Line of the night…..”If Hillary Clinton is elected, she’ll be running between the White house and the court house.” Jeb Bush. Who said politics can’t be funny. As to the winner, nobody really. Trump had his best debate. Consequently, being the poll leader nationally, it could be deemed Trump was the winner. Said MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle, referring to Donald Trump, “I have never seen a faster learner. Never seen anything like it.” Trump gave two terrific answers and again brought up a key issue that is effective and is simply not going away. That in a moment.
Here’s Bloomberg’s political editor Mark Halperin’s grades from last night’s debate. Trump A- Cruz B+… Rubio B…Christie B…Bush and Kasich B- and Carson a C. Says ex Congressman, TV political pundit Joe Scarborough “More and more pro’s believe Trump can win. If he wins the Iowa caucus, it’s over.” Well, perhaps. Last night Trump destroyed Cruz while answering Cruz with regard to “New York values” Trump’s calm sobering answer harkening back to 9/11 and the valiant New Yorker’s dumb founded Cruz. “You owe them an apology.” said Trump. Cruz had no answer. Famed columnist Charles Krauthammer called it “The moment of the debate.” When Trump was confronted with a question about him being accused of being angry by Gov. Haley of South Carolina, rather than argue, he answered “I am angry. I agree” And went on to elaborate on how our Country is being destroyed by terrible leadership. That was a sign of the seasoned politician Trump has become. It was excellent. There is no doubt Trump could actually destroy Hillary during a campaign. He already has shut up Bill and Hillary on the silly “war on women” issue. Not a peep from them since. Cruz may have looked good to some, but he is too arrogant, preachy and strident with no chance of winning the Independent’s, or the no nothings and the semi no things. Then there is the Cruz birther issue that is simply not going away. More on this later.
As it stands now, the GOP primary race is boiling down to a threesome. It being Trump, Rubio and Cruz. It could change If something unsual happens in New Hampshire with the latter two. Rubio is remarkably consistent in all the debates. A positive message of hope for the future, a can do message, always armed with facts that destroyed Cruz’ Senate voting record late in the debate.
A noteworthy comment from extreme leftist Democrat Van Jones earlier this week, “The Democrat Party is in open revolt against Hillary Clinton.” This tends to support the notion of more than Sen. Bernie Sanders will oppose Hillary before all is done.
Then there is the matter of Ted Cruz and his legal, native born status, for him to run for President. True, it’s another Trump ploy to tear down Cruz before the Iowa caucus where Cruz still maintains a small lead over Trump. However, there is merit to this issue. Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother. Last night he defended himself, after Trump brought up Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Tribe, calling Tribe an extreme liberal Hillary Clinton supporter having no credibility on the matter. Wrong. After the debate, Professor Tribe was interviewed on CNN and stated the birther issue is unsettled law. Simply put, it is Tribe’s contention that the original 1776 U.S. Constitution clearly stated a President must be a native born citizen. He went on to say following 1788 there were follow up cases where at times it was recognized that one could be a natural born if both parents were native born, but living out of the Country. Then there was a time if the father was native born that would be sufficient for a child to be considered a native citizen. Again, Tribe contends it is unsettled law. Other scholars agree. Cruz tried to point out examples such as Rubio and Trump were not native born. “Trump had a mother from Scotland.” To which Trump merely replied, yes, but I was born in America…as was Rubio. For what it’s worth, Tribe claims he never supported Hillary Clinton.
Here’s the problem for Cruz. It is quite possible, perhaps likely, some State with a Democrat Secretary of State could refuse to put Ted Cruz on the primary ballot. Forcing a court test. Or the Democrat Party as a whole would sue. This is likely. The matter could be tied up in court for a year or more and eventually it might take a Supreme Court ruling. Disaster for the Republican’s. Trump is correct. This issue must be resolved now. Before an election. Would Cruz follow up and comply? Who knows? Prof. Tribe also had as students Barack Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts. Making matters worse. Cruz took out a loan against his account with Goldman Sach’s, of all firms, to help finance his Senate campaign. He disclosed it to the GOP, but not to the Feds. A mere oversight he says. Throw in when asked about his duel Canadian/American citizenship, he suddenly remarked he was renouncing his Canadian citizenship. Like it or not, Cruz and his candidacy is in trouble.
As a whole, Fox Business Network did a very good work handling the debate. There is one more debate, this time on the Fox News Channel, before the Iowa Caucus.
As for Obama, ten months and counting. Keep in touch with www.jacksjargon.com for updates as we travel along this almost incomprehensible campaign trail.