after months of looking like bit players in the republican presidential race, governors chris christie, john kasich and former governor jeb bush all delivered their strongest debate performances yet saturday night in new hampshire. but the object of their attacks was not donald trump, the irascible billionaire who maintains a double-digit lead in the primary state. instead, they focused their fire on marco rubio, turning his aggressively rehearsed talking points against him and exposing the vacuity of his campaign in a series of devastating exchanges that threaten to blunt his recent momentum.









rubio has long faced criticism for his robotic approach on the campaign trail, where he regularly reproduces the same practiced phrases. there is something to be said for staying on message, especially when that message appears to be working. but the florida senator<u+2019>s reliance on pre-scripted lines backfired dramatically when christie called him out for using the same line twice, and rubio responded, like a broken record, by repeating it again and again.









<u+201c>let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that barack obama doesn't know what he's doing. he knows exactly what he's doing,<u+201d> rubio said early in the debate, arguing that obama, far from being incompetent, was actually engaged in a <u+201c>systematic effort to change america,<u+201d> and that he would do a better job a president. christie ripped the answer, calling rubio inexperienced and drawing applause for accusing him of <u+201c>truancy<u+201d> in the senate. rubio shot back that new jersey<u+2019>s credit rating had been downgraded nine times under christie. then, inexplicably, he repeated his previous answer: <u+201c>but i would add this. let's dispel with this fiction that barack obama doesn't know what he's doing. he knows exactly what he's doing.<u+201d>









christie pounced. <u+201c>that's what washington, d.c., does,<u+201d> he said, deconstructing the rubio machine in real-time. <u+201c>the drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him.<u+201d> the crowd went wild as christie twisted the knife: <u+201c>see marco<u+2014>marco, the thing is this. when you're president of the united states, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great america is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person.<u+201d> rubio appeared to panic, almost immediately returning to the same line a third time: <u+201c>here's the bottom line. this notion that barack obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. he knows exactly what he's doing.<u+201d>









<u+201c>there it is,<u+201d> christie interjected. <u+201c>the memorized 25-second speech. there it is, everybody.<u+201d> rubio, unsure how to respond, went for round four: <u+201c>i think this is an important point. we have to understand what we're going through here. we are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. he knows what he is doing.<u+201d> christie quipped that he <u+201c>gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points,<u+201d> but that didn<u+2019>t stop rubio from repeating the line a fifth time before the debate ended. <u+201c>i think anyone who believes that barack obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here,<u+201d> he said, apparently still rattled. <u+201c>this is a president<u+2014>this is a president who is trying to change this country.<u+201d>









it was a bizarre performance for the freshman senator, who has soared to second in the polls in new hampshire after a surprisingly strong third-place finish in the iowa caucuses last week. in the last several days, the republican establishment has rallied to rubio<u+2019>s side, seeing him as the sole candidate capable of mounting a credible challenge to trump and ted cruz, both of whom are considered unelectable by many party leaders. but with the new hampshire primary just days away, the confidence-shattering exchange could derail rubio<u+2019>s shot at holding on to his second-place position, creating an opening for christie, kasich, or bush to pull ahead and prolonging an already damaging intra-party fight to consolidate the crowded establishment lane.









rubio wasn<u+2019>t the only one to come under attack saturday night. in what is certainly a first in the history of presidential debates, donald trump lashed out at the audience after he was booed for trying to shush jeb bush. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s all of his donors and special interests out there,<u+201d> he said, like a stand-up comedian taking on a heckler. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s who it is,<u+201d> he continued, as the crowd grew louder. <u+201c>the r.n.c. told us. we have all donors in the audience. and the reason they<u+2019>re not loving me <u+2026> excuse me. the reason they<u+2019>re not loving me is, i don<u+2019>t want their money. i<u+2019>m going to do the right thing for the american public. i don<u+2019>t want their money. i don<u+2019>t need their money. and i<u+2019>m the only one up here that can say that.<u+201d>
marco rubio short-circuits during g.o.p. debate
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