Transcript (condensed, edited) of August 6 Fox News GOP Presidential Debate

Here is my edited conversed (5.66 thousand wds) version of the Time Magazine transcript of the August 6, 2015 Fox News Republican Presidential Primary Debate featuring the top 10 contenders. The original transcript was 18.61 thousand words; hence my condensation, is 30.4% of the original, in terms of number of words:

Note: see Republican Presidential Nomination Debate Q&A in Table Format

...BAIER: ... Is there anyone on stage,...who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person...

...PAUL: This is what’s wrong!...I mean, this is what’s wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he’s already… Hey, look, look! He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn’t run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent…but I’d say that he’s already hedging his bets because he’s used to buying politicians.

TRUMP: Well, I’ve given him plenty of money...TRUMP: I will not make the pledge at this time.


...KELLY...Dr. Carson...You’ve suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of NATO,...you were unfamiliar with the major political parties and government in Israel...you thought Alan Greenspan had been treasury secretary instead of federal reserve chair...Aren’t these basic mistakes...?

CARSON: ...the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly...America became a great nation...because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that’s what will get us on the right track...

WALLACE: Senator Rubio...Could you...address Governor Bush across the stage...and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is...

RUBIO: ...I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate...if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton’s gonna be the next president, because she’s been in office and in government longer than anybody else ...This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced... the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn’t even own a single store? ...The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don’t pay enough or they are gone...student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago...

BAIER: Governor Bush...opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, “the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office.”...

BUSH: ...I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. ... we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating...I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget...the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created...

KELLY: Mr. Trump...You’ve called women you don’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”...Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks...

TRUMP: ... the big problem this country has is being politically correct... I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness... this country doesn’t have time either...We don’t win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody... we need strength,... energy...quickness... brain in this country to turn it around...

WALLACE: Senator Cruz,...How can you win in 2016 when you’re such a divisive figure?

CRUZ: ...the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth...If you’re looking for someone...to go along to get along, to...agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain’t your guy…we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives...Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican ...Senate, and we don’t have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do.

BAIER: Governor Christie,...Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state’s 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country...

CHRISTIE: If you think it’s bad now, you should’ve seen it when I got there...in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times...spending was increased 56 percent... taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times...spending was increased 56 percent...there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey...we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs...with no tax increases... we vetoed five income tax increases...We cut business taxes $2.3 billion...regulation by one-third...A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I’ve been governor...

KELLY: Governor Walker...Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream...

WALKER: ...I’ve always been pro-life, and I’ve got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there... I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago...

WALLACE: Governor Huckabee...how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016?

HUCKABEE: ...I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution ...we clearly know that that baby inside the mother’s womb is a person at the moment of conception...the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on....violation of that unborn child’s Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It’s time that we ...change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they’re parts to a Buick...

BAIER: Senator Paul...Why are you so quick to blame your own party?

PAUL: ... how are we going to defeat ISIS?...I’m the leading voice in America for not arming the allies of ISIS...I’ve been fightin...Hillary Clinton, as well as... Republicans who wanted to send arms to the allies of ISIS. ISIS rides around in a billion dollars worth of U.S. Humvees....we shouldn’t fund our enemies...we didn’t create ISIS — ISIS created themselves...

KELLY: Governor Kasich...Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won’t use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program?

KASICH: ...I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to...treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year…to keep them in prison. I’d rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life...Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions ...We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent ...working poor... we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet...our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country...we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We’ve cut $5 billion in taxes…we’ve grown 350,000 jobs.

WALLACE: ...Governor Bush...you said. “They broke the law, but it’s not a felony, it’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family.”...Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status?

BUSH:...the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family...we need to control our border...it’s our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. ...we need to deal with E-Verify... people that come with a legal visa and overstay...eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country...local governments are not following the federal law. ...there should be a path to earned legal status…not amnesty, earned legal status...you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time.

WALLACE: Mr. Trump,...Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people?

TRUMP:...This was not a subject that was on anybody’s mind until I brought it up... I said, Mexico is sending...they didn’t cover my statement the way I said it... many killings, murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, ...we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out...Border Patrol...they say this is what’s happening...they send the bad ones over because they don’t want to pay for them...

WALLACE: Governor Kasich... is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration?

KASICH: ... I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington...I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs ...

WALLACE: ...Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid... all of these illegals coming over are criminals?

RUBIO: ...the majority of people coming across the border are...coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras...I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence...you need an e-verify system ...entry-exit tracking system ...a million people a year ... legally immigrate to the United States...We feel like despite our generosity, we’re being taken advantage of.... people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States...they’ve paid their fees...hired a lawyer... they can’t get in...

WALLACE: Governor Walker...could you explain why in the last two years you’ve changed your position on a path to citizenship, ...

WALKER: ...we need to secure the border....international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty...

WALLACE: Senator Cruz... “And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?”

CRUZ: Chris,... yes. ...I have authored Kate’s law in the United States Senate... I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate’s law ...the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate’s law... our leaders...don’t want to enforce the immigration laws...far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty...There’s 7 billion people ... if they come illegally and they get amnesty...we fundamentally change this country...A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty... I led the fight against Chuck Schumer’s ...amnesty legislation...

KELLY...Governor Christie. You’ve said ...Senator Paul’s opposition to the NSA’s collection of phone records has made the United States weaker...that he should be called before Congress to answer...if we should be hit by another terrorist attack...

CHRISTIE: ...I’m the only person on this stage who’s actually filed applications under the Patriot Act... gone before the federal — the Foreign Intelligence Service court,...prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists...I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day...We have to give more tools to our folks... then trust those people and oversee them...

PAUL...I want to collect more records from terrorists...less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment...

CHRISTIE: ...that’s a completely ridiculous answer. “I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people.” How are you supposed to know,...?

PAUL: Use the Fourth Amendment!...Get a warrant!...Get a judge to sign the warrant!

CHRISTIE: ...When you’re responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure…to make sure that you use the system (ph) the way it’s supposed to work.

PAUL: ...Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I’m talking about searches without warrants …indiscriminately, of all Americans’ records, and that’s what I fought to end. I don’t trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug...

CHRISTIE:...Senator Paul...the hugs that I remember... had nothing to do ...with politics, unlike what you’re doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign …and while still putting our country at risk.

... KELLY: Senator Cruz...You asked the chairman of the joint chiefs a question: “What would it take to destroy ISIS in 90 days?” He told you “ISIS will only be truly destroyed once they are rejected by the populations in which they hide.” ... then you accused him of pushing Medicaid for the Iraqis...How would you destroy ISIS ...?

CRUZ: ...General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs... said there is no military solution. We need to change the conditions on the ground so that young men are not in poverty and susceptible to radicalization. That...is nonsense...same answer the State Department gave that we need to give them jobs...we need is a commander...that makes — clear, if you join ISIS... then you are signing your death warrant...I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate ...if any American travels to the Middle East... joining ISIS... he ...forfeits ...citizenship...Obama...at the prayer breakfast, ... said, “Well, gosh, the crusades, the inquisitions–”...We need a president that shows the courage that Egypt’s President al-Sisi...called out the radical Islamic terrorists ...

KELLY: Governor Bush...you struggled to answer...whether knowing what we know now…we would’ve invaded Iraq… ISIS, of course, is now thriving there...You finally said, “No.”...

BUSH: Knowing what we know now...it was a mistake. I wouldn’t have gone in...did not die in vain...Obama ...abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because of the void that we left...that void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana... we need to — stop the — Iran agreement...the Iranian mullahs have...blood on their hands...we need to take out ISIS...

KELLY: Governor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world...

WALKER:...we need to focus on the ones we have...Egypt...Israel,...incredibly important... Saudis ...They said it’s the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind ...We need to stand up and start leading... we need...allies...throughout the Persian Gulf.

KELLY: Dr. Carson...As president, would you bring back water boarding?

CARSON: ...what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business,... I wouldn’t...be broadcasting what we’re going to do...We’ve gotten into this...mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war...The left, of course, will say Carson doesn’t believe in the Geneva Convention...fighting stupid wars. ...we want to utilize the tremendous intellect...we have in the military to win wars... if we don’t tie their hands behind their back, they will do it…

BAIER:..Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster...15 years ago...You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system....

TRUMP: ...I came out... against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East...I’m the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that’s exactly what happened...As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age...What I’d like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands... of employees...if I’m negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid...the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians...with the exception of the politicians on this stage...then we have to take care of the people that can’t take care of themselves... I will do that through a different system.

PAUL: News flash, the Republican Party’s been fighting against a single-payer system…for a decade...you’re on the wrong side ... if you’re ...arguing for a single-payer system...

BAIER: Mr. Trump...you said recently, quote, “When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”

TRUMP: You’d better believe it...most of the people on this stage I’ve given... a lot of money.
...our system is broken...When they call, I give...
When I need something from them two years later...I call them, they are there for me...that’s a broken system...with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding...She didn’t have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that...is supposed to do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was.

BAIER: ... Governor Walker.

WALKER: ...everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president...

BAIER: Governor Huckabee...is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink?

HUCKABEE:...we have a Wall Street-to-Washington ... power...The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance ...the donor class wants...the result is federal government keeps getting bigger... the federal government,...continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for...things happening at the federal level ...are ... beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. ...power...should be shifted back to the states, ... the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education... we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we... pass the fair tax...a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people’s income...

BAIER: Dr. Carson...do you agree with that?

CARSON: ... we need a significantly changed taxation system....the one ...I’ve advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy... he said...if you give me a tithe, it doesn’t matter how much you make...I’ve advocated a proportional tax...You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one.... you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, ...

BAIER: Governor Bush...you are one of the few ...on the stage who advocates for Common Core ...standards, reading and math...people on this stage vigorously oppose federal involvement in education...

BUSH: ...I don’t believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards ...curriculum or content. It is ...a state responsibility. I’m for higher standards … measured in an...honest way...abundant school choice, ending social promotion. ...I created the first ...the second...and the third statewide voucher program in the country...we had rising student achievement ...high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice ...challenging the teachers union...is the way to go...Florida’s low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent...

BAIER: Senator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core?

RUBIO:...We... need curriculum reform...it should happen at the state... local level... where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught...they can...get it changed. Here’s the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education...will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate...they will...say to local communities ...you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. ...

BAIER: And do you agree with your old friend?

BUSH: ...the states ought to create these standards... if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high... in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world...30 percent are college- and/or career-ready.

BUSH: If we are going to compete in this world ... no...way we can do it with lowering expectations ...dumbing down everything. ... kids won’t be able to get a job in the 21st Century.

...WALLACE: ...Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee...How will you, if you’re the nominee, how will you ...take Hillary Clinton on?

KASICH: ...The nominee of this party, if they’re going to win, has got to come at it... pro-growth. ...balancing budgets. ...I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth... cut taxes, ... big surplus...once you have economic growth...we reach out to people who live in the shadows...

WALLACE: ... Dr. Carson...

CARSON: If Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt...she is the epitome of...the secular progressive movement...she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots ... I ... believe ... people are not stupid...I will...help people to ... understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing... problems...the national debt ...being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country...I would ...find a way to drive wedges between ...people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level...then step off the stage ... and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military...

WALLACE: ...Governor Bush,...how on Earth specifically would you pull that off?

BUSH: We’ve done it 27 times since World War II...There’s 6 million people living in poverty ...more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We’ve created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people...you fix a convoluted tax code...you change ...regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn’t suppress wages and kill jobs...You embrace the energy revolution......Hillary Clinton, ... can’t even say she’s for the X.L. pipeline...? ...Of course we’re for it. We should be for these things to create...economic growth. ...fixing our immigration system...turning it into an economic driver is part of this...

WALLACE: Governor Walker...when you ran for governor ... in 2010, you promised...you would create 250,000 jobs...Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. ...why should voters believe you?

WALKER: ...the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It’s now down to 4.6 percent. ...the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally.

You know, people like Hillary...think you grow the economy by growing Washington... six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were...around... D.C...one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare...out of control regulations, put in place... energy policy, give people ... education ... skills ... lower the tax rate ... reform the tax code....

WALLACE: Governor Christie...Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that...?

CHRISTIE: ...71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service...we have spent the last hour ...talking about the other 29%...we’d raise the retirement age... one month a year for 25 years... needs...test Social Security for those...making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income... have $4 to $5 million ... assets They don’t need that Social Security check...If we don’t deal with this...it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases...

WALLACE: Governor Huckabee?...how you could save these programs without the ... painful reforms he says we need?

HUCKABEE: ...60 million Americans are on Social Security...A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security ... The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not... if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don’t we let them start by changing their retirement program...Medicare...was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare...government figures that they can do this off the backs of people...whom are poor...it’s...lying to people...stealing...

CHRISTIE: ...The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU’s. We can’t fix the problem just by ending...Congress’ retirement...

HUCKABEE:... Social Security ...the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage...people who get wages is declining ...income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends...capital gains...The fair ... transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because...money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers...people that are freeloading...

WALLACE: Mr. Trump...why should we trust you to run the nation’s business?

TRUMP: ...I have used the laws of this country ...chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family...I have never gone bankrupt...on four occasions I’ve taken advantage of the laws of this country...Four times, I’ve taken advantage of the laws. ...so has everybody else in my position.

WALLACE: ...Trump Entertainment Resorts, ... went bankrupt in 2009...lenders to your company lost...$1 billion ...1,100 people were laid off...

TRUMP:...these lenders aren’t babies. These are total killers ... you’re living in a world of the make-believe, Chris...I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City...every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt... I left Atlantic City before it...cratered, and I made...money in Atlantic City, and I’m...proud of it...this country right now owes $19 trillion...

WALLACE: Senator Rubio....describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses...

RUBIO: ...the economy we live in...is...different from ... five years ago...global competition with dozens of other countries...big companies ...have connections with Washington, they can affect policies...small companies... they’re ...struggling ... we need to even out the tax code for small businesses ... lower their tax rate to 25 percent, ... we need to lower it for all businesses...We need to have a...budget... that limits the amount of regulations ...We need to...replace Obamacare... improve higher education ... we need to repeal Dodd-Frank...20 — over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out ...since Dodd-Frank has passed...

BAIER: ... First, Governor Walker...You’ve said that you would tear up the Iran deal...

WALKER: ...I still remember,...the 444 days ...Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with...reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress,...put in place even more crippling sanctions ...convince our allies to do the same...

PAUL: I oppose the Iranian deal...Obama gave away too much, too early... I asked ...Kerry...“do you believe they’re trustworthy?”... he said “No.”...I said, “well, how are we gonna get them to comply?” I would have never released ...sanctions before there was ... evidence of compliance.

HUCKABEE: ...Obama...trusts our enemies ... It has to do with the...dangerous place... this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn’t even get four hostages out. ...Iran gets everything they want...We said we would have anywhere, anytime...inspections... make sure...they didn’t have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up... Iranians... said ..., “we will wipe Israel off the...map...bring death to America.” When someone points a gun at your head...you ought to take them seriously...

KELLY: Senator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal ...Dolan ... said... those exceptions are preposterous...discriminate against...class of human... how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently...

RUBIO: ...And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated...law... that says all human life at every stage...is worthy of protection...that law already exists. It is called the Constitution ... every... human... is entitled to ...protection of...laws,...Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not...future generations will look back...and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies ...

KELLY: Mr. Trump...When did you actually become a Republican?

TRUMP: ...I’ve evolved on many issues...Reagan evolved...I am pro-life... I said...I hate the concept of abortion...I’ve ... evolved... friends of mine ... were going to have a child... it was going to be aborted...that child today is a total superstar...I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother’s administration were a catastrophe...

KELLY: Governor Bush...GOP donor... said you called...Trump a clown, a buffoon...

BUSH: ...It’s not true....I...said ...Trump’s language is divisive...We’re not going on win by ... creating a grievance kind of environment. ...Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were ... one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion...you create an environment where everybody rises up...

TRUMP: ...Jeb, I am... happy... you denied that, ...He is a true gentleman... when you have people that are cutting Christians’ heads off... at so many places,...medieval...we don’t have time for tone. We have to ... get the job done.

KASICH: ...I just went to a wedding of a friend...who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn’t think the way I do, doesn’t mean that I can’t care about them... if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them... I’m going to love them no matter what they do...God gives me unconditional love. ...

PAUL: ...if people have...a religious opinion...they should be allowed to practice that...no government should interfere...in Houston... you had the government... trying to get the sermons of ministers...that’s when it’s time to resist.

MEGAN: ...overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans...

CARSON: ...Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940....half of the non-deployed units were not ready ...the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel...generals are retiring because they don’t want to be part of this...enemies are increasing... our friends can’t trust us ...Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won’t even give them offensive weapons...we turned our back on Israel, ...if you don’t get the military right, nothing else is going to work.

BAIER: Governor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize ...?

WALKER:......I would send weapons to Ukraine...put forces on the eastern border of Poland and the Baltic nations,...put in place... the missile defense system that we had in Poland and in the Czech Republic...

BAIER:...Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is... changing...

HUCKABEE: ...The purpose of the military is...not to transform the culture by trying out ...ideas...people think would make us ...more diverse...I’m not sure how paying for transgender surgery...makes our country safer. We’ve reduced the military by 25 percent…under...Obama. ... B-52s we’re flying, we’ve only got 44 that are in service...

BAIER: Senator Paul, the first budget your proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. ...

PAUL: ...I’m the only one on... stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances...Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid...we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us... Israel is not one of those...Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they’re independent...We shouldn’t borrow money from China to send it anywhere...

BAIER: ...you still say... Israel could be one of the countries that is cut...?

PAUL: I still say...what my original opinion is. ...Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally...we cannot give away money we don’t have...We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We’re borrowing a million dollars a minute.

CHRISTIE: ...I put out a really specific plan:... 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army...185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps...350 ship Navy ...modernize the Ohio class of submarines...Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft... I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration...

CRUZ: ...I’m the son of a pastor and evangelist ... my father,...was an alcoholic... someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus...he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me...We see lots of “campaign conservatives.” ...There are...differences among the candidates on ...amnesty...Obamacare... religious liberty...life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight...for religious liberty...against Planned Parenthood...

WALKER: ...What God calls us to do is follow his will...that’s what I’m going to try to do...

RUBIO:...God ... has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can’t even find one... We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive ... they’ve only fired one person ...When I’m president ...we’re going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA.

BAIER: Now...You’ll all have 30 seconds ...

KASICH: ...I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee ...last time we balanced a budget... We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes...

CHRISTIE: ...I’m a conservative, pro-life governor in... New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher’s union...

PAUL: ... I’ve introduced a five-year balanced budget. I’ve introduced the largest tax cut in our history...

CRUZ: ...The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal...executive action taken by... Obama...I intend to ... instruct the Department of Justice to ...prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations...I intend to... instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (stop) persecuting religious liberty, and ...cancel the Iran deal...move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem...

WALKER:...I took on the big government union bosses, and we won...We balanced the budget, cut taxes...

BUSH: ...Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We’re not embracing the energy revolution...broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver...We’re not protecting and preserving our entitlement system...

TRUMP: ...We don’t beat China in trade. We don’t beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can’t beat Mexico, at the border or in trade...Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare...