The clear loser of CNBC's Republican presidential debate on Wednesday was the CNBC moderating team, according to several of the candidates and multiple pundits who watched the event.
Howard Kurtz, Fox News Channel's media reporter,
called the questions "condescending," and noted the multiple boos the audience gave moderators Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood throughout the debate.
"It got so bad that 'Mad Money' madman Jim Cramer and Tea Party inspiration Rick Santelli sounded restrained by comparison," Kurtz wrote. Cramer and Santelli were two of the alternate questioners.
Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, said the CNBC moderators "acted less like journalists and more like Clinton campaign operatives."
"They clearly war-gamed this thinking that a relentless series of personal attacks on the candidates would somehow drive their ratings and help Hillary Clinton," he said in a
statement on MRC's website.
"The CNBC debate will go down in history as an encyclopedic example of liberal media bias on stage," Bozell said.
Twitter railed against the questions as well.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz used his time at one point to assail the line of questioning rather than answer a question he was asked, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that "even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude" when Quintanilla tried repeatedly to interrupt him while he was answering his question.
The audience booed Quintanilla when he kept pressing Ben Carson over his association with a supplement maker.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee refused to take the bait at one point when prodded to smack front-runner Donald Trump's morality. Trump thanked him and blasted the "nasty and ridiculous questions."
GOP Chairman Reince Preibus voiced his displeasure.
"While I was proud of our candidates and the way they handled tonight’s debate, the performance by the CNBC moderators was extremely disappointing and did a disservice to their network, our candidates, and voters," Priebus said in a statement.
Newsmax TV contributor Rick Ungar said in post-debate coverage the he found the moderators biased.
"I sent out a tweet earlier on tonight and I said 'I'm a Democrat and John Harwood is the most biased moderator I have ever seen in a debate. He's being rude," Ungar told Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg.
CNBC defended its moderators.
"Anybody who wants to be president of the United States should be able to answer tough questions," a
CNBC spokesman told Mashable.
Trump was interviewed by CNBC's "Squawk Box" host Joe Kernan right after the debate and said the GOP debate was pretty tough compared to the "love fest" CNN gave the Democratic candidates two weeks ago.
Perhaps, Trump suggested, "that is the way you want it to go."