I will keep doing, but not worth it! The 2016 Presidential Primary Voting Thread

i mean i know trump is in a grand (?) tradition, but folks in that tradition seldom gets anywhere near the nomination-- often they're so marginal they're locked out of the debates.

actually, aside from the baseline xenophobia and anti-intellectualism, trump seems to confound some of the usual categories. you'd expect him to be an isolationist, for instance, and sometimes he makes out like one, but more often he's reflexively macho and belligerent.

trump and cruz yelling at each other about women's health

Ronald Reagan "didn't tear down people like Donald does -- he tore down the Berlin Wall."

this is pretty great

Have any of the other debates been cages matches like this?

I constantly shake my head in amazement watching Trump during these debates.

Marco Rubio yelling about block grants and Nikki Haley

more often he's reflexively macho and belligerent

as when he promises to kill all the families of ISIS combatants. He probably would just as quickly promise to roast and eat them, too.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/5/58/BrotherLove.png

was gonna say can we get this guy to moderate.. also looks like trump uses the same makeup artist

I love when Ben Carson shares this afternoon's homework.

As unbelievably rude as Trump is, Bush is terrible at pushing back. He ought to turn to Trump and say "Go fuck yourself." Seriously--it would help him.

my dad - the lifelong democrat - likes kasich. he thinks he should be vice-president if hillary or bernie wins. i don't know anything about kasich. he does kinda look like someone my dad would know.

yeah, nobody knows how to fight the trump bully. he is totally setting them up to be the one who slays the evil dragon and none of them can or know how. i think they are flashing back to getting beat up in grade school. they should just ignore him completely if they can't match his street tactics.

that was a serious no winner debate. trump rattled everyone. they all stumbled through their memorization exercises.

the only people in these debates who don't have much of a problem dealing with trump are megyn kelly and carly fiorina

my dad - the lifelong democrat - likes kasich. he thinks he should be vice-president if hillary or bernie wins. i don't know anything about kasich. he does kinda look like someone my dad would know.

― scott seward, Saturday, February 13, 2016 10:46 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Somewhere back in the thread I called Kasich surge after Rubio got bodied. I just read something about how some of the Koch's billionaire fundraiser friends are now putting their weight behind him or considering.

He kind of looks like Generic Movie President. I think that goes a long way.

skot OTM

trump wildly self-destructing while, bafflingly, being sorta the only OTM guy on the whole stage

also OTM

Why Trump was getting booed: http://www.vox.com/2016/2/13/10987776/republican-debate-audience-booing

Wonder if the candidates go all deer in the headlights in response to Trump because he reminds them of their bellicose conspiracy theory nut constituencies and the people they meet on the campaign trail, and react accordingly. By shutting down and smiling.

Also, clearly the crowd was yelling Truuuuuuuuuuuuuu-ump.

Has anyone used a Trump of the Will pun yet?

Trump also said Cruz sent a mailer saying he (Trump) wasn't participating in the SC primary. Cruz didn't deny it.

As unbelievably rude as Trump is, Bush is terrible at pushing back. He ought to turn to Trump and say "Go fuck yourself." Seriously--it would help him.

― clemenza, Saturday, February 13, 2016 10:46 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm lets will this to happen

lindsey graham just called trump a lowlife on msnbc. with trump not in the room, of course.

New poll in SC has Clinton up by 38 points. 55 points among african-americans. For all I know American Research Group gets a c- from 538, so not totally reliable, but still.

Forgot to delete 'For all I know' after I decided to check for my self...

the WaPo transcript of the debate is amazing

KASICH: Well, John, first of all if I were president we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing -- it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father, didn't wake up. His wife sad, but, I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics.

CARSON: But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nationsclear. So, I...

Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father, didn't wake up. His wife sad

http://legendsrevealed.com/sports/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/johnnyweismullertarzan.jpg

CRUZ: I did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts.

TRUMP: You pushed him. You pushed him.

CRUZ: I supported...

TRUMP: You worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie?

CRUZ: You need to learn to not interrupt people.

TRUMP: Why do you lie?

CRUZ: Donald, adults learn...

TRUMP: You pushed him.

CRUZ: Adults learn not to interrupt people.

TRUMP: Yeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult.

i don't know anything about kasich.

his 'centrism' is oversold

http://www.hrc.org/2016RepublicanFacts/john-kasich

http://presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/l/47/John-Kasich

@BillKristol
Before last night, when I said I couldn't support Trump if he won the nomination, friends said, "Oh, we can make the best of it." Not now.

honestly i just want Trump to stay in the race so he can continue to dis Ted Cruz to hs face on national TV

That's really the only perk.

Trump does have to decide whether Cruz or Bush is the single biggest liar on the stage. He can't keep wavering on that.

"Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father, didn't wake up. His wife sad"

this was a really strange moment.

also just listening to ben carson speak too. so strange. like he's reading something from a teleprompter but doesn't understand the concept of punctuation. also, the fake stalin quote from ben carson. you want your last moment in a debate to remind people of stalin.

it's weird that i wouldn't really be surprised by ANYTHING those people say. if ben carson started talking about giving robots hats when it rained and that obama would never do such a thing it really wouldn't even make me blink. i would just think: yeah, that sounds about right coming from him.

Problem for dudes like Bill Kristol is the people that are voting for Trump really dgaf what he or his friends think

Trump does have to decide whether Cruz or Bush is the single biggest liar on the stage. He can't keep wavering on that.

That's why you losers will never understand Trump. They can both be the biggest liars! I've done the math. I mean, how many Apprentices have there been? How many American Idols? How many Survivors? How can we make America great again if we decide that only one person can win at a time? At that rate we'll never be great. As president, Trump will expedite the whole process. He knows people, the people who handle permits, that sort of thing.

It's a beautiful thing.

Trump will probably decide he doesn't want the job halfway through inauguration and fondle someone's boobs during the ceremony

He'll resign when he finds out what the President's annual salary is. Or attempt to double it via executive order, and be impeached.

sorry i missed this debate, it sounds like a giant clusterfuck and seems to have actually convinced on of my (soft) republican friends to go democrat .

One of the funniest things last night was Rubio wondering how Cruz even understood him on Univision, followed by Cruz turning towards him and snapping off some Spanish. And I like this description of Carson from the New Republic: "a strange wraith-like figure sleepily indifferent to everyone else on stage."

http://newrepublic.com/article/129918/republican-primary-now-giant-kindergarten-spat

it really was a mess. tons of cross-talk, tons of insults and defenses, and carson and kasich off on the sides trying to play the above-it-all conciliatory roles (easy since nobody was attacking them). jeb vs. trump, cruz vs. trump, rubio vs. cruz. ugly, loud, and exhausting.

And now a Yougov-poll from SC, this time with only a 19 point lead to Clinton, 47 points among african americans. That sounds more likely. Remarkably close to their last poll, pre Iowa and NH.

Trump has 42% of the vote on the republican side.

and then yeah the stuff about george w. was pretty amazing. like the 9/11 comments are what will grab the headlines but trump went hard after the iraq and afghanistan wars with "we've been in the middle east for fifteen years and we haven't won AN-Y-THING." by all accounts this is not what republicans want to hear since apparently the iraq war is still really popular with 2/3 of them. which makes me wonder if the 1/3 that supports trump is that other 1/3 or if there's some overlap since this hasn't really been the major feature of his campaign (except i guess beyond "winning" being something we need to do more).

a thing of beauty, really. a debate for the ages.

xpost

yeah, pretty curious to see if all these things Trump said last night, which are supposedly big GOP no-nos, will help or hurt him. Not at all convinced they will hurt.

also what was trump talking about when he said we have to take the oil? i almost forgot about that until just now.

Xp and not just no-no for the GOP.