Substance Made a Comeback in Second GOP Debate: Gerald Seib….see note please
http://www.wsj.com/articles/substance-made-a-comeback-in-second-gop-debate-1442459305
Substance only appeared after Christie, to his credit, chided the moderator for spending so much time on spats among Rand Paul, Kasich, Bush, Fiorina and the Trump….CNN questions became virtually irrelevant as Rubio, Christie and Fiorina stepped up the debate and the substance….rsk
Candidates fielded questions ranging from immigration and national security to the economy.
Attitude met substance on a California debate stage Wednesday night. And if substance didn’t win, it at least made a comeback.
For two months, the Republican presidential race has been dominated by Donald Trump, whose approach has been to boast about his leadership style—“I’m a winner, I’ll negotiate great deals”—while skirting past detailed policy discussions.
The remainder of the field was left fuming, talking about Mr. Trump and seeing media coverage flow his way. What they weren’t doing was talking about their agendas.
That changed in the debate at the Reagan presidential library in California. While many of the questions posed by the CNN moderators began with a recitation of comments Mr. Trump has made, which left him still at the center of the conversation, his competitors managed to launch a conversation that, for the first time in weeks, got beyond the Trump orbit.
Sen. Marco Rubio got limited face time but made the most of it, explaining, for example, why he wouldn’t support President Barack Obama when he proposed limited airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops: “If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we’re not going to authorize use of force if you’re not put in a position where they can win.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush got his first chance on a debate stage to explain his immigration plan in detail and talk about judicial appointments. Ohio Gov. John Kasich got to explain his record in Ohio, as well as his determination to run an upbeat campaign that will give people “a sense of unity” in which he won’t attack others. Retired surgeon Ben Carson got to explain his health plan. Sen. Ted Cruz got multiple chances to strike a tough tone on Iran.
Indeed, the other candidates seemed to relish the chance to not talk about Mr. Trump. And, after having endured his criticisms of their records, energy, styles and even appearances, to begin striking back. Mr. Bush asked Mr. Trump to apologize to his Mexican-born wife for saying she influenced his thinking on immigration. (Mr. Trump declined.)
But nobody got a better chance to return fire than debate-stage newcomer Carly Fiorina, and she made the most of it. The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive came in the Trump cross-hairs when he criticized her appearance. Asked to respond, she looked straight ahead and declared: “I think women all over this country heard clearly what Mr. Trump said.”
More substantively, the conversation revealed some meaningful differences among the candidates on national-security issues. All are opposed to the new nuclear deal with Iran, but, while Mr. Cruz, for one, said it would go out the window on his first day as president, Mr. Kasich demurred, saying he’d put a higher priority on working with allies to figure out whether and how to get out of the agreement.
But the surprise of the night may well have been Ms. Fiorina, who moved as deftly across the foreign-policy issues as did any of those on stage with more political experience, speaking with confidence about issues as disparate as Russian President Vladimir Putin, relations in Iran, ties with Israel and the fight against Islamic State.
On some issues, Mr. Trump held his own as well. On others, he was notably vague. Asked how he would handle Mr. Putin, for example, he said: “I would talk to him. I would get along with him. I believe—and I may be wrong, in which case I’d probably have to take a different path, but I would get along with a lot of the world leaders that this country is not getting along with.”
Such generalities may not matter to Mr. Trump’s many new fans, who seem to relish the idea that he transcends policy debates and ideological differences.
Indeed, he again reassured his followers and skeptics alike that knowledge matters less than strength: “I will know more about the problems of this world when I sit” in the Oval Office, he declared.
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