And I have to hand it to Ben, we called Ben, he was with me 100%.
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Trump, the brash real-estate mogul, has dominated the Republican race for months, but was a less of a factor Wednesday night than in the previous two debates. But the pressure also is heavy on middle-of-the-pack candidates like Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina to shine as their polling slips.
In addition, Priebus told the media in the spin room that the moderators, “tried to design a Rubik’s cube for every question” in order to trip up the candidates. If anyone scored.it likely was Sen. Chris Christie did well, in part by savaging the moderators, though it won’t make a difference for his rudderless campaign. But it wasn’t clear he did what he needed to do, and he might have helped Rubio more than himself.
“Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term and you should be showing up to work”, Bush said at the debate sponsored by CNBC. I mean, literally, the Senate – what is it, like a French work week?
“You’ve got a guy here speaking from experience, speaking with knowledge about issues, speaking with a reasonable approach to matters”, said Pat Hickey, a Bush supporter from Nevada. “Just resign and let somebody else take the job”. Rubio said that John McCain missed a lot of votes when he ran. “Nobody wants to watch three and a half or three hours … and in two minutes I renegotiated it down to two hours so we can get the hell out of here”.
Republicans Suck At Math – The moderators for the CNBC debate asked Trump and Carson about why the math on their tax plans doesn’t add up. Trump responded, “That’s not a very nicely asked question”.
Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio smelled bias among Wednesday’s CNBC debate moderators, and they weren’t having any of it.
“This is not a cage match”, Cruz said.
That pales in comparison to the anger-fueled, seemingly mission-driven crusades of Donald Trump, Ben Carson – and even Marco Rubio. Otherwise, Rubio was his same weak self, but if he keeps playing the Newt Gingrich blame the media card, he may get a bump in the polls.
“This is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and conservative movement”.
Rubio also took a jab at what he called the “mainstream media”, saying it’s the “ultimate super PAC” for the Democratic party. The former Florida governor and heir to a political dynasty came to Boulder badly in need of of a jolt to energize his stalled campaign. The former neurosurgeon was vague when pressed on how his tax plan would raise enough to avoid causing monstrous deficits.
“We question science that everyone accepts”, he said.
As assertive in the third debate as ever, Crhistie accused the three Democratic candidates of being “a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist”.
Cruz unleashed a lengthy indictment of the media.
Ted Cruz – The highlight of the night was his swipe that debate panel for their loaded questions.
Aurora’s Jose Feliciano, a business analyst at Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, retweeted a comment from David Limbaugh that said a silver lining in the debate is that those watching will realize how “pathetic, unfair and biased” the network is.
Trump largely refrained from personal attacks on his rivals, which has been a signature of his campaign, even taking a light touch with Carson. “We can not elect someone who doesn’t know how to do the job”, he said. “The players that were expected to be formidable in those lanes have not got the traction they had hoped”, Cruz said to Politico.
Graham earned big cheers for his criticism of Democrats, declared President Obama “incompetent”, and generally seemed to be the only candidate in control, either talking over or joking with the moderators, and tossing out seemingly candid one-liners.
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Lesley Clark of the Washington Bureau contributed.
