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August 7, 2015 6:02 am
Trump faces more jeers than cheers in Republican debate
Gina Chon and Megan Murphy in Washington
The top ten Republican candidates selected for the debate based on their rank in an average of the five most recent national political polls. The number one ranked Donald Trump, centre, was introduced as “businessman”©GettyThe contenders, left to right, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and John Kasich, at the Fox News and Facebook sponsored debate at an arena in Cleveland, Ohio©GettyDonald Trump attempted to take advantage of the pro-immigration stance of rival Jeb Bush, whose position is out of step with the Republican party base©GettyDonald Trump drew boos from the crowd when he took aim at Fox anchor Megyn Kelly for a question about his sexist remarks, saying he did not have time for “political correctness”©GettyMr Trump dominated in speaking time, ahead of Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, followed by Marco Rubio, in the first hour of the debate, while the rest of the ten candidates had under four minutes in air time©GettyThe first question asked candidates to raise their hand if they could not pledge to respect every other candidate or run as a third party candidate. Donald Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand©GettyTed Cruz became the most-searched on Google in the first hour of the debate as he introduced his platform©GettyChris Christie, left, clashed with Rand Paul over his bonding with President Obama over Hurricane Sandy, while Marco Rubio, centre, avoided conflict with rivals by acknowledging them and then stating his own views. Ben Carson, right, quipped that he did not expect to get much airtime.©GettyIn a moment of rapprochement, Mr Trump called Jeb Bush a “true gentleman” after Mr Bush denied calling Mr Trump a word which the Fox anchor described as unrepeatable on television©GettyAhead of the prime time Republican presidential candidate debate, those who did not make the cut based on their standing in the polls instead took part in a so-called “undercard” event. Left to right, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina and George Pataki.©GettyFormer Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina made the greatest impact as judged by social media and Google trends during the course of the early debate©GettyRepublican presidential hopeful Rick Perry stumbled when asked whether the US should side with Iran or Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, seeming confused about the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, instead mentioning Iran in remarks about the killing of US marines©AFPRick Santorum referred to his family’s move from Italy as he espoused his strident views on immigration reform©AFPThe audience hall for the Republican presidential primary debate at the Quicken Loans Arena was sparsely populated for the early debate but filled with a rowdy crowd for the main event©AFP
The first Republican debate appears to have prevented what most of the rival candidates feared the most: Donald Trump stealing the show.
While many of the questions by the Fox News moderators, the hosts of the debate, were geared toward Mr Trump, he was at times openly jeered by the audience after kicking off the event by refusing to pledge that he would support the party’s eventual nominee.
“I don’t think they like me very much,” the bombastic billionaire was forced to concede, in a debate performance which made clear that, even on the debate stage, he will continue to run as an anti-establishment iconoclast, as opposed to striking a more presidential tone.
With Mr Trump coming into Thursday’s debate as the frontrunner by a clear margin, many of the candidates had spent their strategy sessions assessing how to handle him.
The near-consensus approach was to focus on their own message, as candidates who have been left scrapping for air time were finally given a clear shot at making an impression.
Mr Trump also fielded some of the most pointed questions from the Fox News moderators, including on his insults of women and his business record that includes several bankruptcies.
“I’ve been challenged by so many people, and I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry,” Mr Trump told Fox’s Megyn Kelly after she asked whether he has the temperament to be president given he’s called women “fat pigs.”
“I’ve been very nice to you although I could probably not be based on the way you have treated me, but I wouldn’t do that,” he retorted.
Instead, it was some of the less flashier candidates that appeared to fare well in a rowdy, freewheeling debate, such as Ohio governor John Kasich, who had the added advantage of the debate taking place in his home state. He came across as one of the more moderate candidates, saying he would love his daughters unconditionally if they were gay.
The debates are critical because they can take popular candidates down a peg and give boosts to those who are running behind. It was not even clear in the previous 48 hours whether Mr Kasich was going to make it into the prime time debate until Fox News announced the line-up Tuesday night, and he took the last spot of the ten candidates.
It was the showdown that has had US political junkies on the edge of their seats for weeks: bombastic billionaire Donald Trump squaring off against nine rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
Throughout the two-hour event, a boisterous crowd repeatedly cheered and booed various candidates — with much of the booing reserved for Mr Trump.
Significantly, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for president, was not a key focus of the debate, with the field clashing mainly with each other on issues such as immigration, national security and domestic surveillance,
Fox’s three moderators drew praise for their tough questioning of the candidates’ records and their control of a debate that constantly threatened to descend into a reality show farce with Mr Trump on the stage.
Jeb Bush, for example, was pressed hard on his stance on immigration reform, where his support for a pathway to legal status for some unauthorised immigrants is out of step with the majority of his party.
Scott Walker was asked to defend his record on job creation in Wisconsin, where he fell far short of a campaign pledge to create 250,000 jobs in his first term.
Whether the debate will reshape a 17-candidate field remains to be seen, with some contenders scoring points but featuring none of the sort of gaffes that can cause a campaign to implode. Fox had to split the debates into two sessions because of the number of candidates, with the top ten contenders in the polls grabbing the prime time slot.
But there were several moments of exquisite political theatre, most notably a heated exchange between Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, and Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator. The two clashed over the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records, with Christie claiming Mr Paul’s resistance to the programme threatened national security.
“I want to collect more records from terrorists but less records from innocent Americans,” said Mr Paul, who has made his resistance to the surveillance a signature issue.
“That’s a completely ridiculously answer,” said Mr Christie, a former US attorney who told the audience he had experience prosecuting terrorists. “How are you supposed to know?”
Mr Bush’s somewhat tepid performance may further unnerve donors who have pumped tens of millions behind his campaign. The former Florida governor was widely expected to be the race’s frontrunner, given his fundraising prowess and his standing as the preferred candidate among the Republican party’s establishment wing.
But his candidacy has failed to catch fire with Republican voters, and he has made several gaffes on the trail. Only this week he was forced to backtrack after saying he did not understand why the country needed to spend a half a billion dollars on women’s health.
On Thursday, many of his answers during the debate were stilted and he appeared uncomfortable on stage.
Fellow Floridian and senator Marco Rubio, who has trailed a bit after being one of the frontrunners, gave a stronger performance, delivering crisp, natural answers and appearing one of the most comfortable with the forum.
“How is Hillary Clinton going to lecture me on living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck,” Mr Rubio said to cheers.
In an earlier debate between the seven candidates that did not make the main event, the standout performance was from Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. She delivered polished responses, with crisp answers on issues such as Iran and national security while also ratcheting up the offensive on Mrs Clinton.
It was a fairly flat affair otherwise, hindered by a format that gave candidates only a brief time to answer questions and featured little interaction between them on the main policy issues tackled: the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, how to boost the economy, immigration and border security.
August 7, 2015 6:02 am
Trump faces more jeers than cheers in Republican debate
Gina Chon and Megan Murphy in Washington
The top ten Republican candidates selected for the debate based on their rank in an average of the five most recent national political polls. The number one ranked Donald Trump, centre, was introduced as “businessman”©GettyThe contenders, left to right, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and John Kasich, at the Fox News and Facebook sponsored debate at an arena in Cleveland, Ohio©GettyDonald Trump attempted to take advantage of the pro-immigration stance of rival Jeb Bush, whose position is out of step with the Republican party base©GettyDonald Trump drew boos from the crowd when he took aim at Fox anchor Megyn Kelly for a question about his sexist remarks, saying he did not have time for “political correctness”©GettyMr Trump dominated in speaking time, ahead of Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, followed by Marco Rubio, in the first hour of the debate, while the rest of the ten candidates had under four minutes in air time©GettyThe first question asked candidates to raise their hand if they could not pledge to respect every other candidate or run as a third party candidate. Donald Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand©GettyTed Cruz became the most-searched on Google in the first hour of the debate as he introduced his platform©GettyChris Christie, left, clashed with Rand Paul over his bonding with President Obama over Hurricane Sandy, while Marco Rubio, centre, avoided conflict with rivals by acknowledging them and then stating his own views. Ben Carson, right, quipped that he did not expect to get much airtime.©GettyIn a moment of rapprochement, Mr Trump called Jeb Bush a “true gentleman” after Mr Bush denied calling Mr Trump a word which the Fox anchor described as unrepeatable on television©GettyAhead of the prime time Republican presidential candidate debate, those who did not make the cut based on their standing in the polls instead took part in a so-called “undercard” event. Left to right, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina and George Pataki.©GettyFormer Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina made the greatest impact as judged by social media and Google trends during the course of the early debate©GettyRepublican presidential hopeful Rick Perry stumbled when asked whether the US should side with Iran or Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, seeming confused about the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, instead mentioning Iran in remarks about the killing of US marines©AFPRick Santorum referred to his family’s move from Italy as he espoused his strident views on immigration reform©AFPThe audience hall for the Republican presidential primary debate at the Quicken Loans Arena was sparsely populated for the early debate but filled with a rowdy crowd for the main event©AFP
The first Republican debate appears to have prevented what most of the rival candidates feared the most: Donald Trump stealing the show.
While many of the questions by the Fox News moderators, the hosts of the debate, were geared toward Mr Trump, he was at times openly jeered by the audience after kicking off the event by refusing to pledge that he would support the party’s eventual nominee.
“I don’t think they like me very much,” the bombastic billionaire was forced to concede, in a debate performance which made clear that, even on the debate stage, he will continue to run as an anti-establishment iconoclast, as opposed to striking a more presidential tone.
With Mr Trump coming into Thursday’s debate as the frontrunner by a clear margin, many of the candidates had spent their strategy sessions assessing how to handle him.
The near-consensus approach was to focus on their own message, as candidates who have been left scrapping for air time were finally given a clear shot at making an impression.
Mr Trump also fielded some of the most pointed questions from the Fox News moderators, including on his insults of women and his business record that includes several bankruptcies.
“I’ve been challenged by so many people, and I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry,” Mr Trump told Fox’s Megyn Kelly after she asked whether he has the temperament to be president given he’s called women “fat pigs.”
“I’ve been very nice to you although I could probably not be based on the way you have treated me, but I wouldn’t do that,” he retorted.
Instead, it was some of the less flashier candidates that appeared to fare well in a rowdy, freewheeling debate, such as Ohio governor John Kasich, who had the added advantage of the debate taking place in his home state. He came across as one of the more moderate candidates, saying he would love his daughters unconditionally if they were gay.
The debates are critical because they can take popular candidates down a peg and give boosts to those who are running behind. It was not even clear in the previous 48 hours whether Mr Kasich was going to make it into the prime time debate until Fox News announced the line-up Tuesday night, and he took the last spot of the ten candidates.
It was the showdown that has had US political junkies on the edge of their seats for weeks: bombastic billionaire Donald Trump squaring off against nine rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
Throughout the two-hour event, a boisterous crowd repeatedly cheered and booed various candidates — with much of the booing reserved for Mr Trump.
Significantly, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for president, was not a key focus of the debate, with the field clashing mainly with each other on issues such as immigration, national security and domestic surveillance,
Fox’s three moderators drew praise for their tough questioning of the candidates’ records and their control of a debate that constantly threatened to descend into a reality show farce with Mr Trump on the stage.
Jeb Bush, for example, was pressed hard on his stance on immigration reform, where his support for a pathway to legal status for some unauthorised immigrants is out of step with the majority of his party.
Scott Walker was asked to defend his record on job creation in Wisconsin, where he fell far short of a campaign pledge to create 250,000 jobs in his first term.
Whether the debate will reshape a 17-candidate field remains to be seen, with some contenders scoring points but featuring none of the sort of gaffes that can cause a campaign to implode. Fox had to split the debates into two sessions because of the number of candidates, with the top ten contenders in the polls grabbing the prime time slot.
But there were several moments of exquisite political theatre, most notably a heated exchange between Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, and Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator. The two clashed over the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records, with Christie claiming Mr Paul’s resistance to the programme threatened national security.
“I want to collect more records from terrorists but less records from innocent Americans,” said Mr Paul, who has made his resistance to the surveillance a signature issue.
“That’s a completely ridiculously answer,” said Mr Christie, a former US attorney who told the audience he had experience prosecuting terrorists. “How are you supposed to know?”
Mr Bush’s somewhat tepid performance may further unnerve donors who have pumped tens of millions behind his campaign. The former Florida governor was widely expected to be the race’s frontrunner, given his fundraising prowess and his standing as the preferred candidate among the Republican party’s establishment wing.
But his candidacy has failed to catch fire with Republican voters, and he has made several gaffes on the trail. Only this week he was forced to backtrack after saying he did not understand why the country needed to spend a half a billion dollars on women’s health.
On Thursday, many of his answers during the debate were stilted and he appeared uncomfortable on stage.
Fellow Floridian and senator Marco Rubio, who has trailed a bit after being one of the frontrunners, gave a stronger performance, delivering crisp, natural answers and appearing one of the most comfortable with the forum.
“How is Hillary Clinton going to lecture me on living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck,” Mr Rubio said to cheers.
In an earlier debate between the seven candidates that did not make the main event, the standout performance was from Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. She delivered polished responses, with crisp answers on issues such as Iran and national security while also ratcheting up the offensive on Mrs Clinton.
It was a fairly flat affair otherwise, hindered by a format that gave candidates only a brief time to answer questions and featured little interaction between them on the main policy issues tackled: the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, how to boost the economy, immigration and border security.
