Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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Reader Interactions

132Comments

  11. 11.

    handy

    @Veritas:

    Yeah I trust Halperin’s instinct on that. He’s the guy who thought McCain’s campaign stunt in ’08 was a winner. D-bag.

    Newt just opened a double digit lead in IA after tonight. Believe it.

  15. 15.

    pseudonymous in nc

    I’d bet $10k on Amir Khan right now, if I had $10k, and I could get odds better than 1/5 on.

  16. 16.

    The Dangerman

    @Citizen_X:

    Halperin gives Romney as a solid B+.

    Another villager polishes Mitts knob.

    The kneecapping of Gingrich will have to be breathtaking to overcome this “B+ Augustus” moment.

  18. 18.

    RossInDetroit

    Mitt looked OK until the shuffle step he had to do to dodge the Individual Mandate issue. He looked weasely. After that he was playing catch-up.

  22. 22.

    handy

    @RossInDetroit:

    I thought he was off his game from the get-go. Bachmann didn’t do him any favors with her #NewtRomney digs. The “bet” with Perry was just the peak of a mountain of fail.

  23. 23.

    kdaug

    @AxelFoley: Hark, I hear a distant yet distinctive “ding-ding-ding”.

    Is popcorn suitable for an implosion, or should I go with something more formal?

  26. 26.

    Helen

    There was nothing new here. But WOW imagine if Newt is the nonimee? He only wants to make more money. Will we have be a fake president?

  29. 29.

    Anoniminous

    (Goody! I can transcribe from the debate thread & correct meself.)

    Mittens blew it. Gingrich got some blows in and didn’t blow-up.

    That, and looking at recent polling [GOS Alert!], it’s not looking good for Willard. Of all the states polled the only one in which he has a lead is New Hampshire. If Perry’s numbers collapse, as is possible, Newt could jump into the lead there, as well. Newt even has a lead in Michigan, albeit within the MOE, and Romney won there in 2008.

    GOP establishment and their shills [coughHalperincough] are going to go into 24/7 anti-Gingrich freak-out mode over the next couple of weeks. They have to get Romney out of the mid-20s he’s been polling since 2009, if not it’s looking doubtful he has any hope of getting the nomination.

  30. 30.

    patrick the pedantic literalist

    Perry didn’t seem terrible tonight. He had reasonable (in the necessary crazy right-wing kind of way) talking points tonight. I wonder if he had seemed this non-totallystupid from the first debate how well he would be doing now.

  31. 31.

    Faux News

    Veritas, were you the douchebag who called himself “Veritas” that used to troll the blog “Fucked Company” back in the late 90’s? Funny how you two losers have the same user name, and are Right Wing Trolls.

  38. 38.

    patrick the pedantic literalist

    All of the candidates accused Obama of raiding the social security fund for his payroll tax cut. Obama’s original tax cut was the “Making Work Pay” income tax cut for low earners. The republicans suggested the payroll tax cut instead, and are now using it as a talking point pretty much as planned. Is this an effective Republican talking point?

  42. 42.

    kdaug

    @Veritas: Hm.

    Know what the unemployment rate was in 1809? How about 1913?

    Oh – that’s right – we didn’t measure unemployment until 1948. So we’re actually talking about the most recent 11 of the 44 Presidents.

    Look, feel free to pronounce from on high your iron-clad rules of political feasibility from a 25% sampling range. Fine.

    Then show me the last black president.

    Brave new world.

  43. 43.

    amk

    Richard Adam of Guardian

    when Mitt Romney takes the gloves off it’s usually to reveal yet another pair of gloves underneath.

    what a fucking wimp.

  44. 44.

    RossInDetroit

    The surest way to know what the GOP is up to is to look at what they’re accusing you of. That’s how they tip their hand. They say Obama raided Social Security. Therefore they all intend to raid Social Security.

  45. 45.

    patrick the pedantic literalist

    @sfinny:
    Of course they’re lying, but after watching them successfully lie about Medicare in 2010 I’m just wondering if it is an effective lie.

  48. 48.

    Anya

    If this debate does not shore up Jewish support for President Obama, then I don’t think they care about Israel. Also, Israelis better pray that one of these wingnuts does not win the US presidency. Israel is helped by the fact that President Obama is not hated in the world. The way we support Israel, whether right or wrong is so off putting to most of the world’s population, but having an American President who’s not loathed by the world benefits Israel.

    Listening to these hateful people makes me ill. Even though President Obama is on my shitlist — for not vetoing or opposing strongly the Defense Appropriations Act, 2012, which includes a section that allows the Military to detain anyone suspected of terrorism indefinitely, including US citizens; he would be a better choice than any of the Republican candidate, by leaps and bounds.

  56. 56.

    The Dangerman

    @patrick the pedantic literalist:

    Perry didn’t seem terrible tonight.

    I thought Perry was terrible regarding the Drone question; first, he called it a Predator, which is wrong in the same way a Cessna isn’t a 747. Then, he said that he would have either blown it up or tried to retrieve it, either of which (assuming it was already in Iran) would have started a shooting war. If it crashed inside of Afghanistan, you can sure as shit know we tried to find it.

    Also, FWIW, the Iranian display looked all kinds of fake. Not current on my radar evading coatings, but there’s a reason that the Stealth fighter and Stealth bomber look the way they do….

  57. 57.

    Hunter Gathers

    Mitten’s 10k bit was just fucking golden. He’s going to get the holy living shit kicked out of him with that bit. He gets my vote – for Upper Class Twit Of The Year.

  59. 59.

    RossInDetroit

    Well, Mitt did Newt a big favor with the $10K gaffe. Rarely is more than one moment from a debate remembered. What else happened at the debate where Perry couldn’t name three Departments he’d shutter? See?
    Newt was in trouble with the Palestinian issue but Mitt’s Richie Rich showoff moment will eclipse that.

  64. 64.

    RossInDetroit

    Mit annoyed me with teh way he kept yammering on about America being a ‘merit based’ society. What merits, and for who? He seems to think that if we do away with enough regulations and cut taxes enough, then everything will be merit based again. That just comes off as a three martini country club dining room rant.

  66. 66.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Well, that’s why I don’t bet. Kudos to Peterson, who fought like a champion, but the referee was atrocious.

  67. 67.

    Helen

    Do we care? Isn’t that the whole Occupy movement’s point? Dianne and George did not even address that.

  68. 68.

    Paul

    I watched about an hour of the debate (somehow) but gave up and popped in the final episode of Twin Peaks. Not sure which left me more disconnected from reality.

  69. 69.

    FlyingToaster

    @Faux News: And the same writing style as the FC Veritas, as I recall. I remember a few spats with that whiny little prick… when Mittens was governor here, as a matter of fact.

  74. 74.

    Anya

    @MikeJ: When the final shameful vote took place, he did not come out with a statement stating that he’ll veto it. This leads me to believe that it’s highly unlikely that he’ll veto it. In any case, we should do everything we can to encourage him to stick to his promise. One way to do that is by supporting Amnesty International’s petition.

  76. 76.

    amk

    @Anya: When compared to the palestinians-are-invented nutjobs out there, obama is an angel. You should thank your stars if he gets in in 2012. Otherwise you’re truly fucked and all this concern for ‘indefinite military detention’ is meaningless since that would be the policy. So get out of your whine bubble that obama isn’t doing everything you want.

  78. 78.

    Yutsano

    @amk: I have no idea why people are losing their shit over something that won’t even pass the most basic tests of Constitutional muster. This is Marbury vs Madison territory here.

  80. 80.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    @RossInDetroit:

    I respectfully disagree. There is a subtextual point that Willard was making, aside from the fact he would have won the bet. He is saying to the evangelicals, hey, I’m a Mormon, but I am not a fanatic about it. I mean only you folks with the snakes in your churches really actually believe your religion, and live according to it.

    Evangelicals prefer a fundie, but if they can’t get a fundie, they want a person from an “other” religion to at least not be very devout about it, that is a vanity they reserve exclusively for themselves, because theirs is the only true ONE. It stands to reason, that only they could actually believe, and actually be, what they claim to be. amirite.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Helen: It is interesting to watch the various ids running riot. In addition, one of these people, quite possibly Newt, will be running against Obama and these things are a fucking mother lode of quotes to mine.

  83. 83.

    Chris

    @RossInDetroit:

    That just comes off as a three martini country club dining room rant.

    He’s probably said it many times before in exactly that context.

    @Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:

    I respectfully disagree. There is a subtextual point that Willard was making, aside from the fact he would have won the bet. He is saying to the evangelicals, hey, I’m a Mormon, but I am not a fanatic about it. I mean only you folks with the snakes in your churches really actually believe your religion, and live according to it.

    Possibly, but are fundiegelicals even aware that Mormonism prohibits gambling? In my experience, knowing what’s going on with other people’s faiths isn’t their forte. (They have enough trouble understanding their own).

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yutsano: I have no idea if I was being attacked. You are witnessing honest bafflement. She asked a question and I offered an answer.

    Also too, I am again oddly fascinated by Robyn’s pants on SNL.

  93. 93.

    Davis X. Machina

    @patrick the pedantic literalist:

    Is this an effective Republican talking point?

    Yes, it is effective but not with Republicans. What do they care if SS goes away?

    It plays enormously well with Democrats, if you define ‘plays enormously well’ as ‘provides yet another opportunity — than which nothing is more desired — to form a circular firing squad”.

  95. 95.

    Anya

    @amk: First of all, I already acknowledged in my comment that President Obama is way better than any of his opponents. Second, it’s not a matter of “obama isn’t doing everything you want,” but a matter of moral and constitutional imperatives. I am a huge supporter of the President but this issue distresses me to no end. We cannot turn the US into a place where the Military arrests and detains US citizens indefinitely. It’s not unrealistic to expect the President to come out strongly against something that makes into law water-boarding and other “advanced interrogation techniques” that are currently outlawed, in addition to indefinite detention of suspects by the Military.

  105. 105.

    amk

    @Anya: His ‘veto’ point was more nuanced than that of ‘indefinite military arrests’. It was more about separation of powers which the rethugs were trying to usurp for themselves.

    I am sure obama has the ‘moral and constitutional’ clarity on this matter and to paint him otherwise is a fool’s errand.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SRW1: LOL nonetheless.

    I swear that if the weirdness in this thread does not abate, I am just going to go indulge my new obsession.

  111. 111.

    Elizabelle

    Hey, Sportin’ Life, I got 50 cents here that says your $10,000 dumbassery is going to go down in political history almost as fast as you do.
    Of course, if it wasn’t for Willard Romney’s attempt to slap Governor Goodhair silly with his wallet, there really wouldn’t be much to be said of Saturday night’s festivities, the 9,876th of 11,980 scheduled Republican debates. It was a strange, disjointed affair among strange, disjointed people dealing in strange, disjointed metaphors. Michele Bachmann talked about there being nothing in the federal treasury but “moths and feathers,” giving the federal treasury something in common with her own head.

    Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/#ixzz1gCnOf2pz

    you will know who this is

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    $10K says it is not Dad Omnibus

    Ah well. I did not watch a moment of the debate.

    Rudolph was in fine form, though. (The little reindeer, not 2008’s presumed inevitable nominee.)

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Elizabelle: If it turns out that Chuckie Pierce is my father won’t you feel silly?

    Also too, Rudolph was never my fav. Charlie Brown and the Grinch – I am good.

  119. 119.

    ruemara

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The white house has said on multiple occassions that it will veto the bill if it has the indefinite detentions part attached. I don’t know what Anya, Thom Hartmann, [blog, blog commentator, pundit, etc] want Obama to say. Maybe he needs to parade around in balloon pants with a curly moustache and declare it truly, deeply, completely categorically dead. And then we can ease on down the yellow brick road to the next freakout.

  121. 121.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus: Congress is full of rational normal sane human beings incapable of error. Why would you think they need any review or oversight over their perfect actions?

    (yeah, that’s pretty hilarious to me too)

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yutsano: Fuck it. I am going to bed very soon. There is nothing more to be said. Hopefully, tomorrow Lana will discover that she loves me and all will be right with the world.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @Anya:

    Wait, so you’re freaking out because the president has said several times that he will veto the bill, but he didn’t say it strongly enough (whatever that means) so therefore you think he’s signalling that he’ll actually sign it?

    I think you may need to step away from the blogs for a while if you’re convinced that the president saying publicly that he’s going to veto something secretly means he’s going to sign it.

    ETA: Given the margin that the bill passed the Senate by, I would be a whole lot more freaked out about the Senate overriding the president’s veto if I were you. That seems a whole lot more likely, though I guess it would be harder to blame Obama for the whole fiasco that way.

  126. 126.

    boss bitch

    @Mnemosyne:

    : Given the margin that the bill passed the Senate by, I would be a whole lot more freaked out about the Senate overriding the president’s veto if I were you. That seems a whole lot more likely, though I guess it would be harder to blame Obama for the whole fiasco that way.

    LOL..are you kidding? Congress got in the way of closing Gitmo but who do they blame?

    If Obama vetoes the bill they will say he didn’t really want to do it and had to be ‘dragged kicking and screaming’ into not signing it. Somehow Occupy Wall Street will be credited with this of course. Now, if Congress overrides the veto GG will convince them that this is what Obama wanted all along. It will spread throughout the liberal blogosphere and into the mouths of the professional left with a cable/radio show and the CW among the left will be that Obama lied about the veto just like he lied about closing Gitmo.

  127. 127.

    Anya

    @Yutsano: How profound.

    @Mnemosyne: Show me the multiple times when the President said that this was unconstitutional. This is why I am worried:

    “The initial bill reported by the committee included language expressly precluding ‘the detention of citizens or lawful resident aliens of the United States on the basis of conduct taking place within the United States, except to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States.’ The Administration asked that this language be removed from the bill.”

    Also, I have not had a lot of chances lately to read blogs, so my impressionable mind is very safe, for now. But thanks for your concern.

  131. 131.

    Faux News

    @The Dangerman: @The Dangerman:

    Great memory! Yes Pud was the moderator. It was my favorite site. My coworkers could always hear me laughing and would ask what was so funny. Ah the late 90’s and the dot com boon. The Veritas of FC was one of the biggest assholes I have ever encountered online. Looks like he reincarnated to the BJ Veritas troll.

  132. 132.

    Faux News

    @FlyingToaster:

    Thanks Flying Toaster. That is exactly why I thought of FC. I had plenty of nasty back and forth with that sociopath asshole Veritas, and “Uncle Meat”. I still even remember Cheopys who would mop the floor with Veritas every.single.time. Ah the good days of the internet LOL

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