CBS Republican Debate: Live Coverage

Cruz chose to make job creation the centerpiece of his response to a question on how to lift people out of poverty. U.S. workers have been hit by a one-two punch. Globalization means U.S. jobs are directly affected by offshoring, which Trump took on in his answer, and secondarily when our markets are responsive to other global financial indices, like China’s. Second, disruptive innovation by tech companies often includes automation, with some companies creating wealth rather than jobs and leading some analysts to posit there will be a “jobless future.” (Others vehemently disagree with that thesis.)

Bush did make a reference to mooning in an interview! “I could drop my pants. Moon the whole crowd. Everybody would be aghast, except the press guys would never notice.”

Someone — maybe us! — needs to do some further reporting on how these debate crowds are chosen. Tonight’s audience in South Carolina seems to be unabashedly pro-“establishment.” But remember that the state’s two senators, and by extension much of its political machine, are behind Bush and Rubio.