Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

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

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / RNC Night Three Open Thread: Let the Knifings Begin!

RNC Night Three Open Thread: Let the Knifings Begin!

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363Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    So apparently Laura Ingraham gave an actual, honest to God Nazi salute an hour or so ago.

    Sigh.

    Edit: link

  3. 3.

    TaMara (HFG)

    From David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:

    Joy Reid Verified account ‏@JoyAnnReid 6h6 hours ago

    Serious question: has any news outlet seen or interviewed Meredith McIver? Asking because of the GOP candidate’s history of using aliases.

    2,631 retweets 3,991 likes

    The pleasingly alliterative name of Donald Trump’s employee, the woman who supposedly helped to write Melania Trump’s speech for the RNC and which turned out to contain passages that matched Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech word for word, has no verified Twitter account and no LinkedIn profile.

    At the time of writing, no credible news outlet has tracked down Meredith McIver.

    Serious buzz on twitter that Trump has made up the name “Meredith McIver” the same way he made up “John Miller”.

    Would be so awesome if true.

  5. 5.

    Truegster

    We’re all going to be treated to Ted Cruz laying out a post Trumpocalypse GOP, in HD. I hope they use soft focus, at least think of the children for godsakes

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Oh god, there’s an overmedicated Manchurian woman narrating a bunch of black and white photos.

    Now she’s crying

    WTF??

  8. 8.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    I can’t imagine four more years of biodegradation will enhance the melting face of Cruz. A little smugger, a hint of gray to offset those beady black eyes (and heart)… Doesn’t sound like a felicitous change.

  11. 11.

    hovercraft

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    What channel, I’m watching Hugh Hewitt having an orgasm over Scotty’s full throated endorsement of Drump. Also very happy about Nikki Haley endorsement, and he is now convinced that very savvy Cruz will also give a full throated endorsement.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    “And now, ladies and gentlemen…The Undisputed Most Punchable Face in America! SENATOR TED CRRRRUUUUUZZZZ!!!!”

  16. 16.

    Felonius Monk

    @Corner Stone:

    A taped Rubio? Why are they even bothering to show this?

    Because all the pigs, large and small, are in the trough for Donald.

  19. 19.

    Wapiti

    @Corner Stone: By showing all of the losers from the primary, they hope to buck up any Republicans that have buyer’s remorse after the first two days of the dumpster fire. /s

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @hovercraft:

    I have no idea, it’s something free streaming I found on my phone. I don’t see a bug identifying the source. It just says LIVE RNC 2016.

  21. 21.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @hovercraft:

    Why are they ramming full-throated endorsements down our throats?

    And it’s been asked before, but what is it with Republicans and having things rammed down their throats?

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    @JPL: It’s not. He’s exploiting a nine year old child’s pain as he talks about the Dallas police shooting tragedy.
    What a fucking scumbag.

  26. 26.

    hovercraft

    Rafael is smarmy as ever, using the Dallas police as a weapon. America we are all going to die if we don’t vote drump.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    I love how they are showing Trump arriving on the RNC floor while Cruz is speaking.

  29. 29.

    Hal

    How does Ted Cruz know what a slain police officer’s young daughter said and thought? OK, and serious folks? Chanting USA?

  32. 32.

    tobie

    @Amir Khalid: @Amir Khalid: Yes, this is an incredibly weird and convoluted story. It started three weeks ago when Swiss authorities shut down a very old Swiss bank where the Malaysian sovereign fund had an account. Now the US Justice Department has gotten into the picture and the corruption seems to extend to the Malaysian head of state. Very strange indeed and very disturbing for anyone in Malaysia.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Two words: SHUD and DER.

    With your inspiration, I have invented a new portmanteau word. Shudderp – derp so full of derp that it makes one shudder.

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    I caught the end of the lizard’s speech to his supporters earlier today. He mentioned Trump and they booed him vociferously. Then Trump flew his plane overhead and I think I saw a split section of rage over Teddy’s face. He laughed it off in the way you do when you really want to tear someone’s head off.

    He just got biggest ovation I’ve seen at this convention, but he’s putting them back to sleep now.

  37. 37.

    Hal

    Ok Ted. Stop looking at the camera and nodding every time you think you said something smart. Oh! And we have benghazi!!!

  39. 39.

    hovercraft

    I want to be free from seeing your eminently punchable face on my tv, but I’m not. Obama and Clinton don’t care for our childrens future, they are weak, Guantanamo, Iran, JV team, importing terrorists, what difference does it make. All the usual bullshit. Nothing new here same old same old.

  41. 41.

    SiubhanDuinne

    “Jew” as an adjective is as offensive as “Democrat” as an adjective.

    Much more so, actually.

    (And just on principle: fuck you, Ted Cruz.)

  42. 42.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Hal:

    Exactly.

    I actually found myself yawning. Cruz is just boring tonight, not even able to fire up my progressive disdain. Boring yet, as ever, smug and phony.

  45. 45.

    Corner Stone

    Where in the fuck is Fred, Thelma, Shaggy, Scooby and the gang to reach up, grab this dude’s face by the jaw line and peel it off to reveal the old cranky maintenance man of the shut down mystery theme park?

  50. 50.

    mike in dc

    This sounds more like a nominee’s acceptance speech or a Cruz stump speech than an endorsement speech.

  51. 51.

    hovercraft

    Okay time to go get something to drink hopefully he’ll be done by the time I get back, he’s set a pretty high bar for boring, I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Pence can top him.

  53. 53.

    dmsilev

    Nobody tell Ted just how much government spending was involved in sending people to the moon.

    On second thought, everyone let him know.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    It’s funny he mentions the moon landing. I bet a majority of the people at this convention do not believe we ever went to the moon.
    “Astronauts! To the moon! Har har har har har”
    /Beldar

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    @tobie:
    Najib Abdul Razak is Prime Minister i.e. head of government, not head of state. (That would be the Agung, or King.) Najib has yet to plausibly explain the 2.7 billion ringgit (US$700 million or so) that was found in a personal bank account of his a few years ago. Perhaps this is something Loretta Lynch will get to the bottom of. It’s a bit ironic, since Najib has had a closer relationship with Obama than any Malaysian leader has ever had with a POTUS. (I think it helps a bit that Obama’s sister Maya Soetoro is married to a Malaysian.)

  60. 60.

    dmsilev

    “Vote for candidates up and down the ticket” Still not saying Trump’s name.

    Edit: “We want Trump” from the crowd. Hah.

  61. 61.

    Trentrunner

    Notable that Cruz mentioned Trump just once, to congratulate him on winning the nomination.

    Since then, nothing. Weird.

  67. 67.

    mike in dc

    LOLZ–“vote your conscience”= Fuck You, Guy who called my wife ugly and suggested my dad did JFK.

  74. 74.

    dmsilev

    As pointed out by someone on Twitter, there were precisely no Zodiac killings in the last twenty minutes. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

  75. 75.

    Mary G

    @Amir Khalid: That article was pretty scary. I’m sure you’re happy to know your money funded a Scorsese movie.

    Trump can’t stand anyone else getting attention, can he? Why is he there tonight?

  76. 76.

    Trentrunner

    Holy shit.

    Unity!

    ETA: Cruz DIDN’T endorse Trump, so the crowd started booing and thumbs-downing. Then Donald showed up and stepped on Cruz’s speech ending.

    Wow.

  77. 77.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I can’t believe this is the fucking convention of one of the two major American political parties. We’re beyond run-of-the-mill authoritarianism now. I don’t know if we’ve made it to outright fascism yet, but at the least, we’re in the wide open stretch between authoritarianism and fascism.
    I just… Yeah, I know it’s happening, and I’m watching it happen, and we’ve all been watching it happen for the last year, but still, this is hard to believe. I mean, yeah, I know it’s been building to this, for 40 or 50 years, now, but still, now that it’s happening, right before our eyes, it’s still a little hard to fathom.

  78. 78.

    Renie

    Is Teddie Boy now going off script and trolling Trump. He is definitely not endorsing him

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @gogol’s wife:

    I can’t remember the sentence now, but it was part of a list of religious adjectives. The context made it clear that “Jewish” would have been infinitely more appropriate.

  80. 80.

    Corner Stone

    At some point calling Ivanka the smartest Trump kid at Thanksgiving is no longer going to get it done.

  83. 83.

    Corner Stone

    @dmsilev:

    As pointed out by someone on Twitter, there were precisely no Zodiac killings in the last twenty minutes.

    Are we sure the Zodiac Killer didn’t kill anyone backstage? I don’t see how we can be at this point.

  85. 85.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    No doubt the media will describe the speech as electrifying. I suppose it is…

    … In the way an old nine volt battery can still gives your tongue a sour tingle when you contact the posts.

  87. 87.

    PsiFighter37

    Cruz got booed off? Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I bet he goes to his hotel tonight and cries himself to sleep, alone.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mary G:

    Trump can’t stand anyone else getting attention, can he?

    Actually, Dana Milbank (I know, I know) was pretty funny about that earlier today in the WaPo.

  91. 91.

    lamh36

    ‏@joshtpm 3s4 seconds ago
    1: This isn’t Cruz *not endorsing*. This was an affirmative NON ENDORSEMENT. Vote your conscience, ie. not Trump. Brutal. No convention…

  93. 93.

    mike in dc

    The #2 finisher gave a “vote your conscience” speech. The #3 is skipping the convention IN HIS OWN STATE and withholding endorsement. The #4 literally phoned it in, sending a 90 second video that looked like a Rubio for Senate ad. The last 2 Republican presidents withheld endorsements and skipped the convention. Romney actively tried to stop the nominee. McCain is avoiding the convention. The only previous nominee attending was Dole.
    This is now officially a shit show of a convention.

  94. 94.

    lamh36

    Aww..Tweety so upset that Lyin Ted used his time not to endorse Trump, but to essentially tell folks it’s okay to “vote your conscience”…ie NOT vote Republican.

    This is a hot mess…bwhahah

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    @hovercraft: It was different, slightly. He did not go on and on about himself as much as Christie did. But he also mentioned Trump’s name only one time, unlike what Christie eventually did after 12 minutes of talking about himself.
    It was just as brutal, maybe more so.

  97. 97.

    lamh36

    @teddyschleifer
    Heidi Cruz was escorted out by security as the crowd got angry, per @mkraju.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    That NH state rep who wants Hillary Clinton murdered wears his Trump cap pinched in on the sides with the bill over-curved so it sits on the very top of his head, just like every violent bully at my junior high school in 1981. I seem to have developed some sort of deeply buried autonomic horror reaction to people who wear ball caps that way. I bet he spits Skoal juice on the floor in public hallways.

  104. 104.

    lamh36

    BWHAHAHAHAHA

    @BraddJaffy
    That Cruz moment ruined Mike Pence’s night and maybe the entire 3rd night of the convention, @chucktodd says on NBC

  107. 107.

    Corner Stone

    Trump is such an unrepentant narcissist. He can’t stop himself from wildly camera mugging while his punk ass son tongue bathes him.

  110. 110.

    lamh36

    @mkraju
    HEIDI CRUZ escorted out by security as crowd gets angry at Cruz for his speech. One Trump supporter shouting “Goldman Sachs!” at her

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’ve gotta say (very reluctantly) that so far, the Trump kids are pretty good public speakers. The content sucks, of course, but the technique/delivery is effective.

    Game on, Chelsea!

  112. 112.

    Renie

    These Trump kids are spooky. These people are really going to believe Trump will bring back all those manufacturing jobs. Idiots

  113. 113.

    Corner Stone

    This Trumpian hand gesture of circling your index finger and thumb and then waving your hand around is really annoying.

  116. 116.

    dr. bloor

    @PsiFighter37:

    Cruz got booed off? Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I bet he goes to his hotel tonight and cries himself to sleep, alone.

    I bet he goes back to his hotel and masturbates furiously while watching a replay of his speech.

  119. 119.

    mike in dc

    Eric’s tone is substantially more negative than his brother and sister’s. This is the prelude to Pence’s speech. Pence now has an impossible task. But we knew that already.

  121. 121.

    hovercraft

    Qusay now, the poor scrappy Drump clan. So we are going to rebuild America like a dilapidated golf course. So unlike Uday, Qusay is giving a slightly less demented version of a Drump speech.

  123. 123.

    Renie

    So Cruz leaves the stage and the lights start malfunctioning for little Trump.
    “I feel a disturbance in the Force”

  124. 124.

    lamh36

    I’ll give Ted Cruz one things…his conjones may be small, but they are def bigger than Marco Rubio’s!

  131. 131.

    M31

    “Night of the Long Spoons”

    I love it.

    “When you sup with the Devil, you need a long spoon”

    as there are a lot of luciferian satanic motherfuckers at the RNC

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    “Vote for the candidate who has never receive a pay check from our government.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  138. 138.

    dmsilev

    Little known fact: Callista Gingrich’s hairdo is designed to repel light anti-tank rifle fire.

  139. 139.

    Corner Stone

    Lucifer has possessed the backing giant screen behind all the speakers!
    Paint it black!

  144. 144.

    Jeffro

    @lamh36:

    I’ll give Ted Cruz one things…his conjones may be small, but they are def bigger than Marco Rubio’s!

    Yes…Rubio, Christie, and probably Walker have no future after failing to offer even the slightest snub to Trump. Haley also screwed herself over with a stupid remark to one of the MSNBC reporters that “of course” she’d be voting for Trump in November.

    Cruz and Kaisch can knife-fight it out in 2020, whatever.

    I did just want to say…TOTALLY CALLED THE CRUZ BACKSTAB…that is as close to a body slam and a mic drop as you’re ever going to see in American politics. Bearded the Tangerine Lion in his own den, in front of his own pride.

    Now all we have to do is worry about Cruz in 4 years with his lying, fake, “freedom and tolerance” agenda

  146. 146.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I could use a little extra spending money. Sorry now that I didn’t invest in Republican Botox futures.

  149. 149.

    hovercraft

    Steve Schmidt says Cruz gave a good speech, the first adult speech of the convention.

  151. 151.

    lamh36

    @BillHemmer
    BREAKING: Sources with the RNC say @Tedcruz speech was ‘classless.’ Party officials expected him to congratulate @realDonaldTrump.

  156. 156.

    lamh36

    @Shakestweetz 19s19 seconds ago
    Newt Gingrich now mansplaining Ted Cruz’s speech. LOL omg this convention.

  158. 158.

    dmsilev

    Gingrich still auditioning for VP. Has anyone told him yet that he didn’t get the job?

  160. 160.

    Lyrebird (on new device)

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): What you said.

    And could we have an MLB open thread? This from someone who’s just had to remind herself by watching SF-BOS whether the bottom or the top of the nth inning comes first.

    Thanks to Steeplejack the other night, and thanks to various commenters for raising my appreciation for sports announcers. Yeah the going on about the “flair” with which folks from the Dominican Republic play the game may be something my college students could easily point out as not-equal, but srsly… when the chump running for prez spews out such vile stuff, it makes my heart glad to hear these commentators repeating “oh hey, maybe some fans hear Spanish spoken and think those folks are all the same, but Dominicans and Venezuelans have different cultures!”

  163. 163.

    sigaba

    @dmsilev: @dmsilev: “Little known fact: Callista Gingrich’s hairdo is designed to repel light anti-tank rifle fire.”

    It goes along with the EMP dampening field.

  165. 165.

    Hal

    Newt: Here’s a little about my wife. isn’t she amazing? Anywhore, isn’t it great how Trump let’s you speak even without endorsing him?

  167. 167.

    scav

    Vogon poetry is, of course, the third worst in the universe. The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent of his poem “Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning”, four of the audience members died of internal hemorrhaging and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived only by gnawing one of his own legs off. Grunthos was reported to have been “disappointed” by the poem’s reception, and was about to embark on a reading of his 12-book epic entitled “My Favourite Bathtime Gurgles” when his own large intestine – in a desperate attempt to save life itself – leapt straight up through his neck and throttled his brain.

    Let us honor the sacrifice of the electronics who attempted a similar feat.

  168. 168.

    Corner Stone

    @Emma:

    Jesus Mary and Josepf, not you too!

    I’m not in a hotel but I have considered masturbating later. We’ll just have to see how Pence’s speech goes.

  169. 169.

    Jeffro

    As repellent as he is, Cruz’s speech was awe-inspiring…saying the exact opposite of what he believes and what he wants for this country in order to ‘snow’ folks, sowing the seeds of Cruz-as-Uniter, Clinton-as-Demon for 2020…and that’s even before you get to all the ways he managed to pants The Donald in his own house tonight.

    Scary dude. Fortunately for us, he finishes just about every line with that little smirk, that ‘tell’, that most adults can pick up on and recognize as being lied to. But whew, he is ALREADY in high gear for 2020…

  171. 171.

    hovercraft

    Shorter Noot, bad things happened in the world and they were all caused by Hillary and Obama.

  172. 172.

    gogol's wife

    @mike in dc:

    Thanks for your analysis. I offered it to my husband and he now feels he doesn’t need to know another thing about this convention. I think he’s trying to give me a little hint.

  175. 175.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Gingrich reels off about 15 terrorist attacks in the last few months, and then says we’re at war with radical Islam, and we’re losing the war. These guys, I can only guess truly believe this shit. But people who are winning wars don’t have to resort to terrorist attacks. Shit. You do that shit when you’re losing, not when you’re winning.

  178. 178.

    lamh36

    @teddyschleifer
    Chris Christie tells @DanaBashCNN that Cruz’s speech was “awful and selfish.”

  182. 182.

    hovercraft

    Nuclear armageddon is coming people, the threat is real, and the government has been lying to us about this coming collapse of civilization.

  185. 185.

    burnspbesq

    It would be interesting to watch this sad excuse for a Nuremberg rally with a roomful of hardcore Bernie-or-Busters.

    “This is what you want, kids? You’re down with this?”

  187. 187.

    Schlemazel Khan

    Sam Bee is making the trip to the RNC in Herman Cain’s campaign bus on the show right now!

  189. 189.

    lamh36

    @khinman 9m9 minutes ago
    Katie Hinman Retweeted Manu Raju
    Cruz in the hallway trying to make eye contact with his fellow Republicans, greeted with stony stares and silence

  190. 190.

    lamh36

    I’m not even watching this..is Pence up next?

    @politicalwire 51s52 seconds ago
    Um, Newt not leaving much time for Mike Pence to speak

  193. 193.

    David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch

    Viewership down ?

    Many media analysts felt this year’s Republican gathering — featuring Trump and his family, along with plenty of unpredictability — would mean higher viewership than a convention with Romney as the nominee.

    But only a combined 19.4 million people watched on Fox News, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and MSNBC on Tuesday.

    That’s down from the same night of 2012’s coverage, which registered 20.57 million viewers.

  194. 194.

    some guy

    gotta hand it to Gnut, he does, in fact, know how to whistle those Nixonian dogwhistles.

  195. 195.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @dmsilev: The Schedule A link there has the information. Two loans are listed totaling $47.9M. If you click on the “Text” links it says they are “forgiven”.

    It’s kinda funny that he still hasn’t raised as much money as he loaned/donated to himself.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  196. 196.

    gf120581

    I must admit, I did not expect any of the GOP convention to resemble a Transformers episode where Starscream tries to fuck Megatron over.

  202. 202.

    lamh36

    @DylanByers 2m2 minutes ago
    From @DanaBashCNN: Some people on donor suite level so angry at @tedcruz they called him disgrace to his face; one man had to be restrained…

  212. 212.

    hovercraft

    Eugene Robinson compares the Cruz speech with the vote your conscience line was like the Clint Eastwood chair episode. Paul Manafort said this afternoon that he was getting a copy of the speech, so it’s assumed he okayed it. Not having a great week.

  215. 215.

    Jeffro

    @lamh36:

    Chris Christie tells @DanaBashCNN that Cruz’s speech was “awful and selfish.”

    Christie can’t even play checkers, while Cruz’s chess game seems to be pretty strong. Not 11-dimensional of course (you’re at a handicap when your own evil gets in the way) but still. Christie’s pitiful.

  216. 216.

    burnspbesq

    @Renie:

    what position is Newt auditioning for?

    Nowhere is it written that the Speaker of the House must be a member.

  217. 217.

    Mary G

    G.E. Smith now trolling by breaking into “Eminence Front” right after Nest leaves the stage, so Paul Ryan is rushed out at the first chorus and the band’s microphones shut off abruptly.

  218. 218.

    Renie

    It seems Lyin Ted has caused quite a ruckus by not endorsing tRump. This will probably be the big story for tonite. Unless Pence comes out and implodes.

  220. 220.

    sigaba

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah I don’t see this guy as running for President as a Republican ever again. He might have put himself on the right side of history but he’s on the wrong side of the donor lists and checkbooks now, probably forever. It’s almost as bad as Ted Kennedy v. Carter.

  222. 222.

    lamh36

    @BobShrum 3m3 minutes ago
    Newt barely mentions Pence. Trying to show he can give a better speech and should have been VP. What a thoroughly solipsistic convention.

  226. 226.

    Jeffro

    @gogol’s wife:

    What did he do that was so bad? He didn’t speak against Trump, did he?

    He didn’t have to…failure to endorse the God-King is blasphemy against the God-King, I guess.

    No, seriously, his “vote your conscience” was par excellence…way to put it in there DEEP, Ted.

    Payback’s a…um…tough thing, eh Donald?

  228. 228.

    Gin & Tonic

    I spent the last couple of hours watching the replay of today’s Stage 17 of the Tour de France. Much better for my blood pressure.

  230. 230.

    dmsilev

    Pence: “I was the only one who was willing to say yes to Trump. Kind of regretting that now”

  234. 234.

    dmsilev

    @Renie: I don’t have either the liver capacity nor the required amounts of booze on-hand to give that one a go.

  235. 235.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro:

    Nickel bet says whatever Manafort saw is not what Cruz spoke tonight.

    Manafort is a fucking joke. He has no idea what to do with a campaign that can not control, jail or terrorize dissenting opponents.

  237. 237.

    some guy

    white hard Right Christian from the Heartland who loves his Mom (and apple pie, and Chevrolet)

    way to lock up the majority of GOP voters, realDonald et alia

  240. 240.

    The Lodger

    Look up almost any term including “Cleveland” in the Urban Dictionary. Compare it to this convention.

  243. 243.

    Fair Economist

    @sigaba:

    Yeah I don’t see this guy as running for President as a Republican ever again. He might have put himself on the right side of history but he’s on the wrong side of the donor lists and checkbooks now, probably forever.

    The donors don’t like Trump. If Cruz gets blamed for making Trump lose he’ll have trouble, but if the Republican party starts saying “what were we thinking” in January he’ll be well positioned. It’s a gamble, but it might work, and at least he won’t feel like an idiot for the rest of his life like all the folks endorsing Trump will.

  245. 245.

    burnspbesq

    @some guy:

    GA has to have a military contractor looking for a safe district.

    I’m surprised that Noot didn’t try to primary Isaakson. Ol’ Jonny’s a heretic: he believes the Gubmint should, like, work for the people.

  246. 246.

    lamh36

    @AlGiordano
    Oh god. JFK and MLK were Mike Pence’s “heroes.” Stop the world, I want to get off.

  249. 249.

    Corner Stone

    Before Nancy passed she must have held a seance and had the spirit of Reagan imbibed into Mike Pence.

  251. 251.

    danielx

    Newt doing full-on Hermann Goering impression, followed by by Mike Pence, who is clearly going to introduce every fucking member of his family.

    I just wanted to see the evening news so I could check tomorrow’s weather. Instead, as someone noted earlier, I’m getting a second rate production of Triumph of the Will. My poor country…

  252. 252.

    hovercraft

    Alright everyone pack it in now, Mike Pence has resolved that Hillary will never be president. And he looked really serious about it.

  253. 253.

    dmsilev

    Oh, man. Check out Erick son of Erick’s twitter feed. Example:

    SOURCE: The Trump camp knew this morning Cruz would not endorse and told Cruz’s camp they’d orchestrate booing if he refused.

    Party Unity!

  257. 257.

    Mary G

    Twitter has a photo of Cruz’s teleprompter with the endorsement he was supposed to give when he changed to voting your conscience.

  258. 258.

    mike in dc

    “Conservative principles work every time you put them into practice.”

    “LOLZ”–Kansas
    “Roflmao”–Michigan
    etc.

  260. 260.

    gogol's wife

    @hovercraft:

    The NYTimes had an article that I could only read with one eye closed, about how Pence got the job by taking advantage of Trump’s plane being delayed in Indianapolis. He invited the whole family to his house and spent hours telling Trump how much he hated the Clintons. This whole campaign is just built on hate.

  262. 262.

    lamh36

    @ctuckerprof 7m7 minutes ago
    How many times has MLK been mentioned during this convention by ppl who would have wanted nothing to do with him while he was alive?

  263. 263.

    some guy

    Pence, in 1992

    Whether it was Bush’s cynical reversal of the ‘no new taxes’ pledge or his vacillation on the 1992 (sic) Civil Rights (quota) Act, he has managed to alienate a sizable portion of the Reagan Republican coalition,” wrote Pence. “Somehow, miraculously, Dan Quayle has managed to keep his distance from these objectionable acts and has, more than any other politician in America, engendered real credibility as a spokesman for the strong-defense, free-market, and tradition-driven platform of that coalition.

    Jeb Bush, 2016

    Mike Pence is a good man. He will add value to the ticket.

    — Jeb Bush (@JebBush) July 16, 2016

  264. 264.

    mike in dc

    Political Correctness–treating people who aren’t Hetero White Christian Males as equals, with respect.

  265. 265.

    dmsilev

    Josh Marshall:

    Wow. We’ve looked at advance remarks sent by RNC at 8:21. Contains exactly what Ted said. He didn’t change anything!

    Did the Trumpers actually not read the speech in advance?

    I confess I find this inexplicable. But it may simply be that I lack confidence in Trump’s Razor. They bullied him but didn’t read the text?

  266. 266.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone:

    Manafort is a fucking joke. He has no idea what to do with a campaign that can not control, jail or terrorize dissenting opponents.

    Have to agree.

    Also have to believe Cruz knows this as well.

  269. 269.

    Renie

    Has Pence gotten the mob to scream “Put Her In Jail”. If not he’s got to up his game

  273. 273.

    lamh36

    @alexburnsNYT Alex Burns Retweeted Neil Irwin
    NEWS: Trump says he would NOT automatically come to the defense of NATO allies under terms of the charter >>

  274. 274.

    danielx

    Blah….blah…..those soshulist rascals in the white house actually permitted – permitted, I say! – the stock market to go from 8,000 to 16,000. The audacity of those bastards!

  275. 275.

    Major Major Major Major

    “Now, Donald Trump can be a complete and utter asshole, but don’t you want to see him be a complete and utter asshole to HILLARY CLINTON?”

    *applause*
    and YOU get a raging asshole and YOU get a raging asshole…

  276. 276.

    PsiFighter37

    @dmsilev: Complete amateurs.

    I may just watch Trump’s speech tomorrow, just to see just how badly he wanders off-script. He is no natural reading off the prompter.

  278. 278.

    Jeffro

    @dmsilev:

    Party Unity!

    Also, if it’s true that they let Cruz go ahead with no endorsement in his prepared remarks, but said “if you don’t endorse, we’ll hit ya with…orchestrated booing…”, there’s not a wide enough lens to capture Cruz’s alligator smile at that point.

  279. 279.

    scav

    @Corner Stone: Sidebar, because it’ll get lost in the shuffle. Comment by Sir Anthony Parsons (a former ambassador who advised Thatcher) to same lady about possible reasons people were preoccupied with the nuclear debate in the UK:”He said one reason for their concern was the presence in the White House of Ronald Reagan, a president ‘of lower intellectual calibre and less grasp of international issues than any incumbent since the second world war’.”
    Imagine now, with Boris on the other side of the net.

    Revealed: Thatcher official planned to trump CND with Prince William (aka “Unleash the baby pictures!”)

  281. 281.

    Jibeaux

    @SiubhanDuinne: you know, my husband made me watch that movie and I thought it was really bad. There’s terrible synthesizer music throughout, and in the end they play an integrated team with an integrated cheer squad and coaching staff in like 1950, and I’m supposed to root for the lily white hayseed kids? Not feeling it.

  286. 286.

    lamh36

    @MichelleHux 13m13 minutes ago
    everyone keeps mentioning how their parents immigrated to the U.S.
    …let that sink in.
    #RNCinCLE

  288. 288.

    dmsilev

    @PsiFighter37: I read this morning that apparently what passes for the campaign professionals at TrumpCo haven’t seen more than fragments of his speech. It could be epic, in the best train-wreck fashion.

  292. 292.

    mike in dc

    Politically, this would be a fairly effective speech. However, Cruz’ non-endorsement will get co-equal billing tomorrow in the papers.

  299. 299.

    hovercraft

    @amk:
    Pissing off the money guys who aren’t drump fans but are party loyalists will make it an uphill fight.

  302. 302.

    Emma

    Let us admit that if it went down as described, Ted Cruz won the Iron Gonads award.

    Oh, God, it’s contagious.

  304. 304.

    hovercraft

    Great pitch to African Americans and Latinos. You just secured our vote.
    You know how we love the donald.

  305. 305.

    dmsilev

    Huh:

    David Shuster @DavidShuster
    RNC sources: @tedcruz “speech different than version he gave RNC in advance.” Officials + Cruz had to be physically separated after. #GOP
    7:56 PM – 20 Jul 2016

    As the old story goes, if you give a scorpion a ride across the river, he’ll sting you halfway across. It’s his nature.

  313. 313.

    jonas

    @lamh36: How many times has MLK been mentioned during this convention by ppl who would have wanted nothing to do with him while he was alive?

    Holy shit, Trump’s supporters are the children and grandchildren of people who cheered and cracked open a cold one when they heard King had been killed.

  316. 316.

    Jeffro

    @Emma:

    Let us admit that if it went down as described, Ted Cruz won the Iron Gonads award.

    Oh, God, it’s contagious

    You have to admire someone who at least knows how to play this game, a little bit. He’ll make us that much sharper in 2018 and 2020

  321. 321.

    Fair Economist

    @Mary G:

    Twitter has a photo of Cruz’s teleprompter with the endorsement he was supposed to give when he changed to voting your conscience.

    @dmsilev:

    Josh Marshall:

    Wow. We’ve looked at advance remarks sent by RNC at 8:21. Contains exactly what Ted said. He didn’t change anything!

    Maybe Trump’s contingent was trying to snooker Cruz into endorsing, but he was smart enough not to fall for it?

  324. 324.

    Renie

    Pence just got the memo – he says Benghazi, the mob says Lock Her Up. Now Mickey is a true member of the gang

  325. 325.

    hovercraft

    And again they fuck up the timing, they lost network coverage at 11:00. Actually I just checked and they’re sticking with this, so instead they get to piss off all those tuning in for the news.

  329. 329.

    lamh36

    Well, I’ll be damned…never thought I’d say this…but

    “cheers to you Ted Cruz” , still can’t stand ya though

    @pink_funk 4m4 minutes ago
    Ted Cruz actually let them load an approved speech on to the TelePrompTer and then went rogue. I’m weak.

  332. 332.

    debbie

    @danielx:

    I’m getting a second rate production of Triumph of the Will.

    Haven’t been listening and didn’t read your comment until now. While washing up with the tv on in the background waiting for the local news, I heard the chanting and immediately Triumph of the Will came to mind. Very chilling.

  333. 333.

    p.a.

    This may be the greatest thread evah. I won’t watch, but (maybe I’m exposing my own psychological issues here) your descriptions of the convention remind me of Gunter Grass’ The Flounder, where, according to the protagonist, in the mythic past humans used to eat alone, hidden, but would shit in a circle facing each other for encouragement.
    A convention auditorium where everyone competes to produce a bigger turd!

  336. 336.

    mike in dc

    “We have but one choice”…wow, that’s a pretty weak rationalization. “He’s our only option, sorry about that.”

  338. 338.

    stinger

    As a former Screaming Eagle, I kinda resent him saying Rendezvous with Destiny. It’s like more plagiarism or something.

  344. 344.

    Emma

    From Andrew Sullivan’s live blogging:

    11:02 p.m. So we are now finding out that if Trump is elected, NATO will be effectively disbanded. The Baltic states will be offered up to Putin:

    [A]sked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are the most recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

    The party of Reagan is now in rigor mortis.

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer party.

  348. 348.

    amk

    ted bundy was the official ‘spokesman’ for the religious kooks wing of the gop. can we take it that after tonight, they lost this reliable vote base too?

  350. 350.

    hovercraft

    Tweety is still outraged at the Zodiac Killer’s sabotage mutiny. A rat deserting the ship hoping that it will sink.

  355. 355.

    Peale

    @Emma: yep. That’s it for NATO. I think some of those countries, which have 0 at stake in Middle East conflicts, joined the “coalition of the willing”, the “new Europe” weren’t they called? Does that count?

  356. 356.

    srv

    @Peale: NATO is obsolete, Trump will replace it with something better.

    We have enough people over here on welfare to carry all the Europeans too.

  357. 357.

    Anonymous patient

    I have the best part of a quart of high-end bourbon, but I don’t dare do a drinking game with it.

    One thing active Democratic party members need to learn from this convention:

    There are many Republicans out there who want to kill you. Be prepared to defend yourselves!

    Get one of those CCW permits, join a shooting club, learn how those precision machines work (assuming you get a well made weapon to carry) and guard your family and yourself from these would-be Nazis.

  358. 358.

    Digital Amish

    @Corner Stone:

    Are we sure the Zodiac Killer didn’t kill anyone backstage? I don’t see how we can be at this point.

    Well, no ones been able to find Meredith McIver.

  359. 359.

    sukabi

    @dmsilev: if I was Cruz (and thank dog I’m not) I’d go on all the shows tomorrow and say “I don’t know what the problem is, I had Melania’s speech writer work this up for me.”

  360. 360.

    J R in WV

    @jonas:

    This!

    There isn’t a party member in the house (but for the 16 black party members) who didn’t cheer a little bit inside when Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead in Memphis.

    Haters, one and all.

  361. 361.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @srv: I understand what you do. The why confuses me. What is lacking in you that you feel that trolling liberal websites fills the gap? Seek help.

  362. 362.

    Death Panel Truck

    @gogol’s wife:

    So Cruz got his revenge for the National Enquirer story at last.

    Looks that way to me, anyway. All I can say is, good on yer, Ted. You’re still a fucking asshole, but good on yer.

Comments are closed.