memeorandum: 2016 Republicans vs. the media (Dylan Byers/CNN)

11:10 AM ET, October 29, 2015

Top Items:

Jonathan V. Last / Weekly Standard:

We Have Our Final Six — Tonight's debate showed that the GOP field is smaller than it looks. Technically, there are still fourteen people running, but the winnowing is far along. We probably have a final six and possibly a final four. — The three winners of the night were pretty obvious …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Taylor Marsh, BizPac Review, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air and American Spectator

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

CNBC moderators defend debate amid criticism — A pair of CNBC moderators defended the network's handling of Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate amid a flurry of criticism from the candidates and party leaders. — “There were a lot of conservatives before the debate who were urging …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Townhall.com

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Bush campaign manager confronts CNBC producer — Jeb Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz got into a heated confrontation with a CNBC producer outside the debate as it was happening, according to two sources familiar with the incident. — One of the sources said Diaz was complaining about speaking time allotments.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Business Insider, Mediaite, Bloomberg.com news, The Week, Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Shushannah Walshe / ABC News:

Third Republican Presidential Debate: The 6 Moments That Mattered — At times it seemed the night was defined not by the candidates' attacks on each other, but on the moderators who lobbed challenging and, at times, contentious questions at them. — Some fought back and some candidates …

Discussion: Politico, Outside the Beltway and Althouse

Emily Atkin / ThinkProgress:

The CNBC Republican Debate Was A Total Trainwreck — Reporters from both conservative and liberal-minded news organizations seem to agree: the CNBC Republican presidential debate was kind of a trainwreck. — That wasn't really because of the candidates, though — it was because of the moderators.

Discussion: International Business Times, Liberty Unyielding, Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit, FiveThirtyEight, Politico, OnPolitics and Washington Blade

RealClearPolitics:

Cruz Rips Press At CNBC Debate: “This Debate Illustrates Why We Can Not Trust The Media” — At the Republican debate hosted by CNBC in Boulder, Colorado Wednesday night, presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz lambasted the moderators, particularly John Harwood of The New York Times …

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, Scared Monkeys, CNN, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Latest from Crooks and Liars

Douglas E. Schoen / Fox News:

Hillary Clinton won the third GOP debate. Here's why — In conventional terms Senators Cruz and Rubio won Thursday night's debate. They were laser focused, quick, smart and passionate. They defended themselves, their records and went on the offensive at all the right times …

Discussion: Politico

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Best Lines and Zingers From the Third Republican Debate — The third Republican debate hosted in Boulder, Colorado was not short on drama and memorable moments. — Here are some of the best lines and zingers said by some of the 10 candidates on stage:

Discussion: Smart Politics, Washington Post, Bloomberg Business, Politico, Political Wire, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vox, RedState, Bloomberg View, Slantpoint and Bloomberg.com news

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

Jeb Died on That Stage — And the Republican Party's refusal to update its ideas may doom the rest of the field. — Wednesday's Republican presidential debate was critical for Jeb Bush. He had to show donors and voters that he was a fighter, with life in his campaign …

Discussion: Salon, Washington Post, The Week and Althouse

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Some Initial Thoughts on the Debate — As I said in my previous post, this was a pretty poorly run debate. But that's media criticism. The real question is how it will affect the race. Jeb Bush needed to get back into this campaign. And he absolutely didn't do that.

Washington Post:

The third Republican debate transcript, annotated — Wednesday night, 10 candidates participated in the third Republican debate: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), former Florida governor Jeb Bush, former tech executive Carly Fiorina, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Politico, The Huffington Post, Althouse, Mediaite, Slantpoint and Mother Jones

Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:
Noisy GOP Debate Leaves Republican Race Unsettled

Discussion: Raw Story, Poynter. and The Week

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Surprise! John Harwood Lied About Marco Rubio's Tax Plan

Discussion: Mediaite, Betsy's Page, The Daily Caller and National Review

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Rubio tries to cool expectations of a surge

Discussion: ABC News and Belmont Club

Candace Smith / ABC News:
Feud Between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio Boils Over

Discussion: Bloomberg.com news

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook, presented by Comcast …

Discussion: New York Times

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Insiders: Bush bombed, Rubio won

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Bloomberg Business

Jeff Jacoby / BostonGlobe.com:
The biggest loser? The media

Discussion: Slate, Weekly Standard and NPR

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Winners and Losers from the third Republican presidential debate

Discussion: Slate, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, MichelleMalkin.com, New York Times, The Week and Prairie Weather

Dylan Byers / CNN:
2016 Republicans vs. the media

Discussion: Slate, The Daily Caller, The Week, Hit & Run and alicublog, more at Mediagazer »

Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:
CNBC Moderator Harwood Admits Premise of His Question on Rubio's Tax Plan is Erroneous

Discussion: The Federalist, BizPac Review and National Review

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Yeah, Jeb Bush Is Probably Toast — The post-debate spin could become a self-fulfilling prophecy — “You know, I think Jeb Bush is toast,” I told one of my editors after Wednesday night's debate. — “I kinda do too,” he replied. “I'm just worried because that's what everyone else seems to think too.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Towleroad

Roger Stone / Plain Dealer:

Stoned? Former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone goes after John Kasich on Twitter — Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul take the stage during …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and The Week

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
Here's Donald Trump's Epic Throwdown With John Kasich

Discussion: Slantpoint

Chris Buckley / New York Times:

China to End One-Child Policy, Allowing Families Two Children — BEIJING — China will allow all couples to have two children, a Communist Party leadership meeting decided on Thursday, bringing an end to decades of restrictive policies that limited most urban families to one child.

Simon Denyer / Washington Post: China lifts one-child policy amid worries over graying population

Bloomberg Business:
China Drops One-Child Cap After Three Decades to Lift Growth

Discussion: The Week

Bradford Richardson / The Hill:

McCain: Sanders has better record on veterans than Hillary — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has a better track record when it comes to caring for veterans than Hillary Clinton. — McCain said the Vermont senator, who is competing with Clinton …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

CNN:
Clinton campaign backtracks on VA claim after widespread criticism

Discussion: Politico, Independent Journal and Mediaite

Alice Ollstein / ThinkProgress:
Bernie Sanders Vows To Fight Back Against Islamophobia In The 2016 Race

Discussion: Raw Story

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

After CNBC debacle, Carson camp vows revolt over debates — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More — Boulder, Colo. — After a performance by CNBC moderators that Republicans characterized as both biased and inept, a manager for a top GOP campaign says he will try to organize …

Ted Cruz / Wall Street Journal:

A Simple Flat Tax for Economic Growth — A 10% income tax and a 16% business tax would put an end to the Eight Lean Years of Obama. — Imagine 4.9 million new jobs. Imagine, instead of President Obama's income stagnation, average wages rising 12.2% over the next decade. Capital investment rising 43.9%.