Week In The News: GOP Presidential Debate, Malaysia Airlines Debris, Clean Power Plan

With guest host John Donvan. 

The GOP presidential debates. Planned Parenthood keeps its funding. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 debris identified. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

The first great GOP debate of the season, and the mini-debate that preceded it. Trump uses the “S” word. “Stupid.” Fiorina gets a boost. Christie and Paul go head to head.  On the Iran deal, the President has sharp elbows, but not  the support of one key Democrat. Planned Parenthood gets a reprieve, but is still in the firing line.  Texas voter ID law: it’s discriminatory, an appeals court says. And Jon Stewart has the curtain call of the decade. This hour On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-- John Donvan

Lisa Lerer, national political reporter for the Associated Press. (@llerer)

John McCormack, senior writer at The Weekly Standard. (@mccormackjohn)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

Associated Press: Trump-inspired debate drama highlights unsettled GOP field — "'Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, 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,' asked Fox News' Bret Baier to kick off the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign for president. Only one hand went up, and with it, billionaire businessman Donald Trump sparked fresh waves of anxiety within the GOP as he went on to headline a debate that at times felt more like a circus than a forum for those who aspire to the White House."

Weekly Standard:  A Government Shutdown Would Likely Be a Disaster for the Pro-Life Cause -- "In all likelihood, a shutdown would not only fail to defund Planned Parenthood, it could do serious harm to more important efforts to protect the lives of unborn children. It would immediately change the debate from a discussion of Planned Parenthood's victims to problems caused by a government shutdown."

CNN: MH370: Window, seat cushion parts have washed up, Malaysia says -- "Malaysia's Transport Ministry said Thursday that more plane parts have washed up on the same island as a wing part believed — with varying degrees of certainty — to be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Those new items, which the Malaysians described as pieces of windows, seat cushions and aluminum, will be tested by the same international team of experts that is examining a piece of a wing that Malaysia said Wednesday is definitely from MH370."