US: Rubio under fire from rivals during Republican presidential debate

[webfact]

US: Rubio under fire from rivals during Republican presidential debate



WASHINGTON: -- As the race for the US presidential nomination heats up ahead of the New Hampshire primary on 9 February, the crowded Republican pack slugged it out in a fractious TV debate on Saturday evening.

First-time senator Marco Rubio’s strong third place in the Iowa caucuses on 1 February, made him a target for the other hopefuls.

Rubio came under sharp and repeated attack over his level of experience from Chris Christie, who told Rubio: “You have not been involved in a consequential decision, where you had to be held accountable, you just simply haven’t.”

Rubio made an attempt to fight back by criticising Christie’s governorship of New Jersey, saying the state had been “downgraded nine times on the credit rating” during Christie’s governorship.

“That’s what Washington, DC does. The ‘driveby shot’ at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information, and then the memorised 25 second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him,” Christie said of Rubio’s comments, and received an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience for doing so.

Donald Trump, who polls suggest is the Republican frontrunner in New Hampshire, got into an angry exchange with Jeb Bush on the issue of eminent domain – during which Trump was booed by the audience for telling Bush to be quiet.

“The difference, the difference between eminent domain for public purpose – as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that – that’s for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is downright wrong,” Bush said.

Cruz denied that waterboarding – a practice used under the George W. Bush administration during the war on terror – was torture, saying: “Under the definition of torture, no it is not. It is enhanced interrogation.”

Trump said he would “bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-02-08

[Pinot]

Republican candidates can't wait to get in there and begin war crimes again. Can't wait to start another war. Negotiation is for wimps, carpet bomb!!!

They're despicable.

[webfact]

After Rubio stumbles, rivals see opening in New Hampshire
By JULIE PACE and THOMAS BEAUMONT

BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) — Marco Rubio's uneven debate performance just days before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary has emboldened a trio of governors seeking to stem his rise in the Republican race for president. But if Rubio's rivals can slow him in New Hampshire, they are likely to leave the GOP with a muddled mix of establishment contenders and no clear favorite to challenge Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

At the heart of the battle between Rubio and Chris Christie, John Kasich and Jeb Bush is whether the freshman Florida senator has the experience and policy depth to serve as president — or whether he's simply a well-spoken lightweight. Christie unleashed withering attacks against Rubio in Saturday's debate, and the New Jersey governor tripped up Rubio by calling him out in real-time for his reliance on rehearsed talking points.

The morning after, Christie declared the Republican contest a changed race.

"There was a march amongst some in the chattering class to anoint Sen. Rubio," Christie said on CNN's State of the Union. "I think after last night, that's over."

Christie and his fellow governors need that to be the case, given that they've staked their White House hopes on New Hampshire. Without a strong showing, each will face enormous pressure to drop out from Republican Party leaders eager to rally around a single candidate who can challenge Cruz and Trump, the top-two finishers in the lead-off Iowa caucuses.

Trump has held a commanding lead in New Hampshire preference polls for months. Cruz is in the mix with Rubio and the governors, though his campaign is more focused on the Southern states that follow later in the primary calendar.

The prospect of Trump or Cruz winning the GOP nomination has set many Republican leaders on edge, and that anxiousness is only likely to increase should New Hampshire voters leave Rubio and the governors clustered together in the primary results, failing to anoint one as their preferred challenger to the front-runners.

Rubio emerged from Iowa looking as though he was that candidate, with a third-place finish in Iowa that was stronger than expected. Rival campaigns conceded privately in the days leading up to the debate he was pulling away from the governors.

But the Florida senator stumbled in the debate when challenged about his qualifications, repeatedly falling back on a retort meant to distinguish himself from President Barack Obama, who also won the White House as a first-term senator.

For Barbara O'Brien, an undecided voter who had been considering voting for Rubio, it was enough to convince her he wasn't the right choice.

"He kept saying the same thing over and over again," said O'Brien, a 67-year-old from Manchester who is one of New Hampshire's many independents. "He didn't look presidential"

GOP voter Judy McKenna, 66, had been leaning toward Rubio, but said she was "disappointed" in his debate performance.

"The governors all made great points about experience, especially Christie, and Rubio did not have any answer to counter that argument," McKenna said.

Rubio acknowledged the criticism during a rally in Londonderry on Sunday morning. He then proceeded to repeat the same line that put him in Christie's crosshairs.

"I'm going to say it again," he told the audience of more than 800 gathered in a school cafeteria. "The reason why these things are troubling is because Barack Obama is the first president, at least in my lifetime, that wants to change the country. Change the country, not fix it."

Rubio senior adviser Todd Harris said the candidate's repetition underscores his laser focus on upending the Obama administration's agenda.

"We're going to continue to attack Barack Obama's record over and over and over again," Harris said. "I don't think there is any Republican primary voter who was watching that debate who was saying I wish he would lay off of Barack Obama."

Seeking to counter the notion of a misstep, Rubio's campaign said it raised $600,000 during the debate, three times more than it has brought in during previous debates. The fundraising numbers were unverifiable.

The senator's crowds remained large and enthusiastic on Sunday, and some of the many undecided voters who attended his events said they were more bothered by Christie's aggressive demeanor.

"It was tiresome. I've heard it before," Katherine Bringhurst, a 66-year-old retired office manager. She's undecided heading into Tuesday's election, but leaning toward Rubio.

Maria Tourlitis, an independent from Hudson, decided to vote for Rubio after hearing him speak in her hometown on Saturday. As she greeted the senator after the event, she leaned in and said: "At the next debate, please stand up to Christie."

If Christie's aggressive attacks on Rubio result in his own standing tumbling, it could benefit Bush, the former governor of Florida, and Kasich, the current governor of Ohio. Both stepped back in the debate to allow Christie to take the lead in targeting Rubio, though they were happy to relish in the afterglow.

"He's a great speaker," Bush said of Rubio, his one-time political protégé, on Fox News Sunday. "But he came across as totally scripted and kind of robotic."

Kasich has prided himself on avoiding direct criticism of his rivals during the campaign, and kept up that strategy both in the debate and as he campaigned Sunday.

"Wouldn't it be great if we could win being positive?" Kasich said on Fox News.
___

Associated Press writer Sergio Bustos contributed to this report from Salem, New Hampshire.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-08

[wabothai]

Mud slinging war, as usual, the one with most of the mud will become president.

[NeverSure]

The owners leaders of the Repub Party are going nuts. They have lost their traditional and long standing control of the process. When their anointed Jeb Bush couldn't get any traction and Robotio Rubio seemed like he might be, they jumped to him. Now Christie has eaten Rubio's lunch and shown Rubio to be an empty suit. Also, Rubio's prior stances on immigration make him an easy target with the voters.

The guy on the street is going to choose the candidates this time and I think that's a very good thing, no matter who it is.

Cheers.

[bark]

Christie has eaten Rubio's lunch and everyone else s lunch, dinner and snacks.

He is a big man.

[Rancid]

Would be more interesting to see a debate between the puppet masters rather than these wooden vacuous props.

Can't the Americans just vote for Goldman Sachs on a joint rep/dem ticket and avoid all the bad theatre?

[chuckd]

If it bothers you so much, you might try reading and commenting on other threads more attuned to your own particular interests.

[Jingthing]

KASICH coming up from the rear.

Rubio is a lightweight.

No experience. No accomplishments. He has all the charisma of a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread with a bland pickled Cuban pepper. His "intelligence" is that he knows his memorized lines. Totally busted!

Maybe someone's VP. That's all.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Jingthing

[ggt]

Let's hear it for entertainment value...the Rubio meltdown was incredible to watch...like a broken robot...blurting out the same soundbite several times in a short amount of time...

Trump was in enemy territory...the audience was "pre-loaded" with Bush and Rubio supporters by the RNC establishment...so the boos were predictable...

Christie won the debate...Cruz looked and acted like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar...Carson was his usual low-key...eye-blinking...soft spoken self...Gov. of Ohio is likely the best candidate on the stage but just does not appear very Presidential...

The show must go on...

[Ulic]

Its all about Iowa, now all about New Hampshire. Rubio was exposed by Christie. I believe

Cruz is a one trick Iowa pony who's organization was exposed as the low life's they

are. Not sure who the GOP establishment is going to coalesce behind, Rubio, Kasich, but

it will come to that person and Trump. It looks like the rank and file will choose the party

candidate this year, not the GOP establishment.

[Jingthing]

Christie won in smoking out Rubio.

But that doesn't mean people really want him as president.

Now or never for Kasich.

He may come 2nd and then the entire script gets rewritten.

[Ulysses G.]

Rubio is a lightweight.

No experience. No accomplishments. He has all the charisma of a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread with a bland pickled Cuban pepper. His "intelligence" is that he knows his memorized lines. Totally busted!

Maybe someone's VP. That's all.

All nonsense. He had VERY bad few minutes in one debate. That might be enough to destroy him forever politically, but it does not mean a whole lot about him personally. It was just bad luck. Frankly, I think he was exhausted or sick or both, but that won't save him if fortune frowns on him in New Hampshire.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Ulysses G.

[Jingthing]

Rubio is a lightweight.

No experience. No accomplishments. He has all the charisma of a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread with a bland pickled Cuban pepper. His "intelligence" is that he knows his memorized lines. Totally busted!

Maybe someone's VP. That's all.

All nonsense. He had VERY bad few minutes in one debate. That might be enough to destroy him forever politically, but it does not mean a whole lot about him personally. It was just bad luck. Frankly, I think he was exhausted or sick or both, but that won't save him if fortune frowns on him in New Hampshire.

Whatever.

I just sincerely don't find him intellectually impressive, and never have.

I think he's got his ideological SCHTICK and that's pretty much it.

Really, you can keep him.

Really the only republican up right now that seems solid is Kasich. Not that I agree with his politics, which I don't, but if the U.S. is stuck with a republican president, he might be OK.

If people like me, leftists, think like that, he's a winner.

I reckon the republicans are too stupid to see that. GOOD!

[Ulysses G.]

I like Kasich, but Rubio is smarter and much more charismatic - even if he did royally screw up in that debate. I woud take Kasich over any of the other Republican candidates. That is for sure.

I hope Chris Christie got his jollies over hurting Rubio badly for no real reason, because it ain't going to help him. He will be out of the contest soon.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Ulysses G.

[Jingthing]

I like Kasich, but Rubio is smarter and much more charismatic - even if he did royally screw up in that debate. I woud take Kasich over any of the other Republican candidates. That is for sure.

I really don't understand how you could see Rubio as smarter.

I see that he is quick.

Quick with spouting canned garbage designed to project him as little boy Reagan.

Are Americans so stupid as to buy that pablum?

Maybe.

Buying Trump would be even more stupid and he's still leading!

Edited February 8, 2016 by Jingthing

[Ulysses G.]

I've been watching him for years. He normally thinks very well on his feet. He is VERY clever. I couldn't believe what happened the other day - especially since EVERYONE knew what was coming. I have no doubt that there are circumstances that we are not privy to, but that won't help him out out of this.

[kamahele]

The owners leaders of the Repub Party are going nuts. They have lost their traditional and long standing control of the process. When their anointed Jeb Bush couldn't get any traction and Robotio Rubio seemed like he might be, they jumped to him. Now Christie has eaten Rubio's lunch and shown Rubio to be an empty suit. Also, Rubio's prior stances on immigration make him an easy target with the voters.

The guy on the street is going to choose the candidates this time and I think that's a very good thing, no matter who it is.

Cheers.

The "guy on the street" should be the one choosing the candidates and not the insiders in back room deals. However, I don't see any Republican candidates worthy of being Commander and Chief. Who are the sane Republicans to vote for?

[Usernames]

I like Kasich, but Rubio is smarter and much more charismatic - even if he did royally screw up in that debate. I woud take Kasich over any of the other Republican candidates. That is for sure.

I hope Chris Christie got his jollies over hurting Rubio badly for no real reason, because it ain't going to help him. He will be out of the contest soon.

--My name is Marco Rubio, and I approved this message.

[Neurath]

KASICH coming up from the rear.

Rubio is a lightweight.

No experience. No accomplishments. He has all the charisma of a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread with a bland pickled Cuban pepper. His "intelligence" is that he knows his memorized lines. Totally busted!

Maybe someone's VP. That's all.

A sizable majority of Republicans would consider Kasich an abomination for doing so.

[Neurath]

Christie won in smoking out Rubio.

But that doesn't mean people really want him as president.

Now or never for Kasich.

He may come 2nd and then the entire script gets rewritten.

They would not be too happy about Christie doing Rubio like that too.

[Publicus]

Rubio's problem continues to be that he is the high school junior class president who is presentable and striving and that everyone knows will grow up someday, eventually.

The wait continues.