The GOP debate is mercifully almost over, but God, what a snooze fest so far!
Random impressions:
- Christie was disappointingly low key — he didn’t club anyone, not even once!
- DeSantis is thrumming with manic serial killer energy — no big mistakes (damn it), but he reminded me of Blake Masters in that weird ad where he’s fondling a rifle.
- Ramaswamy is a smarmy prick.
- Pence is an insufferable pompous ass.
- All of these assholes are shameless liars, including the moderators and audience.
- Burgum is on Vicodin.
- Tim Scott is a fanatic.
- Nikki Haley is delusional.
- Hutchinson is a sleazy hypocrite who almost certainly has a secret perversion.
That’s all I have to say about that. Now I can go back to watching Ina — woohoo!
Open thread!
Fake Irishman
Let us never speak of this again.
Edit: you can tell how lame the topic is if I, the king of commenting on dead, fossilized threads can call FIRST!
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Fake Irishman: I can say no more.
Alison Rose
I didn’t watch, but I trust your assessments, BC. Someone in the earlier thread said that DeSantis made it sound like he was a Navy SEAL? Definitely seems like a big no-no, although I’m sure the SUPPORT TEH TROOPS!!! people won’t really care.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
If anything could move me to take a Republican ballot this cycle…
Ken
You missed a marvelous opportunity for a game, where you give us a list of names and a list of descriptions, and ask us to match them. Though “is delusional” would have been tricky.
lgerard
From Meagan McArdle of all people:
“I see a bunch of people saying that DeSantis is having a good debate, including respected colleagues here! I’m afraid I don’t see it. He’s coming off like an irritated high school principal trying to browbeat the kids behind the gym into joining Junior ROTC.”
HumboldtBlue
DeSantis is angry all the time, and when he’s not angry he’s exasperated and that makes him angry.
None of these people will earn one vote over Trump.
Villago Delenda Est
Wonkette has been live blogging this clown show, Evan Hurst providing lots of snark and the non-commenters chiming in. DeathSentence isn’t even making a splash, Ramalamadingdong is dominating the snarkmob’s reactions.
twbrandt
My impression is that Haley isn’t stupid, she’s super ambitious and completely unprincipled.
Alison Rose
@lgerard: Oh God, I laughed with sincerity at a McArdle line. I think I have to go put myself in the stocks now.
Wyatt Salamanca
On CNN, Republicans Alyssa Farrah Griffin and Scott Jennings thought Nikki Haley had the best night.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@twbrandt: she seems less dumb since she stopped trying to make that “kicking in heels” thing happen
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Not far off. He voted to impeach Clenis while he was having an affair with his secretary
Jackie
On to watching the post debate analysis…
Suzanne
DeSantis didn’t have a good debate. He was a total non-presence.
Burgum reminded me of Admiral Stockdale, where am I going and why I am in a hand basket?
Pence did better than I thought he would.
Vivek is a cokehead.
Christie was disappointing, he’s usually good for a shiv. And he looked bad.
Scott is boring.
Hutchinson is boring.
Haley didn’t embarrass herself.
ETA: Vivek’s teeth are so white that they look like he bought them at the Spirit Halloween store.
RSA
@lgerard: I’m only reading the Washington Post live stream, but McArdle has come up with some nice descriptions early on:
Trump: “the nation’s premier chaos muppet”
Ramaswamy: “But his intro tonight was a little too slick. I half-expected him to tell me the number to call to order my ShamWow!”
DeSantis: “He’s coming off like an irritated high school principal trying to browbeat the kids behind the gym into joining Junior ROTC.”
OGLiberal
Pence won. He won’t win the nomination, they’ll never like him and he is horrible but I think he won, maybe simply by not being them. Burgum…OK but will never be trusted. Ditto Hutchinson. Tim Scott’s entire appeal seemed to he to conservative blacks…not going to win you the nomination. Christie is solely there to wage revenge porn.
MomSense
Joe Biden’s X account just posted “climate change is real btw”
RedDirtGirl
I watched more than I thought I would. Was surprised to see that Pence and Vivek went at it on numerous occasions.
Alison Rose
@RedDirtGirl: Vivek was on coke and Pence was on hot cocoa with extra marshmallows.
Fake Irishman
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
It was better than that: he not even only voted to impeach Clinton, he was one of the House prosecutors.
(In his favor, he kept the Medicaid expansion in Arkansas. It was the first big indicator that expansion might be durable even under GOP state governments.)
Trivia Man
@Alison Rose:
“DeSantis made it sound like he was a Navy SEAL?”
I caught at least twice where he name dropped them and implied he was a SEAL. But he actually said “I served with SEALs” and other sneaky phrasings.
Cathie from Canada
Thank you, Betty, for watching this so I didn’t have to.
RedDirtGirl
@OGLiberal: I sort of agree. I hate Pence with a burning intensity, and have always agreed with the MockPaperScissors.com description of him as a walking termite buffet. But he had an unexpected gravitas tonight that I was not expecting. I mean, don’t get me wrong, all the Bible crap had me gagging, but he sounded more presidential than I thought possible.
marcopolo
@OGLiberal: Well, all I can say is the target audience for this debate were the listless vessels that are R primary voters. YOU think Pence won (and for normies he did give a decent performance), but honestly I don’t think anyone on this blog has he ability to totally understand the MAGA cognitive dissonance & nuttiness. As awful as Vivek appeared to me, I could see him being the winner with those folks (shudders).
lgerard
@RSA:
Did you notice how Thiessen DOES NOT LIKE Ramaswarmy.
He criticized him nonstop. Maybe he is just not Xtian enough
Honus
@lgerard: which raises the question of who Megan is watching the debate with that are saying DeSantis is doing well?
SiubhanDuinne
Didn’t see the debate, but on MSNBC just now they played a clip of Christie supposedly pwning Ramaswamy with a line comparing him to Barack Obama. And all I could think was, Barack Obama won a very tough primary, and two full presidential terms. So Chris, maybe not the best comparison if you’re trying to diss someone.
Or to put it another way: “Please continue, Governor.”
ETA: The above comment is in no way meant as a support or defence of Ramaswamy.
khead
Watching it was like eavesdropping on a conversation in Bizzaro World
Cathie from Canada
Wonkette concludes: “The winner of this debate was Joe Biden”
Ha ha!
Jay
@Trivia Man:
Death Santis did serve with SEAL’s,
at GITMO,
where he helped them brutally torture prisoners.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cathie from Canada:
I honestly didn’t learn much about the debate, the issues, or the candidates from Evan’s Wonkette liveblog, but I most certainly laughed out loud at several points.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: Christie seems to go after Obama a lot, more than he does Biden. Maybe the podcast with Springsteen was just more than he could cope with
Suzanne
@Honus: I was surprised by how little DeSantis talked. He didn’t seem to ever want to jump in. Even Burgum seemed more energetic.
ETA: There was also a moment at the beginning where you could see DeSantis reminding himself to smile. And it looked fake and bad.
Alison Rose
Caption on an MSNBC clip on YT: Maddow: I was shocked by how bad Ron DeSantis is at playing politician
But he’s been this bad forever. Come on, Rachel.
Martin
Another mass shooting near me. Lovely.
HumboldtBlue
Dark Brandon is already using Nikki for sound bites.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s still trying to shake off the cooties from that post-Hurricane Sandy hug.
SiubhanDuinne
@Martin:
Shit. Where? And, I guess, how many?
West of the Rockies
Tim Scott, I gather, was an utter nothing tonight? He’s barely been mentioned thus far.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
Maybe DeSantis should do the next debate with a broken ankle.
The Pale Scot
A picture is worth ……… Priceless;
Trump in front of the law
OK, it’s photoshopped, it’s still beautiful, I was so tickled I didn’t notice the edge blur
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@West of the Rockies: just caught the never-trumpers of the Bulwark (Tim Miller, Tom Nichols, etc) saying that Scott looked nervous and unsure of himself and Larry Ellison is gonna want his money back. They think Nikki Haley had the best night and the big donors are going to start sending her cash
ETA:
cain
@HumboldtBlue: I hope that he doesn’t get an accidental overdose of gamma radiation then.
Suzanne
@West of the Rockies: Scott was boring. Tried to break up a food fight at one point and just killed the vibe. Did that more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger schtick. Snoooooore.
SiubhanDuinne
Wow, even my RWNJ brother said I didn’t miss a thing by not seeing the debate.
Bill
@Trivia Man: I think what he meant to say was “I was a Harvard lawyer posted to forcefeed prisoners at Guantanamo” but that didn’t poll quite as well with the testers
Jackie
@HumboldtBlue: “I approve this message.”
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: Orange County CA
As many as 10 shot, several dead, at famed Cook’s Corner biker bar in Orange County
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s it, time for me to turn in. The evening can’t get any better.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the Bulwark crew all in agreement that Rupert had his thumb on the scales for DeSantis tonight
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
Aaaah jeez.
Retired LEO. Goddam.
RSA
For being such a desperate social climber, Trump looks so uncomfortable wearing a suit. And I wonder how many times he’s fired his tailor? No one’s taking credit/blame for the fit.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: For lack of a better alternative I suppose? That’s pretty pathetic.
BruceFromOhio
All the way to November 2024 … AND BEYOND
Trivia Man
@Bill: Truth is punished!
@Jay: It should be clear to anyone that he was never a SEAL – but he sure likes the implication that he was somehow “with” them. I really hope that his involvement with torture gets ore play. Even if he drops out of the race tomorrow – he needs to have that stain permanently attached to his hide. to this day he still defends his work there. (But quietly)
Arclite
Now tell us how you really feel Betty. 😄
BruceFromOhio
@RSA: Broke out the box wine early for a little pre-gaming, eh Meg?
Jackie
”Moments after the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, Greene told RSBN host Brian Glenn that Fox News refused to let her enter the so-called spin room as a surrogate for Trump because he boycotted the event. Fox News made it clear ahead of time that Trump surrogates would not be admitted if he did not participate.”
””And I just want to go ahead and let you know, and for the audience listening, they just blocked us out,” she complained. “They would not allow myself, Matt Gaetz, any other Trump surrogates to go into the spin room… So this is censorship from Fox News. This is censorship, not allowing surrogates for President Trump to go into the spin room.””
“Glenn tried to move on to another subject, but Greene said she was too angry.”
“I’m sorry,” the lawmaker fumed. “I’m still so mad that we just were blocked out. I literally am furious.”“
More at the link:
https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-fox-news-debate/
I have to say, I’m impressed that FAUX News actually stood by their word to not let any TIFG surrogates participate in the Spin Room.
cain
reviewed Tom Nichol’s twitter thread on it – I’m caught up. Tom declares it a shitshow. Good enough for me!
Jay
Ramaswamy was a 2011 Soro’s Fellowship For New American’s student.
Oops,…….
Mai Naem mobileI
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: i think it was his brother Tim who was having an affair with his secretary not Asa. I wouldn’t vote for Asa but Asa sounds like the most normal GOPr on that stage. That’s how crazy the GOP has become. BTW Asa’s nephew(pretty sure its Tim’s kid) was a state legislator is in trouble over some corruption scandal and is probably going to be doing some time.
Alison Rose
OMG this clip of DeSantis is fucking hilarious and terrifying. IS HE EVEN A REAL HUMAN.
dmsilev
@Jay: I guess someone decided it was time to let a bit of opposition research on him ‘leak’ out. For normal people this would be utterly irrelevant, but the GOP primary electorate are …not normal.
Mai Naem mobileI
@Jay: i saw a blurb about Ramalamadingdong’s company never actually has made any money. I am waiting for the media to hit that whenever his fall starts.
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison Rose:
Dear sweet Christ. That mouth.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think I missed that one in real time. Good lord. Newtie, Livingston, Hyde, anybody else remember crazy Helen Chenoweth? So many frauds hoist with their own petard
Betsy
@Jackie: “I literally am furious”
WOW. Unimaginable
Misterpuff
From downstairs:
I want a clip of the Pence/Vivek set-to with Beavis and Butthead’s voices dubbed in.
Assholio FTW and Dense is such a Butthead.
Alison Rose
@SiubhanDuinne: Fucking Hannibal Lecter had a more convincing smile.
The Pale Scot
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Upvote for the Wink.M reference. GO BIG BLUE!
ArchTeryx
Frankly the evening would have been far more entertaining if a megalodon crashed the party and ate them all. It certainly would have been more fun than an actual debate.
ArchTeryx
@Alison Rose: Human enough to get elected governor twice in Florida. Shows just how far the majority of the state’s voters have fallen, doesn’t it, that they’d elect a lizard man as governor? Twice?
wjca
@Suzanne:
Maybe his latest campaign advisors got thru with the obvious advice: “Every time you shoot your mouth off, you shoot yourself in the foot. So just shut up.”
Jay
@Mai Naem mobileI:
He made money, his companies made money, mostly by ripping off other investors, not from sales of actual products.
Hype, smooze, bring in the VC and pension funds as the stocks climbed, sell out before the fall, rinse, repeat,…..
Kristine
Just wanted to say thanks for the post about Ina’s program. I didn’t know about and I don’t have cable anymore but it looks like it’s on Apple TV and Amazon Prime and the fee isn’t bad.
I love Ina. She’s my Cookie Sensei.
Nettoyeur
@Jay: Isn’t that pump and dump…..which is at least somewhat illegal?
rikyrah
This person found a damaged bumblebee and took it in🤗🤗
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8FqLkdL/
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@dmsilev: I blame this on the lack of school prayer
RaflW
Thanks for the recap and details, all. Seems like the guy in Milwaukee who walked around with the “VP Debate tonight!” sign was right, and I don’t regret missing it.
Good night!
Jay
@Nettoyeur:
kinda, but not.
Kinda reminds me of what happened at 3M Thin Films. They bought a Boston publically traded Corp that according to Wall Street was the #1 Thin Films Corp in the world.
2 years in 3M Corporate finally figured out that their entire value was based on getting new investment from stock sales and VC investments, not product shipped.
Pump and Dump is technically when you or a collection of other’s buy “your” stocks, (and control the majority of shares) at ever increasing prices, creating a rapid rise which you and partners sell off when you think the price has peaked.
Those who buy in near the peak, quickly discovered they paid real money for a worthless penny stock.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
I don’t think anyone would allow him to clean the bilges of a USN ship. And no I don’t think he has ever been any better at any time in his life than he is now.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@lgerard: Or white
Odie Hugh Manatee
I’ve never really heard Sandtits speak much until today. His voice sounds like he fakes a tough guy voice, like it’s too high pitched and he’s forcing it to be lower to sound tough.
He sounds like wimp trying to be tough. I suppose that passes for tough on the right…lol
Jay
https://mockpaperscissors.com/2023/08/23/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-1946/
patrick II
@Kristine:
I was just watching it on MAX.
lgerard
Someone has some serious questions for Leonard Leo
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23741538/campaign-for-accountability-irs-complaint-leonard-leo-nonprofits.pdf
patrick II
Vivek Ramaswamy is the reductio ad absurdum of MAGAism.
Death Panel Truck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I met Helen Chenoweth in a receiving line after her appearance at a public hearing in Nampa on the day JFK Jr’s plane went down. Her hand was so cold, it was like shaking hands with death.
Martin
@SiubhanDuinne: Cooks Corner in Traduce Canyon. 9 victims. 3 dead plus the shooter – a former cop.
Baud
Reddit comment
Shalimar
@Odie Hugh Manatee: If you hunt around online, you can find clips of DeSantis speaking in his natural range. The tough guy voice is a big improvement, which is why he has clearly been training with a voice coach to use it.
Rebel’s Dad
That poor buzzard (?) looks like he ate a Republican politician and just realized how badly he f’ed up.
Manyakitty
@Martin: tragic. Another day ending in ‘why?’.
wenchacha
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Such a baby.
Paul in KY
@Alison Rose: Which for Pence is like Angel Meth.