Vocabulary from the Eighth Republican Debate, February 6, 2016

The last Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary took place on February 6, 2016. Although the candidates addressed many issues like terrorism and the epidemic of drug abuse, this debate was particularly notable for the exchanges between the candidates about what makes one qualified to be president and what constitutes a true conservative. Here are 20 words from the eighth Republican debate.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. asymmetric
    characterized by lack of balance in the arrangement of parts
    They [ the Obama administration] come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run.
    -Governor Jeb Bush
    Governor Bush's point of view is that when the Obama administration withdraws troops from a region, the power vacuum that is created gets filled by a terror threat much bigger than the one the troops were in the region to fight in the first place. The fact that this new threat is so much more powerful than the old one is what makes it "asymmetric."
  2. cronyism
    favoritism shown to friends and associates
    The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...
    - Senator Ted Cruz
  3. truancy
    failure to attend, especially school
    And the fact is -- the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you [Senator Marco Rubio] weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy.
    - Governor Chris Christie
  4. catastrophic
    extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin
    It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons.
    - Senator Ted Cruz
  5. collaborative
    accomplished by working jointly
    I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works -- not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them.... They got together, they made recommendations...and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win.
    - Governor John Kasich
    Here Governor Kasich is using "collaborative" as a noun. As Governor he set up a panel where people are collaborative and are working together to address the problem of the relationship between law enforcement and certain segments of the community in Ohio.
  6. galvanize
    stimulate to action
    And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're -- last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement.
    - Donald Trump
  7. entrepreneurial
    of or relating to someone who starts a new business
    A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense.
    - Gov. Bush
  8. eminent
    standing above others in quality or position
    Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain.
    -Donald Trump
    Eminent domain is the practice of the government claiming private land for public use, or some other use that the government deems to be in the general interest.
  9. proactive
    causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond
    I think I was the first one to start talking about it [Libya] because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy.
    -Dr. Ben Carson
  10. sleazy
    morally degraded
    For many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either.
    - Dr. Carson
  11. incremental
    increasing gradually by regular degrees or additions
    We have to deal with the caliphate, with building a Sunni army there, but we also have to deal with it in Libya. And I think the United States, ultimately, is going to play -- play a significant role in this.
    The problem with the Obama administration is that they see this incrementally. They're reluctant. They don't lead. No one knows whether we're serious, and when we do it, we do it in increments you can barely see.
    - Gov. Bush
  12. delineate
    represented accurately or precisely
    ...conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector.
    - Sen. Marco Rubio
  13. foreshadowing
    the act of providing vague advance indications
    And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran.
    - Sen. Cruz
  14. rescind
    cancel officially
    Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen.
    - Sen. Cruz
  15. proliferate
    cause to grow or increase rapidly
    Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the -- with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction.
    - Gov. Kasich
  16. egregious
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place -- to be the source of innovation and reform in this country.
    - Gov. Bush
  17. aspire
    have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal
    The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country.
    -Gov. Christie
  18. referendum
    a legislative act referred for approval to a popular vote
    That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake.
    - Sen. Rubio
  19. temperament
    your usual mood
    I actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides.
    - Donald Trump
  20. dispel
    force to go away
    And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world.
    - Sen Rubio
Created on Sat Feb 06 23:28:15 EST 2016 (updated Sun Feb 07 01:11:01 EST 2016)

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