The Best Lines From Thursday's GOP Debate

'Donald, you are welcome to be president of the Smithsonian'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2016 10:03 PM CST
Updated Mar 11, 2016 1:30 AM CST
The Best Line's From Thursday's GOP Debate
Republican presidential candidates during Thursday's debate in Florida.   (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Though Thursday's Republican debate started with the four remaining candidates on their best behavior, that didn't mean there weren't some good lines. Donald Trump talked about how many Muslims hate America. Marco Rubio weighed in on climate change. Ted Cruz offered Trump an alternative job to president. And Kasich talked trade and immigration. Here are 23 of the best lines from the debate:

  1. Kasich, on immigration: "I would be running for president of Croatia if we didn't have immigration."
  2. Kasich, again on immigration: "We lock our doors at night in our homes, and the country has to be able to lock its door as well."
  3. Cruz: "Now, the one silver lining of Obama abusing executive power is that everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, and I intend to do that."
  4. Rubio: "I am against any changes to Social Security that are bad for my mother."
  5. Trump, on Democrats: "I've watched them very intensely, even though it's a very, very boring thing to watch."
  6. Trump: "I can't believe how civil it's been up here."
  7. Cruz: "Here's my philosophy: The less government, the more freedom."
  8. Trump, on how many Muslims hate us: "I mean a lot of them."
  9. Rubio, on Trump's comments on Islam: "Presidents can't just say anything they want. It has consequences here and around the world."
  10. Cruz, on Trump: "The answer is not to simply yell, 'China bad, Muslim bad.'"
  11. Trump, on laws against torture and targeting the families of terrorists: "We better expand our laws or we are being a bunch of suckers."
  12. Cruz, on Cuba: "We shouldn't be allowing billions of dollars to go to nations that hate us."
  13. Rubio: "I'm not interested in being politically correct. I'm interested in being correct."
  14. Kasich, on Israel and Palestine: "I don't believe there is any long-term, permanent peace solution."
  15. Trump: "We don't fight like we used to fight. We used to fight to win. Now we fight for no reasons whatsoever."
  16. Trump, on how pro-Israel he is: "I was the grand marshal of the Israeli Day Parade down 5th Avenue."
  17. Rubio: "One of the reasons the climate is changing is because the climate has always been changing."
  18. Kasich: "I do believe we contribute to climate change."
  19. Trump: "I think Putin has been a very strong leader for Russia. He's been a lot stronger than our leader."
  20. Trump, on violence at his rallies: "They have anger. They love this country…It's a beautiful thing."
  21. Kasich, on violence at Trump rallies: "Elections are important, but the unity of this country really matters."
  22. Cruz: "Donald, you are welcome to be president of the Smithsonian."
  23. Trump, on Clinton: "Believe me, I haven't even started on her yet."
Read the full transcript of the debate here. (More Republican debate stories.)

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