Seemingly doomed from the start, Saturday’s Republican Debate in New Hampshire provided exactly what it wasn’t supposed to: a laugh for viewers everywhere. The night was kicked off with a Carson-Trump snafu-neither candidate heard their name announced to take their place at the podium. Other candidates offered sympathetic pats on the back for Carson and Trump as they took their places when called. When the moderators finally recalled the two names, Governor Christie sarcastically remarked that Kasich’s name had not yet been called--even the first five minutes of this forum were riddled with errors.
The night proved to be a detrimental one for Senator Marco Rubio, who repeated the same line four times throughout the debate. He was trying to respond to an attack on his political experience: many say that President Obama is inexperienced and doesn’t know what he’s doing because he was a first-term senator, a notion to which Rubio responds “He knows exactly what he’s doing.” A reasonable notion, except when repeated four times. Christie called Rubio out on this fact, to thunderous applause, while any attempt Rubio made at reparation was met with boos.
A popular question of the evening involved the use of torture methods on terrorists, particularly waterboarding. Those candidates who didn't dance around and avoid the question responded that they would bring back water boarding, as well as “things worse than waterboarding” according to Mr. Trump.
Notably, the debate did not seem as Trump-centric as past debates have been, and it seems that perhaps the Republican Party is beginning to realize that they will need a valid front-runner if they want any hope of winning the Presidency in November.
by Erik Long
The night proved to be a detrimental one for Senator Marco Rubio, who repeated the same line four times throughout the debate. He was trying to respond to an attack on his political experience: many say that President Obama is inexperienced and doesn’t know what he’s doing because he was a first-term senator, a notion to which Rubio responds “He knows exactly what he’s doing.” A reasonable notion, except when repeated four times. Christie called Rubio out on this fact, to thunderous applause, while any attempt Rubio made at reparation was met with boos.
A popular question of the evening involved the use of torture methods on terrorists, particularly waterboarding. Those candidates who didn't dance around and avoid the question responded that they would bring back water boarding, as well as “things worse than waterboarding” according to Mr. Trump.
Notably, the debate did not seem as Trump-centric as past debates have been, and it seems that perhaps the Republican Party is beginning to realize that they will need a valid front-runner if they want any hope of winning the Presidency in November.
by Erik Long