The GOP Candidates Can't Take the Hot Seat, and They Want to Be POTUS?

Or as President Obama put it:

Have you noticed that every one of these candidates say, "Obama's weak. Putin's kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he's going to straighten out." Then it turns out they can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at the debate. Let me tell you, if you can't handle those guys, then I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.

According to CNN, Obama tore into Republican presidential candidates Monday night at a Democratic fundraising event in New York, saying their complaints about CNBC's debate moderation aren't an encouraging preview for their governing abilities.

In case you missed it, Republican candidates weren't happy with how the last televised GOP debate went, and they made a list of demands to the networks in the hopes that they can have more control over the next one.

The next GOP debate takes place on November 10, and Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal are slated to moderate it.

It is currently unclear if the Republicans will successfully negotiate any of the items on their list of demands.

At first, nearly all the GOP presidential candidates wanted to work together to present a unified letter. Now, after receiving criticism from conservative television hosts, many candidates who originally supported the efforts have backtracked.

As of today, Ben Carson, the campaigns for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will still likely sign the letter, according toThe Hill.

Campaign representatives for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) told The Hill that they were still reviewing the letter, while Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have already rejected the letter.

Republican attorney and power broker Ben Ginsberg drafted the long list of demands, including not to “ask the candidates to raise their hands to answer a question” or “have reaction shots of members of the audience or moderators during debates.”

The second and latest draft of the letter can be read here.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has reportedly decided to negotiate with the networks on his own.

Although it may seem a bit petty for people vying to be president to be whining about whether or not a debate question is fair, it is also unclear as to why the RNC didn’t negotiate some of these terms prior to the debates, if they are indeed so important to the candidates.

Nevertheless, some of the moderators’ questions did seem to be ones crafted with the intention to generate publicity and buzz rather than focusing on hard-hitting questions about policy.

While asking Donald Trump “is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?” definitely got CNBC a lot of attention, overall, these types of questions took the focus off of the theme CNBC originally promised to deliver – one of finance and business.

Due to the nature of the questions, the RNC decided last week to “suspend” a planned February debate to be hosted by NBC News — CNBC’s parent network — and Telemundo.

To Jeb Bush’s credit, his campaign reportedly  argued that the party should not turn its back on the only Spanish-language network scheduled to participate in a debate.

So what do you think? If a network is cashing in on the ratings from these debates, shouldn’t its moderators be more accommodating and less critical?Does the canceling of the NBC News and Telemundo debate send a message to the networks to “play nice or else”?

Sound off below!