Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
There were clear winners and losers in the GOP debate last night, but the biggest loser wasn’t even on the debate stage.
It was the CNBC debate monitors who were combative, pitted candidates against each other, and ended up debating the issues more than some of the actual candidates themselves.
Donald Trump tangled with Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Jeb Bush called on Marco Rubio – his political protege – to resign his U.S. Senate seat in Wednesday’s Republican debate which turned into a cage match in Colorado.
As the CNBC hosts progressively lost control of the event, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz turned openly hostile, accusing them all of being Democrats intent on damaging the GOP field.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie soon piled on the network, with Trump wrapping up his night by claiming he had strong-armed them into shortening the debate ‘so we can get the hell out of here.’The evening event in Boulder was billed as a purely economic discussion but turned into a referendum on America’s political media, making the Republican-on-Republican rhetorical violence a secondary sideshow. Claims of media bias became a major theme of the night, with Cruz letting loose the night’s first scathing barrage against moderators Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood.
As always, Twitchy.com compiled an awesome roundup of Twitter’s reaction to the debate train wreck, which you can read here.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus piled onto the criticism, tweeting out a series of comments:
CNBC should be ashamed of how this debate was handled. #GOPDebate
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) October 29, 2015
I will fight to ensure future debates allow for a more robust exchange. #GOPDebate
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) October 29, 2015
In spite of the moderators, I'm proud of our team for standing up against the improper and unprofessional display put on by CNBC.
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) October 29, 2015
This debate went off the rails almost immediately, largely due to the ridiculous questions posed to the candidates. I think Senator Ted Cruz may have put it best when he used one of his allotted answer times to tell off the moderators rather than entertain their question. It was one of the most memorable moments of the night that received the loudest applause in the venue.
You can watch the moment for yourself here:
https://youtu.be/ALVccHdNNHI