joke. Mollie Hemingway does a blistering take-down here. And she wrote her column the day before the debate fiasco! In other words, she predicted this behavior. It was obvious to her, and should have been obvious to both the RNC and CNBC, that this is a very biased journalist.
Garage Mahal- they *did* handle the moderators!
If they can't handle a moderator how can we trust them to handle Putin?
They handled the moderators just fine.
And we already know that Democrats can't handle Putin. Anyone on that debate stage could hardly do worse than Hilary/Obama.
Yeah, Hillary handed Putin a "reset" button, right? Hahahahaha!
"how can we trust them to handle Putin?"
You mean like Obama and Hillary "handled" him ? NO thanks.
The RNC looks almost as bad as CNBC today.
Remember when CNN and others would just smuggle in the bias into a debate by having "concerned undecided Republicans" actually be "uninterested, declared Democrat partisans?" Glad they've dropped the pretenses.
Last night is standard behavior from Harwood, Quick, Sorkin, etc. It's the same every day. You can always tell the Obama agenda of the moment because the anchors eagerly discuss the talking points with hand picked Democratic operatives posing as objective guests. Fortunately most of the time nobody is watching. The Squawk Box hosts could to their schtick sitting there in their underpants and the only way anyone would notice is because the person Yahoo! pays to watch them would help get it posted to the Yahoo's home page.
Who can forget the horrifying, unfair question "what do you read?"
Or the horrible, unfair question, "Why did you run your own server and only selectively release the emails you exchanged for business, and then wipe it?"
That was such an unfair question, both D frontrunners blasted it!!!
The RNC should take over the debates, select their own moderators, and broadcast on C-SPAN. And they should be real debates. The moderator should do just what the title says - moderate. Just throw out a topic - taxes, Syria, immigration, etc. - then give each candidate a couple of uninterrupted minutes on the topic, going in random order. Then give each one a minute of rebuttal. Then on to next topic. I have not watched any of these just for the reasons that were more than evident last night. Every one is a train wreck because the media are incapable of running an honest, unbiased, informative debate. Glad to see Cruz and Rubio put them down. However, I don't expect much improvement. This whole process is just another example of why the Republicans are The Stupid Party. Quit turning your campaign process over to the Democrats.
On the fantasy football question, while it certainly wasn't a high-priority question, I think it was a legitimate ask...because it was the federal anti-Internet gambling law (and its loophole for fantasy sports) which led to daily fantasy gambling. I was hoping one of the candidates would bring that up.
Or the horrible unfair question, "How could you serve as SoS without ever using a government computer?"
Bu bu bu what about ______????
The sorta good news is, this happened now. During the primary. Helping everyone see exactly how biased the media is.
It's good news because it doesn't harm any of the candidates. Instead, it polishes them. Gets them ready for the attacks to come.
But what about after the Republicans pick their leader? This is when the real bias can interfere. Just like with Candy Crowley. The campaigns need to be smart enough not to let that happen.
Garage, your fear is showing. It's delicious.
Bu bu bu what about ______????
???? indeed.
What answers did you think were poorly given last night, garage?
If I thought Reince were smart enough, I'd almost think the whole thing was a set up by the RNC to permit the candidates to channel some righteous anger at the media. Maybe even a pressure release valve designed to divert some of the angry support from Trump to one of the other candidates.
I just read that the moderator made the same mistake about Rubio's tax plan weeks ago, and admitted it was a mistake.
And he made it again.
I think, if CNBC is going to ever get anything from the RNC again, it needs to be served up with his job. He needs to be fired for that. That's not an honest mistake. That's either the same mistake twice -- which is usually a firing offense -- or deliberate, also worth being fired over.
As long as Harwood works at a place, the RNC and all members of the party should boycott it. Any place employing him is OK with willfully lying about Republicans, and has made it publicly known. He needs to go find a new career that doesn't involve critical thinking.
Blogger garage mahal said...
If they can't handle a moderator how can we trust them to handle Putin?
Ah yes, garage exercising his (for want of a better word) intellect again.
Er, easy there dopey, the point of all this discussion is that they did handle the moderators.
"the federal anti-Internet gambling law (and its loophole for fantasy sports) which led to daily fantasy gambling"
Why is that a serious subject for Republicans ? Let the left, which wants to regulate everything, worry about gambling. Personally, I don't gamble but wonder if the pearl clutching about gambling is simply getting rid of competition for state gambling, like lotteries.
Blogger garage mahal said...
If they can't handle a moderator how can we trust them to handle Putin?
A buddy of mine was in town a few months ago and had met Hillary at a group business lunch a year last year sometime. He said she talked about how much she and Putin HATED each other. They were always kept completely apart, the photo ops from APEC in 2012 were staged and the only time they were in the same room together.
If Garage thinks Hillary can handle Putin, he's crazy. Putin isn't afraid of anybody in our gov't at the moment. He thinks they're all pussies.
"Why is that a serious subject for Republicans ? Let the left, which wants to regulate everything, worry about gambling. Personally, I don't gamble but wonder if the pearl clutching about gambling is simply getting rid of competition for state gambling, like lotteries."
If it was a serious enough subject for Congress to regulate in the first place, it should be on the table for a debate. Is it as important as talking about the economy, or foreign policy, but the competing websites and their ad campaigns are nearly inescapable for a sports fan.
(Not a big fan of gambling in general, including state lotteries...or state-run daily fantasy leagues, which are themselves a thing. They effectively work as a tax on the ill-educated, or the outright bad at math...which works against the social safety net, since the effects of gambling tend to be felt more on the lower end of the economic spectrum. Morally, I dislike it; politically, I don't like regulating commerce unnecessarily. It's actually an issue that cuts to the heart of the economic vs. social conservatism, if you want to give it actual context.)
There’s a need for a nod to reality about these so-called “debates.” The reality is that these “debates” are NOT debates but rather a form of interview, usually biased against the interviewees, of several subjects in a group.
BTW, Trump won the “debate,” because in an interview situation Trump ALWAYS wins. God knows how Trump would do in a real debate but there is little danger of that happening as long as some team chosen from the MSM moderates these spectacles. Debate is not their goal.
But notice the very left wing wackjob Whoopie thinks the GOP should grow some nuts??? Funny, because they almost wet their pants on THE SPEW whenever there is a left wing candidate on, but when there is a Republican, they go after them with all they have?? Maybe Whoopie should give Hillary HER nuts!! hahaha!! http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jeffrey-meyer/2015/10/29/whoopi-goldberg-gop-grow-some-nuts-rather-complain-about-debate
So the RNC is amazed, AMAZED I SAY, to discover that CNBC partisan hacks are partisan hacks?
When did they discover this, and have they heard about MSNBC yet, or CBS, ABC, NBC and all newspapers?
More bullshit from Grackle:
. . . because in an interview situation Trump ALWAYS wins.
And you know this how? Jesus that's moronic. Look:
". . . because in an interview situation Bush ALWAYS wins."
". . . because in an interview situation Cruz ALWAYS wins."
". . . because in an interview situation Hillary ALWAYS wins."
See how I did that?
Is the "what do you read?" talking point going around on leftwing sites? Garage just brought it up. Ashleigh Banfleld just brought it up.
Or the horrible unfair question, "How could you serve as SoS without ever using a government computer?"
Or "what, EXACTLY, did you do as Secretary of State that can be labeled a success?"
I think, if CNBC is going to ever get anything from the RNC again, it needs to be served up with his job. He needs to be fired for that. That's not an honest mistake. That's either the same mistake twice -- which is usually a firing offense -- or deliberate, also worth being fired over.
Or it indicates that Harwood doesn't run his own Twitter feed, which means they should hire the poor flunkie who does to do his job for him.
MountainMan at 10:03
The moderator should do just what the title says - moderate. Just throw out a topic - taxes, Syria, immigration, etc. - then give each candidate a couple of uninterrupted minutes on the topic, going in random order. Then give each one a minute of rebuttal. Then on to next topic.
This is blatantly obvious to me -- and probably to most people.
However, Fox News led everyone down the low road in the first debate. Fox was more interested in trying to embarrass Trump out of the race than in conducting a proper debate.
If Fox had set a good example, the other networks might have followed it. Fox wasted that opportunity for journalistic leadership -- and Trump is still in the race anyway.
Following up my own comment at 12:04
I suspect that the Republican Party's leadership has gone along with this abysmal moderation of all the debates because the leadership is desperate that Trump be provoked into a fatal gaffe.
Consider for example, the question that set Ted Cruz off:
"Senator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of -- another Washington-created crisis is on the way.Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want?"
Or to put it more succinctly:
"Senator Cruz. This debt ceiling bill is GREAT. Doesn't the fact that you oppose it make you unfit to be president?"
Kasich PRAISED the moderators. Yeah, his judgment seems sound.
@garage. If Hillary can't sit down for an interview with Megyn Kelly, how can you expect her to face down Putin?
We already know how how badly Hillary will handle Putin. And Assad. And Isis. And the Iranians.
I'd like to advance a conspiracy theory. Roger Ailes pressured Priebus to accept the CNBC invitation. He did this because he knew that the higher powers at NBC could not resist the temptation to soil themselves. They probably wanted to hire Sidney Blumenthal as a guest moderator. As it has worked out, the CNBC brand has been damaged, especially among the business community. As a consequence the Fox Business News channel will take a concurrent rise in respectability. The Fox Business channel will soon overawe the CNBC people in the way that Fox News out draws MSNBC. All is going as Ailes foretold.
MayBee said...
Bu bu bu what about ______????
???? indeed.
What answers did you think were poorly given last night, garage?
Now that's just cruel.
It's about time that Republicans discover their dignity and stand their ground on principles and policies.
Bitchtits Mahal, your wife left you for being an overweight dipshit who cheerleads for Hama, and you barely graduated from high school. Do you think that this disqualifies you from being the sort of commenter who shouldn't be mercilessly mocked and ridiculed on the Althouse blog?
The point is, Garagey, they DID handle the questions well. Unexpectedly well from the moderators point of view. The gotchas just back-fired. Kind of like your attempts at wit.
When Piers Morgan, Juan Williams, and the GOP agree the questions were horrible, who the hell is Garage to say otherwise? Oh that's right. He didn't even watch. He's just parroting what he read on Kos or Media Mutters this morning.
Back under the bridge, Troll!
A wise conservative pundit once described the media template as when Republicans screw up that's the story, but when Democrats screw up the story is the Republican reaction to it.
Who needs coordination when your MSM SuperPAC is kith and kin to you?
" Fox was more interested in trying to embarrass Trump out of the race than in conducting a proper debate. "
I'm afraid they did not set a good example. Maybe Ailes was behind it. I don't know. The RNC has to come up with a different format and new moderators.
Fo the primary, there is no need to use the MSM. They could do it on Fox or another network that allows such programming. Maybe C-Span would do it. It would probably increase their audience. Doing it on a night without a major sports event would help;
It was obvious to her, and should have been obvious to both the RNC and CNBC, that this is a very biased journalist.
CNBC's bias, and really MSM bias in general, is now much more obvious to the public at large. Last night's performance gives Republicans a lot more leverage to reject "moderators" going forward. This debate will end up being a huge win for the GOP.
A wise conservative pundit once described the media template as when Republicans screw up that's the story, but when Democrats screw up the story is the Republican reaction to it.
Indeed. How the press could turn a story about Democrats leaving, in a non-private server, documents about their plan to stop the nomination of Estrada due to him being Hispanic into an attack on the Republican staffer who noticed and reported those documents is still mind-boggling.
When are Republicans ever going to come to terms with the fact that it's not any news media's job to polish their turd-laden ideas? No one can make their nonsensically bad ideas sound good. Not without lying, at least. And no one's willing to lie as much as a Republican politician. No one.
That's just the way it is, folks. Get over it. Deal.
I'm afraid they did not set a good example. Maybe Ailes was behind it. I don't know. The RNC has to come up with a different format and new moderators.
And a new reality. One where idiotic Republicans can spout any nonsense they want and never get criticized for it or called out on it.
Oh Oh. The day shift at Macdonald's is out.
Get a new joke, already. Recycling bad old ideas that never worked the first time might be the game for your political leaders - (one that's finally catching up with them getting them to lose worse and worse each time) - but commenters can actually tell how unoriginal and boring you are.
Just stream a debate on the RNC Website.
Y'know, R&B, you and Obama and Hillary and Sanders and the CNBC 'moderators' may think keynesian economics is dumb, but the rest of think ol' JMK was on to something important. Like how to grow an economy.
"commenters can actually tell how unoriginal and boring you are."
You can ? Why do you continue.?
"Recycling bad old ideas ideas that never worked in the first place . . ."
Obama would kill for Ronald Reagan's GDP growth. And I mean that literally. Despite what you hear on the MSM, the economy sucks. No jobs, no pay raises. Ask a non-government worker. Slow growth-no growth policies lead to a shitty life for workers.
Gotta love a group of "credentialed but not educated" journalism and political science majors trying to slap one on Harvard Law School alum, Solicitor General of Texas, clerk to Chief Justice Rehnquist and associate deputy Attorney General of the United States Rafael Edward Cruz. Much more fun that watching Christians being thrown to the lions in ancient Rome; the Christians were at least deserving of some compassion.
"Recycling bad old ideas that never worked .."
Oh Yeah..unlike that breath of fresh air coming from the Dem debates.
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