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How the GOP's unhinged debate diminished both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio
The Week ^ | February 26, 2016 | James Poulos

Posted on 02/26/2016 2:46:14 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

At an unhinged moment in the 2016 presidential primary season, the Republican candidates turned in a fine set of unhinged performances at Thursday night's critical debate.

Let's begin with Donald Trump, far and away the strongest contender, be it in Ted Cruz's backyard or Marco Rubio's home state. For the first time, he met his rhetorical match in a surprisingly vitriolic Rubio. The Florida senator devoted himself to going shout-for-shout with Trump, dragging out old scandals and unseemly details that put the mogul's present-day promises in an unflattering light. But even when Trump visibly ground his gears, he stayed characteristically unflappable. He's got a big enough cushion to risk staying the course. Although he lost the initiative last night, the game was not changed.

From the look on Rubio's face, however, you'd think there was a revolution onstage. With every attack on Trump, he preened and puffed. When Trump and Cruz mixed it up, Rubio visibly itched to squeeze in another zinger, another bullet point, another piece of evidence that he had graduated to the big leagues. (Those monitoring media Twitter might have felt the hovering presence of political helicopter parents -- established Rubio backers doling out anxious attaboys from the sidelines.)

Without a doubt, Rubio wins debates, and he won Thursday's contest, as the media, the focus groups, and the insiders will tell you. His scores, however, have yet to translate into a commensurate clutch of delegates. In this lopsided but unstable race, that might change. But I wouldn't bet on it....

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: Florida; New York; South Carolina; Texas; Campaign News; Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: 2016election; amnestypimpsonfr; banalltrumpbashers; concerntroll; concerntrollalert; concerntrolls; considerthesource; cruzerluzer; cruzerluzers; cruzwillendorserubio; election2016; enoughalready; florida; inyourheadrentfree; lindseygraham; luzer; luzers; marcorubio; newyork; ntsa; presidentdonaldtrump; rubio; southcarolina; tedcruz; texas; trump; zotalltrumpbashers
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To: IrishBrigade

Ha!

It’s the only channel they have on at the McDonalds I go to (late lunch).

And no I didn’t have fries with that.


41 posted on 02/26/2016 4:11:37 PM PST by MUDDOG
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It made Rubio and Cruz look desperate. Sure, they landed a couple good hits. The problem is that they did it AFTER Trumps wins. Trump held his own. Cruz definitely handled himself better than Rubio.


42 posted on 02/26/2016 4:20:52 PM PST by dware (Everybody wants to be a patriot, until it's time to do patriot stuff.)
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To: samtheman

Luntz? lol


43 posted on 02/26/2016 4:21:08 PM PST by stocksthatgoup (My first choice is Trump 4 economics and Not a Politician . Cruz to endorse Rubio Stay Home)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The TPA was envisioned as something completely different than Obama’s idea


44 posted on 02/26/2016 4:22:38 PM PST by stocksthatgoup (My first choice is Trump 4 economics and Not a Politician . Cruz to endorse Rubio Stay Home)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Daily Beast. He also writes at Forbes, hosts the Free Radicals podcast, and fronts the band Black Hi-Lighter. Poulos is a periodic commentator on TV and Web channels, including Fusion, HBO, HuffPost Live, MSNBC, and Pivot. He lives in Los Angeles.

45 posted on 02/26/2016 4:27:00 PM PST by kcvl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

James Poulos, a scribbler for the execrable Huffington Post and a useful idiot for the Nazi Soros.


46 posted on 02/26/2016 5:30:54 PM PST by sergeantdave ( If not you, who? If not now, when?)
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To: MUDDOG
Around 2 pm this afternoon CNN ran a live Trump speech from Texas for at least a half hour uninterrupted. And it was a great speech. You heard about Rubio there — barbecued.

CNN wants Trump and Fox wants Rubio.

No establishment network wants Cruz.

47 posted on 02/26/2016 6:08:35 PM PST by FreeReign
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To: FreeReign

48 posted on 02/26/2016 6:37:33 PM PST by Leo Carpathian (FReeeeepeesssssed)
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To: JoSixChip

Yep Teddy will endorse the “Washington Cartel”. Watch and see


49 posted on 02/26/2016 8:21:20 PM PST by Sybeck1 (Only they can beat Hillary, but for some reason they can't beat him)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

In 2000 2/3 of Freepers supported GWB, mainly because “he could win.” At least that made SOME sense. This makes no sense.


50 posted on 02/27/2016 3:55:24 PM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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