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Tag: 2016 gop debate
GOP Candidates Snipe And Spar In Combative Sixth Debate

GOP Candidates Snipe And Spar In Combative Sixth Debate

In the fraught final two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, a rowdy, rambunctious group of agitated Republican candidates rehearsed their talking points and took well-honed snipes at each other in the first GOP debates of 2016 — and the sixth of the cycle — in Charleston, South Carolina. The debates, which aired on Fox Business, touched on gun control, ISIS, immigration policy, tax reform, and the utter devastation that would ensue from a Hillary Clinton presidency.

As before, a minor-league debate was scheduled at happy hour to collect the runoff candidates whose poll numbers failed to rise above a certain level. On deck for the warmup act were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and — in a fall from grace (or at least poll stature) — former Hewlett-Packard exec Carly Fiorina. (Kentucky Senator Rand Paul was invited to the kiddie-table debate, but opted not to show.) Assembled for the mainstage debate were Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Here were a few of the more memorable skirmishes from Thursday night’s debates.

Rubio Gets Off Easy

Marco Rubio emerged unscathed, flying underneath many of the gladiatorial bouts rumbling overhead. He lay low, and, for the most part, didn’t suffer much in the way of seeing his credibility impugned, his policies challenged, or any of his lies and mischaracterizations called out.

He relentlessly pummeled Cruz, when he assailed the Texas senator for switching his positions on immigration and on ethanol, which Rubio said was a transparent bid to garner Iowan support: “That is not consistent conservatism,” Rubio said. “That is political calculation.”

“I appreciate your dumping your oppo [opposition] research folder on the debate stage,” Cruz quipped, and accused Rubio of trafficking in outright falsehoods.

“No, it’s your record,” Rubio fired back.

(Bush curtly described the routine as a “back and forth between two senators — back bench senators”)

Rubio went unchallenged repeating his now familiar outlandish claims against Barack Obama, namely that he would take away every American’s gun if he could. Rubio said:

Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it.

Rubio’s absurd characterization of Obama as an overzealous gun snatcher out to erase the Second Amendment has been proved patently false. And, shortly after he said it, his campaign was hawking blood red t-shirts with the line about the Second Amendment being “not an option” stamped on them.

He drove home his depiction of the president as one who has repeatedly ignored and stifled American exceptionalism, not out of ineptitude necessarily, but out of a philosophical inclination to view the U.S. as unremarkable: Obama, he said, “wasn’t interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world,” which is why he has undermined the Constitution and cut deals with our enemies, Rubio said. He also insisted that constitutional rights don’t come from government, they come from God — echoing the far-right conservative Christian tack he took in a recent ad.

Rubio’s campaign has emphasized his youth and message of a better tomorrow, but he has always set himself up in direct contraposition to Hillary Clinton. In his final remarks he scraped away much of his well-honed optimism and forward-looking demeanor, going dark and apocalyptic with a solemn warning: “If we elect Hillary Clinton,” he said, “the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country.”

Cruz vs. Trump

The bromance is over. Trump and Cruz entered Thursday night’s debate without the slightest pretense of cooperation and friendship, deriding and disingenuously offering each other a VP spot.

Going into the debate, Cruz was dogged both by reports that he had failed to disclose a Goldman Sachs loan that he took out to finance his first Senate campaign, and by questions about the Canada-born senator’s eligibility as a “natural born citizen.”

Cruz flicked away the former by dismissing the source of the reports — The New York Times. The latter proved more troublesome.

It was Trump who began raising questions about Cruz’s citizenship, and the claim was initially treated as an absurdly outlandish (not to mention more than a little desperate) move on the tycoon’s part to weaken his most significant challenger in Iowa. But the issue remarkably gained currency from diverse corners, including conservative Trump supporters, constitutional law scholars, and even Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), who has stated his intention to bring legal action against Cruz should he win the nomination.

“I”m not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump,” Cruz said, and suggested that by Trump’s logic — which he said derived from the findings of a “left-wing judicial activist” — even Trump himself would not be eligible to run for president, since his mother was a Scottish citizen. (Trump reminded Cruz that he was actually born in the U.S. — “Big difference.”) Trump blustered, but Cruz carried the round, and even got The Donald to sheepishly admit that the only reason he had introduced the issue was because of Cruz’s surging poll numbers.

In response to Trump’s impish choice of music at his rallies — Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” — Cruz had suggested before the debate that perhaps Trump would be better off playing “New York, New York” since he espouses “New York values.” Asked to elaborate exactly what he meant by that, the erudite Ivy League-educated senator delivered a sneering, preening description of what he believed heartland America thought of the Big Apple: “Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media,” he said.

“Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan,” Cruz said, inverting a similarly charged remark from Trump in the days leading up to the debate, accusing Cruz of being a false evangelical because his father was from Cuba.

Although he may have won the citizenship bout, the “New York values” gambit blew up Cruz’s face, as all he did was tee Trump up to deliver an uncharacteristically sober and lucid defense of his home city. Trump described in visceral detail the devastation of 9/11, and the bravery and resilience he witnessed in the city’s resurgence. It may have been trite and opportunistic, but it shut Cruz up.

Cruz began his closing remarks simply and solemnly with the words: “13 Hours,” referring to Transformers director Michael Bay’s fictionalized account of the Benghazi attacks, which opened in theaters Friday. He concluded by speaking to all those  “maddened by political correctness,” to members of the military and law enforcement, and to the first responders: “This. Will. End,” he said. “I will have your back.”

Christie’s Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

Nobody brought up Christie’s infamous arm-in-arm with President Obama — but they didn’t have to. The New Jersey governor’s waverings on Common Core and gun control, and his support for Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court were enough fodder for Republican rivals to paint him as a watered-down Democrat.

Christie claimed that he had never supported Sotomayor — but those following the debate on Twitter were quick to point out that he, in fact, had.

Christie rallied at the end with a vociferous aria in defense of law enforcement and national defense, chastising the Obama administration for what he characterized as tepid support of police officers and soldiers, and its laissez faire attitude toward states’ legalization of marijuana.

“We need a fighter for this country again,” he said. “I’ve lived my whole life fighting — fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism.”

Fiorina Really Wants Clinton to Notice Her

In the feisty undercard debate, each of the three warmup candidates played nice with each other as they took aim at familiar targets —the incompetence of the Obama administration, the dubious ethics of Hillary Clinton, the fallacies of Democratic economic policy. But all that anyone will remember is Fiorina’s schoolgirl taunts aimed at Hillary Clinton.

Fiorina invoked Clinton in both her opening and closing statements. She kicked off the debate by saying: “Unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband.” (The question was “What is your assessment of the economy right now?”)

And in the closing remarks, while both Santorum and Huckabee cited their experience fighting the “Clinton machine,” Fiorina took a less résumé-focussed tack. As she has done in past debates, Carly Fiorina used her final statement to argue that viewers’ desire to see her debate Hillary Clinton one-on-one was reason enough to give her the GOP nomination — as if all the Republican caucus wants from their nominee is someone who can put on a good show. (Oh wait.)

In a post-debate discussion with Chris Matthews, the MSNBC host hammered her repeatedly with the question: “Do the Clintons have a real marriage?” All Fiorina would say is, “They’ve been married for a long time.”

The Disappearance of Dr. Carson

As Dr. Carson careens into Iowa, his campaign is hemorrhaging talent, and his poll numbers continue to take the nose dive that started shortly after the Paris attacks (it turns out being visibly ignorant of international affairs only gets you so far). The retired neurosurgeon leavened his lack of substance with corny jokes and folksy anecdotes, which left commentators on Twitter scratching their heads and wondering how anyone ever took this guy seriously even for a moment.

“I was going to ask you to wake me up,” he told a moderator. If the good doctor had decided to take a nap, nobody on either side of the TV screen would blame him. Or, for that matter, notice he was gone.

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Photo: Republican U.S. presidential candidate businessman Donald Trump (L) and Senator Ted Cruz speak simultaneously at the Fox Business Network Republican presidential candidates debate in North Charleston, South Carolina, January 14, 2016. REUTERS/Randall Hill  

In Arid Fourth GOP Debate, Rubio Shines, Kasich Grumbles, And Jeb Disappears

In Arid Fourth GOP Debate, Rubio Shines, Kasich Grumbles, And Jeb Disappears

Remember what Marco Rubio said at the first debate back in August — that the election “cannot be a résumé competition,” because if it were, Hillary Clinton would win?

That remark has reverberated throughout the Republican primary, which has been characterized by the astonishing rise of political amateurs like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina, and the fall of party luminaries and experienced GOP statesmen, like Rick Perry and Scott Walker, who dropped out; or Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal, who were relegated to the warmup debate; or Lindsey Graham and George Pataki, who didn’t even make that humble cut.

From his very first campaign speech, Rubio has arranged himself in opposition directly with Clinton — with the senator from Florida casting himself as a new force for change, challenging the old, ineffective power structures in Washington, embodied by Clinton. He has successfully transposed his Senate absences and relative inexperience into an articulate message — that he is the candidate for the 21st century. In the fourth Republican primary debate, which aired Tuesday night on Fox Business Network, he communicated his narrative clearly, plainly, with minimal interference from his fellow candidates — and without having to open fire on his onetime mentor, the erst-frontrunner Jeb Bush, whose anemic performance can only spell bad news for the former Florida governor’s already flagging campaign.

Given the somewhat less crowded stage and more wonkish theme of the evening (a focus on tax policy and economics), there were fewer fireworks than in past GOP debates, but one moment stood out as a vintage piece of Trump-Jeb scuffling. As usual, Jeb had almost nothing to say when it occurred. By way of ignoring John Kasich, who repeatedly tried to get a word in edgewise in a conversation about budgeting — he once was, after all, chairman of the House Budget Committee — the magnanimous Trump deigned to play moderator and shut both men down succinctly: “You should let Jeb speak.”

Kasich resumed his role as the exasperated adult not only in matters of the budget, but also immigration, where he admonished voters not to believe Trump’s fantasy of mass deportation: “We all know you can’t pick them up and ship them back across the border,” he said. “It’s a silly argument. It’s not an adult argument. It makes no sense!”

Defending his immigration policy, Trump invoked President Eisenhower’s forced deportation initiative in the 1950s: “Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower. Good president. Great president. People liked him. I liked him. I Like Ike, right? The expression, ‘I like Ike.’ Moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country.”

Trump failed to mention the operation, which is best remembered as “Operation Wetback,” was neither particularly humane nor effective.

Ted Cruz, as he did at the last debate, took aim at the debate format itself, and neatly served his social and economic conservatism in one (sound) bite-sized package: “There are more words in the IRS tax code than there are in the Bible,” he said.

Dr. Ben Carson, who has come under fire recently for reports that he may have fudged the truth to add gloss to the salvation narrative of his biography, emerged uninjured from the debate. No one seemed particularly inclined to discuss whether or not the retired neurosurgeon had lied about a scholarship to West Point or actually been violent as a young man, except for Carson himself, who in his opening remarks transmuted the controversy into a limp joke at the media’s expense.

Rand Paul beat the libertarian drum — accusing his fellow candidates of being false conservatives if they planned to place additional military spending on a credit card.

When Rubio responded, “I know that the world is a better and safer place when America is the strongest military force in the world,” Paul shot back that military action “wouldn’t keep America safe from bankruptcy court.”

As she did in the last debate, Carly Fiorina touted her business record, despite the damning reviews of her performance as a CEO that have come to light, and seemed to cite her own desire to challenge Hillary Clinton in a one-on-one debate as a qualification to be nominated. When asked why Democrats seem to have a better record at job creation, she slid back easily into a narrative, studded with talking points, which concluded, without explanation: “And yes, the Democrats do make it worse.”

They spent most of the evening affirming that very point, with varying shades of — and success at — charisma, but not disagreeing on much. And Marco Rubio did what he came there to do: He shone through as the fresh, young, best new hope for establishment.

Of course, it had less to do with substance than smiles.

Photo: Republican U.S. presidential candidate and former Governor Jeb Bush (L) speaks as U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R) looks on during the debate held by Fox Business Network for the top 2016 U.S. Republican presidential candidates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

This post has been updated.

4 Things To Watch For In Tuesday’s GOP Debate

4 Things To Watch For In Tuesday’s GOP Debate

By David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

MILWAUKEE — Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, trying mightily to survive and thrive in the unrelenting spotlight surging presidential candidates must endure, face a huge new test at Tuesday’s Republican debate.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz also are in for a crucial night, while the rest of the field is fading fast.

The latest McClatchy-Marist Poll finds Carson slightly ahead nationally, Trump close, Rubio climbing and Cruz not too far behind. The stakes are high for national newcomers Carson, Rubio and Cruz, because the more people heard about them the more they liked, giving each enormous upside — as well as potential to disappoint and plunge.

This debate will have a different look. The main stage’s eight contenders in the year’s fourth GOP debate is the smallest yet, as Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, and Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, failed to qualify. They’ll join Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, and Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, in an earlier debate.

The debate’s focus is supposed to be the economy. That was also billed as the topic of the last one, which at times became a free-for-all as candidates were asked about regulating fantasy football or their biggest weaknesses. The furor over the debate’s tone prompted campaign officials to seek changes in the format. They couldn’t agree and the format’s not changing.

The two-hour debate at the Milwaukee Theatre will start at 9 p.m. EST. Moderators will include Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo and Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerard Baker. The undercard will run for an hour starting at 7 p.m. EST.

Poll asking if Republicans view the candidates as part of the political establishment or as outsiders.

Poll asking if Republicans view the candidates as part of the political establishment or as outsiders. Click to enlarge.

Poll of which candidate Republican voters don't want to get the nomination. Tribune News Service 2015

Poll of which candidate Republican voters don’t want to get the nomination. Click to enlarge.

Here are four questions for the main debate:

Can Rubio take more hits?

His surge to prominence last month began with his passionate, pointed debate defense of his Senate voting record. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, kept tumbling after his wan challenge to Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida. Since then, Rubio’s faced questions about using a Republican Party credit card for personal expenses while in the Florida legislature. Saturday, his campaign released an accounting of the expenses, and chances are Rubio will be armed with pointed responses to any critic. Can he stay cool when defending himself? And will the public buy his explanations?

Can Carson keep cool?

The retired neurosurgeon has been tackling questions about his personal background and views. He could be grilled Tuesday on his history with Mannatech, a nutritional supplements firm, as well as dealings with the U.S. Military Academy, assertions that Egypt’s pyramids were built to store grain, and just how violent he may have been as a teenager.

Will Trump be bombastic or reasonable?

The real estate mogul toned down his rhetoric at the last debate. But in recent media and campaign appearances he’s berated his rivals. Rubio, Trump said, is “a disaster with his credit cards.” After a new national poll last week showed Carson ahead, Trump told Fox News, “Ben can’t do the job.” Trump has to be more statesmanlike, but there’s a risk for Rubio and Carson, too. They need to show they have what it takes to stand up to world leaders, but first they have to show they can stand up to Trump.

Can anyone new break out of the pack?

Cruz is the best bet. The poll found the more a majority of Republicans see of the senator from Texas, the more they like him. For the rest, it’s getting late, and many remain stuck below 5 percent. Earlier bids to be distinctive haven’t worked. Former executive Carly Fiorina was the star of the September debate, but her momentum fizzled. John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, went on the attack at last month’s debate but it didn’t help.

___

(c)2015 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Graphics: Tribune News Service (c)2015

Photo: Republican U.S. presidential candidate businessman Donald Trump (L) speaks as former Florida Governor and fellow candidate Jeb Bush reacts during the second official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, United States, September 16, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Test For Jeb Bush At Debate: Can He Tone Down His Inner Wonk?

Test For Jeb Bush At Debate: Can He Tone Down His Inner Wonk?

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Jeb Bush has staked out a claim as the most serious of the 15 Republican presidential candidates, with a deeply considered policy position on everything from healthcare to federal regulations to entitlement reform to Syria.

But as he prepares to do battle once more against his rivals at the fourth Republican presidential debate on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Bush faces a challenge: Whether he can talk simply and eloquently about Americans’ problems without lapsing into nerd-speak.

The former Florida governor’s tentative performance at the last encounter two weeks ago in Boulder, Colorado contributed to another dive in his favorability numbers in the race for the Republican nomination for the November 2016 election.

Bush has hired an image consultant to try to help him with his presentation but he has rejected advice from advisers to get rid of his eyeglasses and to stand up straighter and puff his chest out.

He acknowledges that his debate performances need work.

“I do pretty good when I’m out with real people interacting with them. Have fun doing it,” Bush said last week on his campaign bus in New Hampshire. “But the debate process is different.”

But even at campaign events, Bush stuffs his speeches with facts and figures rather than short, sharp, sound bites.

“POSSE COMITATUS LAW”

In Hollis, New Hampshire, last week when a voter asked Bush whether he would support sending National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, Bush interjected:

“You’d have to change the Posse Comitatus Law,” he said, referring to an obscure 1878 law that limits the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce U.S. domestic policies.

While high-flying rivals like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio gain attention with more emotional pitches, Bush has clung to his clinical approach of talking policy.

In comparison to Trump who vows to build “the best wall ever” on the Mexican border, Bush offered what he feels is a more realistic view when a voter in Raymond, N.H., asked him about a wall. He noted the rugged terrain along the border.

“There are places where you couldn’t build a fence,” he said. “But where fences are appropriate, do it, fine.”

Listening to Bush at the Hollis event was New Hampshire Republican Lorin Rydstrom, who said he liked what he heard, but harbors doubts.

“He’s got a great pedigree,” said Rydstrom. “The question is passion. Does he have the passion to do it?”

Bush reads obscure policy studies for input on developing his positions. He eschews fiction in favor of nonfiction.

“There’s talkers and there’s doers and I’m in the doers’ lane,” Bush told Reuters in a recent interview. “And I want people to know that. So we’re really focused on policy.”

But experts, supporters and, significantly, some of his financial donors have noticed that Bush has not been able to boil his message down into several digestible points that describe why he is running for president and what he would do if elected.

Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and who has not endorsed a candidate this year, attended Bush’s recent rollout of his healthcare plan. He noticed that Bush had plenty of details but did not cite examples of how his policy would help the average American.

“A huge part of being a presidential candidate and a president is your communications skills and your ability to explain complicated things that regular people can understand. Some candidates are better than that than others,” Cullen said.

 (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Alistair Bell)

U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Governor Jeb Bush speaks at the North Texas Presidential Forum hosted by the Faith & Freedom Coalition and Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas October 18, 2015.  REUTERS/Mike Stone