If you missed out on the live GOP reality show, I mean debate, it's okay...I've got you covered.
The debate was hosted by three Fox News anchors, Megyn Kelly, Brer Baier, and Chris Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio. Some people criticized the anchors for not being professional enough, including one of the GOP candidates. Guess who!? No surprise here: Donald Trump. There were some interesting questions and interactions during the debate and here's some highlights from each candidate, from most speaking time to least.
Donald Trump with 11 minutes and 14 seconds
He's been the talk of the country and Thursday night he was determined to keep it that way. He was the candidate with the most talking time and some of the most memorable quotes. Although he isn't president yet, he has already declared war...on Megan Kelly. One of the most talked about moments from the night was when she asked a question criticizing Trump for his "disparaging comments about women". His response was dealing with the idea that “the biggest problem this country has is being politically correct.” He didn't apologize for what had been said, but somewhat sarcastically apologized if she didn't approve of his comments. He has taken his disappointment to his Twitter account (oh goodness).
Although there was a lot of drama with Trump and he had a lot talk time, there wasn't much discussion about any of his policies or plans for the future, except for his emphasis on the wall we must build with Mexico. Are we ever going to hear major plans and policies for Trump or will it always be a reality TV show?
Jeb Bush with 8 minutes and 48 seconds
Jeb Bush didn't have an amazing night with several earth-shaking moments, but he also didn't have a horrible night full of mistakes. One of his questions dealt with his last name and some problems that come with that. He made sure to establish that he isn't his brother, isn't his dad, and he has his own plans for our great nation. He also caught some heat about his service with the Bloomberg Foundation. This foundation, at the time of Bush's service, supported and funded Planned Parenthood, which is under scrutiny by many conservatives and Americans for their actions. He was asked if he knew that the foundation supported Planned Parenthood and after avoiding the initial question, he answered saying he did not know because he was there to work on education issues. Although Bush didn't have any heated tweets directed towards Fox News or any of the commentators, he had a fun tweet before the debate, acknowledging he was in King James' arena.
John Kasich with 6 minutes and 52 seconds
One of Kasich's best moments was when he was asked what he would do if one of his children were gay since he doesn't support gay rights. His answer was genius and described as a "gift to the GOP". Here's a short clip of this candidate's most brilliant moment during this debate and one thing he will be most remembered for.
Marco Rubio with 6 minutes and 49 seconds
Marco Rubio, although he seemed a bit rehearsed, he also seemed inspiring, hopeful, fresh, and young. In his first few moments, he said "this election better be about the future, not the past." He wanted to make it clear that he is pro-life, always has been, and always will be. That the every human being deserves to have equal opportunity and "is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not, whether they can speak or not, whether they can hire a lawyer or not, whether they have a birth certificate or not." He was also very confident that his party had many great candidates, while the Democrats can't find one.
Ben Carson with 6 minutes and 46 seconds
I'm not sure about you, but before this debate (or reading this article), I wasn't too sure who Ben Carson was, other than he separated Siamese twins. After this debate, though, this man caught the nation's attention. He seemed reliant upon his honesty and faith in all of his answers. He was the only African-American candidate on the stage, and of course, got a question about race...and answered it BEAUTIFULLY! Here's a clip because without it, you can't get the full effect of his genuine personality. He may not be at the top of the polls now, but he's one to watch.
Ted Cruz with 6 minutes and 46 seconds
Ted Cruz was asked how he would defeat ISIS in 90 days. Wouldn't that be nice? Although he didn't give any concrete tactics or policy, he did criticize Obama for being a weak Commander in Chief. He said, "What we need is a Commander-in-Chief who makes clear: If you join ISIS, if you wage Jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.” He made it very clear that no matter who you were, if you were associated with these terrorists, Ted Cruz, America would be after you. He also made sure that the people of America knew he didn't just think that Obama was weak, but he was a president out of control with his power and "unconstitutional" executive orders.
Mike Huckabee with 6 minutes and 42 seconds
One of Huckabee's most remembered moments was his response when asked about transgender people being welcome to serve in the military. He responded, "The military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things." Seconds after that second sentence left his mouth, twitter exploded and it was posted EVERYWHERE. This wasn't the only thing he said that excited the twitter world, and the rest of the world watching. Somehow, when discussing the topic of Social Security, he said, "The Fair Tax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now." Yes, you read that right. Who would have ever thought prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers would have made an appearance at the first GOP debate? Not me and not other twitter users..
Chris Christie with 6 minutes and 24 seconds and Rand Paul with 5 minutes and 28 seconds
Although Rand Paul got the least amount of speaking time, I'm going to put him here because boy oh boy, did things get real between these two. The two clashed over NSA spying. I warned you, it was a bit of a reality TV show.
Scott Walker with 5 minutes and 45 seconds
Abortion was a recurring topic throughout the debate and Scott Walker made his stance very clear. He made it known that he is pro-life...no matter what, even if it seems as though the mother's life is at risk. He says "that that unborn child can be protected and there are many alternatives that would protect the life of the mother.” He also made it very clear that the government needs to discourage China from carrying out cyber attacks. He also said that we need to come up with "an effective deterrent, unambiguously signaling to Chinese rulers that the costs of attacking us substantially outweigh the benefits." He also took this time on Twitter to call out Hillary Clinton for her email scandal.
And although it may have seemed as if Hillary Clinton was on the debate stage since the candidates spoke of her so much, she wasn't. She was too busy taking part in another reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Sources:
<http://www.nytimes.com/live/republican-debate-elec...>
<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/john-kasich-deba...>
