Republican debate: Trump v Bush and Cruz v Rubio as tempers flare – as it happened

Looks like Kasich’s “jeez, oh man” is going to be the big takeaway from tonight’s debate.

14 Feb 201622.09 EST

Jeb Lund

Ted Cruz’s willingness to bite on all his peers’ lines and pass them off as his own is truly shameless.

The audience just booed him for his statements on amnesty, and he cribbed Trump’s line about his stance “obviously” being “unpopular with the donor class”. It’s a great line! It’s also really great if you thought of it and had the stones to have said it the first time (in the last debate) or the second time (in this debate).

Ted Cruz is the antithesis of Marco Rubio: he is remarkably absorbent.

That said, you don’t have to like Ted Cruz to admire his firing back at Rubio’s line about his not speaking Spanish by turning to him and speaking in Spanish. It shows how much of a lawyer Rubio isn’t: you don’t open a line of questioning if you don’t already know the answers, and he clearly didn’t know the answer.

It’s doubtful that either of them was ever going to garner a huge majority of the Latino vote, but that Rubio just gave Cruz a huge opportunity to humanize himself. Meanwhile, Rubio stood there, looking forward, smiling weakly, clearly incapable of response and trying put the machine back on message.

Rubio slams Cruz. Cruz talks about what the Florida senator’s plans were, as outlined on Univision; Rubio says “I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision as he doesn’t speak Spanish.”

Cruz is going to need some ointment for that burn.

He may have read the audience wrong, however:

Boos for Ted Cruz saying that he stood against the Schumer amnesty plan - like Trump, the Texas senator hits at the audience, saying “clearly the donor class supported it.”

Rubio up next. He says that the only way to make progress is to “get illegal immigration under control.” But points out that the wall is not the only solution, because “40 percent of people here illegally enter legally on visas and then outstay them.

Interestingly, even Trump nods in agreement. The audience loves that answer too; they cheer loudly.

Oh good.

Trump says that “I want to take care of everybody; but we need to take care of our people first.”

I. Will. Build. A. Wall.

14 Feb 201622.02 EST

James Pethokoukis

The moderators should really be hammering these candidates on the massive revenue losses from their tax plans. Even assuming strong economic feedback (ie, that it would spur massive economic growth), any of the proposed the tax cuts would put the federal government deeply in the red.

And, if the candidates would pay for these plans through “entitlement reform”, they’re really saying that they’re going to pay for huge tax cuts for business and the rich by cutting the growth of Medicare and Social Security benefits.

The Democratic ads write themselves.

This is an issue that Republican primary voters may not care about – though, the more money a tax plan loses, the less dough the government is able to spend! – but it could be a huge negative in the general election.

A good point; Cruz has escaped fire so far.

Jeb’s campaign is calling his spat with Trump over 9/11 a victory, it seems - though it may be premature.