And the biggest loser of the debate was… the media. The indignant candidates and the unhappy crowd took every opportunity to criticize CNBC for asking biased, leading questions which didn’t focus on the issues but were aimed at creating entertaining television to bump up ratings. Trump forced a moderator to apologize for misquoting him when in fact he was quoted correctly. Carson was unable to explain the simple math behind his economic plan. Bush stated that he is not an “entertainer”, and Rubio attacked Bush for trying to make him look bad just because they are competing for the same job.

After getting booed for almost every question, CNBC seemed to lose heart as ever more bizarre panelists played an inexplicable game of musical chairs and raised inane topics such as fantasy football. As Cruz put it, where were the questions about substantive issues that people are interested in hearing about? After this debacle, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that someone at CNBC did not come back to work the next day.

Want to know just how hard it is to run a news program, particularly when ratings or accusations are against you? Movies for your mood: Morning Glory OR Goodnight and Good Luck