35 WTF Moments From the Craziest GOP Debate Yet
Just a few hours before the remaining six GOP candidates were set to take the debate stage for the ninth time in South Carolina, there was breaking news out of West Texas: Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia had died at the age of 79.
The debate opened with a solemn and dignified moment of silence for Scalia, followed by two hours of totally undignified knock-down, drag-out fights pitting Jeb Bush against Donald Trump against Ted Cruz against Marco Rubio. The crowd in South Carolina, where the Republican primary will take place a week from Saturday, ate it up. Father figure John Kasich, over in one corner, hemmed and hawed about the fighting, but the audience was apparently there for a WWE match.
Here are the most WTF moment from the most WTF debate yet.
1. “I think [President Obama] is going to [nominate a new Supreme Court justice] whether I’m OK with it or not. I think it’s up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It’s called delay, delay, delay.” -Donald Trump
2. “I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody.” -John Kasich
3. “When our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously that has changed, and it’s something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point.” –Ben Carson
4. “It has been over 80 years since a lame-duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice.” -Marco Rubio, wrongly
5. “We have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year.” -Ted Cruz, still wrong
6. Moderator John Dickerson: “I want to get the facts straight for the audience.”
Audience: “BOOOOOOOOOO!”
7. “We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states.” -Ted Cruz, more or less correctly
8. “I also said, by the way — four years ago, three years ago — attack the oil, take the wealth away, attack the oil and keep the oil. They didn’t listen.” – Donald Trump on the ISIS advice he dispensed three or four years ago
9. “Thank you for including me in the debate — two questions already. That’s great!” -Ben Carson
10. “He called me a genius, I like him so far.” -Donald Trump on Vladimir Putin
11. “That’s Jeb’s special interests and lobbyists talking.” -Donald Trump, responding to boos from the crowd, and recycling a line from the previous GOP debate
12. “This is a man who is trying to insult his way to the nomination” -Jeb Bush on Donald Trump
13. “[Jeb Bush spent] $44 million in New Hampshire…. Gimme a break.” -Donald Trump, speaking over Jeb Bush.
14. “Gentlemen, let’s leave it there so I can ask a question of Sen. Cruz, who is also running for president.” -John Dickerson
15. “While Donald Trump was building a reality show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe.” -Jeb Bush
16. “Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake.” -Donald Trump
17. “They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction — there were none.” -Donald Trump on George Bush
18. “This is just crazy. This is just nut. Jeez, oh man. I’m sorry, John.” -John Kasich, to John Dickerson, regarding Bush and Trump’s onstage feud
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