BOULDER, Colo. – A Republican presidential debate billed by host network CNBC as a 10-candidate showdown over economic issues will instead be remembered as a night in which GOP candidates of every stripe took potshots at the media and put the moderators on stage in their crosshairs.
"The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media,"a riled-up Ted Cruz scolded moderators John Harwood, Carl Quintanilla and Becky Quick. His critique followed a query from Quintanilla, who asked the senator from Texas if his opposition to a higher national debt limit showed that "you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want."
The race for the Republican presidential nomination is not turning out as the mainstream media predicted.
Six short months ago, the press had all but anointed former Florida governor Jeb Bush as the GOP's 2016 nominee. Last summer, when enthusiasm for Bush turned out to be lower than anticipated, the media changed their story-line: real estate mogul Donald Trump, they proclaimed, would lead an insurgent revolt all the way to the nomination.
