For those of you who missed last night’s debate, here’s Mitt Romney showing a lack of Hayekian modesty by betting Rick Perry $10,000 over a passage in one of Romney’s books. Nate Silver says that Intrade is already dumping Romney over his performance. The consensus seems to be that nobody touched Gingrich, so the DC media better file the rest of their brokered convention fan fiction pieces quickly before Newt locks it up.
Archives for 2011
For Your Satanic Majesties
So much for a calm night, the late night happened here anyway. I remained sober, but most everyone else did not. Tunch spent the night out doors, and he has crap all over him (including all in his coat, in his eyes, etc.), but you all love the Tunch pics, so here you go:
He was sound asleep on his bed (the guest bed) and was giving me his “WTF?” look.
Occupy (Well, Not Exactly) Russia
(Jeff Danziger’s website)
__
From the Guardian, “Russians come out in force to protest against alleged electoral fraud“:
Up to 50,000 people braved the cold and snow on Saturday to turn out for the largest ever protest against the rule of prime minister Vladimir Putin.
__
Bolotnaya Square, across the river from the Kremlin in central Moscow, was filled to overflowing with thousands standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the bridges and along the riverfront leading to the site. Tens of thousands of police and interior troops were deployed around the area, but protesters had been allowed by officials to gather in an unprecedented show of discontent…
__
“I demand new elections,” said Maxim, 26, an economist. “If they don’t agree, we will continue to come out. The people have woken up – they see there’s a point to going out into the streets and expressing what they don’t agree with.”
__
Opposition leader Vladimir Ryzhkov said a further protest would be held on Christmas eve if the Kremlin refused to cancel the election results. The overwhelmingly young crowd organised via social networking sites and exceeded early estimates of 30,000…
__
Protests took place in more than 50 cities, with a reported 7,000 people gathering in St Petersburg and up to 4,000 in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, despite the temperature of -20C.
__
“They have to hear us,” said Artyom Loskutov, an artist from Novosibirsk who attended the Moscow protest. “The police simply don’t understand [that people are coming out on their own] – they ask, who are the organisers? They think it has to be the west, it has to be [US Senator John] McCain.”
__
Putin has accused the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton of prompting the unrest and has cracked down on Russian NGOs that work with foreign funding. He made no comment on Saturday, but the country’s leadership has called the disputed vote a success and given no indication they plan to re-examine its results…
Post Debate Open Thread
Been watching boxing on HBO. Some of you apparently watched the debate. Let me summarize your reactions:
Was I close?
GOP Debate Semi-Liveblogging
Can’t figure out a way to embed it, but ABC/Yahoo looks to be livestreaming the debate here.
Much more informative, not to mention entertaining, liveblogging from the Guardian’s Richard Adams here.
I keep thinking there should be a Gingrich/werewolf – Romney/vampire Twilight parody of this event, but my photoshopping skills just aren’t up to the challenge.
As an incidental, while we’re waiting for tonight’s main event, Jim Newell at Gawker reports that Donald Trump may call off his debate, ostensibly because only Gingrich and Santorum have accepted his invitation.
******
First blood at 9:22pm — Newt points out, correctly, that Willard would’ve been a “career politician” if only he’d been able to beat Teddy Kennedy in 1994. Willard stammers & gets pissy in response.
At 9:28pm, Gingrich claims he didn’t take money from Freddie Mac as a lobbyist, he just “advised” them “from the private sector”. Big laugh from the audience; don’t think they agree with Newt’s needle-threading.
*******
Second big round of audience reaction — laughter & applause — for Bachmann, when she points out both Gingrich & Romney were “for Obamacare” “going back to 1993”. Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann take the honesty sweeps tonight, which may get them some caucus love in Iowa but will make the Media Villagers very, very disappointed.
********
Newt is asked whether calling the Palestinians “an invented people” was a good idea. Romney says he would personally call “my good friend Netanyahu” and ask whether “such a loaded statement” was “wise”. Newt doubles down, wrapping himself in the mouldered corpse of Ronald Reagan. Not much applause, but I’m sure the clip will get the RedStaters fapping with great enthusiasm.
*******
Closing question: Who else, on this stage, have you learned something from?
Santorum volunteers, repeatedly, to be Gingrich’s VP. Gingrich, in response, offers the VP to Rick Perry. Romney can’t imagine how any of these LUZERS could possibly teach HIM anything, since Willard is already the champion of leading leader leadership qualities, which is what What This Country Needs. Bachmann tries, again, to entice Herman Cain voters to choose her as second-best…
Conclusion: These are all sad, sad human beings (well, mostly human, probably). Team Werewolf (the Swollen Amphibian) beat Team Vampire ($10,000 Bet Guy) handily.
President Obama is going to beat either of them, fortunately for the rest of us.
“The Case of Dakota Meyer”
(Doonesbury via GoComics.com)
__
Nothing I can add, but I wanted to share Amy Davidson’s New Yorker post:
… Meyer became the first living Marine since Vietnam to receive the Medal of Honor. At the White House ceremony, President Obama, with whom Meyer had shared a beer the previous afternoon, talked about how “down to earth” he was:
When my staff first tried to arrange the phone call so I could tell him that I’d approved this medal, Dakota was at work, at his new civilian job, on a construction site. He felt he couldn’t take the call right then, because he said, “If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.” So we arranged to make sure he got the call during his lunch break. I told him the news, and then he went right back to work. That’s the kind of guy he is…. Dakota is the kind of guy who gets the job done.
Why, though, was Meyer working a construction job? That turns out to be a complicated story…
Debate Open Thread
Apparently there is a GOP debate tonight. Here is my pre, during, and post-debate commentary for the candidates:
Who schedules a debate for a Saturday night?