Month: August 2015

New York Times: “Republican Party leaders, whose presidential nominees have not won a majority of female voters since 1988, are setting their sights on making electoral gains among women in the 2016 presidential race and trying to close the gender gap in swing states like Florida and Colorado. But the remarks and tone about women at Thursday’s debate — and the sight of 10 male candidates owning the stage — may have only damaged the party’s standing among female voters in the 2016 general election, according to pollsters and some Republican leaders.” “Democrats were gleeful at the tone of the debate, already imagining future campaign advertisements featuring debate cutaways with Mr. Rubio saying that future Americans will ‘call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies.'” And that's just with policy positions with Rubio and Walker and Huckabee. With Mr. Trump, an open hostile display of the GOP's guttural misogyny is on full display. Donald Trump took his attacks on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly “to the next level on Friday night, apparently insinuating that the moderator had been menstruating when she questioned him during Thursday’s first Republican debate,” Politico reports.

Said Trump: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her — wherever.” “Unlike undocumented immigrants, John McCain or Rosie O’Donnell, the Fox News anchor enjoys a huge following among the network’s viewers, who happen to make up the core of the Republican primary electorate. So picking a fight with Kelly — as Trump did when he chided her during a tough debate question about insults he’s lobbed at women, dissed her in the spin room, and tweeted his complaints about her — carries risks that Trump’s other feuds do not.”

Now, this would be an opportunity for the GOP to get support from women by defending Kelly and attacking Trump. But they are fearful of the voters who back Trump.

FWIW, here is the DEGOP's official reaction to the debate. (Notice how Copeland views the Republican primary voter's fear as some mysterious force that has descended on the land, and…

My take, from the brief parts that I could stand to watch: Trump hurt himself among all humans, living or dead. But not enough to end his campaign or for him not to the frontrunner. But I suspect, when actual votes are counted, Donald Trump will do very poorly. The two candidates that stood out most to me as a Democrat are John Kasich and Marco Rubio. Both would be very difficult candidates to beat in the general, I think. But both have faults. Rubio still seems unpolished and he has this... what I can only describe as a "scared" tone in his voice that I attribute to new public speakers. And he looks too young. Not young and vibrant, like Clinton, Gore and Obama, but young and no where near ready. I cannot escape the feeling that Rubio is just running for Vice President. And he had a major flub when he basically endorsed Hillary Clinton as the most qualified person for the job. Kasich's problems are that his answers that make him dangerous in the general will hurt him in the primary. Accepting Obamacare and Accepting Gay Marriage. I cannot imagine more lethal apostasies. And he flat out lied when he said he balanced the federal budget when he was chair of the OMB during George W. Bush's first term. Nope, Mr. Kasich, you inherited a balanced budget from President Clinton, which you immediately put into the red with your tax cuts. Is it me or is Jeb Bush the Incredibly Shrinking Man? Has he lost like 50 pounds? And the more he speaks, the more he sounds like W. "In Florida they call me Jeb, cause I earned it?" Earned what? Being called Jeb? That's dumb. The Christie v. Paul cat fight was fun, and Paul was right about the Bill of Rights. Why is Scott Walker getting good poll numbers? He was the most underwhelming and disappointing last night. Huckabee was Huckabee, a fascist theocrat. Cruz was Cruz, a modern day Joe McCarthy.

The idiot trio of Fox News hosts at night’s GOP presidential debate would not leave Trump alone. Was there a plan at Fox to do Jeb's dirty work? Bret Baier…

Nice company Senator.

Roger Ailes, Fox News and the RNC won. Crazy-ass modern Republican economics (which have failed, and failed, and failed) won. The notion that we should bomb Iran rather than talk to Iran won big time. If you think the country would be better off with school vouchers and without Planned Parenthood - you won! Congrats. This was not a debate, but a disgusting travesty. That our political process had devolved to this makes me sick. That those nine nit wits (and Ben Carson) got to stand up on a national stage and be taken seriously as candidates for high office is an absolute indictment of this country and its people. William Henry Harrison read the military history of ancient Rome and Julius Caesar in Latin. Teddy Roosevelt spoke French, German, Greek and could read Latin. The collective brain power of the men on the stage last night couldn't power a night light. A lot will be written about who scored what points, but the bottom line is - Idiocy won. America lost.

Huckabee manifests the stigmata of Christ. (May or may not also speak in tongues.) Trump lights a cigar with a $1,000 bill. Jeb shocks everyone by speaking clearly and eloquently…