Republican Debate Review: Without Trump, Cruz Became The Target
Donald Trump thought he was going to be attacked by Megyn Kelly, and pulled out of the Fox News-Google Republican debate. Ted Cruz ended up being the guy who was attacked on Thursday night — not by Kelly, but by a couple of his opponents. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul aimed a number of direct hits at Cruz, and in terms of television drama, that made Cruz the chief protagonist (and antagonist) of the debate.
Marco Rubio tried to paint Ted Cruz as a phony: “Throughout this campaign, you’ve been willing to say or do anything to get votes.” Rand Paul criticized what he term Cruz’s egotistical “falseness… that is an authenticity problem — that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him.”
Related: Megyn Kelly Has Defeated Donald Trump
The night began with Kelly saying, “Let’s address the elephant not in the room tonight,” referring, of course, to Trump. She asked Cruz, “What message do you think that sends” to Iowans? Surprisingly, Cruz failed to answer Kelly’s question, probably the easiest one he got all night. Instead, Cruz went with a painfully obvious prepared joke: “I’m a maniac. And everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly. And Ben [Carson], you’re a terrible surgeon.” Pause. “Now that we’ve gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way…” Ouch. The only thing missing was a drum rim shot and some nervous, Jimmy Fallon-like giggling at his own feeble merry-making.
While the debate was notably duller without Trump, it was well-produced television. The Fox News panel of moderators—Kelly, Chris Wallace, and Bret Baier — proved the most impressive interrogators of any debate, Democratic or Republican, held thus far. It was an especially good idea to use clips of the candidates’ previous statements to challenge their current positions. Kelly introduced snippets from Cruz and Rubio that were particularly effective in suggesting both men had altered their positions on various issues fundamentally. Plus, using clips for illustrative purposes is good TV.
For example, Kelly played three clips in which Cruz said he was trying to save the 2013 Senate immigration bill. He has since said he was trying use an amendment to kill it. “Was that all an act?” asked Kelly, with a steely flourish. “It’s pretty convincing,” she said. Cruz was left scrambling to assemble a response.
Some idiot in the background of Chris Wallace’s camera angle persisted in mugging and waving at the TV audience—I was surprised it took so long for Fox News and the hall’s security to take care of that.
Nevertheless, a viewer could not come away from this debate without thinking there were essentially only two key players on the stage. Cruz and Rubio, in the fervor of their answers, the frequency with which they spoke, and the applause that they generated from their supporters, emerged clearly. Rand Paul — a last-minute addition after Trump dropped out — also proved invaluable as an agent of good TV, needling Cruz and Rubio with deftness, and commandeering his own lustily-cheering section of the audience.
Chris Christie’s strategy — looking into the camera instead of at the moderators or his opponents, and attacking Hillary Clinton and President Obama—may be a sound campaign plan, but it made him seem like a free-floating entity, untethered from the action.
It’s always possible for participants to complain about not getting his share of the spotlight. John Kasich barely got any air time and made little impression. Carson got more air time, but, alas, his vague responses to pointed questions made less of an impression than Kasich. Who’d I leave out? Oh, right: Jeb Bush. Yup, he was there, too.
