The Republican National Committee told NBC on Friday it was suspending their broadcast partnership after the USA network’s cable news subsidiary was accused of asking questions in “bad faith” during the party’s last presidential debate.
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The RNC has taken issue with the questions asked by the moderators during the debate on CNBC Wednesday night.
RNC Chief of Staff Katie Walsh announced the change in a letter to the candidates’ campaigns on Sunday evening, minutes before campaign representatives convened for a meeting outside of Washington, D.C., to discuss potential changes to the debate process.
With the news that the RNC has chose to punish NBC for the sorry excuse of a debate CNBC staged Wednesday, it’s time for everyone to stop, take a deep breath and try to remember what these debates are supposed to be about.
“However, we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party”.
NBC reacted with disappointment. The GOP debate scored 14 million viewers for CNBC, its highest audience ever. He would like to have a Republican debate moderated by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. National Review debate moderators may lob softball questions at Trump, Carson, Rubio and Cruz, but that won’t save the candidates from looking foolish, because it is their answers and not the questions that have turned the GOP primary debate schedule into a traveling circus.
The letter came in the wake of intense criticism of how the CNBC debate was handled earlier this week. As the party and its candidates have moved toward the conservative base, the candidates, by criticizing the press and debate moderators, have been able to score points with their core supporters while inoculating themselves from tough questions or criticism after a poor debate performance. Afterward, a few candidates complained that the questions were not substantive enough; others wanted more air time or the chance to deliver opening and closing statements.
“I think the campaigns have a number of concerns and they have a right to talk about that amongst themselves”, Christian Ferry, Graham’s campaign manager, told Politico. “The first question directed to one of our candidates (Trump) asked if he was running a comic book version of a presidential campaign, hardly in the spirit of how the debate was billed”.
“We look forward to pursuing alternatives along with the RNC to ensure candidates are given ample opportunity to outline their vision for the future of our country”, a Trump campaign statement said.
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“The wonderful part for me was how friendly the meeting was”, Bennett said, noting the private gathering was held in a private room marked “family meeting”. Priebus can suspend the GOP’s partnership with NBC and cancel them from conducting the February debate, but that won’t solve the problem. The tensions boiled over in the days leading to the CNBC debate, prompting Carson and Trump’s campaigns to threaten to boycott unless their demands were met.
