a clown car full of millionaires: the 2016 presidential primary thread

Trump's constant mugging was p weird. I thought Christie did pretty well for himself but we'll see.

That was my sense of Walker too, that he barely spoke. I don't know where CNN's panel got the idea that he helped himself.

Barely speaking is how he helped himself.

Surprised it took Charles Pierce so long to say so:

If the elite political press is going to treat fiction as fact as long as the fiction is delivered in a compelling, dramatic manner, then the country truly is lost. If Carly Fiorina is adjudged to be the winner of a debate simply because of how "crisply" she delivered lies about Planned Parenthood, or how "forcefully" she responded to a cartoon like Donald Trump, or how "sharply" she presented her nonsense about reining in Vladimir Putin with "aggressive military maneuvers" on his borders, then there is a problem in the political process that is metastasizing by the hour. Ronald Reagan was the index patient for that problem. They truly are his children now.

It's not just that these nuts are so on message, it's that the message is so nuts. It's like they're all strictly adhering to the script of some crazy stage play.

Fiorina's orgiastic litany of military expenditures totally terrified my daughter (as did her extra-gruesome description of the PP videos, which I had to reassure her were lies/distortions)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPHf82KWEAAHD08.jpg

i mean

Jeb!

‏@ggreenwald
All the candidates at the Reagan Library talking about scary, evil Iran forgot to mention how Reagan secretly & illegally sold arms to them.

http://i.imgur.com/fdhijG5.jpg

Kind of interesting who got cropped out of that shot for Jeb!'s promo:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPHf82KWEAAHD08.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gpvBJhT.jpg

lol greenwald otm

they considered "he kept us safe, except for the people in the world trade center and the pentagon and the planes" but decided it was too long to fit

And the anthrax attacks.

I agree with Charles Pierce's general point about Fiorina, but surely you can at least credit her with a great, succinct answer on the Rolling Stone question. I'm sure Pierce would credit Hillary in a similar situation.

and letting Osama Bin Laden get away

xp

a great, succinct answer on the Rolling Stone question.

a question that is totally irrelevant to being president

I agree with Charles Pierce's general point about Fiorina, but surely you can at least credit her with a great, succinct answer on the Rolling Stone question. I'm sure Pierce would credit Hillary in a similar situation.

― clemenza,

It's not an equivalence though. I simply don't care how these guys do cosmetically. Their politics are abhorrent and will cost thousands of people their jobs and lives.

the only two people who came off like adults were Kasich and Rand Paul, the latter of whom didn't get applause once.

and Paul is a curly-haired grandma starver too

a curly-haired grandma starver who hires racists

The entire electoral process/rhetoric is totally irrelevant to being president.

This... thing... was the most watched CNN show ever. File under "stupidity porn."

most watched CNN show is not really much of an accomplishment considering the channel is more or less nonstop garbage

wtf I missed this

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ann-Coulter-s-f-ing-Jews-tweet-ripped-6511488.php

good ole ann. she should run!

I like the Jews, I like fetuses, I like Reagan.

ann coulter is pretty racist

yeah twitter was all over that last night, trump/"cuckservative"/etc has kinda exposed and created an opportunity for this branch of conservativism that's a cunt hair away from being open white nationalism. feels kinda different from that old taki/derbyshire paleocon bigotry, though there are bridges between the two (eg gavin mcinnes).

But Fiorina's answer to that one specific question isn't just cosmetic--women, and how we treat women, is a huge issue in any campaign. She answered that question exactly how it should be answered: everyone, women especially, know exactly what Trump meant by his comment. To endorse her answer there doesn't mean you endorse everything, or even anything else, about her.

xxxps I think she's got a racist face and she is a racist woman.

balls otm

though i'd say the only diff between the old paleocon variety and the new jacks is age, and maybe the influence of places like 4chan

another bridge is breitbart editor katie mchugh

i watched w/ some friends and this guy creeped us all out, kinda figured he'd turn into a thing

http://www.reviewjournal.com/trending/the-feed/everyones-obsessed-the-hot-guy-the-gop-debate-poll

Coulter was actually pretty dead-on (there were a whole string of tweets, not just that one, and read in sequence they're a sharp critique of current Republican orthodoxy).

Hot for a Republican presidential debate, he's not stopping any traffic.

(He might be drawn by Mike Allred though?)

http://i.imgur.com/LFEJmc9.jpg

"Ooh, I like Jews, and I like fetuses. I like Reagen to enter a final plea..."

xp he looks like a butter sculpture of Henry Rollins

unnecessary xps

xp It's not really the sharpness of the critique there though?

it'd be great if american conservatism could calm down with the messianic christian shit at home and abroad but i don't think rediscovering its submerged WASP antisemitism is going to do it

Why not? It's reveled in its WASP nativism for years.

aw was hoping 'hot guy' was pftcommenter, he was there again too - https://vine.co/v/eU1657nO0Q9

just watched clips and selectively browsed the transcript, but fuck that vaccines-autism discussion with trump and the two doctors on stage was completely embarrassing horseshit, the scrambling carson did to avoid telling trump that he's completely wrong on the facts was so uncomfortable, whoever said carson is vying for a running mate spot w/ trump possibly otm

it was just surreal even carson/paul saying there is not vaccine-autism link but that we are "putting too much stuff into our kids" and should spread it out is bonkers horseshit

41% of reviewjournal.com readers think hot guy is "not at all" hot, while another 41% voted for "can we just move on?" NO WE CANNOT JUST MOVE ON.

CNN tracked him down after the debate, and unfortunately for those on Twitter, 24-year-old Greg Caruso would not reveal his relationship status. The Los Angeles man said he was an aspiring filmmaker and, no, he's not on social media. At least he said so.

Mediaite reported he was the son of billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso and is a Republican.

i love this debate crowd. 500 people, including your run of the mill son of a billionaire. actually, i guess that would put him in the top half of the top 1% of attendees, so that's about right.

saw a picture of that dude on twitter last night. he looks like the courtroom sketch of tom brady

he's definitely not hot imo

whoever said carson is vying for a running mate spot w/ trump possibly otm

that was me! it's probably not true at all, but i want to claim it so that it can later featured in ILX First Mentions.

marijuana conversation was embarrassing too though i guess it is expected, it will take a long time before anyone one in a national election says anything sensible about marijuana without the usual bullshit qualifications (paul surprisingly okay thought it was obv steeped in states right 10th amendment shit that is used to justify all kinds of horrible shit)

neither Trump nor Carson is going to be in the race a year from now

xp

I like the Jews, I like fetuses, I like Reagan, I like the nightlife, I like to boogie. I like to have a good time.

judging from my facebook feed anticipate a nice bump for fiorina though i haven't seen anyone turn on trump