CNN’s Stelter: Republicans Attack the Media ‘to Deflect Tough’ Questions

‘Media attacks are easy applause lines in front of conservative audiences’

COOPER: "Ten Republican candidates shared the stage at last night’s debate and, as you’d expect, several of them traded jabs, including Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, but the biggest punching bag, by far, was the media and audience seemed to eat it up. Senior media correspondent Brian Stelter has more on what’s now a battle tested tactic."
STELTER: "Republican politicians claims of media bias are both a shield and a sword." 
HUCKABEE: "To a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game and we’re the players and we come out here and we do our thing and sometimes, we’re held up in contempt by people who write columns." 
STELTER: "It’s a way to deflect tough, unwelcome questions and it’s a way to show strength, putting the press on the defensive." 
PAUL (Ky.): How do we decide who used to follow up? I seen 20 other people follow-up"
QUICK: "It was at the moderator discretion." 
STELTER: "On CNBC’s stage, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and others showed just how effective media bashing can be. 
RUBIO (Fl.): "The Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC. It’s called the mainstream media for every single day."
SABATO: "This has been a staple of Republican politics since the 1960s." 
STELTER: "Media attacks are easy applause lines in front of conservative audiences." 
KING [in 2008] [TO GINGRICH] She says you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair. She says you asked her to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take time to respond to that? 
GINGRICH: "No, but I will. And I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate." 
STELTER: "Now, most journalists will tell you they try very hard to expunge any and all bias from their stories, but many conservatives laugh at that." 
ROMNEY: "Most of the people in my business are convinced that you are bias against all of us." 
PALIN [at CPAC 2013]: "I can spot those liberal media folk here to write their annual conservatives in crisis story. 
RYAN: "It kinda goes without saying that there is definitely a media bias." 
STELTER: "The result? More political polarization. According to Pew, the more conservative you are, the fewer mainstream media sources you trust. Fox News has benefitted from that and so have some candidates. On Thursday, several of them declared war on the liberal media, e-mailing supporters asking for money while mocking the moderators and they’re not the only ones doing that." 
HALL: "It just seems they lost their way and that they did not seem to be in command of it." 
STELTER: "The RNC, which picked CNBC for the debate, put the media on notice, saying bias won’t be tolerated, but were CNBC’s questions any tougher than Fox’s or CNN’s?" 
SABATO: "Some of the criticism is for show. What those moderators at CNBC were trying to do was to get candidates to tell more of the truth."

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