CNBC Says Republicans Should’ve Expected ‘Tough Questions’

Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul take the stage during the CNBC Republ... Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul take the stage during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) MORE LESS
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Shortly after Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate came to an end, a CNBC spokesman tried to fend off early criticism of the network’s moderators, saying the candidates should have been prepared for “tough questions.”

In a one-line statement, CNBC’s Brian Steel said, “People who want to be President of the United States should be able to answer tough questions.”

Many people, including several presidential candidates and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, have attacked the network for its handling of the debate. Priebus sent a tweet Wednesday night saying that CNBC “should be ashamed of how this debate was handled.”

The debate’s moderators have defended their questions as fair game. In an interview on MSNBC, moderator John Harwood said the candidates were urged to attack the media, “and that’s what they did.”

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Notable Replies

  1. the candidates were urged to attack the media

    Well of course they were. They attack the media and play the victim card, then they bash “government” as not working despite not having a plan to govern themselves and decades of evidence that conservative government costs more, doesn’t work and divides us from the world community. Maybe the media should begin calling them out more and more on needing to answer “tough questions”.

  2. WHEn IS THE MEdia GOIng to STOP attacking CONSerVATIVEs WITH FActs? EVIDence of LIBTard MEDia HatE ON true American PATRIOts is THEIR GOTcha QUEstioNS. WHy NOT aSK about UnderPANTs? OR HOW BAD is HITLARy? BENGHAZI Blumenthal? LAMEstreAM MEdia IS AMerica’s SHAMe!1!!!one!!!

  3. “People who want to be President of the United States should be able to answer tough questions.”

    Like Ms. Clinton.

    During eleven hours of Benghazi grilling.

    By hostile partisan hacks.

  4. Avatar for sjk sjk says:

    Real moderators would have pounced on the many many lies being told.

  5. Avatar for jcs jcs says:

    Too many pundits today panned moderator’s performance, falling in line with the Republican Prolefeed. In reality their performance was mixed. The real issue is and should be the candidates performance and that was really generally very poor. Lots of lies by the usual suspects-Fiorina and Rubio. Add to the list Carson.
    Is the nation really waking up to these jokers? We can only hope.

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