October 30, 2015, 01:00 pm
By Ben Kamisar and Jonathan Easley
The Republican National Committee on Friday pulled out of a planned Feb. 26 debate with NBC News amidst a revolt by candidates after Wednesday’s CNBC debate.
“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,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack.
Since CNBC is an NBC Universal property, “We are suspending the partnership with NBC News” for its Feb. 26 debate.
Priebus’s email panned CNBC for “inaccurate or downright offensive” questions, specifically singling out a question to Donald Trump, who was asked whether he was running a “comic book” version of a presidential campaign.
“What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas.
Debates can mean big money for networks, which charge premium prices to advertise for the event. CNBC reportedly charged about $250,000 for a 30-second ad during Wednesday night’s debate — similar to reported prices for the previous CNN debate.
The decision is the RNC’s response to the rumbling of complaints that bubbled over during the debate, when Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and other bashed the moderators for political bias and unfair questions. Immediately after the debate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s campaign manager confronted the network backstage over how little time his candidate received.
GOP front-runner Donald Trump came out in support of the RNC’s decision Friday afternoon.
https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/258673-rnc-pulls-out-of-nbc-debate