We begin today’s roundup with Frank Bruni’s summary of yesterday’s Republican debate:
Remember that phase of the campaign when Ted Cruz spoke no ill of Donald Trump, who returned the favor?
You may now forget it. Bury it. Write its obituary, in a pen dipped in acid.
At Thursday night’s Republican debate, the two frontrunners didn’t merely spar, as was expected. They glared at and scolded each other with a venomousness that was initially mesmerizing, then horrifying and finally just sad—very, very sad.
The trajectory of the Republican primary has been one of growing pessimism, intensifying acrimony and abundant pettiness, and it reached its ugly nadir on the stage in North Charleston, S.C.
Dan Balz:
Eighteen days before the Iowa caucuses, the Republican nomination contest has come down to two big questions: Can Donald Trump actually become the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, and if he falters, who can emerge to seize the crown?
What was unthinkable a few months ago no longer is. Trump’s durability in national polls and his standing in the early states have forced GOP leaders — and all his rivals — to confront the possibility that the New York billionaire and reality TV star could end up leading the party into the fall campaign against the Democrats.
And the fact-checkers have more than enough lies to debunk. Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee at The Washington Post:
“We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977.”
–Cruz
The labor participation rate fell to 62.4 percent in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is the lowest since 1977, when it touched 62.3 percent. (The rate inched up to 62.6 percent in December.)
When Obama took office in January, 2009, the workforce participation rate was 65.7 percent. So there has certainly been a decline. But the rate had already been on a steady downward track since it hit a high of 67.3 percent in the last year of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
A key reason? The composition of the labor force has been affected by the retirement of the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation.
And CNN fact checked as well:
Reality Check: Rubio says Obamacare is a certified job killer
By Tami Luhby and Kate Grise, CNN
Rubio said that Obamacare is "a certified job killer."
In fact, Obamacare is not a job killer, according to the 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Education Trust survey released in September 2015.
As did Robert Burns and Calvin Woodward at the AP:
In their rush to slam the Obama administration, play up their records and play down inconvenient realities, Republican presidential candidates served up some misshapen rhetoric in their latest presidential debate.
CRUZ: Any country that makes U.S. service members get on their knees like the 10 sailors whose boats were boarded and seized by the Iranian military this week "will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America."
CHRIS CHRISTIE: "Tin pot dictators ... are taking our Navy ships."
THE FACTS: Neither candidate addressed the fact that the short-lived crisis was created by the U.S. sailors who steered their boats into sovereign Iranian waters, where they were boarded and seized by Iranian naval forces. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday that the U.S. sailors had made a navigation error.
Under such circumstances it would not be unusual to disarm members of a foreign military force — even a small one like the two Navy boats — and hold them temporarily for questioning. What was exceptional about this episode — and perhaps a provocation — is that the Iranians videotaped the Americans during the encounter and posted the images on the Internet.
And The New York Times joined in on debunking lies:
Gov. Chris Christie said he did not support President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.
You can't take it back. [...]
Asked about his proposal for a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods, Mr. Trump said, "I don't even know where the 45 percent came from."
From his own mouth.
On a final note, Steven Stromberg writes about how negative the tone was:
With only a few weeks left before the first primary contests, the GOP race has devolved into a competition for who can squeeze the most political advantage out of voter fear, no matter how over-the-top they sound and no matter how much damage they do by darkening the national mood. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) “won” the latest round of this increasingly disgusting show, with Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) coming in second. But being the most effective at exaggerating the dangers the country faces and preying on voter anger is not an achievement; it is a moral failure. [...]
Here is a dose of reality: It is possible to disagree with the GOP base and be a patriot. The nation faces many challenges, but it is stronger economically and more secure from various foreign threats than nearly everywhere else in the world. In many ways, Americans are better off now than they ever have been. The continuing desire of non-Americans to move, work and do business here is a sign of strength, showing the appeal of the United States rather than demonstrating weakness.