Six GOP candidates gathered in South Carolina Feb. 13 for the ninth Republican Debate sponsored by CBS and the Republican National Committee. This was the final debate before the Republican South Carolina primary Feb. 20.
A brawl ensued. Politico called this debate the “nastiest” one yet. The New York Times‘ recap headline read “Saturday Night Fighting.” Here’s a breakdown of some of the major exchanges.
Donald Trump called Ted Cruz “the single biggest liar” in response to Cruz saying that Trump is not a reliable conservative. Trump also went after Jeb Bush’s family — again — criticizing George W. Bush for allowing 9/11 to happen and the war in Iraq. Jeb responded saying that he loved his family, and after mentioning how incredible his mother is, Trump retorted with: “She should be running.”
Cruz and Marco Rubio also had a nasty clash over immigration policy — again. Cruz attacked Rubio for being a supporter of amnesty, and the ensuing back-and-forth escalated to Rubio attacking Cruz’s inability to speak Spanish. “I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish,” Rubio said. And Cruz then responded to him in, what some are saying was grammatically incorrect, Spanish.
It’s also important to note John Kasich spurred a new GOP debate hashtag after saying “jeez, oh man” to express his frustration with the constant fighting in the heated debate fights. “I think we’re fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton,” he said.
https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/698697235832422401
For more crazy moments, check out Rolling Stone’s “35 WTF Moments” article with quotes from the candidates at the debate, especially this one-liner from the soft spoken Ben Carson: “I’m not a politician. I’m never going to become a politician.”
Watch the full debate here, or the highlights of all the heated exchanges here.