Settling Scores in Las Vegas- the final Republican Presidential Debate of 2015
In the final Republican debate of 2015, hosted by CNN at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, it was evident all thirteen remaining candidates came prepared to substantively discuss the issues of national security and the issues surrounding foreign policy with respect to ISIS. As expected, the CNN moderators Wolf Blitzer, Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt did their level best to pit the candidates against one another and make the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, look like a fool. They were successful with regards to the former, but in the end fell flat with regards to the latter.
That said, it wasn’t as though “the Donald” was sailing through the debate, as the former favorite and once-presumptive nominee, Jeb Bush, finally showed that yes, indeed, he does possess the intestinal fortitude to be combative in a debate. He squarely landed some punches on Mr. Trump, and did so quite effectively up to the point where Trump reminded him that recent polling indicated the vast difference in their respective numbers- Trump 42%, Bush 3%, and said that Bush was “progressing” towards eventually being shoved off of the primary debate stage, altogether, effectively ending Bush’s assaults on Trump. Trump’s best moment occurred when he settled, once and for all, the questions concerning whether he would run as a third-party candidate. In short, he said he won’t, much to the chagrin of the liberally biased Washington Post, which had previously floated a bogus story about Trump running as a third party candidate, otherwise assuring Hillary Clinton of a victory in November. Trump said he would abide by the Republican Party’s eventual nomination and do everything in his power to defeat Hillary Clinton in the general election. By doing this, he also allayed the irrational, albeit frequently-stated, fears that he was secretly attempting to help Clinton win the election, by trying to derail the Republican Party.
Recognizing that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were very much in a heated running for second place, the moderators accomplished their goal of setting the two against each other. Both handled themselves with much aplomb, despite the substantive and intensely-debated positions they hold with regards to dealing with immigration and Syrian President Bashir Assad- points on which they differ. With help from Rand Paul, whose own views are somewhat closer to Cruz’s than they are to Rubio’s, Senator Cruz very narrowly won the tete-a-tete on points. Despite this, both Cruz and Rubio came across very presidential and solidified their chances, in the upcoming primaries and caucuses, to come in second place.
Chris Christie also had a solid performance- perhaps the best of the evening with regards to sounding resolute and presidential, while Ben Carson showed the favorable results of “boning up” on the issues, when compared to his previous performances. While the debate performance may help Christie when it comes to the upcoming New Hampshire primary, it is doubtful that Dr. Carson will fare as well in that state, nor in Iowa, as a result of his sinking numbers.
With regards to the remaining varsity debaters, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, and Rand Paul, their respective overall performances, like Bush’s, were adequate but not strong enough to change their comparatively-lower polling numbers. These four, and the junior varsity debaters- Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, George Pataki and Rich Santorum will not likely last following the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucus, which will basically leave Trump, Rubio, Cruz, Christie, and possibly Carson, the only viable candidates left in the run-up to “Super Tuesday”, on the first day of March, 2016.
Setting aside Lindsey Graham’s Obama-like love of all things Muslim, not to mention his rolling eyes and all-too-condescending grimaces during the first round, as well as his emotional outburst in defense of former President George W. Bush, the junior-varsity debaters handled themselves well- but not well enough to change the fact that none of these contenders will be in the running at all, which begs the question as to why they remain in the race.
Going into year’s end, it appears that the nomination is very much Trump’s to lose and, save a major turn of events, he looks to be the likely and eventual Republican nominee. With a united Republican Party- essential to defeating Mrs. Clinton, his chances of winning the election remains as good as they ever have been. That aside, it also appears that Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and possibly Ben Carson could be just as successful- if, again, if Republicans fall into line behind their nominee- regardless of who that happens to be. Hillary Clinton can only win if some disenchanted Republicans decide to sit this one out, upon which is exactly what the mainstream media hangs their hopes.
-Drew Nickell, 16 December 2015
©2015 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.