Ted Cruz got the most positive and boisterous response from Republicans during Wednesday night’s debate. It wasn’t just at the Buffalo Wild Wings on Crenshaw in Los Angeles, where I watched the debate with around 30 local Republicans. Senator Cruz also provoked the loudest response online with his unsolicited takedown of the programs panelists on CNBC.
In response to an awkwardly worded question about his support for shutting down the government over the debt limit (“Does your opposition to [a debt limit deal] show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want?), the Senator shut down the panel.
“The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media,” Cruz said (we’re using the debate transcript from WaPo by the way).
Cruz wasn’t the first person on stage to alleged media bias (that was Rubio), but he led the charge and marshaled the arguments. Cruz, one of lawyers on the stage, used to clerk for a Supreme Court justice. The man knows how to make an argument.
“This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions -- ‘Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?’ ‘Ben Carson, can you do math?’ ‘John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?’ ‘Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?’ ‘Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?’
“How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about?”
He was referring to questions like these.
(To Trump) “Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?”
(To Kasich) “Well, let's just get more pointed about [your criticisms of Trump and Ben Carson] ... Who were you talking about?”
Cruz’s criticisms weren’t just directed to CNBC. He alluded to CNN’s diverse treatment of their debates, one Republican and one Democrats, calling the questions in the most recent democratic debate soft, “fawning questions.”
In CNBC’s defense, they didn’t create the mudslinging, but merely brought it into the room, harvesting weeks of TV, radio, and internet attack soundbytes. CNN’s GOP was a “cage match” as well, but if followed weeks of mudslinging between the Republican candidates themselves.
Democrats have been less prone to attacking each other. With fewer horses in the race, they don’t have to bite to gain ground. Even before the Democratic debate had begun, CNN’s moderator Anderson Cooper explained his thinking that friendlier candidates required friendlier questions.
Have CNBC and CNN failed its viewers by elevating Republicans’ personal beefs, or are they just giving the public a visceral view of the candidates that can’t be seen in a press statement? It depends on who you ask.
Whatever the case, Cruz marshaled the first argument handily last night, and party supporters rewarded him for capturing the mood. He also wasn’t met by much opposition from CNBC hosts, who didn’t expect to engage in a debate of their own.
The Texas senator also set the tone for the debate, breaking the ice on attacking “the mainstream media.” The mini speech won him adulation in the debate hall and online.
Cruz did get to answer at least one substantive question at the end of the debate on his plan to curtail the power of the Federal Reserve. And CNBC did get the last laugh: their program attracted a record 14 million viewers, according to CNN.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
