At Wednesday evening’s CNBC GOP debate, the social-media response was not as unimpressed as with the second GOP round in October. The CNBC moderators lobbed a variety of questions at the leading Republican candidates, with Donald Trump answering some repeat inquiries (mainly about his bankruptcies and his self-funded campaign). Overall, the debate lacked the shocking moments of the first GOP debate but contained a few surprises.
Early on, Bill Maher displayed a shared frustration with Ted Cruz over how dumb some of the questions were.
Seth MacFarlane did not disappoint with a smattering of scathing responses.
Michael Moore‘s stance was also predictable but amusing all the same.
Patton Oswalt‘s imagined “closing statements” for several candidates was a Twitter highlight. He thoroughly enjoys these debates.
On a slightly more serious note, Twitter did take notice of Marco Rubio‘s early comeback against Jeb Bush asking why– as a senator — Rubio’s attendance record was so spotty. Rubio’s public-speaking abilities are impressive, but his student-loan comments (saying his wife didn’t appreciate $1,000 per month going to someone called “Sallie Mae”) did inspire some ribbing:
Meanwhile, Trump confidently coasted through most of his questions, but he generated controversy by … oh never mind, people were still talking about Rubio.