Media buzz following Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate mostly centered on Carly Fiorina, an underdog whose performance was widely viewed as the standout of the night, but Rupert Murdoch saw a different winner.
On Twitter, Murdoch, whose sprawling media empire includes Fox News, suggested that Marco Rubio had seen the most improvement from the first debate in August.
“Watching Republicans from Beijing fascinating,” Murdoch wrote on Thursday. “Many did better, but Rubio most of all. Polls will tell, but still months to go.”
Pressure during the debate was essentially on all 10 other candidates to bring front-runner Donald Trump down a peg, in light of the real estate developer having dominated most of the summer in terms of news and poll numbers.
Rubio, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, benefited from large portions of the debate that dealt with national security and foreign affairs. At one point, he was asked to compare his knowledge on policy to Trump’s.
“You should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day,” Rubio said. “Not six months from now, not a year from now. On the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can’t predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it.”
Watching Republicans from Beijing fascinating. Many did better, but Rubio most of all. Polls will tell, but still months to go.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) September 17, 2015
