Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Republicans in disarray!

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

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

Bark louder, little dog.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Late Night Open Thread: Be Careful What You Wish for…

Late Night Open Thread: Be Careful What You Wish for…

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gop multiple 2016s in progress deering

(John Deering via GoComics.com)
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As long as we have to put up with all these clowns, I’m gonna milk it for whatever entertainment value I can find. Matea Gold, at the Washington Post, reports “GOP wrestles with how to fit ballooning 2016 field on debate stage“:

… No GOP primary debate has ever included more than 10 candidates. Even if this year’s stage is more crowded than in the past, some reasonably serious White House aspirants are bound to be left out.

The criteria for who will qualify to participate will be set by the news organization producing each debate, with input from party officials. This year, the behind-the-scenes discussions have been the source of acute angst at the Republican National Committee, which has floated using factors such as campaign donations and early-state staffing to winnow the pool, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The party streamlined the debate schedule this year to avoid the nonstop televised showdowns that stretched through the 2012 primaries, which RNC Chairman Reince Priebus dubbed “an embarrassment.” This time, the RNC has sanctioned up to 12 debates, down from 20 four years ago.

But figuring out who can take part in the forums has been a thornier problem. Cutting out lower-ranked aspirants such as former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal would make the first debate of the 2016 season a tableau of men, most of them white — not the image the party wants to promote as it faces an increasingly diverse electorate…

In past years, Fox News determined debate qualification in part by looking at the top 10 candidates who had hit at least 1 percent in the five most recent national polls. As of now, 15 of the top 16 potential candidates have at least 1 percent, according to an average of the five most recent phone surveys testing support for the GOP nomination.

The top 10 candidates on that basis are former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, real estate tycoon Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Texas governor Rick Perry.

Lagging behind Perry with less than 2 percent are former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina, Jindal and Fiorina. Former New York governor George Pataki averages a mere half-point.

All are sure to balk if they are excluded…

And before y’all say it’s too soon, that first debate is scheduled for August 6 — less than three months from now. An eternity in internet time, but not very long for the logistics of, say, the average high school prom, or a mid-sized family reunion, much less the GOP’s quadrennial cotillion ball.

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    Sandia Blanca

    Why not use the brackets system like they do in March Madness? Wouldn’t you love to see Ted Cruz debate Ben Carson for an hour?

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Well, limiting the “debates” to only those who have made an official announcement and properly filed papers to run would be a start.

    Although. according to several sites the GOP is looking at ranking them by money raised* and instituting an arbitrary cut-off, below which people would be excluded.

    *Surprise, surprise.

  5. 5.

    Linnaeus

    Wow. Rangers down 3 games to 1 and come back to win the series. In overtime.

    Playoff hockey is the best.

  6. 6.

    Hal

    The demonization of the poor continues.

    Under the junk food bill, food stamp recipients would have to use at least two-thirds of their monthly benefits to purchase nutritional foods such as beef, chicken, pork, potatoes, dairy products, fresh produce and food available under the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program. Users would be barred from buying crab, lobster, shrimp and other shellfish.

    But hey, at least it will save money, right?

    Grocery stores have also balked at the proposal because new software would have to be installed to track spending by food stamp users, which is estimated to cost as much as $55 million.

    But as long as poor people don’t buy shrimp.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-wisconsin-public-aid-bills-20150513-story.html

  9. 9.

    opiejeanne

    @Hal: What’s the deal with shrimp or other shellfish? Why does it matter? Are shrimp and other shellfish considered “junk food”?

  12. 12.

    srv

    I can’t sleep – John Bolton is going to tell us tomorrow if he’s going to bring his intellect to that stage.

    The depth of this bench is really unparalleled.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    I had thought the Klown Kar couldn’t be any more clownish than it was in 2012. But the 2016 field will break that record by a comfortable margin. There is not a single Republican candidate I can think of who would not embarrass America in the office, or beside whom Rufus T. Firefly would not seem a better candidate. When they hold the international polls next year for which nominee the rest of us would want in the White House, I predict another easy win for the Democratic nominee.

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    All are sure to balk if they are excluded…

    Let the crybabies cry. That includes the losers who ARE included.

  19. 19.

    Ian

    Please let this happen. again. Seven years ago I drank every time captain crashplanes said ‘my friends’. Bad year.

  20. 20.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Amir Khalid:

    …beside whom Rufus T. Firefly would not seem a better candidate.

    Your candidate, Mr. Firefly, sounds interesting. Where can I find more information on him? Does he have a newsletter?

  24. 24.

    Jewish Steel

    some reasonably serious White House aspirants are bound to be left out.

    …given the broadest definition imaginable of “reasonable” and “serious.”

  25. 25.

    Calouste

    @Jewish Steel: I’m counting, and I get to 8 candidates that are currently holding office (Rubio, Cruz, Paul, Walker, Christie, Graham, Jindal and Kasich) plus 1 (Perry) that held office within the last 2 years. The rest has either never held office (Trump, Carson, Fiorina) or last held office more than 8 years ago (Bush, Huckabee, Santorum, Pataki). The last two groups definitely fall in only the broadest definition of reasonably serious.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    Never mind #26.

    Eyes glazed over and misread the list. Mea culpa.

    (Too much WoW tonight.)

  28. 28.

    Poopyman

    I know it’s way too late in this thread and no one will read this by now, but I think the GOP should go 2D with the debates, a la Hollywood Squares. Of course, instead of a 3X3 tic-tac-toe square you’d have to make it 4X4 now, or even 5X5 when the clown car is full, but think of the spectacle! One of them randomly gets assigned as the Secret Square, of course, and Lindsey Graham gets to play Paul Linde, but without being funny.

  29. 29.

    Germy Shoemangler

    RNC Chairman Reince Priebus dubbed “an embarrassment.”

    Wait… so he admits the fact that when a group of GOP presidential hopefuls gather for debates it’s an embarrassment?

  30. 30.

    debbie

    The criteria for who will qualify to participate will be set by the news organization producing each debate, with input from party officials.

    This is like shaking a hornets’ nest. The angry fringe will only get angrier if their candidate isn’t included.

  31. 31.

    Cervantes

    @opiejeanne:

    What’s the deal with shrimp or other shellfish? Why does it matter?

    It began two years ago with a “surfer” Fox News found and pimped. His name was “Greenslate” or some such and he was shown bragging about his use of food stamps to pay for lobster. Not for him mere labor and self-propulsion, not when tax-payers were willing to pay for him to live high on the hog.

    From that presentation came a bushel of right-wing outrage with free seafood as its target, not only in Wisconsin but also in (I think) Kansas and Missouri. In fact, folks in Wisconsin are relatively lucky: they can still use food stamps to buy (for example) canned tuna. Not so in some other places.

  32. 32.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    that first debate is scheduled for August 6 —

    My god, that soon?

    The horror.

    The horror.

  33. 33.

    Ryan

    The best way would be to have more debates! The weird part is that I thought they said last time that there were too many debates and too many times Romney was on tape saying dumb things. They appear to want to go down this road again with a debate scheduled in 2015.

  35. 35.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    So, the BIG question about the GOP debates:

    Will they be open-carry?

  36. 36.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Snarki, child of Loki:

    So, the BIG question about the GOP debates:

    Will they be open-carry?

    They will be if Rand Paul isn’t allowed in.

    Then again, the last big NRA meeting didn’t allow it. Who knows?

  37. 37.

    gratuitous

    @Poopyman: I thought of the Hollywood Squares set myself. The 3×3 grid should be plenty; just double up everyone, or even triple them up. If my swiss cheese memory serves, I think the three Hudson Brothers shared a square from time to time. McCain and Huckabee can have the old Charley Weaver square.

  38. 38.

    Snarkworth

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m surprised they don’t just manufacture special chow for food stamp recipients. It would be in kibble form, taste terrible, and come in huge ugly sacks.

  39. 39.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Snarkworth: and imported from China. And then on World News Tonight With David Muir: “What is killing all the poors?”

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