The watch out for china--south carolina debate
Referee's Report Card for the 6th Republican Debate

January 15, 2016 - Last night was the 6th Republican debate and the first of the new year. Most media sources will focus on the contentious argument Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump engaged in over the former’s country of birth. Even we will admit that it was an entertaining spectacle. However, in our job as referee, we’re only concerned about getting the penalty calls right. Remember, penalties are called for one of three reasons: failure to answer the question, failure to stay on topic, and comparing any of your opponents to Nazis. So let’s get to them…

The Main Debate

​Donald Trump - 0 penalties

In the biggest shock of the night, Donald Trump broke his undefeated streak of being the most penalized candidate and came out of the night with a clean sheet. Whatever you thought of his answers, he stayed on topic, responded directly to the questions, and didn’t use any Nazi comparisons. 
Chris Christie - 0 penalties

No penalties for the New Jersey Governor.
Dr. Ben Carson - 1 penalty​

​Failure to stay on topic: Dr. Carson was asked if he thought Hillary Clinton is “an enabler of sexual misconduct” for her continued marriage to Bill Clinton. At first it seemed like he was agreeing that Bill’s past indiscretions were fair game in the campaign, but then he started to bemoan how Judeo-Christian values were being lost and divisiveness and hatred were overwhelming society. This seemed to muddle his response to the question and it was unclear if he agreed with the statement about Hillary. 
Ted Cruz - 1 penalty

​Failure to stay on topic: When asked about President Obama’s assertion that the nation has “the strongest, most durable economy in the world,” Senator Cruz immediately veered off topic to discuss the American sailors that are being held in Iran. To be sure, this is an important topic, but not an answer to the question.
Marco Rubio - 1 penalty​

Failure to stay on topic: Senator Rubio’s name was invoked during Trump and Cruz’s argument over whether or not Cruz was eligible to run for president. This allowed him to make a response. He quipped “I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV,” and then veered off to talk about how he would rescind all of President Obama’s executive orders when president.
Jeb Bush - 3 penalties

Failure to stay on topic: Governor Bush was asked about President Obama’s claim that America is getting stronger while its enemies are getting weaker. At first, Bush talked about the incredible danger posed by ISIS, before veering back to American politics and discussing Hillary Clinton’s flaws and mistakes at length. It’s understandable that all these candidates would want to attack their potential Democratic challenger, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect them to stay on topic and discuss foreign policy.

Failure to stay on topic: A popular technique by the candidates last night was to pipe up whenever their name was mentioned by others in the debate. By rule, this entitled them to respond. However, for the most part, this just meant that candidates could veer off topic and talk about whatever they wanted. This happened when Bush’s name was mentioned off hand by Chris Christie during an argument with Marco Rubio. Bush quickly took the floor, but only to switch topics completely and talk about how Hillary Clinton is inferior to all the Republican candidates.

Failure to answer the question: Bush was asked about whether he thought there was any harm in “tightening standards for not only who buy guns, but those who sell them,” especially because the man who killed 9 people at the South Carolina Emanuel Church would not have passed a properly conducted background check. Bush began with a heartfelt acknowledgement of the incredible “grace of forgiveness” that was shown by the survivors who forgave the killer so soon after the shooting. Then he made issue with how the FBI had failed to properly run the background check that enabled the shooter to get his guns. However, he never got back to the initial question of what harm there could be from tightening standards on gun sellers.
John Kasich - 3 penalties

Failure to answer the question: Governor Kasich’s first question was about the recent fall in the stock market. What would he do as president if the economy started to collapse, similar to the way it had in 2008? Kasich responded by saying he would balance the budget, freeze government regulations, and cut taxes. He didn’t mention the stock market or the potential of an economic collapse.

Failure to stay on topic: When asked what he thought of Bernie Sanders' rise in the polls against Hillary Clinton, Kasich quipped that a Sanders nomination would lead to Republicans winning all 50 states. This represented 5% of his answer; the other 95%, however, was spent on how wages have stagnated, education is too expensive, and the American dream is under threat.
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Failure to answer the question: Kasich was asked how he would handle OPEC’s recent move to increase oil production in order to drive down the cost of oil and bankrupt American fracking operations. Kasich discussed the importance of American oil production and complained about Saudi Arabia’s financing of terrorist organizations, but offered no analysis of what could be done to protect American oil companies from the falling price of crude oil.