Ben Carson is tired of being a victim of the media. The retired neurosurgeon joined his GOP opponents in scolding the CNBC moderators for their biased questions at Wednesday night’s debate. For two hours, John Harwood, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla insulted the Republican presidential candidates, suggesting they were clowns, they hated their jobs, etc. They also repeatedly interrupted and argued with the candidates throughout the night.
Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz created some of the best moments of the debate by exposing the panel's bias. Chris Christie even told Harwood he was “rude.”
Now, Carson wants to take it one step further. He is urging his competitors to join him in demanding the media offer a fairer format.
“Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidate,” Carson said at a news conference before a speech at Colorado Christian University. “What it’s turned into is — gotcha! That’s silly. That’s not helpful to anybody.”
For starters, he wants moderators without agendas.
“The first thing we’re looking for is moderators who are actually interested in getting the facts, and not just gotcha questions.”
One of those 'gotcha' questions, Carson insisted, was when Quintanilla asked him about his supposed past endorsement of a nutritional supplements company called Mannatech. That claim, the neurosurgeon responded, had no merit.
"There’s no truth to them. I know people know how to investigate. They can easily go back and find out I don’t have any formal relations with Mannatech. They can easily find out that any videos I did with them were not paid for, were things I truly believed. That would be easy to do."
Confronting liberal bias is an agenda each candidate should be eager to get behind. Except maybe John Kasich.