Will the Republican debates lose all credibility if the candidates take over management of the debate process?

I’m troubled by the Republican candidates’ reactions to the last debate. They were all asked tough, even impertinent questions by the CNBC people. I didn’t see the questions as “gotcha” questions, as some have said – rather, I saw the questions as real honest queries to the candidates, that the candidates may not have wanted to answer.

The candidates don’t like being put on the spot, and they especially don’t like being confronted for their dishonesty. So their reaction is to ‘manage’ the next debates by themselves. (Whatever that means…)

Is there anything stupider that they could do? Why would anyone watch a debate where there is no challenging of ideas? What is the point of a debate where everything controversial is whitewashed?

How do the Republican candidates figure that ‘managing the debate’ is going to make anyone take them seriously?