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

Can you imagine how middle-of-the-road this debate would have been without Sanders in the race?

Who is your favorite Beatle?

Webb: The beetle that bit me in the thigh after I killed it when I was on a boat in the Mekong Delta.

Real Vietnam veterans just call it 'Nam. At least they do in the movies.

Getting sleeeeeeepy.

He's mentioned the clean energy grid by 2050 three times, but no one has bitten.

Never trust anyone under 30.

Real Vietnam veterans just call it 'Nam. At least they do in the movies.

"When I was in The Shit..."

Ramesh Ponnuru
✔
@RameshPonnuru

Awesome Webb answer on his greatest enemy. Puts a lot of political drama in perspective.

Hillary down with Chumbawumba.

Man, how can they do this debate again without just spinning wheels?

Bring in Biden.

Good god is this still going on

I never thought he was getting in, but the conventional wisdom will stop the chatter after tonight. HRC's donors ain't leaving her.

Hmm, is it too late for me to get in on this?
http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01626/SNE2510X-_1626450a.jpg

called it! 3 shares and counting

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

i think someone said this wd be 2 hours

YOU LIE

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/654109946490060800

To be fair, none of the candidates even bothered to address the jabroni threat.

the "the guy i killed after he fragged me" thing was nuts, but frankly i thought webb's "i once represented a black guy, really!" was the most cringeworthy moment.

did webb, in his answer to which enemy he's proudest of (anderson asks great questions), really mention the guy who shot him in vietnam, imply that he killed him, and then smile and laugh?

xpost
that was insane

did webb, in his answer to which enemy he's proudest of (anderson asks great questions), really mention the guy who shot him in vietnam, imply that he killed him, and then smile and laugh?

yes, yes he did.

Now now, I don't think there's a candidate on that stage that would not have killed the man that threw a grenade at them in Vietnam.

https://vine.co/whatishenrydoing

:)

Jesse Ventura just intimated on The Nightly Show that through some complicated process he's going to enter the race next spring after he gets the Libertarian party nomination, tells them to fuck off and runs and wins as an independent. I think, anyway. It was hard to follow.

WE CANT STOP HERE, THIS IS BAT COUNTRY

http://i.imgur.com/6ihXum9.jpg

so i missed this whole thing. CNN's highlight reel is garbage, just cut-together out of context non-statements and stuff. i get the impression chafee and webb were marginalized but still got wayyyy more time than they probably deserved (versus a republican performing at a similar level). doesn't seem like anything life-changing happened.

Pretty good debate, though it mostly confirmed the obvious:
- Chafee is useless
- O'Malley, while standing right in the middle of the part of the party that pays attention this early, isn't much better
- Webb has some strengths they don't, but is a nut at the fringe of the party
- Sanders is the most rousing candidate, but only has one mode - us vs them - lacking in any other form of inspiration/uplift; he's a grimace without a smile
- Clinton, while not a perfect candidate, is clearly the best one - the most universal, prepared, commanding, and thoughtful

Will be very interesting to see where the polls go from here, including on the other side. My estimation is that Bernie picks up a good number of unfamiliars/undecideds, but that Hillary too picks up a good number of Bidens/undecideds, strengthening both candidates but making clear that she is the frontrunner. I think Webb might get a boomlet and don't rule out the possibility that O'Malley could too, but my guess is the latter's candidacy ended tonight if it ever began.

Winner: the Democratic Party

/America

Absent from the stage: anyone of color.

Most significant event in the second half of this week: Julian Castro endorses Clinton at rally in San Antonio Thursday.

h8 the bern

martin o'malley looks like he's going to kill himself

like a sad, sad child

webb:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8HMX2B5pOs4/S_SqWK6Ep6I/AAAAAAAAAkQ/jRDqLeki0m4/s1600/sledgehammer4.jpg

it's not a tuomas (benbbag)
Posted: October 14, 2015 at 12:28:01 AM
Absent from the stage: anyone of color

Didn't want to take the time to make that stupid wonka meme for this I guess

Btw some might say that the biggest gaffe of the night might be Clinton saying that one of her proudest enemies is "Iranians" but I assume the defense is that she doesn't think that term refers to a group of people.

Oh wait but maybe she

Hmmm

It's common political lingo, but it's still straight up racist. Awful thing to say, but I'd be surprised if it hurts her.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/status/654114071336189952

holy shit

Makes it even more insane that (as many tweeters are pointing out) Huckabee's son killed a dog and was expelled from the scouts for it.

I mean if you wanna talk about offensive huck tweets from last night https://twitter.com/govmikehuckabee/status/654113084101922816

My father, another Vietnam vet, called Webb "the poster child for PTSD." Dad lives in Maryland, so he's not a big fan of O'Malley, either.

Part of me wonders whether O'Mallley might be doing better if his city hadn't recently been on fire. It might have made A difference, but not THE difference.

Glad to see Sanders stepping out to frame and neutralize the email thing for all time. A different kind of opponent might have used it to score points (which would have backfired, in the current democratic climate, but I could see someone being tempted). Now everybody on the D side knows exactly what to say when asked about it: people are sick of hearing about that, everybody now knows it's a politically-motivated fishing expedition, now can we please talk about things that matter to everyday people?

Agree that the Democratic Party won - mostly by not being the wackadoo freakshow the other side keeps managing to be. I'm just gonna sit with my fingers crossed for the next 11 months, quietly murmuring "please don't fuck this up, guys, please don't fuck this up." Just keep looking basically competent, don't do anything too stupid, wait out the Republican immolation.

pro-tip, don't scroll down the timeline that Clay posted if you are at work unless of course your work is cool with Yogi Bear cock

I haven't taken the pulse of dextrosphere lately, but I predict there will be a right-wing talking point that the contrast in debate style is an example of media bias.

GOP debate questions were all like, "Hey, you: the guy to your left says you fuck goats for fun. What's your response to that charge?" So they can then run a headline the next day that says GOP CANDIDATES SPAR OVER GOAT-FUCKING IN TESTY DEBATE.

Democratic debate questions were all like, "what's your position on paragraph 32(b) of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (supplemental, as amended)?" Then the headline can read CORDIAL DEM DEBATE FOCUSES ON ISSUES INSTEAD OF GOAT-FUCKING.

There is definitely a contrast but sorry, GOP, y'all brought that shit on yourselves. Of COURSE when you're on fire already, the media is going to toss a bucket of kerosene on you just to watch the ensuing firestorm. Sure, it was a trap, but you walked right into it with your eyes open. The results are all on you.

Republican campaign: Democrats don't care about emails! Vote for us for Spam Filter in Chief!

I kind of can't believe Clinton said her biggest enemy was "Iranians" (I was at a bar drinking and completely forgot this was on)