John Kasich and Rubio are now just there to be spoilers, which really pisses me off.
Kasich didn't even get enough signatures in Pennsylvania and Illinois to qualify for the ballet.
The whole purpose right now of Kasich and Rubio is to drive it to the convention so the establishment can give it to Romney or someone else of their choice.
I want Cruz to take it. And Rubio and Kasich are pissing me off with this ridiculous strategy. Therefore, I hope Trump kicks their teeth in in Ohio and Florida, unless Cruz can take one of them, which I don't think he can.
CNN didn't hire Hewitt. The RNC required this year that conservative media voices be included among the debate questioners. One such is Salem Media, the network that broadcasts Hewitt's nationwide daily radio show. Hugh is Salem's designee.
Most of what Hewitt has done this year, btw, has been behind the scenes, during joint prep sessions: He keeps the CNN people (mostly/relatively) honest.
When Cruz speaks about protecting workers jobs all I hear is a bunch of Goldman Sachs guys sitting around and laughing, 'and he says it with a straight face. Best money we've spent in years.'
I was in the University Bookstore, on University Avenue, and was casually walking around with a new paperback of "Mein Kampf" under my arm, aimless, when I saw a beautiful young woman in the Law Section.
We made eye contact, then she saw the book under my arm.
I nodded faux-sheepishly and said "Research."
She laughed and said "About Trump?"
I laughed in return and just said that I was checking out famous Austrians, and was getting ready to go to the Art Section to get a book on Egon Schiele.
She said "Who?"
So I replied: "He was a protégé of Gustav Klimt, but edgier. Literally edgier: sharp elbows and knees in his paintings."
"Oh," she said: "I LOVE Gustav Klimt. I have a poster of his in my bedroom."
"I have seen your bedroom," I said.
"What?"
"Bedrooms like yours: Gustav Klimt posters. I have been in many of them."
"Ummmm..."
"Manet, Monet or Mayonnaise?" I asked her, and she laughed.
"I like them all," she said, smiling.
"But you order your mayonnaise on the side, right?" I responded.
"How did you know?"
"Because of you thigh gap. Women who don't order mayonnaise on the side don't usually have thigh gap."
Important Lesson Here: when possible, ALWAYS compliment a woman on Thigh Gap. They stay up at nights thinking about it.
Anyway,
She asked me if I was a student, and I told her I just like to wear corduroy pants.
"Corduroy?" she chuckled.
"Obviously you have never sat in the lap of a man wearing corduroy pants and appreciated the texture."
"I guess..." she said, and I asked her if she would join me in the Cafe for a Latte.
She said she really had to get home and study. So I discreetly followed her home and stared into her second-floor window from the street.
I'm very impressed with this CNN debate so far. I can't believe they asked a tough question on H1B's right from the start.
Of course, without Trump, we wouldn't be talking about this.
And I liked Trumps answer, which boils down to, "Hey look, these are the rules right now. If you want to compete as a businessman, you have to play within the rules. But it's time to change the rules."
He didn't say that, but that's what it sounded like. I thought it was a good answer.
@ pm317: Trump didn't say a damned word about what he would do to win. He spent his whole opening statement talking about how great he is, and what a big deal it is to the world that his campaign has come along. Nothing else.
@eric, I liked Trump's answer. If he didn't take advantage of it now as a business man he would be a fool. But he also knows the extent to which people like him are getting away, so he can fix it.
The unstated fear is Donald is like the vengeful, hateful banishment-style f they themselves fully-in-the-moment self-actualalized Homo sapiens yo, with Capital records and letters too.
@Beldar, you and I see things differently which is ok. He highlighted all the new people he is bringing in and he is right. All the so called Reagan Democrats who should have been for Hillary are walking away from her incompetent campaign while she goes after Bernie and Obama nuts. The independents (like me) seem to like Trump also. He also categorically said what the establishment is doing is counter-productive -- good use of his time. He has introduced all those issues that would never have been talked about but for him.
Ugh. Trump is so terrible on social security. He sold s worse than Hillaryy Clinton. He is told his numbers don't add up. And then he goes into his "I'll make America great again" shtick and doesn't even address the issue. Rubio says, sure lets take on abuse, let's stop giving money to countries for security. But it doesn't address the issue. Trump can't answer it. He literally can't answer it. The moderator give up in exasperation trying to get him to answer the questions because they realize that he never will.
Trump is cleaning Cruz's clock. Cruz is so convinced his arguments are working as planned out, but everyone knows he bases them on multiple falsehoods.
I cannot image what benefit these debates serve. Are there really people undecided between Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich who will have their minds made up by anything that is said in tonight's debate?
Why the fuck would you go to Bangladesh to proselytize for Christianity? It would be safer to give your 4 year old a loaded gun in the back seat of a car while driving.
Exactly. Remember when the Bush administration tried to make a push for private SS privatization. I am actually somewhat sympathetic to that plant, but the public backlash was so swift and undeniable that the idea was dropped like a hot potato and essentially never mentioned again.
"How many times does it have to said: Saudi Arabia is not our ally. It's not complicated."
Agree completely. I've been saying since about September 13th, 2001, that the US should use the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity to pivot away from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states and towards a detente with Iran.
The Al Saud family has basically painted itself in a corner with its alliance structure. It has a deal with Saudi Arabia's priestly class to endorse their conservative salafism, while the religious class ignores the fact that many of the al Saud princelings spend a lot of time in places like Europe and California driving sports car, drinking expensive liquor, and sleeping with prostitutes.
jdniner, you're kidding, right? Was his speech/QVC segment this week after the Tuesday primaries "presidential"? Was his opening statement this evening "presidential"---- everyone else laid out a vision for a better future for America, he bragged that he was going to beat Hillary because he's beating her in the polls (except, of course, he's not). Every time he tries to act responsible and presidential, he can't seem to help but throw in an elbow or an insult. Relationship with a Republican congress? His response, paraphrasing " I have met with Paul Ryan. I think I can work with him. And if not, Ryan will pay a big price." Yeah, real presidential, that guy.
Hooo boy, here goes Trump again, with "Waterboarding for fun and profit."
No mention of interrogation. Nothing about intelligence. Trump wants to waterboard, "and worse," because ISIS's behavior is so bad. I guess that means torture as punishment. Not in the pursuit of interrogation goals, but just because the bad guys deserve it.
This is the mccullough theory of "rough 'em up" national security.
Trump will have to walk this back, again. Doesn't he ever learn?
Watching the basketball game but switched over to hear Cruz blow the question about private SS accounts in a down market. Even retiring into a down market you come out ahead if you started when you were young.
Coulter is having a fit right now. Israel. Israel. Israel. What about Australia? Doesn't anyone care about Australia? It is neighbors with the largest muslim country in the world. I want to hear about Australia, or Iceland. What about Canada?
Chuck, I completely agree with your take on Trump's waterboarding/torture talk. But your last line made me laugh. Donald walk something back? Nope, not his style. Now he'll say the exact opposite tomorrow, to be sure, but then he'll say something different the day after that and return to this position the day after that. It's crazy. And you asked "doesn't he ever learn?" Well, what he seems to have learned is that the american media and the american voters will allow him to get away with this junk.
We are not electing a Grand Marshall for a parade, Donald. Being grand marshall doesn't make you a supporter of Israel. How asinine.
Remember back in 2012 when the most positive thing anyone could say about Mitt Romney was that he looked "presidential?" One of the biggest mistakes the founders made, in my opinion, was to combine the head of state (a largely symbolic position) with the head of government (a pragmatic, consensus-building job) into a single executive position. The modern presidency is far too powerful a position to be held by a single individual. If we ever got around to Constitution 2.0, I'd like to see three national elections: a president, an attorney general, and a chief financial officer.
"Coulter is having a fit right now. Israel. Israel. Israel."
Is there another country whose presidential hopefuls are required to lavish over-the-tope praise on a foreign country and its leadership? And not just any foreign country but a tiny client state.
J. Farmer said... Is there another country whose presidential hopefuls are required to lavish over-the-top praise on a foreign country and its leadership?
Also, it is rude to point out that the Muslims in Bangladesh are trigger happy and will go off on an unkind word. Rubio memorized this little speech that had nothing to do with the question and it came out to this viewer as disrespectful of the members of the ROP in Bangladesh.
Israel is a litmus test for me. Don't like Israel move to a Muslim country. Egypt can open the border with Palestine any time they want. There is an Islamic reason they don't.
Areasonableman wrote: Coulter is having a fit right now. Israel. Israel. Israel. What about Australia? Doesn't anyone care about Australia? It is neighbors with the largest muslim country in the world. I want to hear about Australia, or Iceland. What about Canada?
why wou.d we need to have discussions about Australia? Australia is a stable place. Israel directly impacts our fight with Islamic extremism. If nothing major happens in Australia then we tend to not have discussions about it.
What about the Philippines? The place most likely to lead to a war with a world power. You have carrier task forces facing off and playing chicken with the extremely well armed Chinese. There are 2-3 million Filipinos and their descendants here besides. #2,3,4,5 distantly, are Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland. But yes, foreign policy is Israel all the time.
Why are we fighting Islamic extremism? What about Hindu extremism or Buddhist extremism? There's no shortage of extremists in the world.
what Hindu extremism are you referring to? I'm certainly up for dealing with Hindu extremism if it exists, but I don't see a Hindu ISIL rampaging through the ME. Nor are Hindus becoming radicalized and coming back as suicide bombers. If they are, and there is a huge Hindu extremism issue that needs to address, then let's deal with it.
Drago said... Chuck: "Trump is so full of shit. We've sold more Buicks in China, than in the U.S., since 2006."
Always good to get the take from Hillary! headquarters.
Nobody in the world -- apart from the most extremist Trumpkins -- seriously believes that a lifelong Republican's opposing a Trump nomination equals support for a Democrat.
Does Trump have an actual policy about anything? His every answer is, "we need to make a better deal. I will negotiate a better deal." If Trump worked 72 hours every day, he couldn't negotiate all the deals he's talked about.
Maybe he can re-hire all of the instructors and presenters from Trump University. You know, the people he personally hand-picked. Lulz.
"Israel directly impacts our fight with Islamic extremism."
This really isn't true, though Israeli commenters and politicians (and American ones, too) have done their best post-9/11 to talk as if the threats the US and Israel faces are the same. All the talk of "no daylight" between US and Israeli foreign policy is ridiculous. The US actually maintains a closer alliance with Estonia than with Israel. If Estonia is attacked by an outside power, we are treaty bound to go to war on their defense. No such condition exists for an attack on Israel.
buwaya puti said... The Chinese are much more worrisome than any number of Muslims.
This is self-evident, yet we never deal with it nor do we deal with how the rise of China was facilitated by the quislings in the finance industry who hollowed out our manufacturing industry in pursuit of shareholder value.
Chuck, you are my hero. I'm a life-long Republican and I oppose Trump's nomination with every fiber of my being. that does not make me a hillary or bernie supporter. That makes me an intelligent person who sees through the nonsense and does not want my party to be saddled with the baggage that would come with having Trump at the top of our ticket.
No, apparently Trump does not have an actual policy about anything. Watching the debate tonight, you can actually watch him making stuff up as he goes along. And tomorrow, he will walk away from at least half of the junk he said. But who can actually take him seriously? Tianmen Square was a riot? Ground troops against ISIS are okay now, after months of him saying we cannot send in ground troops? The Iran deal is the worst deal in history but he will let it stand?
OH, and you gotta love him calling the number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright "a random number." No, Mr. Trump, it's not random. It's 50% plus 1. What a clown. And I'm supposed to line up to follow him because he's a great businessman? The dude doesn't even understand simple math.
"What a clown. And I'm supposed to line up to follow him because he's a great businessman? The dude doesn't even understand simple math" A clown in the name-licensing business. That's his whole shtick.
ARM, you must really crack yourself up. No way you're really that ignorant, and if you are, please find a classroom elsewhere. Buddhist extremists light *themselves* on fire.
From Wiki: "Myanmar had become a strong hold of Buddhist aggression and such acts are spurred by hardline nationalistic monks. The oldest militant organisation active in the region is Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), headed by a Buddhist monk U Thuzana, since 1992. In the recent years the monks, and the terrorist acts, are associated with the nationalist 969 Movement particularly in Myanmar and neighboring nations. The violence reached prominence in June 2012 when more than 200 people were killed and around 100,000 were displaced. As of 2012, the "969" movement by monks (the prominent among whom is Wirathu) had helped create anti-Islamic nationalist movements in the region, and have urged Myanmar Buddhists to boycott Muslim services and trades, resulting in persecution of Muslims in Burma by Buddhist-led mobs."
The Buddhists in Myanmar are undoubtedly extremists engaged in ethnic cleansing. All religions are corruptible.
As tempting as it is to conclude that Muslims can turn even Buddhists into extremists, the ethnic cleansing is some pretty ugly stuff. There is no 'pure' or perfect in the world of humans. If Ted Cruz understood this he would be getting a lot more votes.
"Not changing Social Security = economic collapse and hyperinflation."
Voters tend to be notoriously short-sighted in their preferences, and mailing out Social Security is the single most popular thing that the federal government does.
Trump is the only candidate running on some big issues.
Kasich seems like he wants to be President so he can get out of Ohio and back to DC where the food and booze are better. Rubio wants to be President because it pays more than being Senator and he needs to live in a bigger house since his four kids are getting bigger and his current house is sort of small. And Cruz wants to be President so people have to at least pretend to relate to him
AReasonableMan said.There is no 'pure' or perfect in the world of humans. If Ted Cruz understood this he would be getting a lot more votes. -- Oh..he says there are perfect humans among us? Or are you referring to JC?
trump is totally wrong on tariffs. If you want to create more jobs, the last thing you want is tariffs. Because people won't buy TV sets that cost 500 dollars more. If people are not buying as much it will cost jobs. Further, they will then impose tariffs on our goods (higher than we already have) meaning fewer of our goods will be sold there, again leading to job losses. Less jobs and higher prices are not the way to grow the economy. And trump says it would only be a threat. He's putting down his red line. What if China calls his bluff?
Rubio knocked it out of the park on Cuba. That might have been the best answer in the whole debate. Trump does not know much about Cuba, tariffs, terrorism, Islam, but at least he didn't go full Trump. Maybe that's the best that can be expected of him. He won't answer well, but if he doesn't go,off the rails completely it's something
This very big deal occurred, after the debate. NBC now has the video interview.
Donald Trump says he thinks an assault of Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields by Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (standing next to Trump in this video!) may be "made up."
Meade said he was going to vote for "neither evil," I can respect that. I have given up on strategic voting myself, it's like a double bank shot. I will only vote for a person I wouldn't mind seeing in the White House, however flawed. So I will vote for Rubio in the primary and general, should he make it, Sanders if it's not Rubio or Cruz, and pull the lever for 'R' if it's Hillary with my nose plugged if it gets to that.
Not changing Social Security = economic collapse and hyperinflation
You sons of bitches who keep arguing about politics and the horse race bull shit will see us the way of Greece. Idiots, the lot.
Well, you're right, of course, but can you actually talk about SS and what needs to be done, and be elected? No. Of course the numbers don't add up. If you make them add up, you couldn't be elected dog catcher.
The Dem criminal and crazy old Jew are promising more, and more, and more..stuff.
All we are arguing about right now is which decade we become Greece. Not whether we become Greece. Once we all become Greece, manhood will come back in style in a big way.
Sorry you feel that way Qwinn. If Cruz wasn't running dishonest attack ads, ads low enough to have been written by Democrats, I might not have turned off to him. I am perfectly aware of the theoretical ramifications of my vote per the calculations of many of the commenters here.
Sorry, but I hear ten thousand times about how Cruz is being "dishonest", but the rare times any details are presented, it turns out it's the "victims" who are lying. It's like that one guy whose entire rebuttal to the Swiftboat Veterans was to scream "Liars!" Ten thousand times.
Cruz ran against ethanol subsidies in IOWA. That's something only an honest man does.
Rubio ran against amnesty when running against Charlie Crist, and as soon as he won became its biggezt booster. That is something only a dishonest man does.
Sorry, but I hear ten thousand times about how Cruz is being "dishonest",
I am not going to go through all of his attack ads, but to hear them, you would think that Rubio was behind Teapot Dome. Sorry, but his slash and burn politics are destroying our chance to win, probably already have destroyed them. Anybody who wants to win so badly that he is willing to destroy any other Republican's chance to win wants it too badly. I don't trust him.
Basically I wouldn't be surprised if no Republican is electable statewide in Florida after the ads that have run here. And the ads are so full of obvious omissions and so light on facts as to make them disgusting.
Touch not the Lord's anointed, say the Cruzbots. But that is a Lord who speaks in tongues and interpretation by certain cult prophets, but he still speaks in riddles. That does not pass the smell test, as Paglia says aboutThe Prophet Cruz.
So to the doubters of Michelle Fields' story; do you think "nothing" happened? Ben Terris of the Washington Post says absolutely it did. Just as Michelle Fields has described. Terris' published story only goes into the Post when a news editor reviews it. We are not talking about a blog, or a stray comment in a live broadcast.
And there's Lloyd Grove's reporting for the Daily Beast, indicating that Corey Lewandowski called the Breitbart CEO to smooth things over and in the course of the conversation, acknowledged grabbing Michelle. Lewandowski reportedly told Breitbart that he thought he was grabbing some other Trump-hostile member of the mainstream press, and not a (presumed, by Lewandowski) friendly reporter from Breitbart.
But then there's Lewandowski himself, and Trump's spokeslady, and now even Trump himself declaring that nothing happened. In Trump's words, probably "made up." On top of the low-grade efforts on Twitter to smear Michelle Fields.
This will be a classic case of the cover-up (false denials, in this instance) being worse than the "crime."
Tell us again Chuck how the State of Alaska covered all of Palin's legal expenses regarding the tons of frivolous ethics complaints that Democrat activists filed for such things as wearing an Arctic Cat jacket to a gathering.
"I would be astonished" if you have your facts right here.
"All we are arguing about right now is which decade we become Greece. Not whether we become Greece. Once we all become Greece, manhood will come back in style in a big way."
Ignoring the myriad differences between Greek and American politics, just remember one big difference: Greece is trapped inside of a monetary union and has no control over its interest rates. It cannot devaluate its currency. It's still being strongarmed by the troika into treating its solvency problem like a liquidity problem.
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106 comments:
John Kasich and Rubio are now just there to be spoilers, which really pisses me off.
Kasich didn't even get enough signatures in Pennsylvania and Illinois to qualify for the ballet.
The whole purpose right now of Kasich and Rubio is to drive it to the convention so the establishment can give it to Romney or someone else of their choice.
I want Cruz to take it. And Rubio and Kasich are pissing me off with this ridiculous strategy. Therefore, I hope Trump kicks their teeth in in Ohio and Florida, unless Cruz can take one of them, which I don't think he can.
"Kasich didn't even get enough signatures in Pennsylvania and Illinois to qualify for the ballet"
Fair enough but have you seen him tap dance? Step aside, Mr. Bojangles!
Top 8 Clinton scandals
I would love to see a Romney run in 2016. Isn't everyone?
Jaltcoh says that this is the final debate for the Republicans. I am thankful for that.
I guess I'm watching this one.
Or, try-
I think CNN does a pretty good job, considering (the others).
I know the libs like to flood the comments here on republicans debates, so I'd remind them of a very important rule when commenting:
Using the name "Hitler" is very serious, so be careful when using it. It should only be used on people you don't like, or disagree with.
Enjoy the "debate".
And the guy getting no delegates and no votes gets the most cheers.
Packed debate anyone?
Tapper is a good cookie. I applaud CNN for hiring Hewitt too. They have regained status as a news organization. This is healthy.
Opening statements:
Kasich: future
Rubio: future
Cruz: future
Trump: Look at me!
CNN didn't hire Hewitt. The RNC required this year that conservative media voices be included among the debate questioners. One such is Salem Media, the network that broadcasts Hewitt's nationwide daily radio show. Hugh is Salem's designee.
Most of what Hewitt has done this year, btw, has been behind the scenes, during joint prep sessions: He keeps the CNN people (mostly/relatively) honest.
Trump has shifted the needle on immigration, ME wars and trade. Kasich's statement on trade was very different than it would have been absent Trump.
When Cruz speaks about protecting workers jobs all I hear is a bunch of Goldman Sachs guys sitting around and laughing, 'and he says it with a straight face. Best money we've spent in years.'
ARM.. he says one thing in Manhattan and another elsewhere. Fiorina said so.
I was in the University Bookstore, on University Avenue, and was casually walking around with a new paperback of "Mein Kampf" under my arm, aimless, when I saw a beautiful young woman in the Law Section.
We made eye contact, then she saw the book under my arm.
I nodded faux-sheepishly and said "Research."
She laughed and said "About Trump?"
I laughed in return and just said that I was checking out famous Austrians, and was getting ready to go to the Art Section to get a book on Egon Schiele.
She said "Who?"
So I replied: "He was a protégé of Gustav Klimt, but edgier. Literally edgier: sharp elbows and knees in his paintings."
"Oh," she said: "I LOVE Gustav Klimt. I have a poster of his in my bedroom."
"I have seen your bedroom," I said.
"What?"
"Bedrooms like yours: Gustav Klimt posters. I have been in many of them."
"Ummmm..."
"Manet, Monet or Mayonnaise?" I asked her, and she laughed.
"I like them all," she said, smiling.
"But you order your mayonnaise on the side, right?" I responded.
"How did you know?"
"Because of you thigh gap. Women who don't order mayonnaise on the side don't usually have thigh gap."
Important Lesson Here: when possible, ALWAYS compliment a woman on Thigh Gap. They stay up at nights thinking about it.
Anyway,
She asked me if I was a student, and I told her I just like to wear corduroy pants.
"Corduroy?" she chuckled.
"Obviously you have never sat in the lap of a man wearing corduroy pants and appreciated the texture."
"I guess..." she said, and I asked her if she would join me in the Cafe for a Latte.
She said she really had to get home and study. So I discreetly followed her home and stared into her second-floor window from the street.
Mark my words: she WILL feel my Corduroy.
I am Laslo.
Did Kasich just say he'll do things before the wall is built? He'll bring in more immigrants in his first 100 days, nothing about enforcement?
Opening statements:
Kasich: canned
Rubio: robotic
Cruz: boring
Trump: what I will do to win..
They have to win first to do anything else.
{with apologies to @Beldar}
A good, strong hard look at the HB1 visa issue a year or two after taking office.
I'm very impressed with this CNN debate so far. I can't believe they asked a tough question on H1B's right from the start.
Of course, without Trump, we wouldn't be talking about this.
And I liked Trumps answer, which boils down to, "Hey look, these are the rules right now. If you want to compete as a businessman, you have to play within the rules. But it's time to change the rules."
He didn't say that, but that's what it sounded like. I thought it was a good answer.
No, eric, what he said is that he can't help himself from stealing everything that's not nailed down.
@ pm317: Trump didn't say a damned word about what he would do to win. He spent his whole opening statement talking about how great he is, and what a big deal it is to the world that his campaign has come along. Nothing else.
@eric, I liked Trump's answer. If he didn't take advantage of it now as a business man he would be a fool. But he also knows the extent to which people like him are getting away, so he can fix it.
The unstated fear is Donald is like the vengeful, hateful banishment-style f they themselves fully-in-the-moment self-actualalized Homo sapiens yo, with Capital records and letters too.
Trump losing to Hillary in 42 of 49 polls. = winning.
I don't think this debate will be that important. And Drumpf said Democrat Party, so....
Trump is doing very well so far.
@Beldar, you and I see things differently which is ok. He highlighted all the new people he is bringing in and he is right. All the so called Reagan Democrats who should have been for Hillary are walking away from her incompetent campaign while she goes after Bernie and Obama nuts. The independents (like me) seem to like Trump also. He also categorically said what the establishment is doing is counter-productive -- good use of his time. He has introduced all those issues that would never have been talked about but for him.
Ugh. Trump is so terrible on social security. He sold s worse than Hillaryy Clinton. He is told his numbers don't add up. And then he goes into his "I'll make America great again" shtick and doesn't even address the issue. Rubio says, sure lets take on abuse, let's stop giving money to countries for security. But it doesn't address the issue.
Trump can't answer it. He literally can't answer it. The moderator give up in exasperation trying to get him to answer the questions because they realize that he never will.
Trump is going presidential. Katich and Rubio aren't going to touch him and Cruz still looks like Moe Szyslak.
I listened to a post Trump primary win speech and he was very Presidential. He seemed pretty solid. Where Rubio seemed... small...
How does taxing imports not raise prices? Pure BS. Cruz's BS has been aged in oak barrels.
Trump is cleaning Cruz's clock. Cruz is so convinced his arguments are working as planned out, but everyone knows he bases them on multiple falsehoods.
I cannot image what benefit these debates serve. Are there really people undecided between Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich who will have their minds made up by anything that is said in tonight's debate?
Trump is great on SS. Leave it alone. Stupid Republicans always fall into Democrat trap of saying we need to either cut benefits or raise taxes.
A real vote loser.
Anybody else think Rubio's "Dumbo" earlobes are distracting?
Kasich is such a phony. Mr. open borders free trader is now Mr. tough trade deals and border security.
One second after Kasich won election he'd be back to open borders and free trade uber alles.
Why the fuck would you go to Bangladesh to proselytize for Christianity? It would be safer to give your 4 year old a loaded gun in the back seat of a car while driving.
How many times does it have to said: Saudi Arabia is not our ally. It's not complicated.
@rcocean:
"A real vote loser."
Exactly. Remember when the Bush administration tried to make a push for private SS privatization. I am actually somewhat sympathetic to that plant, but the public backlash was so swift and undeniable that the idea was dropped like a hot potato and essentially never mentioned again.
Marco Nadaell Hassan or whatever the name.
He killed Real Americans.
Trump is so full of shit. We've sold more Buicks in China, than in the U.S., since 2006.
AReasonableMan:
"How many times does it have to said: Saudi Arabia is not our ally. It's not complicated."
Agree completely. I've been saying since about September 13th, 2001, that the US should use the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity to pivot away from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states and towards a detente with Iran.
The Al Saud family has basically painted itself in a corner with its alliance structure. It has a deal with Saudi Arabia's priestly class to endorse their conservative salafism, while the religious class ignores the fact that many of the al Saud princelings spend a lot of time in places like Europe and California driving sports car, drinking expensive liquor, and sleeping with prostitutes.
Victims of use sleptaway ought expound most un Thomas or Buckley or Reagan or Steyn or Jeff Goldstein.
jdniner, you're kidding, right? Was his speech/QVC segment this week after the Tuesday primaries "presidential"? Was his opening statement this evening "presidential"---- everyone else laid out a vision for a better future for America, he bragged that he was going to beat Hillary because he's beating her in the polls (except, of course, he's not). Every time he tries to act responsible and presidential, he can't seem to help but throw in an elbow or an insult. Relationship with a Republican congress? His response, paraphrasing " I have met with Paul Ryan. I think I can work with him. And if not, Ryan will pay a big price." Yeah, real presidential, that guy.
Hooo boy, here goes Trump again, with "Waterboarding for fun and profit."
No mention of interrogation. Nothing about intelligence. Trump wants to waterboard, "and worse," because ISIS's behavior is so bad. I guess that means torture as punishment. Not in the pursuit of interrogation goals, but just because the bad guys deserve it.
This is the mccullough theory of "rough 'em up" national security.
Trump will have to walk this back, again. Doesn't he ever learn?
Watching the basketball game but switched over to hear Cruz blow the question about private SS accounts in a down market. Even retiring into a down market you come out ahead if you started when you were young.
Coulter is having a fit right now. Israel. Israel. Israel. What about Australia? Doesn't anyone care about Australia? It is neighbors with the largest muslim country in the world. I want to hear about Australia, or Iceland. What about Canada?
Chuck, I completely agree with your take on Trump's waterboarding/torture talk. But your last line made me laugh. Donald walk something back? Nope, not his style. Now he'll say the exact opposite tomorrow, to be sure, but then he'll say something different the day after that and return to this position the day after that. It's crazy. And you asked "doesn't he ever learn?" Well, what he seems to have learned is that the american media and the american voters will allow him to get away with this junk.
We are not electing a Grand Marshall for a parade, Donald. Being grand marshall doesn't make you a supporter of Israel. How asinine.
@ellamentary:
"Yeah, real presidential, that guy."
Remember back in 2012 when the most positive thing anyone could say about Mitt Romney was that he looked "presidential?" One of the biggest mistakes the founders made, in my opinion, was to combine the head of state (a largely symbolic position) with the head of government (a pragmatic, consensus-building job) into a single executive position. The modern presidency is far too powerful a position to be held by a single individual. If we ever got around to Constitution 2.0, I'd like to see three national elections: a president, an attorney general, and a chief financial officer.
AReasonableMan:
"Coulter is having a fit right now. Israel. Israel. Israel."
Is there another country whose presidential hopefuls are required to lavish over-the-tope praise on a foreign country and its leadership? And not just any foreign country but a tiny client state.
ellamentary said...
Being grand marshall doesn't make you a supporter of Israel.
No, but it does mean that you at least know a few Jews, unlike little Marco.
J. Farmer said...
Is there another country whose presidential hopefuls are required to lavish over-the-top praise on a foreign country and its leadership?
No. Not even in Israel.
Also, it is rude to point out that the Muslims in Bangladesh are trigger happy and will go off on an unkind word. Rubio memorized this little speech that had nothing to do with the question and it came out to this viewer as disrespectful of the members of the ROP in Bangladesh.
Israel is a litmus test for me. Don't like Israel move to a Muslim country. Egypt can open the border with Palestine any time they want. There is an Islamic reason they don't.
Why does Cruz talk like that?
@AReasonableMan:
"No. Not even in Israel."
Ha. Good point. The US-Israeli relationship is one of the most ridiculously lopsided in all of diplomatic history.
Chuck: "Trump is so full of shit. We've sold more Buicks in China, than in the U.S., since 2006."
Always good to get the take from Hillary! headquarters.
ellamentary:
Kudos. I stand corrected.
@jdiner:
Just out of curiosity, in what manner is Israel a "litmus test" for you?
Areasonableman wrote:
Coulter is having a fit right now. Israel. Israel. Israel. What about Australia? Doesn't anyone care about Australia? It is neighbors with the largest muslim country in the world. I want to hear about Australia, or Iceland. What about Canada?
why wou.d we need to have discussions about Australia? Australia is a stable place. Israel directly impacts our fight with Islamic extremism.
If nothing major happens in Australia then we tend to not have discussions about it.
They need to ban any debate questions regarding Israel. We get nothing of substance, just everyone trying to out-pander each other.
What about the Philippines?
The place most likely to lead to a war with a world power.
You have carrier task forces facing off and playing chicken with the extremely well armed Chinese. There are 2-3 million Filipinos and their descendants here besides.
#2,3,4,5 distantly, are Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.
But yes, foreign policy is Israel all the time.
jr565 said...
Israel directly impacts our fight with Islamic extremism.
Why are we fighting Islamic extremism? What about Hindu extremism or Buddhist extremism? There's no shortage of extremists in the world.
The Chinese are much more worrisome than any number of Muslims.
Areasonableman wrote:
jr565 said...
Why are we fighting Islamic extremism? What about Hindu extremism or Buddhist extremism? There's no shortage of extremists in the world.
what Hindu extremism are you referring to?
I'm certainly up for dealing with Hindu extremism if it exists, but I don't see a Hindu ISIL rampaging through the ME. Nor are Hindus becoming radicalized and coming back as suicide bombers. If they are, and there is a huge Hindu extremism issue that needs to address, then let's deal with it.
Drago said...
Chuck: "Trump is so full of shit. We've sold more Buicks in China, than in the U.S., since 2006."
Always good to get the take from Hillary! headquarters.
Nobody in the world -- apart from the most extremist Trumpkins -- seriously believes that a lifelong Republican's opposing a Trump nomination equals support for a Democrat.
Does Trump have an actual policy about anything? His every answer is, "we need to make a better deal. I will negotiate a better deal." If Trump worked 72 hours every day, he couldn't negotiate all the deals he's talked about.
Maybe he can re-hire all of the instructors and presenters from Trump University. You know, the people he personally hand-picked. Lulz.
@jr565:
"Israel directly impacts our fight with Islamic extremism."
This really isn't true, though Israeli commenters and politicians (and American ones, too) have done their best post-9/11 to talk as if the threats the US and Israel faces are the same. All the talk of "no daylight" between US and Israeli foreign policy is ridiculous. The US actually maintains a closer alliance with Estonia than with Israel. If Estonia is attacked by an outside power, we are treaty bound to go to war on their defense. No such condition exists for an attack on Israel.
buwaya puti said...
The Chinese are much more worrisome than any number of Muslims.
This is self-evident, yet we never deal with it nor do we deal with how the rise of China was facilitated by the quislings in the finance industry who hollowed out our manufacturing industry in pursuit of shareholder value.
Chuck, you are my hero. I'm a life-long Republican and I oppose Trump's nomination with every fiber of my being. that does not make me a hillary or bernie supporter. That makes me an intelligent person who sees through the nonsense and does not want my party to be saddled with the baggage that would come with having Trump at the top of our ticket.
No, apparently Trump does not have an actual policy about anything. Watching the debate tonight, you can actually watch him making stuff up as he goes along. And tomorrow, he will walk away from at least half of the junk he said. But who can actually take him seriously? Tianmen Square was a riot? Ground troops against ISIS are okay now, after months of him saying we cannot send in ground troops? The Iran deal is the worst deal in history but he will let it stand?
OH, and you gotta love him calling the number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright "a random number." No, Mr. Trump, it's not random. It's 50% plus 1. What a clown. And I'm supposed to line up to follow him because he's a great businessman? The dude doesn't even understand simple math.
Kasich is not going all that well in this debate. When the others act more like adults he seems a lot less viable.
"What a clown. And I'm supposed to line up to follow him because he's a great businessman? The dude doesn't even understand simple math" A clown in the name-licensing business. That's his whole shtick.
How many will stay home instead of vote for this clown?
ARM, you must really crack yourself up. No way you're really that ignorant, and if you are, please find a classroom elsewhere. Buddhist extremists light *themselves* on fire.
From Wiki:
"Myanmar had become a strong hold of Buddhist aggression and such acts are spurred by hardline nationalistic monks. The oldest militant organisation active in the region is Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), headed by a Buddhist monk U Thuzana, since 1992. In the recent years the monks, and the terrorist acts, are associated with the nationalist 969 Movement particularly in Myanmar and neighboring nations. The violence reached prominence in June 2012 when more than 200 people were killed and around 100,000 were displaced. As of 2012, the "969" movement by monks (the prominent among whom is Wirathu) had helped create anti-Islamic nationalist movements in the region, and have urged Myanmar Buddhists to boycott Muslim services and trades, resulting in persecution of Muslims in Burma by Buddhist-led mobs."
The Buddhists in Myanmar are undoubtedly extremists engaged in ethnic cleansing. All religions are corruptible.
How dare those buddhists get fed up with the lefts beloved islamists and dare to fight back.
Amanda will be along shortly to lecture those buddhists on how to stay properly still while your head gets lopped off.
Anything less is ugly islamophobia.
Social Security = a real vote loser
Not changing Social Security = economic collapse and hyperinflation
You sons of bitches who keep arguing about politics and the horse race bull shit will see us the way of Greece. Idiots, the lot.
As tempting as it is to conclude that Muslims can turn even Buddhists into extremists, the ethnic cleansing is some pretty ugly stuff. There is no 'pure' or perfect in the world of humans. If Ted Cruz understood this he would be getting a lot more votes.
@Birkel:
"Not changing Social Security = economic collapse and hyperinflation."
Voters tend to be notoriously short-sighted in their preferences, and mailing out Social Security is the single most popular thing that the federal government does.
..and in Canada, Obama finds his inner Biden:
"Where Else Could a Boy Born in Calgary Run for President of the United States?"
Trump is the only candidate running on some big issues.
Kasich seems like he wants to be President so he can get out of Ohio and back to DC where the food and booze are better. Rubio wants to be President because it pays more than being Senator and he needs to live in a bigger house since his four kids are getting bigger and his current house is sort of small. And Cruz wants to be President so people have to at least pretend to relate to him
"You sons of bitches who keep arguing about politics and the horse race bull shit will see us the way of Greece. Idiots, the lot."
Amen.
AReasonableMan said.There is no 'pure' or perfect in the world of humans. If Ted Cruz understood this he would be getting a lot more votes.
--
Oh..he says there are perfect humans among us? Or are you referring to JC?
trump is totally wrong on tariffs.
If you want to create more jobs, the last thing you want is tariffs. Because people won't buy TV sets that cost 500 dollars more. If people are not buying as much it will cost jobs. Further, they will then impose tariffs on our goods (higher than we already have) meaning fewer of our goods will be sold there, again leading to job losses.
Less jobs and higher prices are not the way to grow the economy.
And trump says it would only be a threat. He's putting down his red line. What if China calls his bluff?
Red lines are "flexible"
Rubio knocked it out of the park on Cuba. That might have been the best answer in the whole debate.
Trump does not know much about Cuba, tariffs, terrorism, Islam, but at least he didn't go full Trump. Maybe that's the best that can be expected of him. He won't answer well, but if he doesn't go,off the rails completely it's something
Palin's feeling some heat on Soc. Media
https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10154013835098588:0
Just take your medicine and vote Trump.
This very big deal occurred, after the debate. NBC now has the video interview.
Donald Trump says he thinks an assault of Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields by Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (standing next to Trump in this video!) may be "made up."
Trump is going to regret it.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-breitbart-reporter-michelle-fields-made-alleged-lewandowski-assault-n536451
It is a story that the networks have not done much to cover. Yet.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/trump-stands-by-campaign-manager-who-roughed-up-female-reporter/article/2001519
The Lord be praised!
No more debates.
Chuck, that was a few days ago, and it does seem a bit made up.
A serious journalist would have abandoned the story by now.
I don't even like Trump one bit. But the Fields story seems like garbage.
Less jobs and higher prices are not the way to grow the economy.
Right, it's cheap labor(that's us) and closing factories while we export out technology base. That's how it's done!
Meade said he was going to vote for "neither evil," I can respect that. I have given up on strategic voting myself, it's like a double bank shot. I will only vote for a person I wouldn't mind seeing in the White House, however flawed. So I will vote for Rubio in the primary and general, should he make it, Sanders if it's not Rubio or Cruz, and pull the lever for 'R' if it's Hillary with my nose plugged if it gets to that.
Cruz has lost me with his negative ads.
Birkel said...
Social Security = a real vote loser
Not changing Social Security = economic collapse and hyperinflation
You sons of bitches who keep arguing about politics and the horse race bull shit will see us the way of Greece. Idiots, the lot.
Well, you're right, of course, but can you actually talk about SS and what needs to be done, and be elected? No. Of course the numbers don't add up. If you make them add up, you couldn't be elected dog catcher.
The Dem criminal and crazy old Jew are promising more, and more, and more..stuff.
All we are arguing about right now is which decade we become Greece. Not whether we become Greece. Once we all become Greece, manhood will come back in style in a big way.
So Fred didn't have enough fire in the belly, and Ted has too much.
Those refusing to vote for Cruz at this point deserve Trump. Hell, you deserve Hillary.
Sorry you feel that way Qwinn. If Cruz wasn't running dishonest attack ads, ads low enough to have been written by Democrats, I might not have turned off to him. I am perfectly aware of the theoretical ramifications of my vote per the calculations of many of the commenters here.
Sorry, but I hear ten thousand times about how Cruz is being "dishonest", but the rare times any details are presented, it turns out it's the "victims" who are lying. It's like that one guy whose entire rebuttal to the Swiftboat Veterans was to scream "Liars!" Ten thousand times.
Cruz ran against ethanol subsidies in IOWA. That's something only an honest man does.
Rubio ran against amnesty when running against Charlie Crist, and as soon as he won became its biggezt booster. That is something only a dishonest man does.
Don't get me started on Trump's lies.
Sorry, but I hear ten thousand times about how Cruz is being "dishonest",
I am not going to go through all of his attack ads, but to hear them, you would think that Rubio was behind Teapot Dome. Sorry, but his slash and burn politics are destroying our chance to win, probably already have destroyed them. Anybody who wants to win so badly that he is willing to destroy any other Republican's chance to win wants it too badly. I don't trust him.
Basically I wouldn't be surprised if no Republican is electable statewide in Florida after the ads that have run here. And the ads are so full of obvious omissions and so light on facts as to make them disgusting.
Cruz is willing to burn the Republican's seed corn to get the nomination.
Burning seed corn is worse than ethanol.
Touch not the Lord's anointed, say the Cruzbots. But that is a Lord who speaks in tongues and interpretation by certain cult prophets, but he still speaks in riddles. That does not pass the smell test, as Paglia says aboutThe Prophet Cruz.
So to the doubters of Michelle Fields' story; do you think "nothing" happened? Ben Terris of the Washington Post says absolutely it did. Just as Michelle Fields has described. Terris' published story only goes into the Post when a news editor reviews it. We are not talking about a blog, or a stray comment in a live broadcast.
And there's Lloyd Grove's reporting for the Daily Beast, indicating that Corey Lewandowski called the Breitbart CEO to smooth things over and in the course of the conversation, acknowledged grabbing Michelle. Lewandowski reportedly told Breitbart that he thought he was grabbing some other Trump-hostile member of the mainstream press, and not a (presumed, by Lewandowski) friendly reporter from Breitbart.
But then there's Lewandowski himself, and Trump's spokeslady, and now even Trump himself declaring that nothing happened. In Trump's words, probably "made up." On top of the low-grade efforts on Twitter to smear Michelle Fields.
This will be a classic case of the cover-up (false denials, in this instance) being worse than the "crime."
Tell us again Chuck how the State of Alaska covered all of Palin's legal expenses regarding the tons of frivolous ethics complaints that Democrat activists filed for such things as wearing an Arctic Cat jacket to a gathering.
"I would be astonished" if you have your facts right here.
@tim in vermont:
"All we are arguing about right now is which decade we become Greece. Not whether we become Greece. Once we all become Greece, manhood will come back in style in a big way."
Ignoring the myriad differences between Greek and American politics, just remember one big difference: Greece is trapped inside of a monetary union and has no control over its interest rates. It cannot devaluate its currency. It's still being strongarmed by the troika into treating its solvency problem like a liquidity problem.
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