Tapper and Hewitt Take On Critics of CNN Debate Questions

Jake Tapper, Hugh Hewitt, and Dana Bash all received plaudits for their moderation of the big GOP debate last night, but today Tapper and Hewitt engaged with people on Twitter who weren’t too happy with how things went.

A lot of the criticisms Hewitt got were actually centered around his own lack of screen time. He defended the substance of the debate and how they meant to keep the moderators from becoming the story:

@RyanRCall @JonahNRO Gents. Don't count the questions. Count the time spent answering them and whether the answers figure in post-debate

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 17, 2015

@JeniferStevens Thanks Jennifer but it wasn't about panelists. @jaketapper ran the trains very well and there has to be QB. GOP well served

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 17, 2015

@clscjones Nope. @jaketapper the QB. @danabash and I are wide receivers. Worked very very well in terms of audience and fairness.

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 17, 2015

@PeterBruceBoohe: As soon as the Syria question was skated and led to extended debate on national security, followed by others I was happy

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 17, 2015

Tapper also engaged on issues people complained were left out of the debate, repeatedly acknowledging that the candidates’ clashing with each other meant they had leave several issues out. But it was veterans’ issues in particular that Tapper got a lot of criticism about today:

@Winston_Wolfe aren't many differences among them on VA issues that would prompt good debate, I tried to craft one for a month

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@Winston_Wolfe it's a great subject for interviews and I will try to ask it more in those forums.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@Winston_Wolfe I will try to up my game in interviews — it's an important subject

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@PaulRieckhoff @Winston_Wolfe we had VA q ready to go, but a problem w letting candidates go back and forth is good qs fall by wayside

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@PaulRieckhoff @Winston_Wolfe I know it doesn't matter, but i am v upset we didn't get to it. V flawed moderator. My deepest apologies.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@NateWatkins @PaulRieckhoff @iava not quite. We had a q ready

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@DustinDeMoss @PaulRieckhoff that's not true. Troops were mentioned. Veterans were mentioned. We had a VA q but sadly didn't get to it

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

@DustinDeMoss @PaulRieckhoff veterans issues were not discussed adequately last night and I regret that deeply, as I've said.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 17, 2015

UPDATE- 4:12 pm EST: On CNN this afternoon, Tapper further addressed the criticisms, saying he could have easily gone for another hour so he could have brought up things like veterans’ issues, #BlackLivesMatter, police, trade, et cetera.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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