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Live Blog of the Republican Debate in South Carolina

Live Blog of the Republican Debate in South Carolina

Last updated on: February 15, 2016 at 12:35 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Live Blog of the Republican Debate in South Carolina 2016-02-15T00:35:38-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Who will be his heir?

If you are a conservative, then today is a sad day. Justice Scalia, Reagan’s intellectual blessing on this nation, is gone.

The stakes for the 2016 election are now higher: the next President will pick the replacement to Antonin Scalia.

Who do we trust with the job?

Suddenly this is no “horse race,” but a real race for the leader of the free world and the pivotal vote on the Court.

Where does this race stand?

We have five men standing after Iowa and New Hampshire.

Donald Trump is the frontrunner, but South Carolina will be his greatest test. Like Iowa, South Carolina is dominated by the Evangelical vote. Can he win it? If he cannot, then he can win many states, but he cannot be the nominee. If he wins South Carolina, he will eliminate all the other contenders but one.

Ted Cruz should win South Carolina. He has the best organization and is a fit for the state the way that Trump was a fit for New Hampshire. If he does not win, then his plan is failing. Trump will be the favorite for the nomination, not just the frontrunner.

Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush are locked in a death struggle for the “third slot.” Rubio is more appealing, but Bush has more money. Bush must beat Rubio in South Carolina or he will drop out. Rubio must beat Bush in South Carolina or he will drop out. This is it. Edge is to Rubio right now.

John Kasich has little chance of being the nominee. He is running for Vice President. He can hold out for the northern and Midwestern states, but by that time somebody will be so far out in front that Kasich versus Somebody will be hard to beat.

Ben Carson has no chance of being the nominee. He is running to sell books and perhaps to harm Ted Cruz. Somehow Cruz “Tweeting” his withdrawal made him angrier than Trump saying he was crazy. Trump killed Carson in Iowa back when Carson was winning Iowa and moving up nationally, but Cruz got the blame because he may have shaved off a point in Carson’s losing effort.

Cruz is like that: a lot of people like blaming him.

As usual these are unedited (for the most part) comments as I watch.

President Obama made a fine statement on the death of Justice Scalia and noted he would send the Senate a nominee. The Senate should examine that nominee and decide if he is a good substitute of Justice Scalia.

Ben Carson of Florida lacks fans in this audience.

Rubio has a contingent.

Trump does not.

Jeb “Bear” Bush has a huge contingent.

Rubio crossed himself. This was a brave thing to do in South Carolina: home of Bob Jones University. This may be the most truly brave thing anyone will do tonight whatever you think of his Catholic expression of the Christian faith.

I hate moderators and I hate rules. Just let them talk as much as they want. Let’s try this sometime.

Trump: Obama will try it. The Senate and “Mitch” will delay, delay, delay.

Kasich: looks five hundred years older than he is. I will end divisions. Kasich is running for the nicest guy in the room. We are divided and we need a consensus nominee. Kasich needs political backbone.

Carson: The Supreme Court is important. Average age of death used to be fifty and it is now . . . longer. He doesn’t like the lifetime status. We should not be “nasty.”

Kasich and Carson: we should all become homeroom president.

Rubio: Scalia was good and we should put people on the court who interpret the Constitution. We should not let “Harry Reid ram down a justice.”

Bush: We need someone like Scalia with no litmus test on specific issues. Fight. Fight. Fight. “I am an Article II guy”

Wow. I am a “First Amendment Guy.”

Jeb is a bit sleepy tonight until he sparked up saying the word fight. Is he verbally awakened?

Stop profanity. . . says Little John Dickerson.

Cruz gets into a back and forth with the moderator. Cruz knows the court better than the moderator. We are “one justice” from prolife. The Senate needs to stand strong.

Cruz was right: the nomination was in November of 1987. He was confirmed in 1988. The moderator was right.

Rubio: when were you tested? 2014 . . . should we attack Syria? I stood up and made a hard call to oppose the use of force in Syria because the plan was bad. Marco knows foreign policy.

Carson stop complaining about your time and tell us what you think. You are wasting your time telling us you do not get time. Now you are saying nothing. No amount of experience prepares one to do something that has not been done before . . . and that is where we are now. And yet we are not.

Kasich, our home room President, is now blathering about working with allies. Who are these people? We will look at people. Look John! Look at France! See France! Hear remarks! He wants a “Coalition of the Civilized” . . . we will end any chance of drinking tea without sticking up our pinkies. Forever.

Jeb “Bush Bear” Bush says Russia cannot be a positive partner, but he got a bit lost. Who is on the run? We need a strategy. We need containment on Iran. This was confused.

Trump: I like Putin. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb has a room of special interest and lobbyists. Knock out ISIS and work with Putin. We cannot fight two wars at once. We spent five trillion on the Middle East. Lindsay’s Graham hit.

Bush: Putin is not going to be an ally. We need Sunni coalition.

Jeb and Trump get at it. Trump shouting. Jeb won that round by looking cool while for some reason Trump looks red. He needs new makeup.

Cruz: we need a focused objective. Will Ted debate the frontrunner? Why not?

Cruz looks for thoughtfulness . . . moderator debates with Cruz again. Kurds are fighting right now . . . and Cruz knows his stuff. “We may need to embed special forces.” Start with air power advantage.

This Dickerson is the moderator for those who think that moderators are running for President.

Trump: “I get along with everyone.” That may not include his first two wives. Bush is attacked on Iraq. “We should have never been in Iraq.” He accuses Bush of lying.

Jeb Bush is alive. “While you are were being a reality television show . . . ”

Kasich: this is just nuts. “We thought we would find WMD.” Kasich now gives us a history lesson. “We should not involve ourselves in civil wars.”

Marco Rubio: I thank God that it was George W. Bush in the White House. Bush kept us safe.

Trump and Rubio mix it up and I become fearful that Trump will have a stroke. He is so red that he matches the background.

Carson has studied the Middle East, including the grain storage of Joseph in the Great Pyramids. Why is he in this debate? This is not a serious candidate.

A commercial with Arnold Schwarzenegger reminds me that we elected him in California and this was a big mistake. Who could be worse than Grey Davis we said? Nobody, we said. Wrong, we discovered.

Jeb Bush and Marco are winning so far. They seem reasonable. Kasich seems like he is running in the wrong party. Trump actually seemed on the ropes.

Little John Dickerson is back.

Trump has an odd way of saying “China.” He is arguing that he will bring back jobs and so save Social Security. Workers are losing jobs.

“How would you actually do it?”

“Waste. Fraud. Abuse.”

This is the oldest lie that all GOP candidates like.

Cruz on economic growth and the flat tax . . . how will you make sure a VAT doesn’t keep going up? Middle class has been left behind . . . we are not going to win by declaring “let there be jobs.” Cruz says Trump is engaged in magic pixie dust . . . the thought of either of them in a pixie suit freaks. me. out.

Rubio has the “highest tax rate.” He wants to influence tax policy. Is this a liberal approach? Marco is for parents. He argues for forming families. He wants to help working families. “The family is the most important institution.” Rubio is the blue collar candidate. Is this good? Maybe.

Kasich: “those numbers are incorrect.” Kasich wants to treat the mentally ill and the drug abusers. This is all good. Well done, John Kasich. This is detailed, compassionate, and conservative. Our credit is strong . . . we want everyone to rise.

Bush: Kasich is a nice guy, but not expanding Obama care is not a good thing.

Kasich: Jeb knows I am not for Medicaid. Reagan expanded Medicaid.

Bush and Kasich are now debating. Mom and Dad are fighting. This makes me nervous.

Kasich is going to stay positive by lying about Bush’s record and growing red as he yells. I hate to say it, but Bush is back.

Carson wants us to have “skin in the game.” From a doctor, this disturbs me.

This debate has an invisible Cruz. Trump and Jeb have fought to redness. Kasich and Bush have fought a passive aggressive dual where Kasich shoots you while saying you should not shoot. Carson is jolly.

Five people is much better. Four will be better still.

Trump: we will build a wall. Mexico will pay for it.

Rubio: gets a bit booed over immigration. Now CBS is adding graphics. Why is this ok?

Cruz on illegals . . . I fought to defeat amnesty. He too is getting booed. There are many Bush people here . . . supported by the donor class . . .

Marco thinks that Cruz is lying.

Cruz says that Rubio speaks differently in Spanish than in English.

Rubio says that Ted Cruz is liar.

Bush argues that Trump is Voldemort, he who must not be named. The weakest person on the stage is Jeb Bush.

Trump said that Bush would “moon” people.

Kasich . . . no negative ads. No attacks. Or we will lose. Kasich will now attack everyone. Kasich will pass a basic plan for amnesty.

Ben Carson wants us to go to his web site. Why is he here? What is he saying? Why do we care? Carson is a break from reality. I am somehow happy and sedate.

Cruz talks about Dad . . . and how he can help the “dish washer.” We want to lift the burden of small business. Cruz is doing well.

Trump: build consensus with Congress. This is a good answer. He will build consensus. Trump really gets this trade issue in a way that is comprehensible to folks.

The break has come. I am glad to see that we are down (sans Carson) to the real candidates. Has Trump gotten beaten? Feels like it, but then Trump is playing by his own rules. We will see. His “mooning” comment is unprecedented. I don’t know what to think about it.

Trump has been flexible. “You have to have flexibility.” Reagan was a somewhat liberal Democrat . . . “I feel I am a commonsense conservative.”

We now have the second Chris Christie reference.

“You should not take old women’s homes,” says Bush.

“You are the single biggest liar.” says Trump to Cruz.

The reason principles matter . . .

The candidates are finally going after Trump. This is a first . . .

Rubio is now for wanting to help the poor. . . thank you Marco Rubio.

Marco seems like a grown up.

Carson will not “scream and jump up and down.” Will he be awake at any point in the debate?

Little John Dickerson asks Dr. Carson to say something not PC.

Dr. Carson rightly says “free college” is a non-starter. We need to cut the budget. This is a good answer. I am trying to stay awake for the Mr. Average analogy. Must stay awake.

Kasich: “all people are the same.” John Kasich is the “Small World” candidate, you start the ride, the song starts, and then you go mad.

Trump: my wife tells me I am wrong. He is now dodging the question. He will stop swearing. Whatever.

Jeb Bush: don’t cut and run. Don’t brag about going bankrupt.

Trump: Jeb Bush was not a good governor.

Bush gets to defend his government.

This debate is mad. Totally mad. This is just weird beyond belief. People are shouting and talking about “mooning.” This is the party of classically educated war hero and college president James Garfield and we are talking about the “f-word.” Shameful.

John Kasich cannot debate and too many of the candidates think yelling bromides is a great idea. Shameful. Ugly. Not Republican. Go here. Read the Lincoln/Douglass transcript. This is not us.

Kasich: we will send power, money, and influence here. The Lord made us special in a mosaic. Is this Byzantine? Florentine? What kind of mosaic? This is useless. Spirit of Old Man falls on Kasich and he sounds like a PBS fund raising drive.

Carson: He quotes Stalin. OK. We must stop the decline. Never vote for a man who cannot write his own autobiography.

Bush Bear: He was won this debate by being the paradigm South Carolina candidate.

Marco: Difficult time. Economy. Wrong is right, right is wrong. 2016: life, marriage, free enterprise, Creator, loyal to allies, rebuild military. Rubio is back.

That was a powerful ending statement.

Cruz looks crabby.

Sorry, but he looks crabby. A Washington dealmaker.

Cruz: don’t lose fundamental liberties. He will fight for us. Cruz is being his best self. This is good.

Trump: politicians are all talk and no action. This is a good line. We need a big change. “We are going to make our country great again.” We are not going to be controlled. This is a good closing statement.

Wow.

That was a mess.

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Justice Scalia: A Great Man Has Fallen

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