Mean Tweets: GOP “Thunderdome” Debate—Ben Carson Edition

And Carson gives me the feeling I get when the Ambien kicks in on top of two Old Fashioneds.

— Popehat (@Popehat) February 26, 2016

Heh: While Trump, Cruz & Rubio bicker, Dr. Carson jokes from sidelines, "Can somebody attack me please?" #GOPDebate

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) February 26, 2016

"And now over to Dr. Carson…" pic.twitter.com/pbTnhgXF7i

— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) February 26, 2016

Mean Tweets: South Carolina GOP Debate Pig Pile Edition

They're fighting, Dickerson. Get outta the way, this is what we tuned in for!

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 14, 2016

Can we go back to the GOP color being blue? The debate stage looks like a meeting of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party #GOPDebate

— jon gabriel (@exjon) February 14, 2016 

 

Un poquito. It went by too fast for me, but I gather others are questioning its fluency. https://t.co/hCsbk7WAXH

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) February 14, 2016

@jpodhoretz You speak Spanish??

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 14, 2016

If I'm Marco Rubio, I challenge Ted Cruz to a 1 v 1 debate on Univision, en espanol, right now...

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) February 14, 2016

The great thing about Kasich is that he is cooling off the venue with his hand waving. #AirFlow #GOPDebate

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) February 14, 2016

I think what they get out of me is GIGANTIC, TERRIFYING HAND-PADDLES.

— Matt Welch (@MattWelch) February 14, 2016

#GOPDebate It's hard to focus on what Kasich is saying because Trump's not interrupting, the crowd isn't booing, and also I'm not listening.

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) February 14, 2016

Every day I worry that I lost my human sleeping pill in Martin O'Malley, I thank the man upstairs for Ben Carson.

— Harry Enten (@ForecasterEnten) February 14, 2016

Ben Carson, would you like to take a minute to mumble aimlessly and think about butterflies?

— The Scandalous DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) February 14, 2016

"Rosie O'Donnell--you know, that broad says some good things about 9/11, even though she's a fat pig" -- Donald Trump

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) February 14, 2016

Any time Trump gets in the weeds he sets fire to Bush. I realize you know this. I just like saying it. #GOPDebate

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) February 14, 2016

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I think Trump just won Michael Moore's vote. #GOPDebate

— jon gabriel (@exjon) February 14, 2016

for those of you insisting Trump will self-destruct, eventually:

You may finally be 100% right.

— The Scandalous DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) February 14, 2016

Republican Debaters Unite Against CNBC Moderators

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation in January of this year to announce plans by his party to reduce the number of sanctioned debates (there were 27 in 2012) and promised to bring the process under tighter control for the 2016 election cycle.

The new rules were intended to give the RNC a greater degree of control over the moderators and sponsors of the debates and offer a larger conservative media presence. The need to revamp the process was borne out of the storm of protests that followed the debate in which CNN’s Candy Crowley lied to save The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer in the second of three 2012 presidential debates when Republican challenger Mitt Romney questioned whether or not Obama had called the Benghazi attack in which four Americans were murdered an act of terror.

ROMNEY:  You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration.
OBAMA:  Please proceed.
ROMNEY:  Is that what you're saying?
OBAMA:  Please proceed, Governor.
ROMNEY:  I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.
OBAMA: Get the transcript.
CROWLEY:  It—he did in fact, sir.
OBAMA:  Can you say that a little louder, Candy?
CROWLEY:  He did call it an act of terror. It did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.

The 2012 presidential debates also saw George Stephanopoulos launch what became known as the “war on women” by pressing Romney on a law that was passed in 1965, Griswold v Connecticut, asking if it should be overturned.  Pro-abortion groups seized on this claiming that Republicans wanted to ban contraceptives.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  Senator Santorum has been very clear in his belief that the Supreme Court was wrong when it decided that a right to privacy was embedded in the Constitution. And, following from that, he believes that states have the right to ban contraception. Now, I should add that he's said that he's not recommending that states do that.  But I do want to get that core question. Governor Romney, do you believe that states have the right to ban contraception? Or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?

While everyone in the dextrosphere got their hackles up over the brutish line of questioning by CNBC’s moderators in Tuesday’s Republican Presidential Debate, I see things a bit differently.  What’s as plain as the nose on your face is the blatant revulsion liberals have for the candidates running for president who don’t have a D beside their name.  Conservatives know that the long knives are out for them.  We’ve come to expect it.

The tenor of the debate went along exactly as I anticipated it would UNTIL Marco Rubio flawlessly disarmed his inquisitors declaring, “I know the Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC, it’s called the mainstream media. Last week, Hillary Clinton admitted she sent emails to her family saying ‘Hey, this attack in Benghazi was caused by al Qaeda-like elements.’ She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet, the mainstream media is saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. […] But she has her super PAC helping her out: the American mainstream media.”

Ted Cruz seized the opportunity to blister Carl Quintanilla proclaiming, "The questions asked in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And you look at the questions—Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don't you resign? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?  How about talking about the substantive issues?”

“The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every thought and question from the media was, which of you is more handsome and why?  Let me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense, than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks."

Cruz’ analogy was completely lost on NBC’s Chuck Todd:

@jpodhoretz Menshevik was new to me. Are they socialists who speak Yiddish?

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) October 29, 2015

It was uplifting to see the GOP candidates declare an end to the injustice of the liberal lapdogs’ gratuitous bias and finally fight back.  If they continue that strategy they will force the bullies of the Left into becoming an endangered species.

CNBC is lucky @TheDailyShow is on hiatus this week. They would have gotten mocked into irrelevance and possibly bankruptcy. #GOPDebate

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 29, 2015

Battle Royale: The CNBC GOP Presidential Debate

Tonight as the GOP presidential candidates converge at the University of Colorado-Boulder to debate the nation’s economy the stage has been set for far more than just a debate.  It’s going to be a battle royale.

John Kasich is fed up.  “I’ve about had it with these people.  I’m sick and tired of listening to this nonsense and I’m going to have to call like it is in this race…I’m done being polite,” he said.

A few days ago Donald Trump insisted on taking credit for a business move made by Ford Motor Company that he had absolutely nothing to do with and was decided on nearly four years ago.  Kasich pushed back tweeting, “Together Ohio brought Ford back from Mexico.”  Ford spokeswoman Kristina Adaminski flatly refuted Trump’s claim.

Kasich and the Ohio legislature have been working hard to stop the migration of automobile manufacturers from his state to Mexico and are trying to prevent a move by General Motors.  Trump stopped tweeting and talking about Ford immediately.

Marco Rubio has raised the ire of Floridians for having missed more votes than any other senator this year.  His seat is “regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings.”  He has said in veiled words that he hates his job as senator.  One editorial in the Sun Sentinel suggested, “If you hate your job Senator, follow the honorable lead of House Speaker John Boehner and resign.”

And Jeb is a miserable guy citing the yuuuuuge amount of aggravation he never signed up for in this election cycle saying, “I’ve got a lot of really cool things I could be doing instead of being miserable listening to people demonize me.” I’d bet the farm that Jeb regretted saying that the moment the words left his whiny little lips.

Miss Lindsey confessed his wonderment earlier in the week:  “On our side, you’ve got the No. 2 guy [who] tried to kill someone at 14, and the No. 1 is high energy and crazy as hell. How am I losing to these people?”

Lindsey Graham was also the first celebrity bartender for CNN’s Politics On Tap pouring beers and playing the “Fuck, Marry, Kill” party game with Dana Bash who gave Graham three choices:  Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina, and Sarah Palin.

"Sarah Palin—we'll go hunting on our first date," he said. Next was "marry," an easy joke set-up. "Carly, because she's rich," said Graham.  When Bash pressed, and asked Graham if he would erase the existence of Hillary Clinton, he was ready with the punch line.

"No, but is she rich? She said she was flat broke."

The debate will be broadcast live on CNBC, CNBC.com and in the CNBC apps.  The moderators are Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood.

Elect Trump If You Want That

As of this week, Jeb Bush continues to languish at 7% in the polls nationwide. Only 12% of Republican voters expect him to win the nomination, according to the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. 

Despite his campaign’s best efforts to make him appear robust and invulnerable, the miserable truth is Jeb has done zilch to sway voters or his bundlers that he actually possesses the appetite to be president.

"If this election is about how we're going to fight to get nothing done, then…I don't want any part of it. I don't want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally are in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation," he said, according to CNN.

"I've got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that," Bush added.

Less than 24 hours before, Bush's campaign announced a major reshuffling of its resources, saying it was cutting some salaries by 40% and letting go of some people in order to shift more focus on the campaign's ground game in the early voting states.

As for the whisper campaign that his bid for the presidency is going the way of Scott Walker, Bush said, “Blah, blah, blah, blah.  That’s my answer.”

Jeb needs to come to the realization that everyone except Dr. Ben Carson and Donald Trump are still at the Kids’ Table.

Please get out of the race Jeb!