The Pep Rally in Simi Valley
Referee's Report Card for 2nd Republican Debate
September 17, 2015 - Round 2 is over! There were far fewer penalties, thanks to a more open debate style that led to the candidates talking to each other more than in the Clash in Cleveland.
We were again busy refereeing, and hopefully everyone was able to follow along @ballot_ball—13 total penalties were called: 12 Illegal Substitutions, and 1 Illegal Formation. (These penalties were previously defined here.) We weren't fact checking, but FactCheck.org does a great job making sure the facts and figures mentioned in last night's debate were accurate. (By the way, a candidate’s penalties don’t necessarily hurt them in the game—anyone who remembers the Bad Boy Pistons in Detroit knows what we're talking about.)
By the way, we couldn't resist. In the captions for each candidate, we're going to use the Secret Service code names that the candidates themselves came up with for themselves during the debate.
We were again busy refereeing, and hopefully everyone was able to follow along @ballot_ball—13 total penalties were called: 12 Illegal Substitutions, and 1 Illegal Formation. (These penalties were previously defined here.) We weren't fact checking, but FactCheck.org does a great job making sure the facts and figures mentioned in last night's debate were accurate. (By the way, a candidate’s penalties don’t necessarily hurt them in the game—anyone who remembers the Bad Boy Pistons in Detroit knows what we're talking about.)
By the way, we couldn't resist. In the captions for each candidate, we're going to use the Secret Service code names that the candidates themselves came up with for themselves during the debate.
The Main Event
0 Penalties!
Congratulations to all 6 of these candidates for keeping a clean sheet.
1 Penalty
Each of these candidates were called for illegal substitution by not answering a question. See below for details.
2 Penalties
Cruz was called for 2 illegal substitutions, Trump for an illegal substitution and an illegal formation.
The Undercard
Main Event Penalties Explained
Jeb Bush (Illegal Substitution)
The Governor never answered when asked if his brother, President George W Bush made a mistake appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court.
Dr. Ben Carson (Illegal Substitution)
Dr. Carson never answered whether or not it is important to have government experience before becoming president.
Ted Cruz (Illegal Substitution)
The Senator was accused with "playing to the audience" when it came to his position on Iran. Cruz responded about his position but not about the accusation of populism.
Ted Cruz (Illegal Substitution)
When asked if shutting down the government would hurt the eventual Republican candidate capture the White House, Cruz responded that it was important to fight the Democrats but did not mention the election.
Marco Rubio (Illegal Substitution)
The Senator was asked several times whether he thought Donald Trump was qualified to be president. Rubio repeatedly talked past the question and didn't even supply a platitude like "I'll let the voters decide that" that other candidates used during their answers.
Donald Trump (Illegal Substitution)
When Trump was asked how much it would cost to deport 12 million illegal immigrants, Trump responded by saying that illegal immigrants cost the country $200 billion, but the cost of his plan went unmentioned. After a little digging, we found that the Deputy Director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency told Congress that the cost to deport each illegal immigrant was $12,500. This might suggest that Trump's plan would cost $150 billion for 12 million deportations.
Donald Trump (Illegal Formation)
When asked about changing the 14th amendment in order to end birthright citizenship, Trump said "The 14th amendment, it reads properly, you can go and - it's probably going to be have to be check - go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct." If Trump is suggesting a change to the 14th amendment, he will need to organize his own amendment to the constitution; the Supreme Court would not be involved. If he's suggesting that the 14th amendment is "not correct," there is no law he could write that would over rule it.
The Governor never answered when asked if his brother, President George W Bush made a mistake appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court.
Dr. Ben Carson (Illegal Substitution)
Dr. Carson never answered whether or not it is important to have government experience before becoming president.
Ted Cruz (Illegal Substitution)
The Senator was accused with "playing to the audience" when it came to his position on Iran. Cruz responded about his position but not about the accusation of populism.
Ted Cruz (Illegal Substitution)
When asked if shutting down the government would hurt the eventual Republican candidate capture the White House, Cruz responded that it was important to fight the Democrats but did not mention the election.
Marco Rubio (Illegal Substitution)
The Senator was asked several times whether he thought Donald Trump was qualified to be president. Rubio repeatedly talked past the question and didn't even supply a platitude like "I'll let the voters decide that" that other candidates used during their answers.
Donald Trump (Illegal Substitution)
When Trump was asked how much it would cost to deport 12 million illegal immigrants, Trump responded by saying that illegal immigrants cost the country $200 billion, but the cost of his plan went unmentioned. After a little digging, we found that the Deputy Director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency told Congress that the cost to deport each illegal immigrant was $12,500. This might suggest that Trump's plan would cost $150 billion for 12 million deportations.
Donald Trump (Illegal Formation)
When asked about changing the 14th amendment in order to end birthright citizenship, Trump said "The 14th amendment, it reads properly, you can go and - it's probably going to be have to be check - go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct." If Trump is suggesting a change to the 14th amendment, he will need to organize his own amendment to the constitution; the Supreme Court would not be involved. If he's suggesting that the 14th amendment is "not correct," there is no law he could write that would over rule it.