Ken Berwitz
Trump blames 9/11 on George W. Bush
Donald Trump blamed the September 11 attacks on George W. Bush\’s nationalsecurity failures.
“The World Trade Center came down during your brother\’sreign. Remember that,” Trump shouted at Jeb Bush.
The comment elicited loud boos from the audience members andcaused Marco Rubio, once friend and now rival of Bush\’s, to defend the formerpresident\’s record, saying blame for the attacks falls on Bill Clinton.
Trump argueswith the crowd
Throughout the night, Trump\’s comments were met with boos while Bush and Rubioscored cheers.
When Trump said, “Jeb is so wrong,” on Bush\’sposition on Syria and Russia, the crowd exploded.
“That’s Jeb\’s special interests and lobbyiststalking,” Trump said, dismissing the crowd.
After Trump continued with a dig at Lindsey Graham, thecrowd booed him again. “I only tell the truth, lobbyists,” Trumpresponded.
Trump and Cruz go head to head
On a collision course as they compete for first place in South Carolina, Cruzand Trump finally clashed — more than halfway through the debate — overTrump\’s conservative credentials and Cruz’s integrity.
“You are probably worse than Jeb Bush. You are the singlebiggest liar,” Trump told Cruz after the Texas senator pointed to thebusinessman\’s past record of liberal positions. “This guy lied– let me justtell you. This guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from BenCarson in Iowa. And he just continues. And today, we had robocalls saying, \’Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina,\’ where I\’m leading by alot. I\’m not going to run. Vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did toBen Carson. This guy will say anything. Nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn\’thave one endorsement from any of his colleagues. … He is a nasty guy.”
Crush shot back: “I will say — I will say it is fairlyremarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called him pathological andcompared him to a child molester, both of which were offensive and wrong.”
Getting the facts straight
Another candidate vs. moderator vs. audience scrap: CBS moderator JohnDickerson repeatedly interrupted and corrected Ted Cruz during a question aboutappointing Supreme Court justices during election years.
“I just want to get the facts straight for the audience, butI apologize,” Dickerson said.
