Just for fun, I thought I’d take a quick look to get some international reaction to the GOP debate last night and a few other relevant bits of news and opinion. I’m concentrating on links in English — feel free to add any you find elsewhere in comments.
Britain From the BBC Trump tangles with rivals in Republican debate knockabout
...The lively audience repeatedly jeered and booed the candidates.
As the candidates shouted down and interrupted each other, CBS moderator John Dickerson warned: "We're in danger of driving this into the dirt."
Britain From the Guardian GOP debate in South Carolina: 10 things we learned
...“Jeez, oh man”, as spoken by John Kasich, is about as accurate a summary of the current Republican primary as we’re likely to hear, and is likely to become a catchphrase.
Also from The Guardian Is Donald Trump unstoppable or can more mainstream rivals reel him in?
...The battle to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination is sometimes compared, vividly, to a bucket of crabs.
Inside, a seething maul of establishment conservatives are all desperately fighting to climb their way out to where the voters can see them.
Whenever one of them looks like making it to the rim, up comes a claw from below to yank them back down.
Canada Toronto Star Trump amplifies personal attacks in latest GOP debate: analysis
...This was by far the rowdiest of any of the GOP debates, with Trump accusing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of being a liar and with Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tangling again over immigration. The action became so heated that Ohio Gov. John Kasich called for an end to hostilities lest the party risk losing the general election to the Democrats in November.
Australia Herald Sun South Carolina GOP debate: Republicans clash in most explosive debate ever
...It was hard to declare a winner in the debate amid the constant volley of insults, not all of them from Trump. Cruz and fellow Senator Marco Rubio also took pointed jabs at each other over illegal immigration.
But Trump dominated the debate conservation on Twitter with 40 per cent of the mentions, according to data from the microblogging platform.
The Times of India (before the debate) Donald Trump's profanity may be fodder for rivals at Republican debate
...That means it is in the interests of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to try to raise questions about the New York billionaire before it's too late.
"My sense is this is going to be a melee," said Republican strategist Doug Heye.
Attempts to knock down Trump at previous debates have rarely been successful, as the former reality TV star has been quick on his feet and mercilessly dismissive of rivals.
From Russia? PravdaReport has a generalized opinion piece about the whole deal from a week ago Please do not poison my brain with the US elections!
I see no need to know who, from all those already pre-approved by the Regime and therefore allowed to "compete", is going to get nominated by his or her political gang, and who will be finally mounting the saddle of that static wooden horse which is as a rule galloping nowhere, inspires no one and only jumps around crushing with its heavy murderous horseshoes everything and everyone who dares to demand true freedom.
Go and follow elections; even participate in them! If you believe in Western multi-party "democracy", good for you! Or bad!
And…. Huffington Post took the trouble of analyzing a Ted Cruz remark from the New Hampshire debate. Considering what Marco Rubio and others were talking about last night, this seems apropos Literally Every Sentence In This Ted Cruz Quote Is Misleading Or False. Here’s the quote.
Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. ... And that means the elderly are told: We're going to ration a hip replacement; we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end-of-life care.
It’s early yet in the news cycle; the Taking Head shows are chewing over it all. There seems to be a general consensus from the limited sample I’ve taken this morning that Donald Trump is still the dominant candidate on the GOP side.
Seen anything of interest from outside the US media bubble? Put it in comments. I’m going to be heading out for a while, so play nice.