So, looks like we front-pagers here at Balloon Juice failed to set up a timely liveblogging post for yet another GOP debate. I would say that we ‘missed’ it, except I don’t feel like I missed very much, nor that many of you cared about the omission, either. Per Steve Benen, at his Washington Monthly Political Animal blog:
The “Thanksgiving Family Forum” was organized and sponsored by three groups: the James Dobson-founded Focus on the Family, a religious right powerhouse known for its bizarre cultural agenda; the National Organization for Marriage, perhaps best known for its unintentionally hilarious anti-gay commercials; and The FAMiLY Leader, an Iowa-based group of extremists that put together “The Marriage Vow” for GOP candidates, which argued, among other things, that slavery wasn’t that bad for African-American families.
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Despite — or more likely, because of — the radicals behind the forum, six GOP presidential hopefuls showed up to pander to the religious right voters, each vowing to be more pious than their rivals. The only two candidates who weren’t there were Mitt Romney, who declined an invitation, and Jon Huntsman, who wasn’t invited at all.
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The result was an event that was tough to watch.Looking to court this state’s critical voting bloc of evangelical Christians, Republican presidential candidates sharply attacked secularism and the Supreme Court while calling for greater restrictions on abortion and gay rights at an event here on Saturday.
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At a forum on moral values, which was held at First Federated, an evangelical church in Des Moines, the six candidates in attendance largely stuck to Republican orthodoxy and avoided criticizing one another. Instead, they called for dramatic changes in current law to achieve conservative aims…
Evan McMorris-Santoro at TPM has more detail on the “Doomiest And Gloomiest Debate Of All“:
DES MOINES — The Republican candidates for president (with the exception for Mitt Romney who declined and Jon Huntsman who wasn’t invited) met at a large church here Saturday night for a debate aimed at Iowa’s social conservatives.
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For the most part, the debate stood our for its focus on doom, gloom and widespread Christian persecution. Except for the part when Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann and new frontrunner Newt Gingrich teared up under some personal questioning from Frank Luntz. That was different.
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There’s a debate this cycle here in Iowa about how important the social conservative vote will be to the final outcome of the caucuses. Though in years past candidates had to reach out to Iowa’s conservative evangelicals to have a shot at the first prize on the primary calendar, Republicans TPM spoke with this week said it looks to them like social conservative support isn’t as important this time as in, say, 2008 when Mike Huckabee rode an evangelical wave to victory.
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Voters are more concerned about the economy, TPM was told on more than once occasion by Republicans here. The social conservatives just don’t have the pull they used to…
Benen later singled out this week’s GOP Fad Fav:
Newt Gingrich… condemned the very idea of a secular state. “A country that has been now since 1963 relentlessly in the courts driving God out of public life shouldn’t be surprised at all the problems we have,” the thrice-married, serial adulterer said. “Because we’ve in fact attempted to create a secular country, which I think is frankly a nightmare.”…
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Gingrich doesn’t have to like it, but we haven’t “attempted to create a secular country”; the secular country was created more than two centuries ago. Our entire system of government is based on a secular Constitution that guarantees a separation of church and state.
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I’m curious, though, what Gingrich would prefer we replace our “secular country” with, exactly. There are some countries that endorse Gingrich’s worldview and intermix God and government — Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan under Taliban rule come to mind — but they’re generally not countries the United States tries to emulate.
The urban hipsters at NYMag‘s Daily Intel blog declare themselves blatantly incapable of understanding the Heartland(tm) Christianist tribal-flagwaving and dog-whistling, but they did sneak up on a sizeist jab at the obvious target:
Gingrich on Finding God Through Alcoholics Anonymous: “I wasn’t drinking but I had precisely the symptoms of someone who was collapsing under the weight,” he said, mentioning the pain he’d caused others (read as an oblique reference to his two divorces). Where he found God? Alcoholics Anonymous literature.
As Balloon Juice’s token Person of Faith (animist division), I can only shake my head sadly and say: “Religious” people like these are why none of us can have nice things even a minimal respect from our fellow members of the Reality-Based Community.
Southern Beale
What if they had a Republican debate and nobody came?
I mean, really. Who gives a shit anymore? I don’t. Don’t feel bad about “missing it” because Jesus, these debates are nothing more than marketing opportunities for wingnut organizations.
This is ALL theater. And frankly, I ain’t buying a ticket. I hate this play.
Violet
Don’t they have a “debate” about every three days? What’s the point? I think CNN is having one this week. I saw a promo for it when I was at the gym.
300baud
They didn’t invite Huntsman? Did they have some minimum bar for crazy?
Yutsano
@Southern Beale: I’ll be Statler to your Waldorf. “Why do we always come here…”
Urza
Rather glad there’s not really a democratic primary this year. I might have to care but no way would it be worth watching a debate every 5 hours like these clowns are doing.
madmommy
How is having a debate like this at a church not a violation that should lead directly to the revocation of the churches tax-exempt status?
These people really make my skin crawl. The mere idea of any of them becoming President makes me want to crawl in a hole and hide.
Litlebritdifrnt2
I am more Christian than Gingrich, and I am a pagan. Nuff said.
jafg
Bunch of massdebaters
MacKenna
@Southern Beale: Word.
Emma
There was another debate? And I missed it? Oh well. Tant pis.
Narcissus
Remember that time Newt was a gaseous blowhard
Linnaeus
I’m reading Colin Woodard’s American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, and the author’s classfication of the various North American cultures is interesting lens through which to view the rhetoric of the Republican candidates. Not sure I fully buy his argument, but it’s interesting.
dmsilev
@Violet:
By now, I’m convinced that the Obama campaign is secretly sponsoring all of these debates, with the goal of reaching 100 TB of use-in-negative-ads these-people-are-crazy footage by the end of April.
Matt Osborne
I get it now. John Boehner isn’t an outlier, he’s a leading indicator that the GOP has devolved into a 12-step meeting.
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
Did Gingrich explain the part about how Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and clean toilets at their school after we fire the janitors”?
WereBear (itouch)
Funny, their defense of family values doesn’t include paying Mom or Dad a living wage. Or health care. Or givng the kids an education. Or even keeping the kids un-bullied, especially if they happen to be gay.
RossInDetroit
@300baud:
And Romney gave it a miss. What do those two have in common? Let’s see….
Yutsano
@RossInDetroit:
Good underwear? :)
Omnes Omnibus
I just presume ther is one every night, and then go about my business. For example, I just made hot cocoa. Now I must debate this question that I think is more interesting: add brandy or not?
Ira-NY
Like the Hound of the Baskervilles, what is interesting about this debate is the dog that didn’t bark.
Romney was a no-show at the Vander Plaats debate. That means he isn’t going to compete in Iowa.
That makes South Carolina huge.
Gex
Finally, a debate that gets to the heart of our problems. Too many gays, not enough Jeebus. Add a bit about tax cuts and the entire platform fits on a bumper sticker.
Mark S.
Wow, that’s some picture of Bachmann in the TPM link. Was that the part of the debate where she started speaking in tongues?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Yutsano: Underwear so good, it’s …magical!
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): La Perla?
kay
I might have watched to see Romney among the fundies.
I think that’s the only interesting part of this whole thing, watching the GOP and media carefully ignore what is obviously a GIANT GOP base issue with Romney’s religion, but since he wasn’t there there’s no point.
Comrade Mary
Newt is vomiting ideas again.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/39469_Newt-_Fire_the_Union_Janitors_Put_Kids_to_Work_Cleaning_Schools/comments/#ctop
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus:
Unless the other option is Rumple Minze, are ye daft man?
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: I already won this debate and so did the brandy.
dmsilev
@Ira-NY:
Ahem. The “curious incident of the dog in the night-time” had nothing to do with the Hound of the Baskervilles; the dog in question was a watchdog guarding the stable of the racehorse Silver Blaze.
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: I don’t believe that the Hound barked either. I think he bayed.
geg6
Speaking of disgusting displays of inhumanity, did anyone else catch the Grover Norquist profile on 60 Minutes? I so wanted to shoot up my tv but realized that I’d just have to pay for a new tv and put more money into the pockets of all the customers of Grover Norquist. So I put the gun down.
dmsilev
@Comrade Mary: And with that, Newt takes the lead in this year’s thrilling “Act like a Dickens villain” race. Hell, give him a top hat and he’d even *look* like a stereotypical Victorian-era robber baron.
dmsilev
Speaking of the GOP field, this sits on that fine line between laughter and weeping:
(I’m going to assume that ‘mysterious dark lady’ is Kristol himself. Or possibly Michelle Malkin.)
piratedan
dammit! where in the hell are the police? There are people peacefully assembling and protesting the current status quo! Where are the horses? Where is the pepper spray and mace? Holy Jeebus, a precedent has already been established and why is it being ignored? If police look closely enough, I’m sure at least one of those folks might be carrying a concealed weapon! It’s readily apparent that these folks have no focus, there is no consistent message, not even a clearly established leader is evident!
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Add marshmallows, whipped cream and a dash of Baileys.
ETA: I am drinking Ovaltine with a pumpkin souffle.
PurpleGirl
@geg6: Good move. I don’t watch most of the TV interviews with Rethuglicans. I know my blood pressure would kill me for sure.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: What makes you think that I would have any of those things in my apartment?
buckyblue
@dmsilev: that’s what I was thinking, er, wondering why the hell they just keep having these things since all they seem to do is give Obama footage and crazy he can run against. It also gets these buffoons to sitdowns with reporters who ask them mildly complicated questions that they have no idea about. Cain’s stumpopedia on Libya was a classic. Really, the most important foreign policy issue in the last couple of months, and Republicans blasted Obama for somedumbshitreason, and he hadn’t even heard of the country. Cain wouldn’t be doing those things if he didn’t have this debate pre-season going on.
MikeJ
@buckyblue: Because if a Democrat points out that a Republican is brain dead they’re not playing nice.
In many ways, this is a brilliant commercial that should be resurrected in spirit. On the other hand, look at who won that one.
bonkers
James Dobson is still not in prison? Even after his endorsement of the Jerry Sandusky School of Child-Rearing?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/06/24/541003/-James-Dobson-and-showering-with-boys
That Repub candidates and voters act as if a twisted phuck such as Dobson is a respectable person worthy of leading one of their debates is almost incomprehensible. But then again, we are talking about the modern-day Repub party…
RossInDetroit
Tomasky liked the debate, for reasons I’m not clear on.
Cacti
Hi-larious that the two Mormons skipped out on the fundigelical event.
Joeyess
“religious” and “reality” in the same sentence. Heh. That’s funny.
jl
No half time or after game sideline interviews with and candidates at the last debate I watched. Just 20 second jobber quickie interviews with the flacks lined up like cattle in a feedlot.
They need some new ideas.
They need some intro skits scattered around the debate. And maybe some novelty acts. Dobson could relieve his glory days, like Buffalo Bill, and get up on stage and beat the crap out of a wiener dog. That would be fun.
Can any of the GOP candidates play a musical instrument, or sing, or something?
Also, a couple of lightning rounds would be good, the last one double or nothing stakes only. That will rile up the audience at the end of the show.
Calouste
@Cacti:
They got the papist, so there was diversity. I wonder if any mention was made of Newt’s conversion though.
cat48
CSpan decided not to broadcast the debate so it was supposed to be livestreamed only. Guess no one wanted to broadcast the crap.
Caddell & Schoen have a new scheme…..Obama must resign after his term as he might actually win again, but the campaign will be close & a bitter campaign. Thus, he still won’t be able to negotiate with Rethugs b/c Obama doesn’t know how meet GOP in middle; so he should resign.
However; luckily enough Hillary does know how to do that & her approval ratings are really swell & the rethugs & the American people would love her & things would get done. Quite clever of them! HA
WSJ has it new tonite/edit
Evolving Deep Southerner (tense changed for accuracy)
I don’t understand why there’s not a bigger deal being made about Mitt basically telling them that they’re a lost cause.
As far as Huntsman not getting an invite, you might chalk that up to an acknowledgment of his poll numbers.
The Mormon angle? I don’t know. If they dis-invited Huntsman because they didn’t want a worshiper of false idols in the place or something, it didn’t stop them from inviting Mitt. And he refused because … ? Some gentleman’s agreement between the Mormons and the Evangelicals?
Cacti
@Calouste:
After the Mormon church’s conveniently timed “I’m a Mormon” (i.e. look how totally normal and non-culty I am) ad campaign, their boys still run and hide.
Wonder if the boys in Salt Lake City think it was money well spent.
Nutella
@jl:
Bachmann demonstrated her housewifely skills.
mamayaga
@Calouste: Pretty sure Santorum is a papist, too.
MikeJ
@Cacti: They’ve run those ads for at least twenty years.
Xecky Gilchrist
I don’t blame Romney for not showing up to this. If he did, he’d either be burned at the stake at the event or more figuratively later when the Obama campaign hauled out clips of it for use in ads.
Well played, Mitt!
jl
@cat48: I don’t believe you. No such idiotic nonsensical slop would ever be published anywhere, by anyone. Impossible.
But has been a long time since I read such fantastical nonsense delivered with such dry snark. The bleak cynicism of you conceit would be unbearable without the dry humor. You are a master of the spoof.
Yutsano
@mamayaga: He is. But we don’t count him.
@cat48: Got it covered. But I’m hoping it gets front paged. It deserves our mocking touch. :)
Omnes Omnibus
@cat48: Caddell has been a bit nuts for a while and Schoen, well, Schoen is a jackass.
jl
@Nutella: I think that happens at every debate. A precautionary measure to preserve everyone’s purity of essence.
I think Bachmann is the only one they can trust not to poison everyone else.
dmsilev
@cat48: That’s …impressive. Quite possibly the stupidest political suggestion since Bill Kristol suggested Sarah Palin to the McCain campaign.
Suffern ACE
@cat48: Schoen’s logic is quite simple. He’s working for (oh, I forgot, on the steering committee. He must be volunteering) for that group of no-labels billionaire baby that’s hunting for a wealthy candidate to finance a “only a billionaire can save us (and will pay me)” campaign. If you hear him Kvetch any time between now and the time that the billionaire announces his candidacy, just insert the words “only a billionaire can save us (and will pay me)” after every sentence he utters.
He is a shameful human being, and I would not shed one tear if he were found dead from a badger mauling.
dmsilev
@jl:
They should take a page from beauty pageants of years past and have a swimsuit round.
Visualize Newt Gingrich in a Speedo.
General Stuck
Schoen and Buggeye Caddell aren’t PUMAs, they are gold plated DLC type former consultant class grifters, democrat version. They only like the Clintons because the Clintons let them suckle shamelessly at the DNC teet for quite a while. They are pissed at Obama, cause he turned off the largess that was bleeding the dem party dry, forcing these clowns to “consult” with Roger Ailles. And Roger don’t pay vichy dems all that much, so they peddle their swill to wherever and whomever will give them a platform to bash Obama, with dreams the rainbow will someday, once again, tumble gold into their buckets, like it used to.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: Honey or standard?
ETA: I was inquiring as to type of badger, of course. Need to clarify due to the gutter minds around here.
Nutella
@jl:
I wouldn’t put it past her.
Mike in NC
Scum of the earth.
Suffern ACE
@Omnes Omnibus: European. The type that eats Gordan Ramsay porn star doubles.
cat48
moops
@Gex:
Romney just has to place in Iowa. He was never going to win there.
but it is all pointless, and most candidates know it. They have their polling info. They all suck out loud against Obama.
This is just about creating more buzz about themselves and securing their talking-head status in years to come.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: That’s dwarf Gordon Ramsay porn star doubles if one wants to be technical.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: I’d never accuse you of marshmallows or Bailey’s but I wouldn’t put whipping cream past you. I currently have 1.5 quarts, as we use it in our coffee, (cool) hedonists that we are here at chez Q.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I have accidentally purchased heavy cream instead of half and half on occasion.
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, someone penned these remarkable lines:
Dust to dust, and ashes to ashes,
Into her tomb the good Queen dashes.
Clark Stooksbury
@Gex: Don’t forget the bombs.
Steeplejack
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Amen to that. If I don’t have heavy whipping cream, I can’t drink my coffee at all. But I am not a serious coffee drinker. Probably only about 3-5 cups a week.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
TRex
Those center pieces!
#MarthaWept
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I didn’t mind it at all but my inner Puritan objects.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Steeplejack: Weird,isn’t it?
@Omnes Omnibus: Your inner Puritan needs not to be sustained as often.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Don’t beat yourself up. It’s the kind of thing that might happen to anyone.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): My inner Puritan also has me do push-ups are crunches when I get up every morning and go running at least 4 but preferably more times a week. My inner Puritan has talked my inner Libertine into this kind of thing on the grounds that it increases the chances of “getting some.” The inner Puritan simply enjoys it for its own sake.
suzanne
So the baby accidentally ate some deodorant this morning.
She’s still smarter than Newt Gingrich.
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: So was the deodorant.
cat48
@Suffern ACE:
I’ve got bad news for him if the 3rd party billionaire actually runs. Chuck Todd already gamed this out last yr. when Scarborough & Bloomberg were thinking about running. Any states that Obama might lose, (ie: Say, Billionaire won NY) would probably be made up by him in the Black Belt of the South. Some states in the Black Belt are 30% black or higher & Hispanics are high in numbers in some of the Black Belt states.
Who knows what might happen? It would be interesting, but not as swell as Schoen mauled by a badger. heh
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: My inner libertine wants a kid-free week. That will increase my personal chances of “getting some”.
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: We obviously live very different lives. Being newly on the path to singlehood, I must do what I can to be prepared. My 90 year old grandmother and my other grandmother’s 92 year old surviving sister both insist that I should make sure I look good any time I go out because I never know when I going to run into someone. My grandmother also notes that I should always have clean sheets on the bed just in case.
gogol's wife
@Ira-NY:
Somebody probably already said this, but the dog that didn’t bark was in “Silver Blaze,” not Hound of the Baskervilles.
gogol's wife
@dmsilev:
I should always know to read the whole thread before commenting pedantically.
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I took up running after my divorce, too. I get it.
The sheets thing is a good idea. Also have a contacts case and solution.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: Had cream in coffee for the first time at an upscale Italian restaurant. I thought it was simply brilliant.
EDIT: It could have been worse. You could have purchased buttermilk on accident and not discovered your error until it was too late.
Steeplejack
@gogol’s wife:
It has saved me more than once (including this time).
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: The running isn’t new, but some of the motivation might be. The contacts idea is clever.
ETA: The inner Puritan has said its time for bed.
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
I hope this was when you were like 15. Else what kind of hellish, deprived background do you come from? Oh, that’s right, you’re Canadian.
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I know it’s a transparently mack daddy move, but it really is a lifesaver. Not that I’ve been in that situation, mind you.
Aw, fuck it. It was a lifesaver when I got myself into that situation.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: Your grandmother is quite cool. Of course when I was in collge my mother once gave me some (actually rather canny and good) advice which made my father choke on his coffee as he heard it. Remind me some time when I don’t have a headache and I’ll share it. Assuming of course, that anyone’s interested.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Red Kitteh is gonna drive down from Nova Scotia just to whack you with Sidney Crosby’s hockey stick for that. :)
(I’d say Comrade Mary would, but I don’t think she has the temperament for it.)
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: i wish you and Suzanne much luck and success on your personal quests….
suzanne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I’m interested. Share now, please?
seabe
Why has no one quoted Ron Paul yet?
”I don’t want to go that way, I want to go back down… all the way to the family and the Church — believe me it would be a happier and more peaceful world if we went in that direction, rather than asking the government and asking the King to solve all these problems… we need the family to deal with it.
And we can take our message and learn something from the Old Testament, how there was such a strong emphasis on the Patriarchal society and the disputes settled by judges rather than looking for Big Government.”
~Ron Paul
suzanne
@piratedan: Thank you. If I can just get the baby to sleep before I pass out from exhaustion, I will be, suffice it to say, a much happier camper.
suzanne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): My mom always gave me shitty advice. I remember one time during my freshman year when she asked me if I knew about safe sex. Um, too late, Mom. WTG. Anyway, I ended up teaching her some things that she didn’t know, and she decided abruptly that she was done with the conversation. LMAO.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@suzanne: Since you asked so nicely. One afternoon, when I was visiting at their house, apropros of nothing my mother advised the following:
It’s really time you make sure you know how to give a good blow job. You’re not going to be young and pretty forever, and then you’ll need an edge.
I thought I was going to have to Heimlich my father. I did have to mop up the coffee he sprayed across the room. Dads and daughters – apparently that’s not the sort of thing thd dads want to hear, lol.
Comrade Mary
@Yutsano: You’re right: I don’t hit people with hockey sticks. (My sister whacked me with one when I was 4, and I still have the scar above my left eyebrow. I can call on her in a pinch if she’s needed to apply any discipline.)
I do, however, scold people for putting cream in tea. That’s some seriously barbaric shit, yo!
suzanne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): LMAO. I love the whole “then you’ll need an edge” part. Such fabulously transparent manipulation. Thanks for sharing.
I came of sexual maturity in the age of the Starr report. I totally tried the Altoids thing.
Yutsano
@Comrade Mary: Tea gets milk or nothing. Period. There is no middle ground here. And I have no preference personally, though some of the best breakfast tea I ever had was in Germany with milk and rock sugar. Yum.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Comrade Mary: @Yutsano: Cream in tea is simply wrong.
Suffern ACE
@seabe: “Except for that part about how fruit bearing trees were sacred and therefore hanging the bodies of the executed from them was forbidden”, Paul was later heard to say. “Why were there so many regulations? If you own the trees, you should be able to do with them what you want.” Newt concurred “Sure, there’s a rule in there about how the first thing that should be planted is a vineyard. I can decide when to plant what, and I don’t need those kind of rules enforced. Let the industry decide what makes sense rather than those bureaucrats in Hebron.”
xian
@Mike in NC: it was Frank Luntz who wrote Gingrich’s vile memo in the early ’90s giving Republicans divisive talking points to use when discussing Democrats and liberals (“degenerate,” etc.).
Gex
@suzanne: And spare new toothbrush.
xian
one of the worst thing Republicans ever did was take the anti-religion message out of Ayn Rand
karen marie
@MikeJ: This is why I’m amazed Paul Krugman is still allowed to appear on any Sunday chat show.
And, yes, he went there:
Linnaeus
@Yutsano:
I beg to differ. Lemon goes in tea. Not cream or milk.
Calouste
@suzanne:
Depends on the contacts. You can keep hard or gas-permeable ones in a glass of water overnight. Soft ones not so much.
And have enough in the fridge to make a decent breakfast in the morning.
Comrade Mary
@Linnaeus: Please note that the professional tea tasters in this video are assessing properly brewed tea with the right amount of milk.
Add lemon instead of milk if you like, but please don’t tell me that milk’s not on. Don’t make me sic Suzy on you.
Cacti
@MikeJ:
I’m talking specifically about the “And I’m a Mormon” ad campaign. That one launched within the past year or so, and right about the time two high profile Mormons decided they wanted to be POTUS.
Joey Maloney
@jl:
Two words: swimsuit competition.
…oops, dms beat me to it.
MY EYES!!
Citizen_X
@karen marie:
Oh, that’s great; I’m borrowing it. Especially when Joe Klein or some other stupid man starts blithering about all the Great Republican Intellectual Newt.
MikeJ
@Linnaeus: Milk goes in first. Then tea. Then you’re done.
Make sure you’ve used an extra spoonful for the pot.
sfrefugee
I’m wild about the debates.
The more conversation and exposure, the better.
I’d love 8 debates in various formats for the eventual general election runners.
Then they’d have to choose and so would we.
MikeJ
@sfrefugee: I would have Obama debate any or all of the Republicans from 4pm Eastern until 11pm Pacific every day from super Tuesday until November if I could.
b-psycho
@seabe: Odds of overlap between patriarchy supporters and anti-war/pro-legalization folks aren’t very good. So for both to back the same person means one or the other is not paying attention.
Linnaeus
@Comrade Mary:
Fair enough. I was responding to the assertions that only milk goes into tea, perhaps a bit too vigorously. Some of us learned to drink tea in the context of a different kind of tea culture than the British one.
Djur
@suzanne @Omnes Omnibus: Contact solution? Is there some type of salacious use of contact solution I’m not aware of?
Djur
@suzanne @Omnes Omnibus: Contact solution? Is there some type of salacious use of contact solution I’m not aware of?
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Mary:
Cream is for coffee, not for tea. Cream in tea is just gross.
Uriel
@Linnaeus: I beg to differ with pretty much all of the previous positions. Milk? Lemon? Cream? Are you all insane?
Gin. That is the only acceptable additive for tea. Cheap, grocery-store gin.
What? Why are you all looking at me like that?
Ian
@MikeJ:
Erm, who would run the country?
Omnes Omnibus
@Djur: No, It would simply eliminate a reason someone might not stay.
sherparick
See Krugman’s declaration about “Clowns and fools” running for President.
I am reading “Dance with Dragons” right now, and believe, Westeros politics makes more sense right now than this crew.
Mwangangi
@Linnaeus: Are you all nuts? Tea is to be mixed with equal parts lemonade… before you add the vodka.