The Republican Party says it will not work with CNN and NBC to host 2016 presidential primary debates with its candidates if the television channels air a documentary movie promoting Hillary Clinton. The pro-abortion former Secretary of State is considered a top candidate for the Democratic nomination.
The Republican National Committee voted today for a resolution to ban CNN and NBC from 2016 GOP primary debates if they continue with Hillary programs as planned. The RNC’s NBC/CNN resolution is formally titled: “A resolution in support of media objectivity and accountability.”
“We’re done putting up with this nonsense. There are plenty of other outlets. We’ll still reach voters, maybe more voters. But CNN and NBC anchors will just have to watch on their competitors’ networks,” said pro-life RNC chair Reince Priebus. “The media overplayed their hand this time. It was so obvious even liberals saw it. After we took a stand, we found some unlikely allies on the Left.”
“And some reporters at CNN and NBC are upset at the Democrat donors in their companies who made the decision to run these Clinton promos,” he continued. “The networks can talk all they want about the lines between their divisions. But the same week that people at NBC promised that NBC News and NBC Entertainment are separate–the very same week—we heard they’re giving a prime time MSNBC slot to Alec Baldwin. We don’t have time for the media’s games. And, really, that goes beyond the debates.”
From a report on the resolution:
The resolution accuses NBC and CNN of showing “political favoritism” by airing “programming that amounts to little more than extended commercials promoting former Secretary Clinton.” The resolution also says the news coverage of both networks will be tainted by the programs. And it will note that a top NBC entertainment executive is a big Clinton contributor.
But the key part of the resolution has nothing specifically to do with NBC, CNN, or even Hillary Clinton. The final clause in the document says the RNC “shall endeavor to bring more order to the primary debates and ensure a reasonable number of debates, appropriate moderators and debate partners are chosen, and that other issues pertaining to the general nature of such debates are addressed.”
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That is what top party officials have wanted to do ever since it became clear that the GOP’s grueling series of twenty-plus debates in 2011 and 2012 created more bloodletting, division, and sometimes embarrassment for the party than enlightenment of voters. Ever since that moment — RNC officials realized it as it was happening but were powerless to stop it — the party has wanted to limit the number of debates and exert more control over who moderated them. That was going to happen even if NBC and CNN had never announced plans for Hillary Clinton programs. And that is what today’s resolution is really all about.
The party said NBC is planning a miniseries devoted to Clinton and has tapped Diane Lane to star as the former first lady. CNN has its own documentary in the works on Clinton.
“It’s appalling to know executives at major networks like NBC and CNN who have donated to Democrats and Hillary Clinton have taken it upon themselves to be Hillary Clinton’s campaign operatives,” Priebus said. “Their actions to promote Secretary Clinton are disturbing and disappointing. I hope Americans will question the credibility of these networks and that NBC and CNN will reconsider their partisan actions and cancel these political ads masked as unbiased entertainment.”
