Republican Candidates Tear Into Each Other During South Carolina Primary Debate

NY Times: Republican Candidates Sought To “Take Down Their Opponents.” On February 13, CBS hosted the ninth Republican primary debate of the 2016 election. The New York Times reported that the candidates “debated on Saturday night as if it were one last chance to break through and take down their opponents,” and described how the candidates attacked and “battered” each other:

The Republican candidates debated on Saturday night as if it were one last chance to break through and take down their opponents -- and for a few of them, it probably was.

The most important exchange of the evening came early in the night, when Donald J. Trump and Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida, collided in an extended, personal clash over the Iraq war and President George W. Bush's record on national security.

But for all of the candidates, the debate helped illustrate the broader state of the race, and each man's approach to the final seven days before the crucial South Carolina primary on Saturday.

[...]

Mr. Bush expressed, more clearly than ever, his horror at Mr. Trump's position in the race. He derided Mr. Trump as a man whose principal achievement was “building a reality show,” and reminded viewers in a tone of impatience, “We're living in a dangerous world.”

[...]

At times in the 2016 race, the Republican establishment has seemed, tentatively, to warm up to Mr. Trump, as perhaps a palatable alternative to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

The Greenville debate may have shattered any prospect of future accommodation: Mr. Trump declared forcefully, to a national audience, that President George W. Bush had deliberately lied to the country in order to start a war. Red-faced and shouting, Mr. Trump said President Bush was to blame for not averting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

[...]

Mr. Cruz and Mr. Rubio have long been perceived as on a collision course: a pair of junior senators who are both potential history-making nominees, each approaching his Senate service in a starkly different way. Their deepest differences have been over immigration.

After sparring occasionally in previous debates, the two men battered each other in earnest in a series of caustic exchanges on Saturday night. Mr. Rubio repeatedly called Mr. Cruz a serial liar. Mr. Cruz repeatedly called Mr. Rubio a sleeper agent for a liberal immigration policy. [The New York Times, 2/14/16]

Conservative Media Figures Agree That The Debate “Was Not A Good Look For The GOP”

Fox's Charles Krauthammer: CBS Republican Debate Was A “Thermonuclear” “Cage Fight.” During Fox News' February 13 post-debate coverage, Fox contributor Charles Krauthammer called the CBS Republican debate “thermonuclear” and a “cage fight,” explaining that he had “never seen as much personal attacks” in a presidential debate:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: It was an amazing debate. If the Democrats were engaged in skirmishes with the occasional subtle jab, and if the previous Republican debates have been World War I or World War II, this was thermonuclear. I have never seen as much personal attacks, as much high temperature attacks as we saw in this debate. And I'm not even sure you can judge the debate or who won or who lost on the actual sound bites, who won this exchange or that, it was the tone. I think if you counted up the number of times the word lie and liar was employed, it would exceed the number of times it has been used in all previous debates.

[...]

KRAUTHAMMER: We went here from WWE to UFC. This was a cage fight of the sort I don't think we've ever seen at a presidential level before. [Fox News, 2/13/16]

CNN's Conservative Commentators Agree: CBS Debate “Was Not A Good Look For The GOP.”During CNN's February 13 post-debate coverage, conservative CNN commentators Amanda Carpenter, S.E. Cupp, and Jeffrey Lord agreed that the CBS debate “was not a good look for the GOP” and “the worst [debate] yet”:

AMANDA CARPENTER: If I were just an average voter tuning in to this debate and seeing people scream liar, brawling openly with no repercussions really from the moderators or anyone else, I would have tuned out. This was not a good look for the GOP.

S.E. CUPP: Mm-mm, no.

CARPENTER: This is not a debate I want to remember. It was the worst one yet.

JEFFREY LORD: Agreed. [CNN, 2/13/16]

Republican Pollster Frank Luntz: “The GOP Is Destroying Itself Tonight, And They Have No One To Blame But Themselves.” Republican pollster and frequent Fox guest Frank Luntz tweeted that the CBS debate was “insane,” writing that “the GOP is destroying itself tonight, and they have no one to blame but themselves”:

Seriously, this is insane.

The GOP is destroying itself tonight, and they have no one to blame but themselves. #GOPDebate

-- Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) February 14, 2016

[Twitter.com, 2/13/16]

Conservative Columnist Kathleen Parker: “I Think Overall, Don't You Think People Just Felt Like, OK Kids, Can You Just Stop Fighting?” On the February 14 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, conservative Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker questioned the fighting during the CBS debate, asking, “Don't you think people just felt like, OK kids, can you just stop fighting?” [NBC, Meet the Press, 2/14/16]