Winners and Losers from the 5th Republican presidential debate
Tuesday's Las Vegas debate featured a series of high-profile skirmishes. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio battled over the National Security Agency and its metadata program as well as their stances on immigration. Jeb Bush went after Donald Trump hard, casting him as an unserious person; The Donald dismissed Bush as irrelevant because of his low poll numbers.
Below is my take on the best and the worst from the night that was.
Winners
* Jeb Bush: Finally, John Ellis Bush showed some spirit and fight. Jeb repeatedly took it to Trump and refused to back down amid a cascade of insults the real estate magnate launched at him. It's somewhat remarkable that given Trump's clear status as the Republican front-runner -- and, make no mistake, he is -- that Jeb was the only candidate willing to go at the billionaire. Jeb deserves significant credit for, largely, fighting that fight alone.
The issue for Jeb is that his performance may be (and probably is) too little, too late. He has dipped so far down in national -- and most state -- polls that it's not immediately clear that a single strong debate performance can revivify his candidacy.
But, I've criticized Bush for months for not stepping up in big moments. He did it tonight.
READ MORE: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/win...
Below is my take on the best and the worst from the night that was.
Winners
* Jeb Bush: Finally, John Ellis Bush showed some spirit and fight. Jeb repeatedly took it to Trump and refused to back down amid a cascade of insults the real estate magnate launched at him. It's somewhat remarkable that given Trump's clear status as the Republican front-runner -- and, make no mistake, he is -- that Jeb was the only candidate willing to go at the billionaire. Jeb deserves significant credit for, largely, fighting that fight alone.
The issue for Jeb is that his performance may be (and probably is) too little, too late. He has dipped so far down in national -- and most state -- polls that it's not immediately clear that a single strong debate performance can revivify his candidacy.
But, I've criticized Bush for months for not stepping up in big moments. He did it tonight.
READ MORE: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/win...
