Michael Smerconish (Screenshot/CNN)
Republican candidates made it a point to bash moderators during Wednesday night's GOP debate over what they called "gotcha" questions, but CNN guest Michael Smerconish pointed out the questions were not unlike those posed during the first debate in September by moderators from right-wing Fox News.
During the debate on Wednesday, far-right candidate Ted Cruz refused to answer a question about his unwillingness to compromise in order to avoid a government shut-down over the budget.
"The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media," Cruz responded, sparking applause from the audience. "This is not a cage match... How about talking about the substantive issues people care about?"
Smerconish said the criticism was unfair.
"I've been going back through the transcript of the first debate, which was a Fox debate, the second debate, which was one of our own CNN debates, and then CNBC," he told the hosts. "And I would submit to you that if you look at the questions only, there's frankly not much of a difference between debates one, two or three, including Fox, which is, of course, the great oracle of the RNC."
That’s not to say battles didn’t emerge between GOP candidates and Fox moderators, such as real estate mogul Donald Trump and Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Kelly had asked Trump why women should vote for him when he has a habit of making derogatory comments about women.
"Style matters," moderator Chris Cuomo said. "And let's not forget, Megyn Kelly was asking an appropriate question in terms of what Trump had said in the past. But how it came across wound up creating a combative dynamic."
Watch the exchange, via Media Matters, here:
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