Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

The revolution will be supervised.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You cannot shame the shameless.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

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

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

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

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Early Morning Schadenfreude Open Thread: Random Observations from the First 2016 Presidential Debate

Early Morning Schadenfreude Open Thread: Random Observations from the First 2016 Presidential Debate

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When you’ve lost Megan McArgleBargle…

… Smiling, serene, egged on by each groan and grunt and interruption she goaded from her rival, Clinton provoked Trump again and again—over his refusal to release his tax returns, his years-long “racist lie” about President Barack Obama’s birthplace, his foreign-policy views, and his treatment of women. Meanwhile, Trump drew some blood on the issue of trade, specifically calling out crucial battleground states in the process, but found little on Clinton’s most vulnerable fronts: e-mail, family foundation and policy crises of her tenure as secretary of state…

Trump started the debate relatively subdued, but grew increasingly testy as the night went on—and as Clinton’s jabs kept coming. He used negative emotion words like “terrible,” “stupid,” and “disaster” about 50 percent more often at the end of the debate than the beginning, according to a Bloomberg Politics analysis with Quantified Communications…

A CNN snap poll found that 62 percent of voters who watched said Clinton won the debate compared to 27 percent for Trump.

His son Donald Trump, Jr. defended his father after the debate: “There’s a time for temperament, and there’s a time where you actually have to defend yourself,” he said…

Thing is, though — for all the well-deserved mockery, Trump said a bunch of stuff that in any other election cycle would have even the Media Village Idiots perturbed. He once again advocated “taking the oil” from Iraq (which would be a war crime, if it were physically possible); he said “we” should be demanding protection money from NATO; he thought “China should just go into North Korea” (because a manly commander like Douglas MacArthur would’ve done just that); he derided the Fifth Amendment; he said that stop & frisk was “extremely effective in reducing crime” (it wasn’t) until “a very anti-police judge” ruled against it, and repeatedly contradicted the moderator who pointed out that it had been found unconstitutional…

According to Deadspin, “Even Stormfront Thinks Hillary Clinton Won The Debate“. (They have screencaps, so you don’t have to worry about malware from links.)

THE SNIFFLES ARE INOPERATIVE:


(The older more seasoned people here will remember Ron Ziegler)

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  1. 1.

    Keith G

    Now that I am up and at a keyboard, I can do this correctly: Here is FLOTUS, whom David Plouffe and David Axelrod have nicknamed, “The Closer” with an ad that was put up late last night.

  2. 2.

    Amir Khalid

    I can’t imagine better news for America than that the Republican party is proceeding to the presidential election with a national laughing stock of a nominee.

  4. 4.

    robert thompson

    HRC is playing cool and calm. Trump can’t deal with someone who mentally in the game at all times. His ADD or whatever went up his nose paralyzes him once his schtick is done. No capacity for cognitive reaction.

    That thing about the oil in Iraq being ours for the taking is so beyond the pale that I really don’t understand how elites would sit comfortably with this. Even the PNAC were not so bold or stupid. That would embroil is in ME turmoil death and treasure wasted just as if we were the French trying to hold on to the rubber plantations in Indochina. The thing about taking someones resources means you can never leave. We would need multiple conveyor belts at Dover AFB.

  5. 5.

    Keith G

    @Amir Khalid: Well, actually the best news for us would be to have two political parties, each with some attachment to centrist policies, that actually believe in the value of good governance. But the news you refer to will have to do until that time when/if a new governing consus evolves.

  6. 6.

    cokane

    the russia trending thing has been debunked per Washington Post. This is why you never broadcast what conservatives say without a double check.

    Can we stop it with this stupid Russia obsession?

  9. 9.

    montanareddog

    @robert thompson:

    That thing about the oil in Iraq being ours for the taking is so beyond the pale that I really don’t understand how elites would sit comfortably with this.

    I did a quick back of the envelope calculation. Wikipedia says there are an estimated 140billion barrels of oil reserves in Iraq; current production is 4.55 million barrels per day. If my sums is correct, at that rate of extraction, the US Army would have to occupy and defend Iraq’s oilfields for 84 years to “take” all of the oil.

  10. 10.

    Cermet

    The tRump is crying to any news outlet about how he really did win … LOLOLOLOL. What a fucking looser and this is what thugs want to vote for?! LOLOLOL

  11. 11.

    Splitting Image

    I’m glad that Clinton trashed Trump so badly on Monday, but I’m even happier that the debate season is finally upon us. Clinton has done well at every campaign event so far (certainly compared to Trump), but I think the long gap between the conventions and the first debate is what allowed the “journalists” on TV to take control of the narrative. They won’t have another long stretch to do that again, and once the debates are done Trump won’t have any more big chances to sell himself.

    Next up is the VP debate. Tim Kaine should be able to hold his own against Mike Pence, who I am still occasionally confusing with Mitch Daniels.

  12. 12.

    greennotGreen

    Since this is an open thread, may I ask about the triple parentheses around some tweeters’ names. I understand it signifies that they’re Jewish, but how do the parentheses get there?

  15. 15.

    Chyron HR

    538 pre-debate, post-debate.

    There’s no change in the election map, and I sincerely doubt there was time to do any kind of election polling that would be influenced by the debates, but the 538 election meter swung 4 points based solely on Silver’s personal impression of who won.

    But it’s science, guys. He has a secret formula and it’s foolish of you to doubt his predictions. And no, you can’t see the formula.

  16. 16.

    amk

    His ‘cyber’ speech was utter gibberish from a mad mind. If the eleventeen deep bench of thugs had managed to even marginally defeat him in the first two or three primary states, he would have quit.

  17. 17.

    robert thompson

    @montanareddog: 84 years defending drilling rigs, production rigs, pipelines to get the oil out of Iraq, all the infrastructure involved so fragile to simple explosives and having to guard it all. Any back of the envelope calculations what kinda force structure and size that would take? Don’t these morons understand it will be their children and grandchildren defending the indefensible. Their stupidity is awesome.

  19. 19.

    Cermet

    So the Rump is spending money on ads trying to convince people he won the debate?! What a pathetic loooosssseeerrr!!!!LOLOLOL
    That the goppers are allowing money that this critical junction to be spent on an ego trip is beyond funny.

  20. 20.

    Geoduck

    @greennotGreen: If you mean in technical terms, I can’t help you, but socially it started as way for white-supremacist types to mark “Jewish” names in their online writing without triggering Google searches. It’s supposed to be “historical echoes” or somesuch. When word of the practice leaked out to the mainstream, people started putting them around their own names as a way to neuter it.

  22. 22.

    different-church-lady

    Since it’s an open thread, I’ll share this morning’s insonia induced anxiety: I’m having dark thoughts that today is going to be my last day in the working world.

    I wonder how long a person can retire on $8000…

  24. 24.

    Anne Laurie

    @greennotGreen:

    Since this is an open thread, may I ask about the triple parentheses around some tweeters’ names. I understand it signifies that they’re Jewish, but how do the parentheses get there?

    See my July post here. Excerpt:

    …a number of non-Jewish tweeters — including for a while our own Blogmaster — started using the triple-parens to show their rejection of the NeoNazis. This quickly destroyed its usefulness for the self-described “anti-racists” who think racism will be solved once all the Jews are, at a minimum, exiled to Israel… because then the NeoNazis will be able to purge all the not-white people who cause racism, by existing.

    The original triple-parens thing was originally done by a neoNazi app that I’m told has been disappeared by all reputable service providers. Adam did a longer, probably more coherent, explanatory post around the same time (but I’m tired & on my way to bed).

    Twitter’s fairly generous about letting its users change their monikers — the Blogmaster is calling himself Your Debate Binky right now. So plenty of not-Jewish people (including, I believe, McArdle) added the triple-parens in solidarity. Some of them, and some of the Jewish twitter users who chose to ‘out’ themselves, have since deleted the triple-parens, now that their point’s been made. Not sure how many current users are stalwarts, and how many just haven’t gotten the Round Tuit.

  30. 30.

    Mustang Bobby

    The Arizona Republic, which has never endorsed a Democrat in the 126-year history of the paper, endorsed Hillary Clinton.

    The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified. That’s why, for the first time in our history, The Arizona Republic will support a Democrat for president.

    I really doubt that anyone’s mind has ever been changed by a newspaper endorsement, but it’s pretty amazing nonetheless.

  34. 34.

    Cermet

    @different-church-lady: Uh, has someone said that you will be let go? If not, hang in there and just do the job without trying to add extra worries. Hope you are worrying for nothing. Best of luck and hope your day goes well.

  35. 35.

    NorthLeft12

    BTW I think I figured out what was wrong with Deadbeat Donald’s microphone. It was apparently missing it’s filter.

  37. 37.

    Cermet

    @different-church-lady:Unless you are fighting swelling, ice is the wrong treatment. Heat to increase circulation and healing – again, only if there is no swelling. Do take anti-inflammation drugs like Ibuprofen or aspirin (if safe for you. Always dissolve aspirin in water if taking it and follow with more water.)

  40. 40.

    different-church-lady

    @Cermet: yeah, swelling. Can’t even remember how I hurt it. I figure the doctor will just cut it off and give me a wooden one.

  43. 43.

    satby

    @different-church-lady: I’ve had to pick myself up and dust myself off over and over again, so if the end comes at this job for you, believe me when I say you’ll be ok in the end. Tough times don’t last. Not to minimize your stress at the moment, because it must be huge, just know you’ll overcome the hurdles if they show up.

  44. 44.

    Barry

    @different-church-lady: “Since it’s an open thread, I’ll share this morning’s insonia induced anxiety: I’m having dark thoughts that today is going to be my last day in the working world.

    I wonder how long a person can retire on $8000…”

    I feel for you. What is your situation?

  45. 45.

    montanareddog

    @robert thompson: I am sure he could hire the smartest, most tremendous engineers to build the biggest, most tremendous pipelines to America and pump it all out in 6 months or so and, err, pour it into the abandoned coal mines and fracking fissures caused by the foreign usurper’s energy policies. Or something just as coherent as his counter-cyberwarfare policy which is apparently to hire his 10 yo son on a tremendous salary. Or something.

  46. 46.

    Dupe

    What I said to the taking the oil comment:
    “It is geologically impossible, logistically improbable, and internationally illegal.”

  48. 48.

    Michael Bersin

    @OzarkHillbilly: They keep having that contest every time they’re in session. The title seems to rotate among quite a few.

    The number of individuals who could be classified as the “dumbest member of Congress” is approximately the same as the count of individuals we constantly read about in international news who are in an organization’s “number three” leadership position who usually end up dynamically resigning from their jobs.

  50. 50.

    dr. bloor

    @Chyron HR:

    the 538 election meter swung 4 points based solely on Silver’s personal impression of who won.

    Is this snark, or willful stupidity?

    BTW, that’s not a screen shot of just before/just after the debate.

  51. 51.

    JGabriel

    Molly Ball:

    If Donald Trump doesn’t pay federal income taxes, is he a member of the 47 percent?

    Yes.

    Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.

  52. 52.

    JGabriel

    cokane:

    the russia trending thing has been debunked per Washington Post. This is why you never broadcast what conservatives say without a double check.

    Mensch is a Tory, sure, but that particular meme didn’t start with her, it started with some guy named “Dusty” whose political persuasion I’m unfamiliar with. But, yeah, the Post’s debunking looks pretty solid.

    Can we stop it with this stupid Russia obsession?

    We can stop it when Trump stops it.

  56. 56.

    JR in WV

    @greennotGreen:

    The StormFront White Nationalists started using a browser add-on that would recognize names the Nazis regarded as Jewish and automatically added those (((smith))) parens so that the Nazis would know when Jews were involved in their news.

    So in support of the Jewish community, people with names like smith started typing their names with (((these))) added in.

    Oddly, recently we started receiving literature aimed at the Jewish community, probably by contributing to a liberal cause and having a Germanic (Swiss in our case) name. Much of it was from groups desperately trying to convert Jews to Christianity so that the New Temple can be built as a prerequisite for the “end times” rapture.

    Hopeless fol-de-rol nonsense to one raised as a Christian early on, but exposed to multiple religions as a young adult, like all the major religions. Fundy Christians are just so sad.

  59. 59.

    Peter

    @cokane: The poster’s defending it on Twitter, saying that it didn’t come from TrendMaps, but rather was put together using data from TrendMaps. Unfortunately, I’ve scoured her timeline and can’t figure out for the life of me figure out where it IS supposed to have come from, despite her insistence that she’s posted it.

    For now, stash it under ‘debunked’ with the possibility of revisiting it if someone provides new evidence.

    And anyway, as delicious as it would be, we really don’t need the Russian connection. A group of dedicated yahoos can make anything trend without needing to resort to foreign resources.

  60. 60.

    daves09

    Trump can’t prep for the debates. Try to cram information into that ADD mind and you’ll get the word salad that comes when the salad spinner goes into hyperwarp. Which would actually be kind of great.

  61. 61.

    Cain

    @robert thompson: These people don’t give a rats ass. They are too drunk on nationalism and America is great rhetoric. America will not be great if we are thieves that come in and steal other people’s treasure. There is nothing honorable about that. I can’t believe that we have a candidate that is outloud saying that they want to go into a sovereign country and take their property. The man, will encourage nuclear proliferation everywhere… we would undo everything that was done in the past 40 years.

  62. 62.

    No One You Know

    @different-church-lady: How are you doing?

    I too am challenged by the dark. Often it’s because it’s my own dark inner critic.

    Knowing this doesn’t make me less worried, but it puts a note of perspective that’s helpful.

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