At presidential debate, Republican Carson defends his veracity

Kasich, whose state adopted a $8.10 an hour minimum wage previous year, argued that the other candidates were not considering the extent to which a higher rate could help people at the margins.

Meanwhile Ben Carson, who spent the days leading up the the debate defending himself over allegations that he lied about certain biographical details, seemed to be fired up and more animated.

The Fox Business Republican Debate kicked off Tuesday night with a question about raising the minimum wage, as protesters across the country call for the floor to be raised to $15-an-hour.

“Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases”. “But we can’t do this if we’re going to compete with the rest of the world”. Media bashing is usually a victor in a debate, and Cruz made the first move when he said if illegal immigrants who were journalists were coming into the country illegally and driving down reporters’ wages, the mainstream media would see the issue in a different light.

Trump: “We’re a country of laws”.

“We might want to point out that China is not a part of this deal”, Paul said.

When John Kasich, the governor of OH, said “we all know you can’t pick them up and ship them across the border”, Trump dismissed him out of hand. “And if you think walls don’t work, all you have to do is ask Israel”.

Sensing an opening, Kasich lashed out at Trump, insisting the businessman’s proposal “makes no sense”.

“We can’t even have an economy if we’re not safe”, said Rubio, a first-term senator enjoying recent momentum for his White House bid. “We have to win the presidency in practical plans”. But on Tuesday, the real estate mogul largely stuck to blasting President Obama and Hillary Clinton and taking traditional GOP positions on most issues. He added that while he believes candidates should be vetted, it should be done equally for presidential hopefuls from both parties. She was booed. Ben Carson said, “When I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no this (Benghazi) was a terrorist attack and tells everybody else it was a video, where I come from, they call that a lie”. “I think that’s very different from somebody misinterpreting when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point – that’s words that they used”.

Candidates differed on military spending. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Sen. “Here’s the best way to raise wages: Make America the best place in the world to start a business”.

Paul shot back: one cannot be a conservative if you are “promoting programs” you cannot pay for, as in conservatives cannot be liberal when it comes to military spending.

“A lot of moderate money will flow away from the likes of Jeb Bush and more toward Marco Rubio”, he said.

Sen. Ted Cruz shot back, saying Kasich and Bush sounded like liberal opponents.

There was little interaction among the candidates at first, and the moderators didn’t attempt to get them to engage each other, a notable shift after Republicans criticized the aggressiveness of the hosts in the last debate.

“They’re doing high fives in the Clinton campaign when they’re hearing this”, Mr Bush said.