Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Republican Debate Open Thread, Part II

Reader Interactions

191Comments

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    I wish Bachmann would have answered the question (the answer under her philosophy is “let him die”; she just can’t say it)…

    …but her getting Perry to admit his price is higher than $5K was sweet.

  5. 5.

    Comrade Mary

    Screeching fucking banshee.

    Little-known fact: banshees, like cats, have barbed dicks. You’d screech too, sweetie.

  8. 8.

    mclaren

    Cue the obots screaming “You must vote for Obama in 2012 because ZOMG, President Perry, President Perry, President Perry!”

    Let’s get this clear, people.

    Rick Perry will not be the Republican presidential nominee.

    The guy has called Social Security “a Ponzi scheme” and called it a “monstrous lie.” All Democrats have to do is force Rick Perry to keep repeating those claims, and he goes down in flames.

    Even the most hardened far-right Tea Party fanatic is not going to vote for a presidential candidate who wants to end social security.

    Ain’t gonna happen.

    Don’t waste our time citing the polls showing Rick Perry in the lead. This time in the 2007-8 election cycle, all the polls shows Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton in the lead.

    Americans have had it with Dubya. They’re sick of him. They don’t want him anywhere near the presidency. Rick Perry is a Texas-bred Dubya clone who wants to shut down social security.

    He has no chance. None. Zero. Perry will never get anywhere near the Republican nomination.

    I still haven’t decided whether I’m even going to vote in the 2012 presidential election, because enabling Obama’s lies and betrayals is more than I can stomach. But one thing I can goddamn sure guarantee you — not voting for Obama won’t give us president Perry.

  11. 11.

    Yutsano

    @mclaren: You just declared yourself useless then.

    @Alex S.: Last I heard the Tea Party wasn’t too crazy about any of them. I don’t think anything that happens tonight will change that perception.

  12. 12.

    licensed to kill time

    I think the screeching from the debate killed my wireless connection, just spent the last half hour wrestling with it and now I’m back up but I fear further exposure may nuke it for good. haha.

    Man, these Repubs just lie like rugs.

  13. 13.

    Alex S.

    Meh, so I’m watching after all.. but I’ve missed the first 45 minutes. I’m surprised about Bachmann’s attack against Perry and Merck. She will be cut off by the powers that be, her anti-business stance has to be eliminated. And interesting that the ‘Tea Party’ actually is breaking through here. These guys might abandon Bachmann for Paul. Romney and Perry have their own faults from their point of view.

  15. 15.

    Bostondreams

    “Never to the left, forever to the right.”

    “With our land, cash in hand
    Self-command, future planned
    And we’ll hold to our gold
    Tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold.”

  16. 16.

    Quarks

    @cleek: No, just following along with the Economist’s snarky and colorful liveblog and Gary Johnson’s drug-infused outraged tweets about it.

  17. 17.

    lamh32

    I’m not even watching the debate, and I’m already tired of it.

    When is this thing supposed to be over

  19. 19.

    The Dangerman

    @cleek:

    …is there something that you didn’t learn from the last one?

    Oddly, this time, the debate has been at least coherent in the arguments; sure, the answers are mostly wrong, but the last one was insufferable in its inconsistency.

    Cain, in particular, has been coherent; shock me to the core, Newt, too. Perry is still on the pedestal and not really having anyone knock him off it.

    Edit: Woah, Perry steps on a big turd on state tuition; unforced error, a big one.

  21. 21.

    Comrade Mary

    @licensed to kill time:

    I think the screeching from the debate killed my wireless connection

    Hey, if you want to do something wholesome and nostalgic, albeit screechy, there’s always contributing to this.

    Remember the glory of dialing up?
    __
    Kids today won’t know the shrill cry of a 9600 baud, or the magical “doodleeedoo” of a 28.8 modem.
    __
    Help preserve our digital history. Join us in recording your best impression of a “modem handshake” sound.

  27. 27.

    Alex S.

    @Yutsano:

    Yeah, probably true. The ‘Tea Party’ is just anarchy disguised as conservatism and a lot of ‘Fuck You’.

    Edit: Mitt Romney still talks too fast.

  28. 28.

    Irony Abounds

    I’ll be anxious to hear from the wingers about how unfair it was for CNN to allow these wackjobs the chance to show just what stooges these people are.

  31. 31.

    licensed to kill time

    @Comrade Mary:

    Ha! Bleeoo is a great name, that’s just what it sounded like (yes, I remember dial-ups).

    eta: workin’ on my impression as we speak ;)

  33. 33.

    Irony Abounds

    Huntsman is supposed to be the adult in the room, and he’s showing himself to be a bit of a snide dick.

  36. 36.

    Boudica

    Now Huntsman wants foreign capital to raise real estate prices….yes! let’s sell America to the highest bidder.

  39. 39.

    The Dangerman

    I missed the Nirvana comment; what was it? Treason was nastiest, bu the flip flopper thing was almost as nasty.

  40. 40.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Huntsman is on the right track against a guy who talks up secession, but he’s going about it all wrong.

  41. 41.

    hilts

    @mclaren:

    Perry will never get anywhere near the Republican nomination.

    Forget Perry for a moment. Electing any of these assholes would be an unspeakable tragedy. I’d rather have a giant meteor crash into the Earth creating an environmental catastrophe that resulted in the extinction of the human race than see any of these goddamn motherfuckers become the next President. All of these Republicans are either now or will become sock puppets of the Tea Party movement.

  42. 42.

    kindness

    Heck with the debate. Cliff notes tomorrow.

    Right now I’m watchin’ the Patriots beat the Dolphins & shortly whom-ever beat the Raiders.

  50. 50.

    butler

    @mclaren: Even assuming you’re right about Perry (which is a hell of a lot to assume), you would prefer a President Romney?

    Let me rephrase that: you want ANY Republican making the next 1,2,3, even 4 appointments to the Supreme Court? You want the executive pivot point for all legislation for the next 4 to 8 years to swing radically to the right? Are you naive or just too cool to be bothered with political reality?

    Rather burn the world down than not get your way 100%? Sounds a lot like a teabagger to me.

  54. 54.

    Morzer

    Santorum is now accusing Paul of parroting Osama Bin Laden. There is a certain air of trapped rats devouring each other on the stage.

  55. 55.

    licensed to kill time

    @The Dangerman: He said about his book “I don’t know if Kurt Cobain wrote it or what” and it fell flat cuz I doubt anybody there knows who the hell Kurt Cobain is.

  57. 57.

    dslak

    As someone who’s sponsored an immigrant, Bachmann’s claims are complete bullshit. People aren’t allowed into the country unless they can show demonstrable ability to support themselves, or prove support from a sponsor in the US. And fuck her for conflating liberalized immigration laws, which ended discrimination against Asians, and illegal immigration across the Southern US border.

  59. 59.

    Morzer

    Shorter Huntsman :”Fuck you, Afghan woman, but America will shine shinily. So you can feel better, in a shiny sort of way”.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    To be fair to Huntsman, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was all about the impact of Social Security’s impending insolvency on young people.

  61. 61.

    lamh32

    and paul gets booed by crowd for saying not all muslims are jihadist…WOW CNN should be so proud of themselves.

  64. 64.

    Felinious Wench

    My calm, logical, rational, unemotional Poly Sci and Economics teacher husband is yelling at the TV and gnawing the furniture.

  65. 65.

    The Dangerman

    OK, check one of my earlier comments; coherency went of the rails with Santorum and Paul and then Afghanistan. Was there an answer in there someplace?

    I don’t get the Cobain reference; I’ll go find a transcript.

    Edit: I thought the Perry title was Fed Up or similar; it was No Apology? OK, that makes sense now.

  66. 66.

    Bostondreams

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    Paul thinks WWII was the “last war”!”

    Well, maybe it is the history/government teacher in me, but technically, he is correct. The last officially declared war in our history is World War II.

    Just saying. I don’t know the context. Too busy watching Team Brady.

    Edit: posted too late. Alas.

  71. 71.

    Alex S.

    I love how, just for a few short moments, glimpses of sanity break through whenever the candidates are under pressure. It shows that all of this is just a necessary act to appease the crazy-people. Also, now even the Republicans don’t want to stay in Afghanistan anymore. Times have changed since the days of McCain and the 100-year-presence in Afghanistan.

  73. 73.

    Cacti

    Perry’s another Texas dim wit.

    Romney’s privileged rich, born with a diamond crusted spoon up his ass (that’s why he always seems so awkward).

    But tell me, does anyone here think there would be more than a thimble’s worth of difference between the legislation they’d sign as POTUS?

  77. 77.

    butler

    And Romney revives the zombie lie about Obama removing Churchill’s bust from the White House. He’s learning how to pander to these idiots.

  81. 81.

    jon

    WWII was the last war if you’re like Ron Paul and you insist that Congress is the one to declare war. Not a radical prospect, that. It’s actually in the Constitution.

  87. 87.

    Suffern ACE

    @Cacti: Not at all.

    ETA: Not at all meaning there are not any significant differences within the Republicans that actually matter. Look at what they are like in the House and Senate. Anyway, Paul and Huntsman MIGHT not rush us into the big war against Islam that the audience feels was denied them.

  91. 91.

    mclaren

    @butler:

    Even assuming you’re right about Perry (which is a hell of a lot to assume), you would prefer a President Romney?

    The crackpots have come out in force tonight. For the umpteenth time…Romney is a Mormon. To the fundamentalist evangelical Christians who form the base of the Republican party, Mormonism is equivalent to a Satanic cult, so Romney has zero chance of getting the nomination.

    Let me rephrase that: you want ANY Republican making the next 1,2,3, even 4 appointments to the Supreme Court?

    What’s the difference? Obama will appoint the same far-right fanatics to the Supreme Court that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann would, so what does it matter?

    You want the executive pivot point for all legislation for the next 4 to 8 years to swing radically to the right?

    No, I certainly don’t, and that’s why I’m not going to vote for Obama. Barack Obama is going to offer the legislation and make the appointments and propose the crazy far-right policies that the Republicans would propose if any of them got elected to the presidency.

    Are you naive or just too cool to be bothered with political reality?

    Let’s talk about political reality, crackpot: Barack Obama ran on hope and change, and he gave us endless war and more national security state and presidential orders for the assassination of a U.S. citizen without even accusing him of committing a crime and expanding federal raids on state marijuana dispensaries and more giveaways to the Wall Street criminals who trashed the world economy.

    That’s political reality.

    If you’re disgusted by the insane far-right policies proposed by any of the Republican candidates for president, those are the policies Barack Obama has put in place and will continue and intensify.

    Rather burn the world down than not get your way 100%? Sounds a lot like a teabagger to me.

    Typical crackpot reasoning. There’s no middle ground — anyone who refuses to fall to his knees and worship obama is a teabagger.

    You need to take it to the next level, and call me a “fifth columnist” and “evil” and “dangerously insane” and “an enemy combatant” for criticizing Barack Obama. You need to notify Homeland Security and NORAD and Delta Force to detain me, send out a team of marine corps snipers, and, if necessary, put a black bag over my head and drag me board a learjet headed for one of our third world allies so I can be tortured to death, now that I’ve said I’m seriously thinking about not voting for Obama.

    You people are the political equivalent of flying saucer cultists.

  95. 95.

    licensed to kill time

    Jeez, Bachmann’s doubling down on the “little girls violated by the gov’t” line in a post-debate interview w/John King.

    She seems to think they get the shots in the hoo-ha or something.

  96. 96.

    Bostondreams

    @mclaren:

    No, I certainly don’t, and that’s why I’m not going to vote for Obama. Barack Obama is going to offer the legislation and make the appointments and propose the crazy far-right policies that the Republicans would propose if any of them got elected to the presidency.

    Yup, because lord knows the two nutcases he appointed to the SC already shows that.

  98. 98.

    jon

    Sheesh, Raven. It’s not exactly a state secret that Ron Paul is a bit of a stickler for Constitutional issues.

  99. 99.

    Gin & Tonic

    @mclaren:

    What’s the difference? Obama will appoint the same far-right fanatics to the Supreme Court that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann would, so what does it matter?

    Right. I can just see Rick Perry appointing Sonia Sotomayor.

  102. 102.

    Anya

    I wholeheartedly agree with the Guardian’s live blog:

    Frankly, I’d vote for any candidate who would pass a bill that bans CNN from ever hosting a presidential debate ever again.
    _____
    And that’s it, it’s over. Rick Perry retires to bind his wounds.

  103. 103.

    Comrade Mary

    Obama will appoint the same far-right fanatics to the Supreme Court that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann would, so what does it matter?

    Jesus Fuck, mclaren. Huff much?

  105. 105.

    MikeJ

    Economist:

    9:56: I don’t see this debate alone changing the running order, but they landed a few blows on Perry, and opened a line of attack against him as a big-government booster and a faux-conservative. Bachmann seemed to get her stride back; she performed well, but her window has passed. She’s running for increased party stature, not the presidency. And Huntsman failed to match the big strides he made in the last debate.

    9:55: That was very scrappy. I can’t say that anyone won, but Perry looked very precarious to me at times.

  107. 107.

    butler

    The crackpots have come out in force tonight.

    I love that my one little post= a brigade of crackpots.

    For the umpteenth time…Romney is a Mormon

    NO, Romney is a REPUBLICAN. Meaning they won’t give a shit if he skullfucks puppies every Sunday morning, they’ll find a way to justify it and support him.

    What’s the difference? Obama will appoint the same far-right fanatics to the Supreme Court that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann would, so what does it matter?

    Ok, you’re trolling me, right? This has to be a troll attempt.

    No, I certainly don’t, and that’s why I’m not going to vote for Obama. Barack Obama is going to offer the legislation and make the appointments and propose the crazy far-right policies that the Republicans would propose if any of them got elected to the presidency.

    Yup, has to be trolling.

    Let’s talk about political reality, crackpot:

    Yes, lets. The reality is this: THIS IS THE SYSTEM WE LIVE IN. THIS IS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. Its not fucking perfect, and it never will be. Yes, Obama has fucked up. He’s a human being, human beings fuck up. No one who has ever or will ever serve in any office won’t fuck up in some way. Grow up and deal with it.

    Typical crackpot reasoning. There’s no middle ground—anyone who refuses to fall to his knees and worship obamais a teabagger.

    No, anyone who refuses to live in the world as it exists is a hopeless idealist or a fanatic, and probably a little of both.

    You people are the political equivalent of flying saucer cultists.

    But seriously, this is trolling, right?

  109. 109.

    Reality Check

    Perry has this nomination all but wrapped up and in his back pocket. Game’s over barring a scandal.

  110. 110.

    butler

    Wait, one last thing for Mcclaren: if Perry has no chance, and Romney has no chance, then who’s the nominee? And why would that person be any fucking better than either of them?

  111. 111.

    Morzer

    To me, Romney looks like a boxer who knows he’s throwing what ought to be haymakers – and simply can’t understand why the audience is yawning and he’s losing on points.

  112. 112.

    Nutella

    Best thing from the Guardian’s live blog:

    Herman Cain claims that a restaurant is the basic building block of the American economy. He reminds us once again that his experience includes being president of the National Restaurant Association. (Whose national HQ, incidentally, was next to the Guardian’s old office in Washington DC. And the staff canteen was rubbish.)

  113. 113.

    Calouste

    From the Guardian:

    Once again, the lazy attacks on Ben Bernanke are appalling. The trouble is that with that rhetoric, no credible economist would want to serve on the Fed with some of the people on stage as US president.

    Feature, not bug.

  115. 115.

    Chris

    @Morzer:

    Shorter Huntsman :”Fuck you, Afghan woman, but America will shine shinily. So you can feel better, in a shiny sort of way”.

    Jon Huntsman: Firefly fan.

  118. 118.

    licensed to kill time

    Perry’s going all ‘tear it down’ on a Tea Party crowd, stalking back and forth on the stage w/a microphone like a revivalist preacher. He just called the EPA a cemetery for jobs, and how we don’t need the gummint coming around here and getting all up in our face.

    That’s the snippet I heard, crowd LOVES it.

  120. 120.

    Calouste

    Oh sweet Jesus, now Wolf Blitzer is asking what changes the candidates would make to the White House. Really.

    Newt says he’d bring ballet and a chess set. Bachmann wins: “I’d bring a copy of the declaration of independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and that’s it.”

    You know Michelle, stuff has happened in the last 220 years since the Bill of Rights was ratified.

    Of course what she really means and what the audience hears, is that she will bring a sacred unalterable text (the Bible, not the Constitution) to the White House and that she will turn the clock back to before the 11th amendment.

  121. 121.

    Cacti

    @Morzer:

    To me, Romney looks like a boxer who knows he’s throwing what ought to be haymakers – and simply can’t understand why the audience is yawning and he’s losing on points.

    It’s still the Eddie Haskell factor.

    People just don’t like an obvious phony.

  122. 122.

    scav

    So, should all their debates be scheduled on nights with full or nearly full moons for the apparent entertainment value of the candidates revealing their true(r) selves?

  123. 123.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    @Corner Stone:

    Romney will be the R nominee. I don’t know why this is so hard for people here to understand.

    They just want somebody to go Archie Bell and the Drells on his ass –

    Hey
    There’s gonna be a showdown
    Hey a ay ay
    Gonna be a showdown, showdown…

    .
    .

  124. 124.

    RandyH

    @Corner Stone:

    Romney will be the R nominee. I don’t know why this is so hard for people here to understand.

    It’s WAY too early to predict anything like that but I hope he is. Obama will mop the floor with him.

  125. 125.

    cleek

    @Calouste:

    Of course what she really means and what the audience hears, is that she will bring a sacred unalterable text (the Bible, not the Constitution) to the White House and that she will turn the clock back to before the 11th amendment.

    ask her to point out where in the Constitution it says a woman can be president.

  126. 126.

    kimp

    I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the audience was cheering the idea of letting the uninsured die. OMG, what is wrong with those people?

  128. 128.

    Morzer

    @cleek:

    I would like to hear Bachmann explain how I Timothy 2:12 allows for wimmins to be you know.. presidents.

    But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

    I thought she believed in this Biblical stuff?

  129. 129.

    Chris

    @Calouste:

    Of course what she really means and what the audience hears, is that she will bring a sacred unalterable text (the Bible, not the Constitution) to the White House and that she will turn the clock back to before the 11th amendment.

    She will then proceed to ignore that sacred text with the same enthusiasm with which she currently ignores the constitution. (Love your neighbor, feed the hungry and clothe the poor, rich man + eye of needle, etc).

  130. 130.

    JCT

    @kimp: Because they are a bunch of imbeciles that are permanently arrested at age 17. Somehow managed to miss the classes on “there but for the grace of g_d go I” and Christian charity.

    Grotesque.

  131. 131.

    gogol's wife

    Thank you all for watching this so I didn’t have to. I feel I got a kind of Cubist version of the debate, all strange angles and flat perspective but much truer than so-called “reality.”

  132. 132.

    Morzer

    @efgoldman:

    Clearly, it would be a sexist blasphemy to actually quote the Bible at her. In fact, I feel outraged at myself for suggesting it. Bad, wicked Morzer.

    I shall now flagellate myself. Tenderly.

  134. 134.

    RandyH

    Romney looked like a dolt.

    Perry looked like a tough-talking cowboy.

    Bachmann looked like an idiot.

    Santorum looked like, well, you know. Santorum. (The link just perpetuates the Google top-ranking status.)

    Ron Paul looked like a foolish old man. And he was booed by the racist audience for suggesting that not all Muslims are evil.

    Newt’s quote of the night:

    I’m not particularly worried about Gov. Perry and Gov. Romney frightening the American people when President Obama scares them every single day.
    (ENORMOUS standing ovation from the racist white audience.)

    What might he have meant by that?

    Huntsman is the invisible man.

    Cain claims not to be a politician, yet he’s running for President.

    Anyone else? If so, I can’t remember.

  136. 136.

    Morzer

    I really feel that we ought to try and live-blog the next Republican mass-debation in the voice of Jon Gruden. I feel that phrases like “pressure up the middle” could only bring clarity to this.. intriguing collection of people.

  137. 137.

    Nutella

    I wonder why some of their opponents don’t use the obvious question to Bachmann and Perry: Why is it that you claim to oppose government spending when you have spent your entire career taking money from the government and have never once held a private job?

  138. 138.

    scav

    They be aginst dat dere ebil ebil Guvornmint death panels: they be all for them death panels they be settin on themselves, don’t cha know. Well, the grassroots death panels (so long as the grass is the approved of kind) and the for-profit ones.

  139. 139.

    OzoneR

    @kimp:

    I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the audience was cheering the idea of letting the uninsured die. OMG, what is wrong with those people?

    personal responsibility. The hypothetical Wolf Blitzer was proposing was a guy who CAN afford to buy health insurance and didn’t, doesn’t surprise me that people feel “If he didn’t feel like taking care of himself when he could, fuck him”

  141. 141.

    Origuy

    @Comrade Mary:

    Join us in recording your best impression of a “modem handshake” sound.

    I used to be able to whistle into an acoustic coupler and get the computer on the other end to respond.
    Couldn’t do it now, though.

  142. 142.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @mclaren:
    1. Being in Texas, I assure you that until the day after the election, you should be afraid of the possibility of President Perry.
    2. President Romney will only differ from President Perry in what he says while he’s repealing Social Security.

    Not voting for Obama guarantees a Republican victory, and there is nothing right now worse than that.

    As for Obama, I’m not waiting for a Repubican president just so you can get over your amnesia of 2001-2009, or for that matter, 1993-2001, where the only major legislative accomplishment that wasn’t Republican was the tax increase.

  143. 143.

    Calouste

    @Chris:

    She will then proceed to ignore that sacred text with the same enthusiasm with which she currently ignores the constitution. (Love your neighbor, feed the hungry and clothe the poor, rich man + eye of needle, etc).

    Not that Bible. The real one, written in ‘Mercan.

  147. 147.

    OzoneR

    Yeah so a self-described liberal friend of mine said this about her supporting Ron Paul now

    He has different ideas then everyone else, and I like someone who’s able to stand up and be different (and not an idiot).

  148. 148.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @mclaren:

    Obama will appoint the same far-right fanatics to the Supreme Court that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann would, so what does it matter?

    I’m so sorry, but the evidence completely invalidates this.

  152. 152.

    wasabi gasp

    Huntsman is a douchebag! I didn’t know! He is such a multifaceted man and I’m enjoying learning about each and every one of those facets.

  155. 155.

    jibeaux

    @OzoneR: Hell, you can find those folks in every park in America.
    Still, it’s a fascinating philosophy, that we should vote for people who are different from everyone else. I have an uncle who would apparently make a crackerjack presidential candidate.

  157. 157.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @OzoneR: Does she not realize that the only reason he stands up and says that stuff is because he knows it will never pass.

  159. 159.

    OzoneR

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    Her response to my “um, those ideas include getting rid of the EPA and minimum wage” was

    I know, I’m in a weird place in life – I agreed w/ everything obama said in the jobs speech, but am also tots rooting 4 ron paul

    This is why progressives can’t win people.

  160. 160.

    OzoneR

    @mclaren:

    Obama will appoint the same far-right fanatics to the Supreme Court that Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann would, so what does it matter?

    This is the point where I deem you crazier than the lady from Queens who told me Obama supported the Holocaust when I asked her to vote for David Weprin.

  161. 161.

    Nutella

    @OzoneR:

    This is why progressives can’t win people.

    Not the irrational people, that is. Unfortunately they’re the majority of voters.

  162. 162.

    RossInDetroit

    @Comrade Kevin:

    My first computer, in 1976, had 4,096 bytes of memory. I programmed it in 8 bit 6502 machine language. No keyboard and no monitor.

    So get off my lawn.

    (shakes cane at meddling kids)

  163. 163.

    Turgidson

    @Calouste:

    Exactamundo. The long-term goal of all these clowns (barring Huntsman…maybe Romney but tough to say what the jellyfish really believes) is to undermine any and all confidence in government. Threatening the Fed chairman with Texas frontier justice advances that goal in its own fucktarded way.

  167. 167.

    RossInDetroit

    @Comrade Kevin:

    KIM-1 microcomputer. hex keypad input and LED digit displays for output. Had about as much computing power as a modern novelty musical greeting card.
    I still have a NEC in the basement that’s a TRS-80 clone, if you can believe someone would want such a thing.

  169. 169.

    harlana

    @wasabi gasp: Huntsman is a dick, I don’t think it goes much deeper than that except for a bit of nerd-rock element thrown in there, he likes to do that it seems

  171. 171.

    Comrade Kevin

    @RossInDetroit: I was, of course, kidding about the punch cards. I had an after-school job at Lockheed once where I had to sort through boxes of punch cards and magnetic tapes, and decide whether or not to throw them away.

    Also, I have an Apple //e out in the garage, somewhere. I used that computer for a good six years, through part of high school, and all of college.

  172. 172.

    MikeJ

    @Comrade Kevin: The eng school had a card punch, but the only reader hooked up to anything was in Rolla. My personal machine was a commie, but that’s not too surprising.

  173. 173.

    Dennis SGMM

    @RossInDetroit:
    The first computers I worked on required programming in COBOL via punch cards. I then “moved on” to PASCAL and FORTRAN. I was, and still am, a rotten typist and with punch cards there was no error correction: you just loaded a fresh card. Good times.

  174. 174.

    RossInDetroit

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I missed punch cards by one term. I started school the fall they fired up a new VAX VMS 780 with terminal input. We coded COBOL on coding sheets & typed them into dumb terminals.
    I have since spent 10X thousands of hours hacking COBOL, Macro Level CICS & other business machine codeage. Not much since Y2K, though.

  175. 175.

    Origuy

    I started on an ASR33 Teletype machine that punched paper tape. I would type in a BASIC program, call up the Indiana University CDC 6600 on a 110 baud modem, feed in the tape, get my error messages, fix them a line at a time, and punch out a new version of my program. That was in 1973, my junior year in high school.

    My lawn, get off it.

  176. 176.

    harlana

    @Dennis SGMM: I worked as a programmer in COBOL for a year, (I sucked!) we worked on a mainframe, of course, part of my responsibility was to get the server started in the morning by feeding in the punch cards to get the mainframe booted up for the day

  178. 178.

    RossInDetroit

    @Origuy:

    Paper Tape! Baudot existed only in our wildest dreams. We saved code and data to audio cassette tape on a portable borrowed from my sister. I kid you not. The mid ’70s were lean times for teenaged computer nerds.
    I’ve been working in an elementary school this week. The ‘house rules’ posted on the walls require the students to leave their iPads in their lockers during class.

  181. 181.

    RossInDetroit

    Time was I’d debugged so many COBOL core dumps I could practically diagnose the problem by weighing the printout in my hand.

  182. 182.

    RossInDetroit

    @harlana:

    I’m a hardware guy these days. Making stereo amps out of WWII guided missile vacuum tubes & stuff like that. It’s more hands-on. I doubt I’ll ever code again, though I had a good 20 year run at it.
    In terms of history of technology, the development of RADAR during WWII is an amazing story.

  183. 183.

    priscianus jr

    @Comrade Mary:

    Join us in recording your best impression of a “modem handshake” sound.

    When they were three years old, my twins used to do it like this: “Oweeda … ssskaaaaaaaaahtch!”

  184. 184.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Origuy: Identical experience, same year, using the membership of a friend from a well heeled family. We were working out of the Boston Museum of Science. Acoustic coupler, rubber cups for the phone.

  185. 185.

    mclaren

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    Paul thinks WWII was the “last war”!

    Technically speaking, Ron Paul is correct. WW II was the last time America actually declared war on anyone.

    Every American use of military force since WW II has been some sort of bogus “police action” or “sending advisors plus military support” or some other mealy-mouthed doubletalk.

    America has not declared war since December 7, 1941. And that’s a big part of the problem with U.S. use of military force since 1945. Because when we’ve got a situation where the American president can act like a Roman emperor and simply order hundreds of thousands of troops to bomb and strafe and roll tanks into some third world hellhole on the other side of the world, with no barrier to entry to the conflict raised by the requirement that congress put its ass on the line and actually vote for a full declaration of war, we’re in a very dangerous situation.

    That kind of situation of send-in-the-troops-because-the-emperor’s-whim-desires-it leads directly to a military garrison state where the rule of law goes away and might makes right. Which is, in fact, the kind of society America is rapidly turning into.

  187. 187.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @butler:
    I’m not quite sure with Mclaren. I understand it has a blog and a long history of this kind of freakish disassociation with reality outside of these comments. But we ARE talking about someone who – and I’m not kidding – rewrote Obama’s SOTU because the actual one didn’t betray him enough.

    @Morzer:
    She believes in specifically this. It’s one of her big super-Christian things. Somehow, she herself PERSONALLY gets an exception. Tea Party in a nutshell.

  190. 190.

    RossInDetroit

    Brett and Rennie Sparks must be seen live to be appreciated. American Gothic at its weirdest and most compelling.

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