jimnyc
12-16-2015, 08:38 AM
In a presidential race reshaped by national security worries, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio clashed over U.S. military intervention, government spying on Americans' communications and immigration Tuesday night, as front-runner Donald Trump defended his provocative call for banning Muslims from the United States.
Struggling former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush found his footing in trying to discredit Trump's qualifications for the White House, chiding the brash billionaire for trying to "insult your way to the presidency."
Tuesday night's debate was the first for Republicans since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, which heightened fears of terrorism in the United States. The attacks have ignited a political debate about President Barack Obama's campaign to defeat the Islamic State in the Middle East and the nation's security posture in preventing attacks in the U.S.
Trump's call for temporarily banning Muslims from the U.S. — a proposal roundly criticized by his rivals — dominated much of the discussion heading into the debate. He said he wasn't seeking to discriminate against Muslims.
"We are not talking about isolation; we're talking about security," he said. "We are not talking about religion, we are talking about security."
Bush dismissed the proposal as unserious, saying "Donald is great at the one-liners, but he's a chaos candidate and he'd be a chaos president."
In contrast, Cruz and Rubio said they understood why Trump had raised the idea of banning Muslims and avoided directly criticizing the front-runner. Instead, they focused on each other, engaging in lengthy debates over their differences on national security and immigration, one of the most contentious issues in the Republican primary.
Rubio defended his support for eventually providing a pathway to citizenship for some people in the U.S. illegally, an unpopular position within the Republican Party. Rubio was a co-author of comprehensive Senate legislation in 2013 that would have created that pathway, but he has since said the nation's immigration crisis must be addressed in piecemeal fashion, with legalization only an option after the U.S.-Mexico border is secured.
Cruz went further than he has previously in opposing legalization for people in the U.S. illegally, declaring, "I have never supported legalization and I do not intend to support legalization."
The two senators — both Cuban-Americans in their 40s — have been sparring from afar for weeks. The Texas senator is on the rise, particularly in Iowa's kickoff caucuses, and is casting himself as a more electable alternative to Trump, while Rubio is seeking to straddle the divide between his party's establishment and more conservative wings.
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/US-GOP-2016-Debate/2015/12/15/id/705959/
Struggling former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush found his footing in trying to discredit Trump's qualifications for the White House, chiding the brash billionaire for trying to "insult your way to the presidency."
Tuesday night's debate was the first for Republicans since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, which heightened fears of terrorism in the United States. The attacks have ignited a political debate about President Barack Obama's campaign to defeat the Islamic State in the Middle East and the nation's security posture in preventing attacks in the U.S.
Trump's call for temporarily banning Muslims from the U.S. — a proposal roundly criticized by his rivals — dominated much of the discussion heading into the debate. He said he wasn't seeking to discriminate against Muslims.
"We are not talking about isolation; we're talking about security," he said. "We are not talking about religion, we are talking about security."
Bush dismissed the proposal as unserious, saying "Donald is great at the one-liners, but he's a chaos candidate and he'd be a chaos president."
In contrast, Cruz and Rubio said they understood why Trump had raised the idea of banning Muslims and avoided directly criticizing the front-runner. Instead, they focused on each other, engaging in lengthy debates over their differences on national security and immigration, one of the most contentious issues in the Republican primary.
Rubio defended his support for eventually providing a pathway to citizenship for some people in the U.S. illegally, an unpopular position within the Republican Party. Rubio was a co-author of comprehensive Senate legislation in 2013 that would have created that pathway, but he has since said the nation's immigration crisis must be addressed in piecemeal fashion, with legalization only an option after the U.S.-Mexico border is secured.
Cruz went further than he has previously in opposing legalization for people in the U.S. illegally, declaring, "I have never supported legalization and I do not intend to support legalization."
The two senators — both Cuban-Americans in their 40s — have been sparring from afar for weeks. The Texas senator is on the rise, particularly in Iowa's kickoff caucuses, and is casting himself as a more electable alternative to Trump, while Rubio is seeking to straddle the divide between his party's establishment and more conservative wings.
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/US-GOP-2016-Debate/2015/12/15/id/705959/