Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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

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

The willow is too close to the house.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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

T R E 4 5 O N

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

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Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Since I didn’t watch it, it was the best GOP debate yet.

    Although I would like to have seen Rubio get spanked.

  4. 4.

    PhoenixRising

    Christie went full Jersey on Rubio. It was beautiful. Both reverted to their inner natures: bully and weasel.

  7. 7.

    The Buhjaysus

    I’m luvin’ all the talking heads pile on Rubio.

    Christie had some whacked out comment about the evil Democratic Party supporting the selling of fetal body parts and the funding of Planned Parenthood.
    Fuck Him

  11. 11.

    redshirt

    @Baud: I’m surprised someone hasn’t launched that channel. From 5-11PMEST, all the best from the history of politics. From midnight to 4PM? Informercials for supplements and gold.

  20. 20.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” I didn’t watch it ”

    Don’t worry. Baud! 2016! is more incoherent and fact free than all of them GOPers put together. They can’t touch you.

  23. 23.

    redshirt

    @MomSense: Linky.

    Just another example of “these aren’t your Father’s Republicans”, but for us oldsters, remember when Republicans were actually sometimes capable of doing something good for the Republic and the world?

  27. 27.

    jl

    @MomSense:

    ” Baud may want to blame that comment on a staffer. ”

    Baud is probably spanking staffer now. Hope there is tape. Shows leadership and Baud! 2016! voters eat that stuff up.

  28. 28.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:
    Brain bleach, stat, deliver to aisle me.

    Come to think of it, Christie and Fiorina deserve one another.

    Chris and Carly, sittin’ in a tree
    Stabbing children with sharp knives, one, two, three

  29. 29.

    redshirt

    @Luthe: They’ll turn to that after a couple of years of running old debates and speeches when ratings are not up to snuff. Eventually, it will just be cop reality shows and wrestling on Fridays.

  32. 32.

    Suzanne

    @Felonius Monk: I really enjoyed Marco Rubio being humiliated. It was pretty fucking awesome. Maybe I’ll watch a gif. It’s kind of like watching that video of the dude falling for ten seconds while shoveling the snow. I laugh and laugh until my stomach hurts.

  34. 34.

    Felonius Monk

    If the rethugs really cared about our country, they’d load all these guys in a bus and drive it over a cliff.

    ETA: BTW, how’s your hoof doing? Are you getting better?

  35. 35.

    Felonius Monk

    @Suzanne: I don’t think he is even smart enough to know he’s being humiliated. This twerp just seems very dense.

    ETA: How’s your hoof doing? Is it getting better?

  41. 41.

    TheBuhJaysus

    @amk:

    If Rubio stumbles from his lackluster display they will all stay in.

    The Funtime variety show will keep on rolling…

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    @Felonius Monk: Oh, I think he knew he was getting shivved. He just isn’t smart enough to do shit about it. Christie hit the nail on the head: Rubio memorizes these sound bites and tries to cram them in wherever possible, even where they don’t make sense.

  45. 45.

    jl

    @Suzanne:

    ” he knew he was getting shivved. He just isn’t smart enough to do shit about it. ”

    As I’ve typed before, Rubio looks like a fawn just bright enough to sense in a very vague way that it needs to avoid headlights.

  47. 47.

    Suzanne

    @Felonius Monk: Yeah, all seems to be better so far, THX for asking. Spawn the Younger has been a puke monster for the last two days, so we are spending much time at home on the couch.

  51. 51.

    Felonius Monk

    @Suzanne: Sick kids – not fun for kid or mom. Mrs. Monk had stomach bug about a week ago. It was not pretty, but all seems well now. A lot of that going around here now.

  52. 52.

    MomSense

    @redshirt:

    He was really nice. I remember he and my dad sat around and talked in my dad’s study for awhile after it finished.

    Mitchell is great. My youngest met him a few years ago and he was really gracious and generous with his time. I got the feeling he enjoys talking with the kids more than the adults.

  53. 53.

    Joel

    I fixed a plumbing issue in my kitchen (bad connector in my pull out faucet).

    I am so fucking proud of myself.

  54. 54.

    dr. bloor

    @srv:

    Carl Bernstein says the WH is apocolyptic about Hillary’s meltdown.

    Misused and misspelled. Well done.

    Although the thought of Joe Biden in a hotel room dwelling on how every day he’s there he gets weaker while HRC gets stronger is weirdly entertaining.

  55. 55.

    Mary G

    The beginning was the best part to me, sort of like an SNL skit. They called whoever was first (Christie?) and he came out and took his podium. Then they called Dr. Booby, who only came to the side of the stage and stopped. The next couple of guys dithered about whether they should stop there too, except Jeb, who didn’t even slow down and barreled right past to his podium. Then it was just Trump and Carson and the poor anchor was so flustered by having to coax the doctor out he forgot about Kasich and was ready to go with a podium empty, while Kasich was peeking out from the curtain going WTF.?

    The Republican party in a nutshell.

  58. 58.

    p.a.

    @MomSense:

    That was a depressing spectacle. The Republicans were hopped up on UN conspiracy theories. Ugh.

    gun-centric or enviro-centric? or some new lunacy?

  59. 59.

    redshirt

    @MomSense: Yeah, Mitchell was fantastic. Too bad he left the Senate, actually.

    What was Cohen’s poetry like? I’m very curious now. I know he’s a decent writer with some fiction books out, but had no idea he not only dabbled in poetry but did public readings.

  60. 60.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: Yeah, most likely. Too bad he didn’t say something back in 2012 after that debacle.

    Speaking of, have there been any notable defections of Repubs to Dems recently? Seemed like a small trend years ago (Bush era), but since?

  63. 63.

    redshirt

    @MomSense: I really, really love the idea of the former Secretary of Defense for the most powerful nation that’s ever existed doing poetry readings.

    I guess even if it was Rummy. Maybe.

  64. 64.

    Mandalay

    CNN – which normally has the spine of a wet paper towel – is taking the bold step of calling Cruz a liar on camera for what he said about their reporting on Carson during the debate tonight.

    Unfortunately that may get overlooked tomorrow with the Rubio brouhaha, but should provide Cruz’s opponents with some handy sound bites.

  66. 66.

    Feathers

    Forgot/never knew (don’t know which) there was a debate. Netflixed CONSTANTINE. Probably a very similar experience to watching the debate.

    Although the debate we really need is the candidates magically frozen with Tilda Swinton sliding up beside them, cocking her head and whispering questions in their ears, while Keanu Reeves shouts You know you must answer, you know you must answer! The Fox News team is whining and wailing, hissing This was supposed to be neutral territory as Djimon Hounsou shakes his head and laughs.

    Or just have the next debate from the basement of a closed insane asylum. That would also suffice.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @redshirt

    I never saw a purple cow
    I never hope to see one
    But I can tell you here and now, by darn
    They’re to the north, east, south and west of the barn

  69. 69.

    Dee Loralei

    I saw “Pride and Prejudice and. Zombies” tonight. Was Shaun of the Dead meets Jane Austen. It also stuck very close to the original book, P&P. Well other than zombies and kick ass Bennet sisters. It was fun. And sounds like it was less scary and bloody than the Republican debate.
    Last Saturday I played in a World Series of Po-/ker regional event down in Tunica and I beat 167 other women and won a WSOP ring! Oh and some cash. So yay me!

  70. 70.

    jl

    @efgoldman:

    ” when she wasn’t in office and wasn’t a candidate for anything. ‘

    But, she knew she would be a candidate! Just like every single fart she emitted as Sect of State should be combed through for conflict of interest. HRC obviously knew Obama would win a second term, be relatively popular at the end of his term, and she would be front runner for Dem nomination in 2016…. and she had everything all planned out.

    Even, probably the ‘meltdown’ is planned, whatever that is supposed to be.

    Look efg, if the HRC BS industry collapsed, how would we make up for all the jobs lost. Thousands of jobs, just gone overnight!

  74. 74.

    Nate Dawg

    The Bernie Sanders skit on SNL was absolutely brilliant. I’m sure it’ll be all over the intertubes soon enough, but damn, actually lol’ed several times.

  75. 75.

    mclaren

    The moderators need to start reading out the results of research papers about political attitudes to the candidates and asking for their comments.

    For example, the study “Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes” by researchers at Brock University found that having lower general intelligence in childhood could predict conservative and racist ideas as an adult. The moderators should cite that study and ask the Republican candidates for their reactions.

    Then there’s the survey “What You Know Depends on What You Watch,” undertaken by Fairleigh Dickinson University, which found that watching Fox News produces more ignorance about the world. Researchers asked 1,185 respondents which news shows they consumed and then asked general questions about newsworthy events. People who watched Fox News got an average score of 1.04, while NPR viewers got an average score of 1.51. I’d like to see the moderators read the results of that survey and see what the Republican candidates think.

    Then there’s a study by researchers at the University of Arkansas called “Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism.” They performed four different experiments, all of which reduced subjects’ ability to use “effortful, deliberate thought,” and they found that situations causing low-effort thought resulted in more conservative beliefs.
    It would prove very interesting to hear moderators ask Republican presidential candidates their opinions on that study.

    I would be particularly keen on hearing a debate among the Republican presidential candidates — is conservatism due to low biological innate intelligence, or ignorance caused by Fox News, or is conservatism a situational cognitive deficit produced by reduction in effortful deliberate thought?

    Enquiring minds want to know. I’d listen to that debate with great interest.

  77. 77.

    Kropadope

    @efgoldman:

    And he’s quoting Maureen Dowd as a source?

    It’s nice to see Fox’s idea for using the dumbest possible pundits as sources for “some say” journalism has caught on in the broader MSM.

  80. 80.

    p.a.

    @mclaren:

    People who watched Fox News got an average score of 1.04, while NPR viewers got an average score of 1.51.

    I believe U Maryland did similar back in ’03/’05 to same result. The MORE time a person spent watching Fux the MORE ill-informed they became.

  82. 82.

    Mandalay

    @Kropadope:

    It’s nice to see Fox’s idea for using the dumbest possible pundits as sources

    Since David Gregory was a pundit on Fox tonight you have a point.

  83. 83.

    Dee Loralei

    @redshirt: a biggish deal. I guess kinda like winning a conference championship. But it’s a big ass ring! I mean yooge! It’s a mans ring and heavy and gold, and it’s engraved and it’s bigger round than my thumb!kinda like a super bowl ring without the jewel. Out of like 3,00 players in my hold me league, I’m the only one with a ring. But one of my good friends went out 10 in the main event and was the last woman standing! The one in Vegas is the one they show on tv. So I think what she did is more impressive than my win. But I am damned proud! Thanks!

  84. 84.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: I meant only in the WSOP standings or leagues or however they run it. I have no idea at this point. I won money back in the day but don’t have the desire any longer, apparently.

  88. 88.

    Dee Loralei

    I can’t edit, but it’s a hold ’em league, damned auto correct! And thanks everyone. And EFG I didn’t win enough for the IRS to care, I mean less tha $5K. but it was a nice little payday. And quite unexpected.
    Oh and I now have a Hendon Mob profile, they make them automatically when you cash in a WSOP event. And no, I don’t know entirely what that means, except my son is jealous. Oh lol last Saturday night when I got home, my son and I stayed up having a couple of celebratory beers and he was bouncing off the walls excited for me, since I accomplished something on his bucket list! And I threatened to melt my ring down or sell it lol! For a while he thought I was serious! Hahaha, pranked my son!

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    LMMFAO. I just watched the end of the debate, and saw Trump’s line about Cruz stealing Carson’s votes in Iowa, and Kasich staggers back from the podium, laughing.

    God DAMN, there are times I like Trump (and Christie) for just being unrepentant douchebags. It’s percersely admirable. Bwahahahaaaaaa.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    wow, the knives are out

    Matt Mackowiak ‏@ MattMackowiak 28m28 minutes ago
    Brit Hume says Rubio tonight reminded him of Dan Quayle at VP debate in ’88. Yikes.

  95. 95.

    Dee Loralei

    @redshirt: when we got down to 10 , I was chip,leader and it stayed that way going into heads up. Final table we had 3 women from our league and heads up was me and the woman who runs the league, so we did quite well in that tourney. The funny thing was our league had a $35 tourney the week before and top 3 got their buy-ins paid for, and I won that! So it cost me nothing to enter the WSOP event and the cash was pure extra!

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    OT: for anyone who still cares about the site rebuild… Around midnight EST last night, the site stopped completely loading for me. It cycles through a lot of transferring data from a variety of sources.

  99. 99.

    benw

    @Suzanne: Trump has that particular asshole ability of instinctively zeroing in on someone’s weakness and really sticking the knife in. The way he lit up Cruz at the last debate about being all alone on the Senate floor because everyone else hated him was vicious. I mean, I wouldn’t want Trump anywhere near any position of power, but you have to admit he has a talent.

  104. 104.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @David *Rafael* Koch: Some SuperPac paid for that. I wonder who they support. (The fine print at the end says it wasn’t authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.)

    It’s such a mystery!!11

    /snark.

    Our campaign laws are so messed up…

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (The SuperPac probably spent $20 to e-mail it to reporters and post it on YouTube while hoping they don’t have to pay any TV stations to show it.)

  105. 105.

    Dee Loralei

    @redshirt: heads up especially, but short handed, my range of playable hands opens up, meaning final hand I called a 30k raise with 6,7 of spades, and normally, I’d fold to a big raise with that, but I flopped a flush, and because I knew the woman I was playing against, I just checked to her, and she checked back, next card was a little heart, and I checked again, because I know she can’t stand too many checks, and oddly she checked back! Next card was a king of diamonds and I checked again! She shoved all in and I called! And kicked her butt! But yea, I’m much more aggressive when I’m playing fewer people. Usually I will fold my big blind to a medium raise if I have a crappy starting hand. But short handed I will call a middling raise and then act aggressive on the flop.

  106. 106.

    Suzanne

    @benw: Oh, I think the dude has an almost incredible ability to size up his opponents and find the weakest spot for the shiv. A few debates back, he was going after Jeb!, calling him “low-energy”, and it was so obvious that it pissed him off soooo bad, but he did t know how to parry it. And I said, and I still believe, that Jeb! should just go and punch him right in the face. A show of strength, of energy, of dominance. That would have completely changed the race. I would have loved watching that.

  111. 111.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @Dee Loralei: Winning the WSOP event, that’s great. You should be proud. But having your son so proud of you he’s bouncing around the room, being able to prank him about possibly melting down the ring? That’s awesome! Isn’t it just great when your kid grows up to be someone you would want to spend time with even if he weren’t your kid?

  112. 112.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: I guess Red Lobster is better than Joe’s Crab Shack.

    @redshirt: Our debates have been relatively substantive and illuminating, especially the last one. Theirs have been ridiculous. I mean, slashing one another’s tires would be more honorable.

  116. 116.

    mclaren

    @Suzanne:

    I think the [Trump] dude has an almost incredible ability to size up his opponents and find the weakest spot for the shiv.

    That’s great for 8-year-olds on a schoolyard, but how does that translate to actual policy that a person would implement as president?

    There’s a point when people who aspire to become president have to stop giving one another wedgies and start talking about real issues in the real world, with some realistic proposals for solving them. I’m not seeing that anywhere in any of the Republican debates.

    It’s like kindergarten over there. These people are going to implode when they come up against the Democratic presidential nominee talking real numbers and real policies.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne: I suggest that you may have missed the point of the song. OTOH, I am going to bed. You may want to take up the the meaning of the song with lamh36; I think she would see the song differently.

  118. 118.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: I get the meaning of the damn song. The video is not subtle. I also think the Red Lobster line is funny and cool. Geez. Calm the fuck down.

    @mclaren: Oh, it doesnot translate to ability to be president at all. None of those clowns are qualified to change my fucking tires, never mind run a country. Makes for good TV, though. I mean, if they’re going to devolve our electoral process into a complete farce, I might as well sit back and enjoy it.

  122. 122.

    Dee Loralei

    @Kay (not the front-pager): thank you! And it is awesome! Especially the fact he enjoys hanging out with me as much as I do him! A few years ago, we were standing in line waiting to buy drinks at a movie theater, and just chatting and a woman behind us said ” excuse me for eavesdropping, but I feel like I’m watching an episode of the Gillmore Girls” and I said, ” I love that show! But only one of us is a girl and only one of us is named Loralei!” Rofl, and I had to show her my drivers license to prove I am actually a Lorelei! HA!

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    I want to make sure everybody has a chance to see this epic debate opening. Didn’t see any mention of it in the last couple of threads. What a clusterfuck.

    Carson genuinely does seem to be impaired, either through illness/injury or through medication of some kind. I love the momentary “What the everloving fuck?” look on Jeb’s face. And if anything could make me feel a little bit sorry for Kasich….

  132. 132.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Suzanne:

    God DAMN, there are times I like Trump (and Christie) for just being unrepentant douchebags. It’s percersely admirable. Bwahahahaaaaaa.

    This is what terrifies me about Trump–I can actually see his appeal. He’s funny! Not just ironically, look-at-this-moron funny; he’s genuinely funny, in a vicious way, about people who we hate at least as much as Trump.

    People respond positively to that. “Oh, man, he really got ’em that time!” He also seems to be enjoying himself in a way that most of the candidates aren’t. It’s what makes me think he could actually win a general election.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    @mclaren:

    You are so dim:

    People who watched Fox News got an average score of 1.04, while NPR viewers got an average score of 1.51.

    NPR viewers? Rally? National Public Radio viewers? Oops.

    dim!

  134. 134.

    Van Buren

    @Baud: i have a son with autism who does exactly that. Watches old debates.Repeatedly. His alltime favorite is the 1988 VP debate.

  136. 136.

    mclaren

    Who cares? None of these losers has a chance against either Bernie or Hillary.

    This election is in the bag for the Democrats. It’s Miller time.

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