FINALLY! Ted Cruz was a stand out at a GOP presidential debate - about time. He didn't have poor showings at the previous two, he just didn't make much of an impression at all. Which was not what I'd expected from the junior senator from Texas.
A collegiate debate super star, he finally did the star turn last night I'd expected to see from the first. And it was all the more powerful for NOT having shone at the earlier two.
Sen. Cruz seriously took the debate moderators down a peg or two. Ignoring the first question he was asked, he instead turned the tables. I've heard people dismiss it because it's doubtful the remarks were totally spontaneous, but that's what a great debater does - comes prepared. And ready to improvise to give the point made gravitas. Ted did both, when he shot back,
"The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. 'Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don't you resign? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?' How about talking about the substantive issues?"
Brilliant! His riposte will be remembered long after the fact checkers pointing out the fallacies of his comments are shrugged off.
Okay, so his comments wildly caricatured what had actually been asked - what Republican will care?
Donald Trump painted as a comic book villan? No. John Harwood noted that Trump's policies - pledging to build another wall & make another country pay for it, send 11 million people out of the country, cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit - sound like "a comic book version of a presidential campaign."
Ben Carson asked if he could do math? Ah, nope. Becky Quick DID ask about whether his tax plan's math added up - "You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes.This is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to take a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work?"
The Kasich question was based on reports in the New York Times that reported him as saying, "Republicans who proposed abolishing Medicaid and Medicare, imposing a 10 percent flat tax, or deporting millions of people were out of touch with reality."
It would have been shocking if the panel hadn't asked Marco Rubio about resigning, since Jeb Bush had already gone there & the Sun-Sentinel had flat out called its state's native son to do just that if he wasn't going to bother showing up in D.C. to vote.
And NOT talking about one of the biggest actual stories from these early days of the primaries - Jeb Bush's falling ratings - would also have been tantamount to political malpractice.
So, kudos to Ted Cruz for finally delivering the debate performance I've looked forward to since hearing about his stellar skills. My guess is his response led most news reports - great sound bite - and has many pundits giving his shared credit with Marco Rubio for the night's win.
Oh, and it allowed him to duck the question that had been asked - why he opposed a bipartisan budget deal averting a perfect storm of debt ceiling & Medicare & Social Security Disability Insurance crises.
He was prepared, used illustrations that showed off his ability to remain clear headed & on point even in the heat of a national presidential debate (no small thing) & weave fresh info into his prepared comments.
Finally!
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