Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Come on, man.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

šŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockinā€™ šŸŽµ

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania. Ā Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Eh, thatā€™s media spin. biden’s health is fine and heā€™s doing a good job.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

A democracy canā€™t function when people canā€™t distinguish facts from lies.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You canā€™t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Letā€™s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Cruz-ifiction / Friday Morning Open Thread: Debate Hangover

Friday Morning Open Thread: Debate Hangover

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Pretty fair summary: A tweet I can’t find now said that “This debate asks do you feel more comfortable with mean, dumb or mean and dumb.”

That being said, so far the consensus is that Trump was the clear winner, because he was smart enough not to show up. And Ted Cruz was the clear loser, because… well, have you seen Ted Cruz? Listened to him? Much less had to be in the same room with him?

Jeb Lund, at the Guardian liveblog:

Ted Cruzā€™s plan to win this debate is evidently to turn into a plungingly less humorous version of Donald Trump with at least twice the peevishness. He has (surprise!) narcissistically decided that all questions are being asked with the aim of giving other candidates ammunition to ā€œgo afterā€ Ted Cruz, so he is going to litigate the conduct of the debate with the moderators.

He has also decided to simultaneously be the bulldog going after the moderators, while embracing the familiar conservative cry of being constantly victimized by questions, issues, press, other conservatives. Heā€™s getting hammered on policy, not on being himself, and trying to play the victim on what is supposed to be his specialty: being a know-it-all. You made your bed, sir.

Not that the remaining Sickly Six didn’t do their best, according to their talents…

(Yes, Dr. Carson was physically present, but his attention did not seem to be.)

(LaVoy Finicum = Tarp Man, welfare rancher of foster children)

As ever, Bill ‘Always Wrong’ Kristol for the cherry on the compost sundae…

Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Josh Barro sounds like a Balloon Juice commenter. “Bill Kristol is ALWAYS wrong.”

  5. 5.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Last night the cocker spaniel and I were crowded into half the bed because the 12lb YorkiPom decided to stretch out and occupy half the bed and the 26lb cocker is afraid of her.

  7. 7.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: I didn’t watch, since I’ve not called DirecTV to get my satellite connection fixed.

    ETA: Anyway I was having dinner with Mrs. BillinGlendaleCA while the debate was aired.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    MoJo headline

    Carly Fiorina Just Unleashed an Unhinged Rant Against Hillary Clinton

    That’s like 100% of what Carly’s campaign is about. This is dog bites man stuff.

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: FOX News put together a video montage of Rubio’s flip flops on immigration then invited Jeb to address the issue. Jeb said he (Jeb) backed Rubio’s “Gang of 8” plan (amnesty!) at Rubio’s request but then noted that Rubio “cut and run” when the going got tough. Rubio attempted an angry rejoinder to the effect that Jeb had switched his position too, which Jeb placidly owned and then replied, “So did you, Marco! So did you!”

  20. 20.

    Cermet

    How in the world did cruz loose a debate to tRump when rump wasn’t even there? How? This guy got elected in TexAss? Are they really that dumb to vote for someone who makes a tree stump look good? This is how a rump wins Iowa? Pathetic and unbelievable that cruz even thinks he can run for President. Thank goodness we have President Obama for another year.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    This is neat (Atlantic)

    And as of this week, Paul officially has a serious challenger in his parallel race to represent Kentucky in the Senate past 2016.

    That opponent is Jim Gray, the Democratic mayor of Lexington who previously ran his familyā€™s construction company headquartered in the city. Gray announced his bid on Tuesday, filing papers just before the stateā€™s election deadline. He also is openly gay, adding a significant cultural twist to a statewide race thatā€™ll take place a year after a Kentucky county clerk named Kim Davis went to jail for refusing to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of the Supreme Court.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    Predicting that the results of the caucus will be declared to mean:

    1) Everything
    2) Something
    3) Nothing

    before the sun crosses the yardarm Tuesday.

  24. 24.

    amk

    teh ‘reporters’: what policy ? what discussions? didya see how that clown punched this clown in his face? ha ha ha.

  28. 28.

    David *Rafael* Koch

    Poor ĀæJeb? – he can’t help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth

    In a segment that aired on CBS News Thursday, Major Garrett asked Bush if he could be a surprise story in Iowa.

    “Yes, because the expectations are so low,” Bush said, with a smile.

    “Well, you have succeeded there, governor” Garrett quipped, to which, Bush thrusted his hands in the air like a champion.

    “Mission accomplished!” Bush exclaimed.

    Brendan Karet @SpideyScouting

    Probably the most depressing press interaction of @JebBush ‘s life

    John Whitehouse @existentialfish

    Unbelievable: the entire Jeb Bush campaign in a nutshell, via @SpideyScouting.

    4:41 PM – 28 Jan 2016

  31. 31.

    Zinsky

    I flipped over to the debate for about two minutes. I saw fat ass Chris Christie be asked a question about foreign policy that immediately turned into an attack on Hillary Clinton and flipped back to ESPN. He didn’t answer the question and once again demonstrated what a craven bully he is. Yeah, America really needs a stupid, obese, bully with a necklace of warts to lead us to the Promised Land. What a disgusting human being!

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    By attacking Hillary as though she, Fiorina, already had a lock on the Republican nomination, Fiorina is demonstrating the power of her optimism. And let’s face it, blind optimism is all her candidacy has left even at this early point.

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    I predict the weekend polls will show Trump to be more or less where he was before this debate: still way in front of everyone else. Having shown off a bit more of his jackholishness, Cruz might drop a few points. Rubio has failed to catch fire, and won’t see much change. At this stage, Jeb couldn’t catch fire if he took a shower in petrol.

  40. 40.

    David *Rafael* Koch

    So Rafael Cruz’s next headache is facing reelection 2018.

    McConnell and the gang have to be looking for a Texas billionaire they can run against him and drown him in attack ads. No way The Turtle doesn’t go for the jugular.

  48. 48.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Isn’t that what “Judge Doom” said in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” about getting rid of the Red Cars in LA?

    ETA: Kind of funny trivia; though set in LA(near where my cave is) some of the exterior buildings were actually in London a stone’s though from where madame and I stayed on our trip there.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    @David *Rafael* Koch: To be fair, Brock is an irredeemably sleazy bastard. He was a scumbag when he was sliming Anita Hill and the Clintons in the service of his wingnut overlords, and he’s still a craven weasel, even if he’s on our side now.

    That said, I’m definitely getting the feeling that the Sanders peeps think they’re going to lose Iowa. Just reading between the lines in their statements and tweets.

  51. 51.

    David *Rafael* Koch

    So two big polls to look forward to:

    1: PPP releases their Dem Iowa poll today – probably around 1PM

    2. Des Moines Register poll (ann selzer) covering both races gets released Saturday nite around 10 PM eastern

  54. 54.

    sparrow

    @Baud: Good news we can all agree on: we desperately need more dems in local and state races. Good luck to Mr Gray!

  57. 57.

    sparrow

    @Betty Cracker: I agree. I think if it were a more standard primary format, it might be closer. But caucuses are weird (I do not fully understand them myself), and the rules seem to benefit Hillary. In fact, nothing reminds me that the US is a very imperfect democracy so much as the primary season, except maybe thinking about the electoral college. So many “buffers” in place between us and the real thing.

  58. 58.

    David *Rafael* Koch

    @Betty Cracker: I know. He’s the one who came up with the “whitey tape” smear. But I forgive. Plus, Media Matters and American Bridge are great organizations and I love when he took after Mittens and Bain capital. He’s kind of the Wernher Von Braun of politics (ya love him when he’s on your side).

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    @David *Rafael* Koch:

    I’m still trying to figure out how someone who has been in Congress for 25 years is the anti-establishment choice especially since he is running for president. The only role in government more establishment than Senator is President.

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: You can not be a well rounded Presidential candidate having never viewed it. Your ignorance of Roger Rabbit is an avenue of attack your opponents will exploit.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @David *Rafael* Koch: Brock came up with the whitey tape nonsense? I thought it was that deranged knob in a stupid hat who used to run (and maybe still does) the “No Quarter” PUMA hub. But maybe he was merely the puke funnel.

  63. 63.

    sparrow

    @MomSense: I think a more accurate casting would be the “anti-corporate choice”. Certainly, Sanders believes in the power of government. I realize anti-establishment is a shorthand that some of his own supporters use, but now we’re arguing semantics instead of substance. Sanders recently put a hold on an FDA nominee because he had revolving-door ties with pharmaceutical companies. You might agree or disagree on whether that is a good thing, but he does put his money where his mouth is.

  65. 65.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Betty Cracker: One of the NYTimes politics guys was on the DRShow yesterday, saying he sees no sign of a huge turnout in Iowa – new voter registration numbers are low, etc., etc. Bernie probably sees the writing on the wall.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who hopes he sticks around through early March at least – we don’t want HRC crowned too easily.)

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder and marine conservationist Paul Allen has ploughed into a sensitive reef in the Cayman Islands, destroying the majority of coral on the protected ecosystem.

    The MV Tatoosh, a 300ft yacht owned by the billionaire Allen, ripped up 14,000 square feet of coral reef in the West Bay replenishment zone, according to local officials. About 80% of the reef, situated in a protected area, was destroyed by the shipā€™s chain.

    With friends like this, who needs enemies?

  71. 71.

    David *Rafael* Koch

    @Betty Cracker: yes, No Quarter was the vehicle Brock used to plant the rumor. The guy who runs the site is Larry Johnson, ex CIA with a low IQ, who was ferociously pro-clinton because of his friendship with Clinton surrogate Valerie Plame, who is high IQ and wasn’t involved in the smear.

  72. 72.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Baud: Yup. All of the objective evidence they talked about says that Trump is weak in Iowa (people called in who went to Trump rallys for the spectacle, not because they would ever vote for him, etc.), and he won’t get the angry-white-guy-who-hasn’t-voted-before to turn out in the numbers he needs.

    But with Cruz apparently falling like a rock, who knows what will happen (though he does have a much stronger ground game there than Trump).

    Transcript of Jan 28 show.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    SFAW

    @David *Rafael* Koch:

    You liked it? I thought the “production values” were not a whole lot better than the Little Lord Randy speech-synthesized crappy-ass “animation” slamming your Landsmann.(i.e., fellow Canadian).

    Although I did think the “flip-flop-flip” line was semi-OK

  74. 74.

    Matt McIrvin

    My Uber driver in Des Moines tonight says he’ll probably caucus for Trump, but worries he might also be the anti-Christ.

    Even from Republican politicians and insiders, I’m seeing a lot of “Trump may be the American Hitler, is hell-bent on destroying our country and needs to be stopped at any cost, but of course I will support him if he is nominated.”

  76. 76.

    Baud

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    Not surprised to hear about Trump’s weak ground game. I could easily seen him losing Iowa.

    I am surprised that Bernie hasn’t registered an uptick in voter registration. I’m not a campaign organizer by any means, but that would seem to be the easiest part in putting together a good ground game.

  83. 83.

    Betty Cracker

    @David *Rafael* Koch: Larry Johnson, that’s right — it’s all coming back to me now! That was a deeply silly time. The Sanders vs. Clinton supporter pie fights now are nothing compared to the festival of stupidity then, IMO.

  84. 84.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Baud: That’s true at the D caucuses anyway. You can register and/or change your party affiliation at the door. I’ve never been to the R one, so I’m not sure.

    I was going to say they’d be crazy not to allow it, but I suppose they could try to hurt Trump that way.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Your ignorance of Roger Rabbit is an avenue of attack your opponents will exploit.

    Well, technically, he could change his party affiliation to Republican; ignorance of reality, history, humanity, and so forth is a feature, not a bug, for them.

    Baud –
    Apologies for even bringing that up, because a person of your intellect and breeding would never do such a thing. But it had to be said.

  86. 86.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker: Agree. I think 2008 was much more combative. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that resentment this time around won’t be much higher. People aren’t rational.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Although I believe in Iowa you can register at the door …

    If you’re white. Can’t have those people (ab)using the system, now can we?

  89. 89.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Baud:

    Candidate Bumper Sticker on a Belching Biodiesel Volvo’s ground game requires more than Internet progressivism, which is why that bit of Nevada trickery happened.

    It covered up personnel deficits.

  92. 92.

    sparrow

    @Baud: It’s not totally clear that we’re seeing the whole picture. For one, Apparently there was a big uptick in registered voters with no declared party affiliation. I fear to think these are all the strange creatures who like “Trump or Sanders”, but I suppose it’s possible that they are holding out for the last minute. If I want to get wildly optimistic for Sanders, it could be these are lefties who dislike the democratic party so much, they only want to register as Dem the day of the caucus, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense even to me. I admit to being registered “independent” when I lived in states with open primaries, mainly because I loathe a lot of the Democratic machine (DWS is a prime, prime, example), but have since realized the futility of such a puny protest action anyway.

    The other point, raised in the NYT article itself, is that the voter roles were updated between Dec and January (this is a time when all the dead/inactive people get taken off), so you could have a net change which seems small compared to the actual # of new registered voters.

    But all this aside, I do still expect Hillary to win. Sadly. Unlike some here, I think she’s a worse choice for down-ballot coattails. As president, she’ll probably be an ok-ish Obama-third-term. I hope.

  95. 95.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I saw that yacht in Bonaire a few years ago. It’s a monster, complete with helipad and bay with helicopter inside – and it was full size.

  96. 96.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Cermet: Perhaps winning a race in TX when you’re a not-brown Latino right winger who goes Christianist and can claim anti-Castro lineage isn’t such a sign of political chops.

    If that sounds like what I said about Rick Perry with a few details changed, it is.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    But if Iā€™m Iā€™m treated unfairly, I might consider running as an independent. If treated unfairly

    Mr. Baud? There’s a “Megyn Kelly” on Line 2 for you — shall I put her through?

    @Baud:

    But I had heard he had a good ground game in Iowa.

    Uh, no. What you heard is that he had “some good ground game” a/k/a roadkill, artfully prepared.

  98. 98.

    Matt McIrvin

    @David *Rafael* Koch: For a while Larry Johnson was writing columns on Talking Points Memo and got some attention for being ferociously anti-Bush.

    I remember realizing he was an idiot as a result of that incident in which an Air Force plane accidentally flew assembled nuclear bombs over US soil. Johnson passed on some rumor that it was no accident but preparation for an impending nuclear strike on Iran, and he persisted in this even after the story had been extensively debunked by people who actually knew something about bombs and bombers. It was exactly how the whitey tape rumor played out.

  99. 99.

    Baud

    @ThresherK (GPad): Some one noted that he won the GOP primary with a minuscule voter turnout, and won the general simply because the GOP always wins statewide elections in Texas.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning all. TGIF.

    Did not catch a word of the GOP debate or Trump counterprogramming last night. Blissed out to have missed it all.

    Have been following, fitfully, reporting on the Malheur loon revolt ending with a whimper.
    I always had faith the feds/local authorities would handle this well, and they did. It would have ended without fatalities, but for LaVoy Finicum, the guy who ranched foster kids, attaining the death by law enforcement he sought. Sad that even he died, but that one is on him.

  101. 101.

    bystander

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You can not be a well rounded Presidential candidate having never viewed it. Your ignorance of Roger Rabbit is an avenue of attack your opponents will exploit.

    I just hope this isn’t to Baud what that scream was to Dean.

  105. 105.

    lol

    @sparrow:

    Read Nate’s update to that article. He messed up the new numbers by accident. He goes into the party split more on Twitter. There’s a surge in GOP registrations, comparable to what happened with Dems in 2008. The Dem numbers are comparable to the GOP in 2012. Great news for Trump, bad news for Sanders.

  106. 106.

    Elizabelle

    Great LATimes profile. Dolores Westfall. Too poor to retire and too young to die.

    Approaching 80, living in her old RV (“Big Foot”), working seasonal jobs (carnival ride attendant, mall kiosk person). Single elderly woman; did all the right things early in life, even though her 2 marriages did not take. Put herself through business school, worked as a bank secretary and a museum curator. (Note: pink collar work, somewhat.)

    Lost it all in the 2008 Great Depression. Had to walk away from her $40,000 mobile home — trailer park owner tripled the rent and made her home unsellable.

    Is my candidate going to work for the Doloreses of the world, or blame her for her misdecisions and the sheer vicissitudes of life? (Libertarian dudebros are especially good at this. Life has not him them in the ass enough. Yet.)

    I admire Dolores for her pluckiness. She’s got grit. Newspaper article starts with her eating a restaurant prime rib and iced tea meal (leftover beef will be 2 more meals). Winced at that, because how many commenters will assail Dolores for her “bad choices.” Especially if they don’t read further or have poor reading competence (most newspaper commenters, alas).

  107. 107.

    Gimlet

    Bernie to the opinion-shapers that hope to sway up-coming primaries before Bernie can get traction.

    http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/28/sanders-calls-out-wapo-geniuses-epic-failures-iraq-economic-meltdown

    People are telling us, whether it’s the Washington Post editorial board or anybody else, our ideas are too ambitious ā€” can’t happen. Too bold ā€” really? Well, here’s something which is really bold. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class and working families of this country. The middle class has become poorer and trillions of dollars have been transferred to the top one-tenth of 1 percent.”

    “That’s pretty radical, isn’t it?” Sanders said. “Where was The Washington Post to express concern that the middle class was shrinking? Where was The Washington Post talking about this radical transformation of America?”

    “Getting back to The Washington Post ā€” check out where all the geniuses on the editorial page were with regard to the invasion of Iraq.”

  108. 108.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lol:

    Thereā€™s a surge in GOP registrations, comparable to what happened with Dems in 2008. The Dem numbers are comparable to the GOP in 2012. Great news for Trump, bad news for Sanders.

    Bad news for the Democrats, in general. Maybe Trump could make Iowa a red state again?

  111. 111.

    Denali

    And what will be the conseqences for Mr. Allan’s yacht adventure? How much money does it take and how many years to restore a reef? Just asking.

  112. 112.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I disagree that the Bush-Rubio spat was a murder suicide. JEB!’s case was already terminal. He’s just making sure he has some company when he goes out, specifically his BFF.

  114. 114.

    PurpleGirl

    @Denali: Since coral reef is made up of the dead shells of microscopic critters, it takes time and money to repair a reef. There are several ways it can be done, but it isn’t easy. His misadventure — they want me to believe his pilot didn’t have maps showing where the reef was — will also cost the island in tourist money. A lot of people visit the island(s) to swim around the reef and see the small fish which live in the reef. With no reef, the tourists won’t be interested in visiting the island.

    ETA: I would need more time to research if the area was a protected area and what laws the Cayman Islands has about the coral reef. I’ve followed some things about reef because I never used coral beads in jewelry making and I also took part in the Hyperbolic Crocheted Coral Reef project.

  117. 117.

    nutella

    Sanders is right in one way when he says Clinton is establishment and he’s not.

    If he means she’s in the Democratic party establishment while he isn’t that is quite correct. She has been a Democrat for several decades and he has been a Democrat for several weeks.

    If he means she’s in the government establishment while he isn’t that’s outrageously wrong. Both of them have spent the greater part of the last 30 years working for the government and living off government paychecks. Long-term senators are about as establishment as you can get.

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