The Claws Came Out in the 9th GOP Presidential Debate.
Coming off the early primaries of Iowa and New Hampshire, the remaining six Republican candidates were looking to prove themselves for the next primaries. We witnessed a Republican Debate like any other to date. There were personal and direct attacks between candidates and many of the same points made about the same issues.
The night did start off different than any previous. News of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, provided a question posed to all candidates. Who should nominate the next Supreme Court justice? All provided one reason or another as to why the replacement should be postponed and nominated by the next President. Most citing the need to get the people’s input, and nominate someone who would get unanimous support. Trump, on the other hand took a more direct response.
Trump has proven able to hold onto his loyal supporters, independent of his success or lack thereof in debates. If anything, he still comes off as one of the most honest candidates on the stage, not afraid to speak whatever his brain tells his mouth to spit out. For instance, while all candidates posed with the question of replacing recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s position, agreed that President Obama should not nominate a replacement, and the next President should be able to nominate, out of respect; Trump simply stated that the decision should be delayed by those in power in Congress for the next President. He shows great concerns for the loss of an influential republican conservative in the judicial system rather than the American people’s voice is selection, unlike his fellow candidates.
Following this introduction, the debate resumed it’s usual course of issues and responses. However, the claws did come out. Viewers tuning-in expecting the usual Jeb Bush v. Trump match were treated with a fight between Senator Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
But Bush and Trump did get their turn, to the surprise of many, Bush seemed to come out on top, standing his ground and possibly besting Trump in the debate. It remains to be seen if the outcome of this battle will matter for Trump in South Carolina…
Receiving, more boos and heckling from a debate crowd than we’ve yet to hear. He took to very personal attacks and low blows against Jeb Bush’s family, including his his brother, former President, George W. Bush. Jeb’s more confident responses, rebuttals, and ability to bring a personal attack into a plea for concern of South Carolina families, made him more appealing to this South Carolina crowd. However, one good debate still might not be enough to save him the race.
Senator Ted Cruz also seemed off his game. Not his usual composed self and missing his well practiced answers that he usually holds, he was also not received well by the audience. Rubio brought attention to Cruz’s history of changing his policy stance, in particular in regards to immigration. There was back and forth, but Rubio managed to come out on top of this match, coming off a not so great debate last week.
Carson and Kasich were more removed from the battles of the night but got their speaking time as well.
All in all, it was a GOP debate we would think we were watching again, as opposed to addressing anything new. The reduced number of candidates on the stage, allowed for more targeted and direct questions from the moderators, and an attempt at more equal speaking time, however the major player of candidates hasn’t changed, an the content remained mostly the same. We shall find out if any of their efforts in this debate influenced South Carolina primary voters this Friday.
