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South Carolina Free-for-All: Gloves Come Off at GOP Debate

CBN

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After a moment of silence for the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the gloves came off at  Saturday night's Republican debate in South Carolina.

Donald Trump took on Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, while Cruz took on "The Donald" and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Things got personal when Trump went after Bush's brother, George W. Bush, and other family members. The former Florida governor fired back.

"While Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe and I'm proud of what he did," insisted Bush.

Trump responded, "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that."

Rubio defended President Bush, saying, "The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him."

Cruz took on Trump over Planned Parenthood.
 
"For most of his life he has described himself as very pro-choice, as a supporter of partial-birth abortion. Right now, today as a candidate, he supports federal tax payer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that," said Cruz.

Trump responded critically, "You are the single biggest liar. You are probably worse than Jeb Bush."

Meanwhile, Cruz criticized Rubio for his previous positions on immigration reform.

"Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office," the Texas lawmaker charged.

Rubio went on the offensive in response, saying, "For a number of weeks now Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa, he lies about Planned Parenthood; he lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things and now he makes things up."

Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tried to remain positive and above the fray, addressing problems in the American economy.

"Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say, 'Those evil rich people - if we take their money we can solve the problem.' It's not the evil rich people, it's the irresponsible evil government," Carson charged.

Kasich said, "The first thing we have to do is grow the economy and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs and the same we've been able to do it Ohio."

With less than a week to go before the South Carolina primary, the Republican candidates left the debate energized.

And with polls showing Trump in the lead, much of this battle may be for second place. But as Iowa demonstrated, there may be more surprises to come this election year.

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