Front-runners Ben Carson and Donald Trump displayed unexpected amity while Marco Rubio performed impressively Wednesday night in the GOP economical debate on CNBCAQ, according to the New Yorker. This comes after days of Trump verbally attacking Carson because the real estate mogul plunged behind the former neurosurgeon in the most recent Iowa Poll, according to Business Insider.
Rubio’s answers were polished and practiced, especially when he fended off early jabs from Jeb Bush, who slashed his campaign costs by more than 40 percent because of lack of fundraising and decline in popularity in recent polls. The two Floridians’ exchange occurred when the former Florida governor attacked the current Florida senator over an editorial in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper reporting that Rubio “hates his job.”
“Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up for work,” Bush said. “You can campaign or just resign and let someone else take the job.”
Rubio had a reply ready.
“The only reason you’re doing it is that we’re running for the same position and someone has convinced you that attacking me will help you,” he said.
After this response earned him applause from the audience at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Rubio expressed his respect for Bush. Then he turned the conversation back to his own campaign.
“My campaign is going to be about the future of America, its not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage," he said.
Trump and Carson exhibited no negativity toward each other, and Trump actually defended the soft-spoken doctor when Ohio Governor John Kasich attacked both their tax plans, suggesting they would sink the nation further into debt and calling them “a fantasy.” Trump lashed back, denouncing one of Kasich’s companies and criticizing his poll numbers.
“This was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers — a financial service that went bankrupt in 2008 — when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with them, including Ben and myself," Trump said. “[Kasich was once] such a nice guy ... but then his poll numbers tanked. That's why he's on the end [of the debate stage], and he got nasty.”
Another key component of the debate was the conflict between the candidates and mainstream media in general. On numerous occasions, presidential hopefuls seemed irritated with the moderators because of questions ranging from intentional instigative statements to trivial problems such as governmental fantasy football regulation. The fiscally minded moderators also seemed poorly prepared to control the talking time allotted to candidates, displayed by the margin of Carly Fiorina’s 10 minutes, 32 seconds to Rand Paul’s six minutes, 15 seconds.
“The questions that have been asked so far in this debate display why the American people don’t trust the media,” said Texas Senator Ted Cruz. “The questions being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other, it should be, 'What are your substantive solutions to people at home?'"
The Republican candidates also spent a substantial amount of time discussing how they would attempt to defeat Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, who recently testified on her involvement in the 2012 Benghazi attack. Fiorina was especially vicious in her critiques of the former Secretary of State, condemning her for her economic policies, including a 92 percent job loss to women during her support of President Barack Obama’s policies.
“I may not be your dream candidate," Fiorina said during her closing argument, "but I assure you I am Hillary Clinton’s worst nightmare, and in your heart of hearts you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina.”