The CBS presidential debate in Greenville, S.C., started off with a moment of silence in memory of Justice Antonin Scalia, whose death was announced earlier in the day. And the debate that followed was a sort of tribute to the late jurist.
Not that Scalia was much talked about. Every candidate agreed that the Senate should not confirm an Obama nominee, and all but John Kasich promised to appoint a conservative originalist. But the back and forth had a certain resemblance to Supreme Court arguments in which Scalia typically peppered lawyers with sharp questions from the get-go.
The fireworks started on foreign policy, when Jeb Bush attacked Donald Trump for pledging to accommodate Russia in Syria and Trump argued that we can’t fight two wars at the same time. A substantive dispute over a current difficult problem.
Then Trump called the Iraq War a big mistake and went on to say George W. Bush lied and said there were weapons of mass destruction when he knew they were none. This was a Democratic meme and one without merit: Every intelligence agency and Saddam’s own generals believed he had WMDs.
But instead of pointing that out, Bush said his father was a great man and his brother kept America safe. To which Trump asked, how did he keep us safe from the World Trade Center attacks? Trump’s attacks may have antagonized some Republican voters, and he withdrew his charge of lying on a Sunday show.
Trump later called Bush the weakest candidate and laughable. Bush said Trump disparaged women, the disabled and John McCain, a parry that hasn’t worked yet, and Trump seized on Bush’s comment that if he mooned no one would notice.
But Trump’s biggest target was Ted Cruz. “You are the single biggest liar,” Trump said, “probably worse than Jeb Bush,” citing Cruz campaign emails and robocalls, and called Cruz a “nasty guy” not supported by a single Senate colleague.
This was strong stuff compared to Cruz’s oblique characterization of Trump’s trade policy as “pixie dust.” But Cruz may have struck a nerve when he charged that the not always conservative Trump would appoint liberals to the Supreme Court.
“I am conservative, but not total,” Trump himself said, defending his use of eminent domain, and he praised Planned Parenthood for good work on women’s health. These are not stands, fivethirtyeight.com’s Nate Silver noted, which are popular with Republicans.
In earlier debates in New Hampshire and Iowa, Marco Rubio was the main target of others; less so in South Carolina. But when asked to define “amnesty,” he launched into an attack on Ted Cruz. “We’re going to do this again.” A Cruz amendment included legalization of illegals and more guest workers, he said, and repeated his own pledge of no legalization or citizenship until a border wall, E-verify for job applicants and effective entrance-and-exit visa tracking were effective.
Less than 20 percent of Iowa and New Hampshire voters told exit polls that immigration was their top issue, but Rubio clearly realizes his lead role in the Gang of Eight bill in 2013 is a liability. His argument in effect is that Cruz is just as bad and that Cruz’s assertion that he is rock solid against legalization is another “lie.”
Bush and Kasich also chimed in on immigration, Kasich promising to pass a bill with a path to citizenship and Bush saying most illegals came because they “had no choice” and should be given “a little more respect for their struggle.” Neither stand seems likely to appeal to many South Carolina Republican voters.
Going negative in a multicandidate race is risky, because attacks can hurt the attacker. Trump took this risk, especially in attacking George W. Bush, and so did Bush, who hit the front-runner most often. Cruz, more a target than an attacker here, may have been hurt as well.
Rubio, less under attack, gave detailed responses on foreign policy, on defending his child tax credit, on turning welfare over to the states. He claimed to be the strongest general election candidate and was the only candidate to evoke Ronald Reagan.
He also deftly laced his comments with remarks designed to appeal to religious conservatives, citing Justice Scalia’s same-sex marriage dissent, proclaiming that life begins at conception and that rights come from the Creator.
What’s the result of all this back-and-forth? We’ll know next Saturday night, when the South Carolina results come in.
