GOP candidates pan Obama’s optimistic view of America

Two hours of prime-time argument presented voters with a sharp contrast to the optimistic vision of America that President Barack Obama painted in his State of the Union address earlier this week.

The bad: In a head-to-head match-up with Cruz, Cruz actually wins, 51% to Trump’s 43%, a figure that shows why Trump has increasingly attacked Cruz, focusing on his Canadian birth and questioning his eligibility to run for president.

Cruz wrapped up the exchange by noting how he was glad to hear in Trump’s response that he’d consider him as his running mate.

“The Constitution hasn’t changed. But the poll numbers have”, he added. Beyond the Trump-Cruz theatrics – Trump and Cruz are locked in battle for first place Iowa caucuses – Bush has blasted Trump and Rubio, Rubio has slammed Bush as well as Cruz and Christie, and Christie has attacked most everyone else.

“Because now, he’s doing a little bit better”, Trump said. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump, and others, have said that being born in Canada is not natural born. “I don’t like that”.

In December, Trump had a five-point lead over Cruz, 27 percent to 22 percent. Christie called the president a “petulant child” for using executive actions to implement his preferred policies – an area where Rubio and Bush also piled on.

U.S. “It’s reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia”.

Trump fired back, arguing there are plenty of conservatives in Manhattan. “That could be the great Trojan horse”. Trump was steadfast in wanting to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Trump did not appear to have changed that tactic: “We can’t let all these people come into our country and break our borders”.

But the Texas senator could also face questions surrounding his failure to disclose $1 million in loans on federal fundraising reports, used to help finance his 2012 senate run – information that emerged only a day before the debate.

“It was a paperwork error”, he said, calling the story a “hit piece”. “I totally get that… but you can not make rash statements”. The criticisms have echoed the so-called “birther” movement, which questioned Barack Obama’s US citizenship.

“Today, many of us picked up our newspapers and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees”, Cruz said.

Cruz went on to praise “many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York, but everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay-marriage, focused around money and the media”.

In the survey released Thursday, Sen.

Cruz said Rubio had his facts wrong.

Republican presidential candidates, from left, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz threw down the gauntlet in Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate.

In a three-way contest between Trump, Cruz, and Marco Rubio, Trump leads with 40 percent, Cruz is in second with 31 percent, and Rubio is far back with 26 percent.