“Jeb Bush was definitely one of them. He scored some points against Trump”, Dr. Charles W. Dunn says of Bush’s debate performance. “They declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy ISIS, but the idea that that is a solution to this is just insane”. He’s “great at the one-liners, but he’s a chaos candidate”, Bush said.
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Trump called a halt to the entire debate, in fact, by complaining that CNN was being unfair to him by inviting the other candidates, especially Bush, to attack him. Trump came back with “I’m at 42, and you’re at three”, referring to their respective percentages of support in Republican polls.
“Put aside all of the emotional side of it, which I think is important as well, but the principal thing is, it would be harder to build a coalition in being successful in beating ISIS”, said Bush. “It has been a total disaster”.
“Donald, you’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. He would not be the commander in chief we need to keep our country safe”, the former Florida governor said. “The crowd may be applauding, but my focus group is laughing at Jeb”.
“You’re never going to be President of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency”, Bush said, refashioning the line he obviously had been rehearsing for weeks.
And not the only ones, surely.
And then there is the not-so-trivial-obstacle that targeting civilians is illegal under worldwide law supported by the U.S. He also talked about getting tougher with the Russians and shooting down their planes if they violated a no-fly zone in Syria.
Usually when a candidate offers a judgment that is so harsh about a rival candidate, you can bet it’s partly exaggeration.
Paul argued that regime change in the Middle East may have removed undesirable dictators in several countries, but it had not led to peace or to governments that could control the rise of radical jihadism. Look at the candidates, the issues, their stances, what they say about certain things. “But did that turn in around for him?”
Fiorina later objected to not being allowed to interject an answer, adding, “This is why the people are fed up with the political class”. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. For a time, he had a lead in Iowa, the site of the first voting test in February. Well, after Tuesday night it does.
Also showing signs of the strain of the campaign Tuesday night was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who returned to reciting his familiar home-state formula for success: “It’s reform, it’s hope, it’s growth, it’s opportunity, and it’s security”.
Trump should have pointed out that most of the Bush advisers on foreign policy were members of his brother’s administration that created the mess. He has promised to kill the families of terrorists, and when faced with a question tonight calling him on this extremely insane plan, he confirmed that he would go after innocents just for being related to terrorists.
BLITZER: One at a time.
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But in the Republican Party, shoo-ins can become has-beens pretty quickly.
