New front-runner Carson left alone by rivals
The new front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination has faced two weeks of intense media scrutiny over his shaky autobiographical claims and outlandish theories on policy and history.
At the first debate since his surge to the top, his rivals and his interrogators left him alone.
Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who is now in a virtual tie for the lead with businessman Donald Trump, was expected to face his toughest nationally-televised moment Tuesday night on the Fox Business Channel. Instead, he skated.
The lone moderator question on Carson’s penchant for inaccurate personal tales was the softest of softballs: Are you worried all this has hurt your campaign? Carson answered with aplomb.
“Well, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that,” he said to laughter from the Milwaukee crowd. He added: “I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth.”
He then pivoted to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, calling her a liar, and that was that. The seven others on stage, wary of alienating Republican voters with a soft spot for the soft-spoken man with the inspirational up-by-the-bootstraps story, barely challenged him at all — even Trump, who has responded to Carson’s rise with criticism in interviews and online.
Carson was visibly uncertain on foreign policy, claiming that the Middle East is becoming Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s “base” and that the U.S. can easily seize a vast swath of territory in Iraq. He was scarcely better on economics, offering an unintelligible response to a question on big banks. But his discomfort with detailed policy discussions has not hurt him with the party base.
The debate was seen as the last chance for former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the former front-runner, to salvage his disastrous campaign. Though he began the night far more assertive than he was in other debates, earning applause for an early double-denunciation of Clinton and President Barack Obama, he did not appear to do the job.
Again hesitant and awkward, he ceded precious minutes to a cranky Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who interrupted repeatedly. At one point, Trump stopped Bush from speaking with a talk-to-the-hand gesture reminiscent of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers films. When a moderator challenged Bush on his assertion he could prevent another financial crisis, he meekly conceded the point.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suffered through a moment reminiscent of Rick Perry’s infamous “oops” during the last presidential election: attempting to list the five federal departments he would eliminate, he named the Department of Commerce twice. A Trump gaffe was likely far more damaging: asked about activists seeking a $15 minimum wage, he said U.S. wages, like U.S. taxes, are “too high.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul had by far his strongest debate, questioning U.S. military adventurism and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s proposal to hike military spending. He also exposed Trump’s demagoguery on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: when Trump claimed it was written to benefit China, Paul pointed out China is not even party to it.