SCALIA’S DEATH LEAPS TO FOREFRONT OF GOP DEBATE AGENDA
Candidates agree justice’s successor should be picked by next president
The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia immediately jumped to the top of the list of issues facing the six Republican candidates Saturday at the last GOP debate before South Carolina’s Feb. 20 presidential primary.
Donald Trump said he expects President Obama to nominate a replacement and said it is up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans in the Senate to block it. “It’s called delay, delay, delay,” Trump said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who scored a surprising second in the New Hampshire primary last week, said that in the wake of Scalia’s death “I wish we don’t have to run so fast into politics.” He suggested Obama should not nominate anyone to fill the seat, and the rest of the candidates agreed that it should be up to the next president to fill Scalia’s seat.
Jeb Bush said he believed Obama has a right to appoint nominees, but “there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination,” and Obama is unlikely to offer a consensus pick.
Before the news of Scalia’s death, the debate was awash in political attacks before it even began in a state known for hardball politics. Coming off his win in New Hampshire, Trump has faced renewed criticism over his commitment to conservatism, all the while dishing it back to opponents like Kasich, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
Trump attacked George W. Bush’s administration, saying “We should never have been in Iraq . . . Obviously the war in Iraq is a big fat mistake.” He added that the administration knew all along that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
Jeb Bush pushed back, saying he is tired of Trump going after his family. “This is not about my family or his family,” Bush said,
Rubio then jumped in to defend Bush, saying he kept the nation safe — which Trump rejected, noting that the 9/11 attacks came while Bush was president.
The battling didn’t sit well with other candidates on the stage.
“This is just crazy, this is just nuts,” Kasich said.
GREENVILLE, S. C.