CNN hosted what they hyped as “the last debate before the first votes” on Tuesday — and there were harsh reviews online.

The debate was moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip, along with Brianne Pfannenstiel of The Des Moines Register.

The trio was criticized for the spectacle, here’s some of what people were saying:

These moderators are not good, the questions are not good, and this debate shows why the Dems should have winnowed the no-hopers a lot earlier before fatigue set in.#DemDebate — Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 15, 2020

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Why does it feel like the candidates did a way better job prepping for this debate than the moderators did in prepping for this debate?#DemocraticDebate — Jason Page (@TheBackPage) January 15, 2020

Did CNN borrow their debate moderators from Fox News tonight? What’s up with the framing of these questions? — Philip Obenschain (@pobenschain) January 15, 2020

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why do all the debate moderators read their questions like a high school student giving a presentation on a subject they don't care about? — Tyler Glaiel (@TylerGlaiel) January 15, 2020

This debate is not worth watching. Boring as hell, moderators either are asking the same questions as past debates or are flat out terrible — JL (@JackPLamb) January 15, 2020

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It’s fun to see debate moderators ask the same questions every debate. It’s almost like they haven't seen any other debates. — Touré (@Toure) January 15, 2020

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I have never seen a political debate where the moderators target a candidate as harshly as they are targeting Sanders. It’s like being at a Yale dinner party. — Jason Stanley (@jasonintrator) January 15, 2020

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can @jorgeramosnews please come back to moderate the #DemDebate? — Voto Latino (@votolatino) January 15, 2020

How is it possible that I watched all the previous Democratic debates and, based on their questions, none of these moderators caught even a second of them? — Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) January 15, 2020

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“Wanna watch the debates?” – Emily

“Nah…CNN moderators.” – Me

[End up listening to the debate from the next room while watching three sites comment about the debate on the iPad] — The Mandoolorian (@typefiend) January 15, 2020

And the moderating/moderators, and questions in this debate are annoying. — Amara Enyia (@AmaraEnyia) January 15, 2020

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I feel like this is not a debate between the candidates, it’s more of a debate between the candidates and the moderators. #DemocraticDebate — Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) January 15, 2020

I've just about had it with watching this debate. The moderators are behaving as inquisitors, doing their best not to illuminate issues but to incite fireworks to boost ratings for television. It's despicable. To hell with it. I'll read the transcript after a slug of bourbon. — James Conner (@jrcflatheadmemo) January 15, 2020

All the democratic debates should be on PBS and PBS should select the moderators. CNN shouldn’t be able to profit from a party’s debate process by selling ads and pushing conflict. — Michael J. Foody (@MichaelJFoody) January 15, 2020

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I didn’t watch the debate, but from your tweets, I gather that once again the moderators distinguished themselves by their perceptiveness, nimble questioning, and deft command of the major issues — Tom Breen (@TJBreen) January 15, 2020

https://twitter.com/willwilkinson/status/1217285035902099456

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Cannot stand moderators on Democratic debate. 1 1/2 min is not enough time to address their poor quality questions and they talk over the candidates responses in order to enforce the 1 1/2 min limit. Are they even listening to their answers! — Masanee Brown (@MasaneeB) January 15, 2020

The moderators are functionally Bernie's opponents in the debates. They share the same worldview as like Mitt Romney. — Ali Gharib (@Ali_Gharib) January 15, 2020

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