Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

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

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

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

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: After the Balls-Up

Open Thread: After the Balls-Up

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Word in the Media Village, at the moment, is that Rubio lost the debate. My own devout Cynic’s opinion is that insofar as there were winners, they would be Cruz and Trump — because all the snark about Little Marco’s (very risible) #RubioGlitch means less attention for their stumbles.

After bollixing the Entry March (see video at top), the moderators turned to the latest news about Ted Cruz’s Iowa ratfvcking…

… but then Rubio decided to bring out his Very Best Obama Attack Line, and suddenly he became the butt of everyone’s snark. As reported by Ed Kilgore, at NYMag:

… The three best debaters by most accounts were… Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christie. And Christie, in the worst condition of any of the Establishment challengers, in fifth place in the polls and with no obvious path to the nomination, landed the strongest blows on Rubio we’ve seen yet. Worse yet, Rubio responded to a pounding from Christie for being a paper-thin senator with no accomplishments by playing the part to a T: robotically repeating talking points even as the New Jersey governor mocked him for robotically repeating talking points.…

More detailed description from Jamelle Bouie, at Slate:

… It began with a question. The moderators asked Rubio to list accomplishments in his record that have prepared him for the presidency. Rubio cited work on foreign policy and issues such as veterans affairs before moving to well-worn rhetoric meant to counter these experience questions by tweaking a popular conservative notion about Barack Obama. “Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing,” he said. “He knows exactly what he’s doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world.”… “When I’m president of the United States,” he continued, “we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world, and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world.”

It’s a good line, designed for applause. But this time, Rubio had pushback, in the form of Christie…

Not that there wouldn’t be plenty more jaw-droppingly horrible content from all parties, over the course of the event…

Grace note, via Politico:

… A night with Trump back on the debate stage wouldn’t be complete without a least a few slights. And he saved his sharpest barbs against Cruz for his concluding statement, giving Cruz no chance to respond, when he accused him of cheating to win Iowa last week.

“That’s because he got Ben Carson’s votes, by the way,” Trump said with a smile.

I suspect that if Christie does have to drop out of the race after NH, at least tonight’s performance ensures he’ll be able to indulge his taste for first-class travel and high-dollar touring for a few months longer… at the expense of his very good friend Mr. Trump.

Reader Interactions

142Comments

  6. 6.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: That Rubio’s brother has to answer questions when he goes to the VA. The fucking horror. Oh yea, Mario was Special Forces but didn’t “deploy”.

  9. 9.

    Boudica

    Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country

    So saith Marco. To which I reply Yes he won two elections because a majority of Americans wanted change.
    Elections have consequences.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    What a delightful face-plant by Rubio! By mindlessly repeating that focus-grouped drivel last night (complete with the odd use of the preposition), he validated every suspicion that he’s a just a haircut in an empty suit. I suspect it could hurt his candidacy pretty badly because he’s ALL talking points, all of the time, and now people might finally start paying attention to that instead of focusing on the smoothness of the delivery.

  11. 11.

    bystander

    I tried watching. Honest, I did. I couldn’t bear listening to them lie, lie and then lie some more, and that was about 15 minutes worth.

    What did I learn? That High Holy Man Raphael Cruz was married to some other woman prior to climaxing in holiness with Queen Consort and Mother of One of the High Ivy Grads and abandoned his first wife and his child. Not sure if he was already shtupping the Virgin Mary who gave immaculate birth to our deliverance, Ted. Best part? The abandoned daughter was consumed in bitterness and became a crack whore. She sounds like another minority woman who just wants to live on drugs and welfare. It has been quite a burden on Ted, as you can imagine.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    And Carson in the intro vid — WTF?!? One of the staff actually tried to shoo him onto the stage, but he just stood there! He’s addled.

  17. 17.

    bystander

    Jamelle Bouie:

    None of these folks would be able to hold up in a foreign policy debate against HRC.

    I agree, but I also recollect Gore debating Jr. Unless Trump is the candidate, the Dem candidate is going to have to be careful. Stupidity engenders a lot of sympathy among repubs, which in turn gets a lot of favorable press.

  23. 23.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    More like “special” forces, the kind that takes the short helicopter & get to wear cool hocket helmets and all.

    My response to Sir Patrick would be that seeing them makes me despair for humanity, forget the Republican Party! These are clowns that 30 years ago would spout this crap and everyone else in the bar would move away

  26. 26.

    Xboxershorts

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Special Forces that didn’t deploy? Wouldn’t that make him “Too Special forces”?

    My brother is special forces, He was 41 when Iraq went down. He’d already done 2 tours in Afghanistan. They tried to keep him from deploying to Iraq, but he would not be denied. He was kicking in doors in Fallujah and cutting off supply lines from Syria.

    When Marco says his brother was special forces but didn’t deploy, you can COUNT on this….that’s going to raise some scrutiny.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    In the great debate on whether Obama is Neville Chamberlain or Hitler, only Rubio had the courage to firmly decide that Obama is Hitler. That, to me, signals leadership.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Nice. No hikes for me because of a bit of a setback with the ankle. I’m in the boot for yet another month. March 2 is the new freedom date. How’s the quit smoking campaign coming along?

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    I didn’t know you hiked Mayberry! Buy Otis a drink for me.

    EDIT: ah poo, Baud beat me to the reference. I guess thats why he is presidential material and I am just a bum. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Baud.

  36. 36.

    VanyaJosefstadt

    The Eminent Domain debate showed that no matter how inconsistent or unprincipled Trump may be on other issues, he is completely committed to protecting the interests of the nation’s real estate developers, and will even challenge the libertarian wing of the GOP to do so. No wonder Trump is so popular with NFL owner types.

  40. 40.

    bystander

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    It went well until I had to deal with LA traffic, today’s another day.

    Didn’t they tell you to avoid situations that compel you to smoke? Uber until further notice.

  44. 44.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    As I noted last night, not only does Cruz not understand that carpet bombing is by definition indiscriminate, it’s also by definition a war crime:

    Carpet bombing is considered a war crime[6] as of the 1977 Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions.

    Also I couldn’t help noticing that the talking point that Rubio kept repeating wasn’t just bizarre because it was repeated, it was just bizarre. No one should imagine this isn’t intentional! he kept saying, making it clear that he was referring to things like Obamacare. Uh, yes I think it was pretty well established that the President did these things intentionally. No one thought they were accidents, like he meant to sign something else but his pen slipped.

  46. 46.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    A few years back we drove around the Salten Sea and then through the mountains to LA. Absolutely some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. Came across two small towns up there in the hills that looked very charming, tidy and cute. I don’t remember their names. It was Sunday evening & everything was close but we want to go back again sometime. Saw several nut farms, didn’t get a good look but I would guess walnuts by the leaves.

    I still have a picture of me next to the road sign for Mecca, so I can prove I have been on my haj.

  48. 48.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @bystander: I ain’t getting near Uber.

    @OzarkHillbilly: The drive to Franklin Canyon wasn’t that bad, the drive back was horrible(I’d forgotten that they’d closed down the freeway in downtown to remove a bridge). Once I got home one of the local businesses had take ALL the parking on my street.

  49. 49.

    NorthLeft12

    Who can have watched tonight’s Republican debate and not have despaired that these guys are the cream, the elite of the Republican Party?

    Repeat after me; Deep Bench. Deep Bench. Deep Bench.

  50. 50.

    Applejinx

    You’d think it wouldn’t take a brain surgeon to walk onto a stage.

    Apparently you’d be right…

  52. 52.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Pretty much and just said fuck-it after the aggravation. Today is another day.

    OTOH, since I couldn’t park at my abode; I went to the thrift store were I saw a frame for $7 Friday night and they still had it. It now is being used to frame my old college dorm floor t-shirt.

  53. 53.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Carpet bombing is considered a war crime[6] as of the 1977 Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions.

    SO? I’m sure that torture is too and that hasn’t stopped them. Its a feature not a bug with these dime store Mussolinis

  54. 54.

    NorthLeft12

    @Bill E Pilgrim: I think you are quibbling a bit here. Remember, Cruz is the guy who does not believe that waterboarding is torture [enhanced interrogation], and said he would not use it in a widespread manner………..

    YIKES! Although I guess that was meant to reassure people.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: You are right about it being a great big world with an infinity of places to go but it rings off to me when other service members are deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan 7, 8 times and they aren’t SF. SF have even more limited members to work with.

    All that being said, it could be true. And writing those words, in my mind there are followed by a “but…”

  56. 56.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @NorthLeft12: Yeah but they still avoid calling it torture, arguing that it’s simply “enhanced interrogation”, at least making some attempt to avoid bragging about simply being war criminals. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they’ve now given up even avoiding doing that, but I admit I was a little.

  57. 57.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): I’ve been planning to go to Amboy Crater this spring to hike and take some pics of the Milky Way. To get to Amboy you pass though the towns(more like wide places in the road) of Siberia and Baghdad.

  60. 60.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I’d bet money that Ted Cruz has no idea that carpet bombing is a war crime. For him it’s in the mental category of “things you can say that make Republican base audiences cheer” and that’s about it. He obviously has no idea that “not indiscriminate” and “carpet/saturation bombing” aren’t compatible concepts.

    It’s the same “stupid or evil”? question as always, and there’s never a definitive answer on one side or the other, it’s always pretty much “both”.

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I am shocked, shocked I tell you:

    Leaked police files contain guarantees disciplinary records will be kept secret

    A Guardian analysis of dozens of contracts obtained from the servers of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) found that more than a third featured clauses allowing – and often mandating – the destruction of records of civilian complaints, departmental investigations, or disciplinary actions after a negotiated period of time.

    I know you are shocked too.

  62. 62.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    I probably don’t have to ask but please post pictures. Amboy is on my list of places yet to be visited. Thanks for the great shot you have shared.

  66. 66.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Raven:
    I don’t belittle anyones service as long as they are not lying about it but asking me to be fair to these Republican loons? I’m sorry (no I am not) but that is just something my desiccated heart does not have room for. The default assumption is that they are lying and they have shown no reason why I should provide fairness to them.

  67. 67.

    Amir Khalid

    A question, prompted by that Bernie Sanders campaign ad: How far is it from Saginaw to Pittsburgh, and does it really take four days to hitchhike the distance?

  70. 70.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    A hockey friend of mine just had to have his hip replacement redone because he pushed himself too hard too soon & screwed it up. The redo was 10 days ago & he showed up at last nights game without a cane. Seems to me he is pushing too hard again. Don’t be that guy.

  71. 71.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Amir Khalid:

    It’s not a crime if the President does it

    Richard (spit) Millstone (spit) Nixon (spit) he is the intellectual and emotional father of these venomous pustuals.

  72. 72.

    MattF

    These ‘debates’ are actually useful– you get to see the candidates’ flaws in-real-life. It ain’t pretty. The only relief (in the sense of comic relief) is there are fewer of the R wannabe Presidents on stage than previously.

  76. 76.

    C.V. Danes

    And this is why I think the concern over the electability of Sanders and Clinton is largely a non-issue. Right now this circus is playing out in the Republican microcosm. I just don’t see any of this doing anything more than floating like a lead balloon with the general public. Sure, you have your reliable 29% of the electorate that is batshit crazy, but I don’t see any of this selling much beyond that.

  77. 77.

    debbie

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Also I couldn’t help noticing that the talking point that Rubio kept repeating wasn’t just bizarre because it was repeated, it was just bizarre.

    What kind of focus group was it that suggested Rubio’s strategy would be successful? Was there no one there to tell him that the others would be jumping on his every word?

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Saginaw to Pittsburgh, 371 miles says google, not that far so 4 days is on the longer side for a hitch, but hitchhiking is nothing if not unpredictable. I once hitchhiked from Sheridan WY to ST Louis MO, a distance of 1000+ mi. in 28 hours, which was all but unbelievable. On that same trip I also managed to travel exactly 1/4 mile in 14 hours outside of Las Cruces NM, and I had to hike that 1/4 mile to find some shade in the 114 degree heat.

  80. 80.

    debbie

    @NorthLeft12:

    Repeat after me; Deep Bench. Deep Bench. Deep Bench.

    No, I prefer Reince Prebus’s unironic comment: “We have an embarrassment of riches.” Indeed!

  82. 82.

    MattF

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Well– also the accusation that Obama is, deliberately-and-with-malice-aforethought, sabotaging ‘Americanism’ is a RWNJ meme. From me, it gets a ‘Thanks, Obama’.

  84. 84.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You have to allow for time in between rides. I spent several long, very cold hours waiting for a ride out of Cortland, NY. Waiting just for a car to drive by, even.

    ETA: Sorry to hear about the ankle. Be careful.

  85. 85.

    Gimlet

    @C.V. Danes:

    Sure, you have your reliable 29% of the electorate that is batshit crazy, but I don’t see any of this selling much beyond that.

    When your trusted source of information continues to shape how you view the world, America’s bizarre perception of reality persists and spreads.

    http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2016/02/06/finley-helping-flint/79940496/

    Hillary Clinton brings her presidential campaign to Flint today. Even with her own hands stained by Benghazi blood, she’ll stomp around and fuel the narrative that a bungling and heartless Republican governor is doing nothing for Flint’s children. Neither she, nor the other Democrats who find profit in keeping this crisis rolling, will mention the hopeful news out Friday that lead levels are finally falling in filtered water.

  88. 88.

    gf120581

    @debbie: I don’t get it either. Everyone with some semblance of political awareness knew Rubio was going to be the main target in this debate, so he’d have to bring his A-game. And if this is his A-game, well…

    I’d say the “establisment GOPers” and big money boys who were sighing relief after Monday night now find their ulcers have returned with a vengeance.

  90. 90.

    MattF

    @gf120581: The money boys are not in a happy place. Trump and Cruz got a push downwards from Iowa (and from the Iowa aftermath)– but now the establishment candidates are floundering all on their own.

  91. 91.

    TS

    So CNN is so upset because Cruz lied about what the network said. Shame they aren’t more upset about Cruz lying every time he opens his mouth.

  92. 92.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    As seen on Twitter via LGF:

    Somebody call Bill Frist for an opinion on where JEB!’s campaign is showing signs of life.

  94. 94.

    gene108

    @Betty Cracker:

    What a delightful face-plant by Rubio! By mindlessly repeating that focus-grouped drivel last night (complete with the odd use of the preposition), he validated every suspicion that he’s a just a haircut in an empty suit. I suspect it could hurt his candidacy pretty badly because he’s ALL talking points, all of the time, and now people might finally start paying attention to that instead of focusing on the smoothness of the delivery.

    16 years ago George W. Bush was praised for his laser like focus on sticking to talking points regardless of the questions asked to him. It was taken as a sign of a disciplined campaigner.

    I guess Rubio did not throw enough cook outs hookers and blow cute nickmanes to smooth over relations with the MSM.

  95. 95.

    max

    Here’s what I don’t get: Somebody has to win the GOP nomination, right? Is it a person on this stage? Very confused

    Barbara Bush for President 2016! She has the pearls and you don’t!

    max
    [‘Don’t tell me that’s not credible.’]

  96. 96.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Betty Cracker:

    Ben Carson looked like his mind had wandered off to a different planetary system. In a whole night of WTF moments, his was the most WTFey of all WTFs.

  98. 98.

    JCT

    I love that Rubio’s needle got stuck the week after Booby Jindal endorsed him

    seems everything that Jindal touches goes to shit.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Heh.

    ‘Why do people take such an instant dislike to Ted Cruz? It just saves time.’

  100. 100.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    With apologies to Sir Patrick:

    Who can have watched tonight’s Republican debate and not have despaired that these guys are the cream Santorum, the elite of the Republican Party.

  102. 102.

    D58826

    is there an island somewhere, nice climate, good food, great beaches, and no TV/internet that we can retire to until after the election. And permanently if the Goopers win.

    It’s not simply that I disagree with their political philosophy but the entire presentation is so totally lacking iin any kind of reasonable thought. Obama is a traitor and they will bomb ISIS, except when ISIS id murdering us in our beds. Beyond that they have nothing. Five year olds shouting at one another in kindergarten make more sense.

  103. 103.

    oldgold

    Here is an interesting statistic from the Democratic Iowa Caucus. The Latino turnout was 10 times higher from 2102 and 4 times higher than 2008. Hopefully this signals that Latinos across the nation will be more involved during this election election cycle.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHilbilly

    Shake my head at my own naivete now, but then again it was a more innocent time.

    At one time would regularly hitchhike Pennsylvania route 402 from Marshalls Creek to Blooming Grove, often in the dead of night in winter snows. Thence an unnumbered road to get close to my destination.

    Primarily uninhabited woods; a 2-lane road essentially unchanged from the early 1930s. Nice thing was that sparse as the traffic may have been, nearly any vehicle that came along took pity on a poor hitcher and stopped.

    Pics at the link don’t begin to convey how desolate, dark and out in the empty boonies almost all of the route was.

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    So having read this headline, Erin Brockovich and Bill Maher unleash a righteous attack on ‘corrupt politics and f*cking greed’, it was just too much to let go.

    Bill Maher’s house in Beverly Hills the pic ain’t much but this little blurb on the side says it all:

    The stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, actor and author, lives here. He also owns the parcel next door that was once owned by Drew Barrymore and Ben Affleck and is featured on this site. This is also a former residence of “The Partridge Family” and “L.A. Law” actress Susan Dey.

    Yeah, one Beverly Hills house isn’t enough for him, he has to own two of them.

    Google Erin Brokovich’s house and you get this: Listed for $2.35 million.

    Now I don’t begrudge people doing well, especially not someone coming from where EB started out in life, but a little self awareness too would be nice.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    If he can comfortably afford it, more power to him

    $2 mil isn’t really all that high price tag in that neck of the woods.

    (Not excusing any excesses or hypocrisy, just sayin’ it’s all relative.)

  107. 107.

    Iowa Old Lady

    At the intersection of football and political commenting, I’m reading BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK and wow. It’s about a group of GIs who were filmed in a heroic fight in Iraq and now are home on what the army bills as a victory tour before being deployed again. It takes place during a Dallas Cowboys football game that Bravo group is invited to, and because the character has perspective from being a few days out of a life and death situation, American life looks excessive, bizarre, and full of BS. It took me a while to get into because it opens with lots of characters and details, but the flood of detail is part of the point. There’s just so much STUFF. No wonder this book was a finalist for the National Book Award.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:

    Shake my head at my own naivete now, but then again it was a more innocent time

    I hitchhiked all over the place during the ’70s. I don’t think it was naive either, it was very much a different time. Hitchhiking was an accepted practice, and I don’t think it is any more or less dangerous now than it was then. I still pick up the rare hitchhiker.

    My remotest hitch… I’d have to say it was from Duluth to International Falls via US 53 at night in October. I still remember walking thru one of those all but nameless wide spots in the road and hearing geese migrating south, looking up and seeing their snow white undersides in the reflected light of the street lights just a couple hundred feet up. I also remember trying to sleep in a ditch with the just fallen leaves for a blanket and flying up out of it when a semi roared by at 60+ mph.

    I’ve had fun before, but that weren’t it.

  112. 112.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Street lights? Street lights?

    We didn’t need no es-stinkin’ street lights.

    :)

    (Having driven several times round trip from Nothing Here, MN to Even More Nothing, MN, can empathize.)

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Since changed, but when first arrived on Maui hitchhiking was illegal but only if one put out a thumb or evinced any other gesture.

    If one stood stock still at the side of the road, however, it was perfectly legal. Go figure.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    I read that Kasich is going on, hiring staff and buying ad space in Nevada. He’s said all along that if he didn’t do well in NH he would quit, but I don’t know what “well” means.

    He concerns me a little because I’m always told Republicans “won’t vote” for the less-radical nominee in the general and then they always do.

    He would be a terrible President. Fake moderate, hands-off and really disinterested executive, enthusiastic privatizer of every public asset or entity that isn’t nailed down or already sold. He has enormous appeal for a specific kind of Republican here- college educated and “secure”- people who are uncomfortable with radical Right wing rhetoric but back anything the GOP hacks up as long as it’s draped with “reasonableness”.

    Ohio doesn’t have a meaningful (state-changing) Latino vote so that wouldn’t be a plus factor for Clinton so any advantage she has there would be in the national race- Florida and the western states. I feel like that’s where he would try to make up some ground. If he’s competitive in OH and PA and can cut into her Latino share elsewhere it would be a real race.

  115. 115.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    Read someplace that he’s (unexpected by his campaign) taking heat in NH for a drinking water problem reminiscent (albeit not on the same scale) as Flint’s.

  116. 116.

    yellowdog

    @OzarkHillbilly: In 1973 I hitched from Oakland to South Dakota (long story). Difficulty level: 5’0″, 90 lb female. But I had my middling sized canine with me (Shanti-best dog ever). No problems until I got to Nebraska, where people would swerve to try to run me off the side of the road. Didn’t get picked up till some people from the nearby reservation came by. Nebraska is still my least favorite state.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

    I’m glad. It must be Lake Erie and Toledo. They had a drinking water crisis there. It was complicated for him by the fact that NW Ohio believes (rightly) that they get no state support (funding) compared to The Three C’s (the large population areas). Toledo is a smaller city. They’re right when they complain they are last on the list for Ohio governors of either Party, really.

    The pollution is due to a combination of fertilizer run-off from the rural counties around the lake and slightly warmer water. Lake Erie is the “shallow” (relative to the others) Great Lake so it starts warmer and (I think) climate change is warming it further.

    He is terrible on environmental issues across the board. If I had to choose I’d put that top of the list of what he’s horrible on.

  118. 118.

    Frankensteinbeck

    What’s sad is, I think if an ‘establishment’ candidate wins, it will still have to be Rubio. I expected crap like this from a guy whose previous claim to fame was looking like an idiot responding to Obama’s SOTU. But… his competition is ‘also ran’ Kasich, and Jeb:(, who is truly the worst politician I have ever seen. Mama’s Lil Jebbie puts his foot in his mouth as bad as Rubio did daily, he’s just been so unimportant everyone stopped caring.

    Whoever wins the Republican nomination will be a worse candidate than ‘To Know Him Is To Hate Him’ Romney. Think about that.

  119. 119.

    MattF

    @NotMax: I guess it means you’re part of the roadside decor. If someone decides to give the decor a ride, that’s their business.

  120. 120.

    Anya

    @Kay: Kasich worries me a great deal. He avoided falling into the psychopathic GOP fray of hating on everyone. He impersonates a compassionate, reasonable politician very well. He will have wall to wall positive media coverage vs Clinton. They’ll portray him as a succesful governor who brought Ohio from the brink and who stuck to his principles when all the GOP candiates were courting the extremists.

  121. 121.

    A Ghost To Most

    @yellowdog:

    In 1979, I hitchiked from Harrisburg to Western NY to get my motorcycle and drive it back. Along the way, I got picked up by hearse transporting a coffin from somewhere to somewhere. Along the way, I nodded off. When I woke up, the guy said I could climb in back and get some rest. I declined.

  122. 122.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Hitchhiking was an accepted practice, and I don’t think it is any more or less dangerous now than it was then.

    My experience was that it was much safer to hitchhike distances than around the city where I lived (Boston), but it took only a couple of freaks in the city to get me to stop hitching anywhere, period.

  123. 123.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    NotMax is referring to Sebring, Ohio, which is somewhere near Youngstown. Similar problem to Flint, but on a smaller scale. Unlike Flint, however, Kasich and his crew seem to be successfully putting the blame on Ohio EPA. But, yeah, that algae bloom is something else, and you know the Ohio GOP will never interfere with anything that could hurt commerce.

  124. 124.

    celticdragonchick

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Carpet bombing of civilian population centers is a war crime. If a military force gets caught in the open…the B-52s can pound the living hell out of it.

  125. 125.

    PurpleGirl

    Hitchhiking story (not mine, though): My Norwegian penpal came to the Western Hemisphere in 1976. He flew into Toronto and came first to NYC to meet me. Then he set out hitchhiking across the US, into Canada and Mexico and Central America. He phoned me periodically to check in and let me know he was okay. (I was his emergency contact.) So he calls me from Phoenix and tells me he plans to hitch to Wyoming next. I tell, “please take a bus, it’s July and Phoenix is very hot.” So he calls me when he gets to Wyoming — he did take a bus. He stood on one highway outside Phoenix and no cars came by in x time and it was very hot, so he walked to the bus station. He also ended his trip in NYC, spending a week with me before taking a bus to Toronto for his flight home.

  126. 126.

    PaulW

    As I blogged this morning: The Republicans want to believe they are giving us another Reagan, but all they’re offering us are a bunch of Little Nixons.

    Rubio deserved getting his talking points shoved down his throat, and I hope it crushes his turnout in New Hampshire this Tuesday.

    That said, Christie is still too much of a bully and a liar to trust. Don’t vote for him.

  127. 127.

    Luther Siler

    Did Carly Fiorina drop out? And if not, is she the only remaining member of the kids’ table? I don’t understand how Kasich was on stage and she wasn’t.

  129. 129.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Kay: I thought the latest Ohio water problem was Sebring:

    The Sebring problem stems from improper chemistry at the village water plant, causing water to corrode old pipes and allowing lead to leach into them. Most homes and school water sources tested by the EPA have had safe water levels.

    […]

    Village and Ohio officials knew about the Sebring problem before telling residents, but they don’t face accusations of years’ worth of neglect and indifference that are plaguing the Snyder administration in Michigan.

    Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency says its field office ran into trouble with village officials, who for months ignored admonitions to tell residents about the water tests. The operator of the water system, the EPA alleges, falsified water test records – a charge the operator has denied. The EPA is taking steps to remove his license.

    EPA Director Craig Butler says the field office was “too patient” in not forcing the village to take action and in not reporting the issue to their superiors. The department is conducting an internal review and has placed two employees on leave, the Columbus Dispatch reported Friday.

    In total, steps taken by the Ohio EPA — including extra lead testing and providing water and filters — “go beyond what is required,” a federal EPA administrator said in a letter to Butler dated Tuesday.

    I haven’t kept up with the details.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  131. 131.

    karen marie

    @Betty Cracker: I am not understanding why Trump is getting a pass on this. He didcthe samd thing except he actually heard his name called where it was obvious Carson did not, yet Trump stood there like a dope because Carson was standing tgere. Clearly Trump did not know what the process for getting onstage was. Did he not listen to the briefing? Granted, Carson looked drugged where Trump did not, but they are both equally clueless. It is an indication that as president, Trump would not prepare ahead and be continually out of step.

  132. 132.

    nutella

    That video of these guys going onstage is so funny! Half of them are too incompetent to walk to an assigned podium when called but think they could be president.

    I did like Jeb’s performance. He managed to walk down the hall and to his podium while smirking dismissively at Carson and Trump failing to do so. The eye-roll he gave them may have been the high point of his entire campaign.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    I used to hitch some back in the day. Once I got a ride near Harrisburg from a couple of brothers in a nice big Olds. After I got in the back seat, the driver floored it, and a bunch of bottles – ’40s’ rolled out from under the front seat. Scary. Otherwise they were nice interesting guys, just a sheet or so to the wind…

    Later on that same trip I got a ride from a couple of guys in a really sweet muscle car – after a few minutes I came to the grim conclusion that they had no means to buy or borrow such a car and had boosted it. I spent the rest of the ride trying to remember each surface I had touched and wiping my fingerprints off.

    I don’t hitch much anymore. Last time I tried it I was carrying a starter home to fix my truck. Walked 90% of the 25 or so miles, one ride from a preacher saved me from frostbite.

  134. 134.

    Hungry Joe

    Hitching stories? Okay: In March 1970 I got stuck at an on-ramp in Santa Maria (north of Santa Barbara) from about 10pm till dawn. Around midnight a car pulled up; I ran up to it, then backed away: there were four VERY big men in there. One growled, “You want a haircut?” I backed away and said, “No sir, I sure don’t.” They thought about it for a few seconds, then roared away. Ten minutes later they came back, at about 60mph, and flung a bottle at me. It hit the signpost I was standing next to and exploded, showering me with glass. I hightailed it over the overpass to an all-night diner, where I spent the next couple of hours drinking coffee and trying to stop shaking.

  135. 135.

    JGabriel

    @bystander:

    I agree, but I also recollect Gore debating Jr. Unless Trump is the candidate, the Dem candidate is going to have to be careful. Stupidity engenders a lot of sympathy among repubs, which in turn gets a lot of favorable press.

    There is an important difference, though. Bush came across like a frat boy, but a self-confident frat boy, the BMOC.

    Rubio comes across as insecure, like the frat boy who’s still trying to get everyone’s approval. And that’s fatal when you’re running for the nomination of an authoritarian party.

  136. 136.

    jonas

    Love that Hugh Hewitt literally the only person in the sentient universe arguing Rubio’s response was anything other than a ridiculous embarrassment.

    There’s hackery, and then there’s Hewitt hackery. He really does take it to an all new level.

  138. 138.

    jonas

    Question to ask GOP candidates: if an American service(wo)man were ever subjected to waterboarding in captivity, would we seek to punish the perpetrators?

    We hanged Nazis and Japanese after WWII for having subjected prisoners to the “water cure” in an attempt to gather “intelligence” about various resistance activities. Apparently The Donald’s view is that we owe these folks an apology. I think the media should ask him about that.

  139. 139.

    jonas

    @Kay: Kasich’s politics strike me as roughly those of Mitt Romney, but without the incessant smugness. IIRC, he rose to prominence as a kind of “purer” libertarian conservative, willing to call out his own party on spending or foreign policy and other stuff. If his “I’m not a complete asshole” schtick catches on, who knows?

  140. 140.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:
    I have a rather well educated friend, a writer, who lived in OH at the same time as I did. He thinks Kasich is OK. I have yet to figure out why. But he also likes O’Malley and so maybe it’s his love of underdogs and mutts. Which is OK when rooting for sports teams, mutts and such but not really what you want running a state or the country.

  141. 141.

    Ajabu

    @D58826:
    I recommend the US Virgin Islands. All the privileges of America (USD, zip codes, area codes, etc) without any of the downside (Republicans, etc.)
    GREAT beaches, warm climate. We do have TV & Internet but they barely work so that’s a plus.

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