US Buzz: Republican Candidates Take Off the Gloves

Jeb Bush has broken ties with his protégé Marco Rubio, accusing him of adopting the “French workweek” — the media, Democrats … and even the French! Wednesday night, the Republicans took a shot at everything during the third debate organized by the news channel CNBC ahead of the 2016 primaries. Accused of being soft and lacking charisma, Jeb Bush appeared more aggressive than in the previous debates, attempting to make up for falling behind, [as he] faced off against favorites Donald Trump and Ben Carson. He lashed out at his protégé, Marco Rubio, attacking him about his repeated absences in the Senate. “What is it, like a French workweek? You get, like, three days where you have to show up?” he harangued.

He showed a certain coolness, promising a big kiss to the first Democrat who proposes to reduce the public debt by $10.

He asked Mike Huckabee, who wore a tie from Donald Trump’s [fashion] line: “Is it made in China or Mexico?” as a way of denouncing Donald Trump’s pseudo-patriotism. [Trump] was the target of numerous attacks last night, given [that he remains] head to head with Ben Carson in the polls. John Kasich set the tone at the beginning of the debate, with a tacit attack at his opponents: “Folks, we’ve got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn’t know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline,” he hurled out.

Donald Trump replied several minutes after, affirming that he was the only candidate not financing [his campaign] through lobbies. “And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that’s self-funding. I’m putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous — so far, I’ve put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn’t that be nice if the country could do that?

“SuperPacs are a disaster…. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I’m not blaming these folks — well, I guess I could,” he said. “Jeb, stop your campaign. Everyone is tired of it,” he also shot back during the debate … but on Twitter … Looking at the trends that emerged on Google at the end of the debate, it seems that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were the big winners of last night’s shindig.