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Washington Post, TVWeek

RNC Suspends Partnership With NBC News in Fallout From Wednesday’s Debate

Oct 30, 2015  •  Post A Comment

In the latest fallout from Wednesday’s contentious GOP presidential debate, the Republican National Committee has suspended its partnership with NBC News, potentially pulling the plug on NBC’s planned participation in a primary debate scheduled for Feb. 26, 2016, at the University of Houston.

A number of GOP candidates expressed displeasure with CNBC’s handling of the event, both during and after the debate. The Washington Post reports that some of the contenders took their dissatisfaction to the party’s National Committee, complaining that CNBC had conducted the debate in “bad faith.”

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus posted an open letter to NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack on the committee’s website, which you can read in full by clicking here. In the letter, he wrote: “The RNC’s sole role in the primary debate process is to ensure that our candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future. We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.”

NBC responded to the decision with a statement calling the action “disappointing.” The network added: “However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party,”

The Post report quotes Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), offering praise for the RNC action. Said Gor: “We hope networks and future moderators realize that what happened in Colorado should never have occurred.”

Preibus adds in his letter to NBC News: “While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of ‘gotcha’ questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas.”

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7 Comments

  1. May I add that if you were in an area where the cable company did not carry CNBC, there was no way to watch it on line.

    How’s that for accessibility to the public-at-large?

  2. ‘Candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future” It would be nice if the candidates did lay out their vision.

  3. If the Republicans are going to allow their candidate lineup to devolve into a sideshow of the likes of personal insults (Trump), wacky conspiracy theories (Carson), and unverified facts about Hillary’s server being hacked (Pataki), then they should only expect the questions coming from moderators to follow suit.

  4. So the Nazi …er, Republican party didn’t like the questions CNBC moderators asked them. Tough. They are a bunch of cry babies. Kudos to NBC. Let’s hope NBC doesn’t cave by agreeing to, for instance, provide questions ahead of time to contestants, er candidates.

  5. So, now the core Republican Party is going to act like the extremist Tea Party and “Freedom Caucus” members and get “offended” at some hard questions and “take their ball and go home” because they are not getting things exactly the way they want it! Well, that just shows what a bunch of wimps and prima donnas the GOP has become and why the bulk of Americans are both fed up and disgusted. The candidates act like cry babies and petulant children whenever they open their mouths and have not espoused policy nor articulated vision. They have frankly wasted lots of their time and ours and have been questioned as such. Now they are offended. Screw them. They need the media attention no matter how much they want to deny it. They are all media whores and playing to the lowest common denominator. I hope NBC lets them go and resists making a deal to get coverage back. I think 99% of Americans won’t care at this point. They are the least impressive group either party can muster. Thank God I am an independent,.

  6. Crabby Tom, in what way does the Republican Party resemble Germany’s National Socialist Party (Nazi)? This is less about what the Republican candidates deserve, and more about what the American people deserve. Shouldn’t we be hearing about candidates’ views on taxes, social programs, national defense, ISIS and al Queda, foreign trade, illegal immigration, rather than what they think of each other, fantasy football, their personal financial decisions, etc.? I want to find a president who can lead in the right direction, not one who is the most entertaining or a debate champ.

  7. You can attack CNBC or the candidates. It depends on which party you prefer. But so far, only one candidate has sat in a congressional hearing and admitted about lying to the American people. And that candidate refuses to take any questions from the press.

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