Whip, Lash: Mainstream Media Gets Outed at Republican QAHistory Redacted: CNN Assists in Tony Blair’s Cleanup on Iraq InvasionA clear winner in the third two-tiered QA session (erroneously called a “debate”) Republican presidential candidates had last night was a point made about the role of the media (“liberal” media, two panelists claimed)  in shaping coverage and influencing public opinion.Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, skewered CNBC’s panel of questioners on the issue, though from the predictable point of view that mainstream media has been functioning almost as a PR arm of the Democratic Party, favoring Hillary Clinton. Leid Stories explains why the senators couldn't go all the way with their argument.CNN is all but gloating over Fareed Zakaria’s interview with former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Interviewed as part of a special report Zakaria did on Iraq, Blair “apologized” for his and Britain’s role as partners in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein, wreaked havoc in the country and spawned ISIS.Blair’s blame-shifting act of contrition was shameful enough, says Leid Stories. But  Zakaria’s and CNN’s editorial assist with deft political scutwork was even more so.