Facing intense criticism from several of the GOP Presidential candidates and from the public, today RNC Chair Reince Priebus sent a letter to Andrew Lack, chairman of NBC News, informing him that the RNC is suspending it’s debate partnership with the network.
Priebus stated in his letter that although CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on key issues like job growth, taxes, technology, retirement and the economy, this was not the case. The candidates were also promised an opening question on the economy or financial matters and that did not happen. And they were also promised that speaking times would be monitored. According to Priebus, none of that happened. Instead, he called the questions asked “inaccurate or downright offensive”. Hoping for a substantive debate on the issues important to American, Priebus stated, “CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of ‘gotcha’ questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates”.
During the debate on Wednesday, clearly the candidates were riled and finally Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) decided he’d had enough. After calling out one of the CNBC moderators, Cruz stated during the debate, “The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media… this is not a cage match.” Cruz implored the moderators to ask questions about issues that are important to voters. Several other candidates spoke up as well. Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ) in the process of answering a question, was interrupted several times by the moderator. Clearly fed up, Christie asked if perhaps the moderator would like to answer his own question, and in response to a question about fantasy football, Christie was incredulous, stating that with threats from ISIS and Al Qaeda, instead questions about fantasy football were being asked. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) had what many considered to be the line of the night. When asked a question about Superpacs, Rubio responded, “Democrats have the ultimate Super Pac, it’s called the Mainstream Media”.
Prebius’s letter to NBC indicated that the debate scheduled for February 26, 2016 at the University of Houston would go on as planned, but with the National Review as a sponsoring media organization.
