Legal Insurrection Reacts to the #CNBCGOPDebate
We have a lot of opinions, people…
Trigger warning: hot takes!
Give our analyses a look, then take it to the comments…
Aleister:
The CNBC Republican debate was a dumpster fire from beginning to end.
John Harwood and the other moderators were openly hostile and argumentative to the candidates when they weren’t encouraging the candidates to fight among themselves.
What a contrast to the respectful way CNN treated Democrats.
Speaking of the Democrats, were they asked any questions that would appeal to conservative viewers? I watched the Dem debate and I can’t recall any.
Yet Republicans were asked about climate change and pot legalization.
Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Chris Christie all scored applause by pointing out the political bias of the moderators and their questions. Each instance was a shining moment in an otherwise maddening display of liberal media activism.
If you only watch 20 seconds of the #CNBCGOPDebate make it this @tedcruz masterpiece pic.twitter.com/JvrtyrzWR5
— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) October 29, 2015
CNBC should be ashamed.
Tonight’s moderators made Candy Crowley look like William F. Buckley.
Neo-Neocon:
It only took a minute or two to realize that this was a debate, all right. But it was a debate between the moderators and the candidates. Ted Cruz was the first to fight back, with a brilliance that recalled his history as a champion debater. Most of the others—except Bush, Kasich, and Paul—followed in due time, and the crowd roared its approval.
Cruz and Rubio were the standouts. Christie had his moments, too, but it’s unlikely he convinced people to choose him. Fiorina held her own and more, and for Trump and Carson if you liked them before you’ll probably like them now.
Jeb Bush is fading before our very eyes, and it’s become annoying when any of the bottom tier of candidates—Paul, Kasich, and Huckabee—speaks. They’re wasting our time and should drop out. Now.
Amy Miller:
In the past, I have been loathe to immediately attack moderators; I’d rather stick to candidate performance and interaction. Last night’s debate forced me to break that rule, though—CNBC embarrassed itself, and Reince Priebus has a lot of explaining to do.
Still some of our candidates managed to shine through the haze of media bias. Marco Rubio keeps getting better, and if a “winner” is possible, he’s it. He displays both institutional and policy prowess, and his rebuff of Jeb Bush was a clinic in regaining control of the narrative—which will be crucial during the general:
Ted Cruz came in at a close second, and I think he did a great job defending the entire field by hitting back at the biased moderators. He rallied the panel and the crowd against the moderators, and it made a difference as the debate wore on. It was a well-executed coup.
I’ll be interested to see the dynamic between Rubio and Cruz change as we get closer to the first primary contest next year. Cruz’s base is loud, passionate and vocal, and they’re already taking Rubio to task over his time in the Senate. Rubio, on the other hand, is likely to come out swinging against Cruz’s record of more talk than action in the Senate, which will hurt Cruz as we dive deeper into policy and bullet point visions for what America will look like post-Obama.
Carly Fiorina didn’t blow me away, but as usual, she was strong. I don’t agree with the criticism floating around on Twitter right now pitching her performance as the beginning of the end of her campaign.
Jeb Bush doesn’t want to be president. Moving on…
Ben Carson…I forgot participated in this one. He was likable and totally Carson, but he got overshadowed—as did Donald Trump. Shrug. Rand Paul, John Kasich, Chris Christie, and Mike Huckabee are done. They all had good moments, but “good moments” don’t win elections, don’t pad coffers, and don’t convince voters exposed to a supersaturated field of candidates.
Sarah Rumpf:
After the brutal gauntlet of Republican primary debates left Mitt Romney entering the 2012 general election wounded and limping like a stray dog sideswiped by a car, the RNC vowed they would take a firmer hand with the process in 2016. Third time proved to not be the charm tonight and exposed the RNC as embarrassingly negligent in protecting our candidates.
Republican primary voters have sat through a Fox News debate that was the Donald Trump Super Soap Opera Extravaganza, and a CNN debate where the vast majority of the questions were designed to set the candidates at each other. Now tonight we saw the worst to date, as the CNBC moderators interrupted the Republican candidates well before their time was up, debunked Democrat talking points were proffered as substantive questions, and a ridiculous War on Women question was presented as “our issues” by moderator Becky Quick.
The RNC and Chairman Reince Priebus owe the Republican candidates and the many Republican activists who will donate countless hours of their time to help elect a GOP ticket next year an explanation, an apology, and a reassurance that they will take tangible steps to make sure this nonsense ends tonight.
UPDATE: Priebus has tweeted and told reporters that he is “very disappointed” in CNBC and the moderators. That’s one out of three of what Republicans deserve from him. We’ll see if tomorrow brings an explanation and some tangible action.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Thanks to Sarah Rumpf for pointing out one of the major issues in this campaign, the p%#$ poor job that the RNC led by Preibus has done.
The RNC was perfectly able to control a debate field led by JEB, the presumptive nomination heir, until the field exploded and Trump changed the dynamics of the nomination race. However, one benefit of the debates, to date, is that conservative voices seem to be pushing now to be heard and not ignored as the RNC has wanted.
Gonna be interesting these final months leading up to the first state contest. But, still, it seems that the RNC is trying to lose to Queen Hillary; she shouldn’t even come close to winning in a real contest; Hillary the First, Ruler of everything except her husband’s libido!
Correct. The RNC, the entire lot of Senate and House “study committees,” and “professional” conservative organizations are terrible. They still don’t understand how bad they are. Priebus’s response to yesterday evening’s activities was an example; huffing and puffing, full of outrage and posturing, it was still…a response.
The only way out is for them to take control of every situation that demands it. Think ahead, push back, talk about the issues, and there are many. Leaving this to the MSM is irresponsible; the lot of them-not just the on screen personalities-are self absorbed, self promoting, unaccomplished, wannabe poseurs. Every person on the stage yesterday evening, regardless of your position toward them, was far more accomplished than any of the “moderators.” Any moderator with an ounce of self awareness and integrity should know this and behave accordingly.
Full disclosure, didn’t watch it, only clips. Too impressionistic perhaps, I don’t care to have my judgment clouded by an impression of personal characteristics. For now, what they say about important matters (and what they believe is important), what they’ve accomplished, how, and where are important.
[disclosure: I did not watch the debate]
Did anybody expect anything different than a progressive-biased, hostile and aggressive set of moderators from the sister-organization of MSLSD?
Reince Priebus should IMMEDIATELY resign as Chair of the RNC. At least that much both Conservatives and Huff-poo can can agree upon.
Reince Priebus SHOULD have DEMANDED the questions IN ADVANCE for the RNC to look over, under strict rules to prevent disclosure to any of the Candidates and to stop the foolishness that a Progressive-Liberal set of moderators would have engaged in. Basically “What questions are you going to ask, and if it is flaming Liberal-Marxist horsecrap, you’re not asking it or we’re pulling CNBC’s right to the debate.” I’m CERTAIN that they could have found another network, even at the last minute, that would have carried the debate.
What the CNBC debate questions uncovered: America has fallen and it doesn’t know it.
A lot of truth in that. That and the public responses combine to send that message to those who are most interested, and that does not include a great many leaders of business, government, professional, religious, and civic organizations and institutions. It gets worse by the day.
and the fall began when she began to believe flaming liberal MSM…as
journalists when in fact they have been nothing but commentators…shoving
their rendition of any event down her throat..
and they never fail………..
and never mind it insistence on supporting whoever pushes its agenda..
e.g. the Muslim, admitted it to George S in 2008, nanny in the WH
Again, the fix for this whole “not debate” imbroglio is simple.
The RNC should pick A (one, a single, uno) moderator, and it should conduct its OWN REAL DEBATES on it’s own terms and in its own studio setting, or any damn where it can control access.
Questions can come from anywhere, and they should be a bracing mix of some even from our adversaries. Keep it real.
The REAL debate would be taped, and sold to media outlets.
It isn’t rocket surgery…
One might get the idea the GOPe does not want a “debate” that would sale the GOP…
IMO, they want a “show” that will showcase their choice. Fortunately, they have failed, repeatedly.
By the way – The Liberal-Marxist trash that comments on the Huff-Poo stories via Facebook are going bonkers in trying to demean, denigrate and attach the Republican candidates.
The Kiddies over there are going so far as to whine [Engage Whiny Voice] the Democrat candidates got questions that were just as hard, and they were cogent and policy oriented, while the GOP had a shouting match and blamed the media.[End Whiny Voice].
A very significant change occurred last night during the debate and it is a change that will cease the typical circular firing squad that has become a staple of the Republican party. Now that Hilary is the heir apparent to be the Democrat (NOT Democratic) nominee, Republican candidates now have a target to go after who is not one of them. What makes this even better is how Hillary is such a terribly flawed candidate that the Republican campaign against her can start in earnest now thereby saving Republicans from themselves.
I think another thing happened. The candidates realized they were under attack by the moderators and more or less coalesced against them. For example, I think it was Huck that said that he would take Trump any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I am getting a glimmer that the candidates may well realized that, the RNC quite aside, these “debates” are money makers for the network (this show far, far eclipsed any viewer count, ever, in CNBC history) and that they, the candidates, are the draw. They ain’t chopped liver, they don’t show, there is no cash register ringing.
Maybe they collectively stand up? Politicians all have the “E Tu, Brute” gene, who knows. One can always hope.
@Amy Miller: did you just paraphrase the reaction I put under Bill Jacobson’s poll last night? I kid, but we seem to agree completely on this debate. Great minds and all…
I didn’t see it! I’m glad we agree.
I kept thinking what Saturday Night Live could do with this. Their writers will have a field day. Anyway, I just don’t think Dr. Carson came across that well. Most everyone else had “moments”, well maybe not John. And yes, everyday people (like me) do not trust the media. Kinda leaves us in a pickle.
Natch, as if to put an exclamation point on the exposed media bias, MSN leads this morning with “FactCheck: 14 misleading claims made by Republicans”.
MSM has once again hosted its true colors…Their pomposity was once again displayed as it always is…and
the CNBC intellectually challenged trio last night also
brought back memories of how MSM reported VN
I have not taken them but with a grain of salt since then and will NEVER
forgive them and neither did my father, a 30+ Navy who was also an adviser in I Corps 66-74
To continue the ” Double Standard,” the Democrat Debate had a different set of ground rules, most of which were kept silent. The main difference was Hillary and all of the actors surrounding her had the advanced ” Play Book,” ake : questions memorized well in advance. One publication said that this was all a Democrat plan to show the Republicans were disorganized. BS. They never stop with their outright LIES.
“Rubio, on the other hand, is likely to come out swinging against Cruz’s record of more talk than action in the Senate, which will hurt Cruz as we dive deeper into policy and bullet point visions for what America will look like post-Obama.”
I definitely understand this point, and while it has some surface validity, Cruz alone, or with only the Freedom Caucus behind him, can’t do much but raise awareness and lead the most important element of Congress . . . the part that has been all but forgotten except by Cruz–we, the people.
Rubio couldn’t even get crappy little bipartisan scraps up for a vote in the Senate and has been whinging about how much he hates his job, so I doubt that he’s going to go after Cruz for not doing anything (Rubio has done nothing except excel as Chuck Schumer’s pet Republican puppet).
Another problem Rubio faces in such an attack is that his record of would be “achievement” is not conservative. Not by a long long shot. He gave that up within minutes of winning his Senate seat . . . and most of us have not forgotten.
I didn’t watch the debates, letting the numerous clips suffice. However, a few brief impressions:
1) It was predictable and avoidable. Mollie Hemingway had John Harwood’s number in her article at the Federalist, published two days before the debate. And as a regular CNBC viewer, so did many of I. The fellow oozes smug leftism in the guise of “journalism”. (Several years ago his unrelenting defense of Obamacare, and barely contained emotions on the subject, was too obvious to ignore).
2)CNBC had, several years ago, many conservative-libertarian journalists: Trish Reagan, Larry Kudlow, Melissa Francis, etc. They are all gone. Santelli is locked down as “house conservative ranter”, and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera has been derailed into international coverage.
3)While this is was trainwreck, I think its silver lining is a whole lot bigger than the dark cloud. Many GOP candidates shined, the MSM took a long overdue beating, and my favorites made some breakthroughs: Cruz, Rubio, even Christie.
4)Jeb Bush is becoming painful. Please, someone get the hook.
Was going to check this earlier but I’m thoroughly tired of how long this page takes to load and skipping up and down as items load. Just switched to latest version of a browser and it’s doing this.