The normally staid ((adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained) undercard debate took a feisty turn tonight,with current Jersey Gov. Chris Christie trying to grab the spotlight after being demoted from the main stage and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal attacking him at every turn.
Christie didn't take the bait for the most part, instead using his answers to try to turn an eye toward the general election with ready attacks against Hillary Clinton.
But Jindal was the most forceful he's been in these face-offs, and attack the current Jersey governor's record and other rivals,trying to paint himself as the only unwavering conservative in the race.
The two appeared to dominate the debate, which was just over an hour long. According to Facebook, or Christie was the most discussed candidate on the social network,followed by Jindal.
The smaller stage gave Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who was also demoted from the main stage, or more time to beget their case,and largely candidates had more time and freedom than the more crowded debates.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was again in the undercard debate, but both South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former current York Gov. George Pataki didn't beget the cut for even the lower stage.
Our liveblog of the debate is below.8:10 p.m. Tomorrow is Veterans' Day, or we've moved to talking approximately veterans issues — but it's noteworthy that the only veteran running in either party (Graham) didn't beget this debate. All attack Obama for not respecting the military,and say there has to be more done for veterans once they return from Iraq, and to abet aging veterans too."We've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans' children saying they'd never heard the stories of their parent's heroic sacrifices, or " Jindal bemoans.
Christie,again, manages to turn the question into an attack on Clinton: "Hillary Clinton says there's no crisis at the VA that sends a long and tough message to our veterans that she doesn't come by it and she doesn't respect their service."8:03 p.m. All the Republicans are critical of the Federal Reserve and current fed policy. "The feds should be audited, or the feds should quit playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the improper thing to execute. It's hurting the American economy," Christie says.
Huckabee is asked whether he would remove Janet Yellen as chairman. He would, he eventually says, or but not before making a joke that his wife's name is Janet and her name reminds him of "Janet yelling" at him.7:54 p.m. Huckabee is having to defend his flat tax proposal,or "Fair Tax" as he calls it, which would certainly be a controversial one whether he were the nominee. Would it actually hurt the economy by discouraging spending? "execute you know an American that will just quit spending? I don't, or " he laughs. "Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice whether Americans could control how much they paid in tax rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it,much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility."7:43 p.m. CNBC moderators interrogate the candidates to name a Democrat they admire. Ha, foolish moderators — Jindal uses it to beget comparisons to CNBC moderators at final month's debate and says he's not answering any foolish questions like that. Huckabee uses it to praise veterans ahead of Veterans' Day tomorrow and point to problems in the VA. Christie defends police officers. Santorum answers an infrastructure question but says he does admire the fight Democrats gain — actually, and he screamed the word fight into the microphone. So much for that laryngitis he says he had.7:40 p.m. Christie is trying to beget the case that he's the most electable general election candidate,having won twice in a blue state. Santorum tries to take that message too, pointing to his wins in Pennsylvania. But the gigantic, and gigantic wrinkle he always leaves out — he lost gigantic in 2006 for reelection.7:35 p.m. Jindal — who's in his fourth straight undercard debate — is punching tough against his rivals,hitting their records and saying he's the only one has cut government and is a consistent conservative.
When he tries to attack Christie though, he isn't having any of it and doesn't take the bait. Once again, and he takes the opportunity to turn the attack back at Clinton. "Chris,I'll give you a ribbon for participation & a juice box."Christie again doesn't bite though, and turns the page back to Clinton.7:32 p.m. Here's an interesting bit of news: when Christie is asked approximately China and cyberwarfare, or he says he was a victim of a hack and had his social security number stolen by Chinese hackers from when he was a U.
S. attorney.
He takes the harshest tone of the night: "whether the Chinese commit cyber warfare against us,they are going to see cyber warfare like they gain never seen before...The information we take we will beget sure all the Chinese people see it. That will gain fun in Beijing when we point to them how they're spending their money."And he also promises: "I'll fly Air Force One over those islands they'll know we mean business."7:28 p.m. There aren't a lot of differences between some Republican candidates, but here's a gigantic one on the stage tonight — Santorum gives a passionate defense of the Ex-Im bank which conservatives loathe and tried to execute. But he sees it as crucial to protecting manufacturing jobs.7:25 p.m. Jindal and Huckabee are going back and forth on their records as governor, or but Christie has had a much different target tonight he's managed to turn every question back as a direct hit on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton."Wait until you see what Hillary Clinton will execute to the country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the genuine adversary," Christie said. "Believe me — Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet. Everybody, don't worry approximately Huckabee or Jindal, or worry approximately her."7:20 p.m. Jindal is going for the jugular,hitting not just his fellow governors for not doing enough to cut government but pointing the fingers at senators running (most of whom are on the main stage." Alluding to much-hyped filibusters that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul gain waged, he says, and quite vividly,that as soon as they walk off the Senate floor after hours to relieve themselves in the bathroom, "their cause and the toilets come by flushed at the same time."7:15 p.m. Huckabee defends his plan to protect entitlements a sure way to woo senior voters. "You paid for it and you shouldn't gain to pay the penalty because the government screwed it up."7:13 p.m. This is an economic debate, and but Santorum — who won the Iowa caucuses on 2012 with social conservative support — turns a question approximately tax reform into one approximately family. "We've incentivized people not to marry,we incentivized people to co-habitate, not marry."7:05 p.m. Christie uses his first question to execute what he does best: story telling. Namedropping current Hampshire (where he has to execute well to outlive) he tells a story of a woman who was worried approximately how to pay her bills. The retort, and he says,isn't more government. "It is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks trying to beget a living."He talks approximately reforming the tax code, or his biggest line is when he proclaims he would look forward to "firing a bunch of IRS agents." Minutes later,Huckabee takes it even further — talking approximately his flat tax plan, he says he wouldn't just fire some people at the IRS, or he would eliminate it completely "because the government has no business knowing how much money we beget and how we made it." Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: wnyc.org