Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee Chair, to his credit has taken the NBC network to task, and properly so.
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NBC reacted with disappointment.
No matter where you come down on CNBC’s Republican debate Wednesday night, it was interesting to say the least. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is downplaying his rivalry with Jeb Bush after the third GOP debate, instead focusing criticism on Democratic favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The campaigns have been fuming over the RNC’s handling of the debates, expressing frustrations that they’ve been excluded from participating in discussions over their terms.
While debates are supposed to include tough questioning and contrast candidates and their visions, “CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and created to embarrass our candidates”, Priebus said. They promised one? I don’t think there was one. “Dictating the questioners or the questions couldn’t be further from our minds”. Priebus said his job is to “protect these candidates”, while dismissing the idea that the campaigns are looking to “revolt” against the RNC. “There is a real desire from our campaigns and others for more substance”. Carson and Donald Trump, two front-runners who got relatively little time at the CNBC debate, kickstarted the idea for a meeting.
The RNC’s letter explicitly cancels the NBC/Telemundo debate scheduled for February 26, though Priebus says the party will still hold a debate on that date.
Telemundo was the only Spanish-language partner for a Republican debate, the group said, and it is vital for the candidates to address the concerns of Latino voters.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said it was “extremely disappointed” by the RNC’s decision, given NBC’s partnership with Telemundo. TV networks only care about ratings, not the debate process, which is why they should have no control over the process.
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Others, looking ahead to the Fox Business Network’s debate on November 10, said they would push to ensure that candidates can make opening and closing statements.
