7th GOP debate nothing short of political circus: Analyst

The 7th US Republican presidential debate was nothing short of a circus, although front-runner Donald Trump did not attend the event, says an American political commentator.

US Republican presidential candidates exchanged fierce attacks on immigration and other topics during the GOP debate in Iowa on Thursday, competing vigorously to fill the vacuum created by Donald Trump’s boycott of the event.

The New York billionaire did not want Megyn Kelly, a Fox News journalist, to be present at the debate, a request turned down by the TV channel.

In an interview with Press TV on Friday, political commentator Daniel Patrick Welch described the debate as a political circus.

“Another GOP debate, you know one without Trump, but still no less of a circus,” Welch said.

Welch also referred to the candidates’ stance on issues such as immigration, saying that they are competing with each other to keep non-whites out of the US.

“It's like a bunch of racists on stage trying to compete over who is going to keep the most brown people out of the US,” he noted."Except for [Ben] Carson, who is black himself and still manages to be as racist as everyone else."

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who are behind Trump in the nationwide and Iowa polls and hope for surprise finishes here, were repeatedly confronted with pointed questions about their views and Senate votes on providing citizenship or legal status to immigrants who are in the country illegally.

“You also have this incredible obsession with 'terrorists.' We can't let them in because 'some of them are terrorists,'"  Welch said, denouncing it as an “indigenous” notion as it is Washington which is providing financial support for terrorists.

"We're perfectly happy to send them [terrorists] into other countries, to kill and maim and chop off heads and eat hearts. But then when those wars and that economic dislocation comes back home, it's 'whoa, wait a minute, we wanted to keep all the consequences of our wars far away -- and safe for us," the analyst noted. 

A CNN/ORC Poll released on Tuesday, found that Trump’s support among Republicans is now more than double that of his closest rival, Cruz, with 40 to 19 percent support.

This was the first time Trump crossed the 40-percent mark in a poll. He was also leading Cruz, 34 to 23 percent in Iowa, according to a separate survey.

There are only a few days left until the primary elections in New Hampshire and Iowa, the first in a series of nationwide elections to determine which candidates will represent their party in the upcoming presidential election in November.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk