Delaware Liberal

I'd never thought I would be ... proud... of Ted Cruz. He one upped Trump in dominance politics last night, refusing to endorse in a prime time speech and telling conservatives to vote their conscience instead of voting for Trump, ruining the night for VP nominee Mike Pence and Trump's other son, Eric. He cast himself as the leader of the true conservative resistance while other Republican leaders, save John Kasich, cowered like cowards before the Fascist. He is now a leading contender for 2020, and will be able to say he was right.

Former football coach and Donald Trump booster Lou Holtz dumbs it down and sums it all up. He is angry and he is not going to learn your language or make pretend that your religion is real. Nobody, of course, is trying to make Lou Holtz learn Pashtun, or even Spanish, or even reasonably decent English. Nobody is trying to get Lou Holtz to celebrate Ramadan. But the idea that he has to choose "English" at the ATM is exactly the same thing as being forced to study the Koran. It fills him with a righteous rage. And Soccer...? Jesus Christ, why is there so much soccer on Lou Holtz' goddam TV?!?!?

No idea if this is true, but story is Melania rejected all drafts, wrote most of speech herself using the Internet. Actually seems plausible

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) July 19, 2016

Reports are, from NBC, that two Republican contract speechwriters drafted a speech, and gave it to Melania and the campaign, and the speech she ended up delivering bared no resemblance to that speech. Paul Manafort continues to insist, as does Melania, that it was Melania that wrote the speech. If that is really true, it means two things: 1) the Trump campaign is more amateurish and incompetent than we could ever possibly imagine, and 2) Melania Trump is a liar and a plagiarist. Perhaps we should jail her immediately for theft, since that seems to be the Republican answer for everything these days.

Poor George... Former President George W. Bush confided to his closest ex-aides that he fears Donald Trump's nomination could hasten the downfall of the Republican Party, according to a Politico…

Charlie Copeland has said that he fully supports Donald Trump and the GOP platform. Furthermore, he has said that the party is unified in that support. So, I wonder if he, and all Republican candidates for office, would be willing to answer the following questions:

• Do you agree that abortion in Delaware should be illegal in all cases, with no exceptions for rape or women’s health?
• Do you support that passage of a law requiring the Bible to be taught in all Delaware public schools?
• Do you agree that being anti-abortion, and anti-gay rights should constitute a litmus test for appointing “family values” judges to Delaware courts?
• Do you reject any and all gun control measures in Delaware out hand?

This is Trump's GOP. It is the agenda that Charlie Copeland has pledged his and his party's loyalty to. Whether or not Republican office seekers are willing to answer those questions, at least they should be asked.

So that's pretty blatant, right? pic.twitter.com/EPnHME7afV

— Mike Hearn (@mikehearn) July 19, 2016

I am away from my computer on business today, so this is all the open thread you are going to get unless Cassandra and others want to add to it, or you can add stuff yourself in the comments. But, my God, that first night. Either a speech sounded better in its original German, or it sounded better when Michelle Obama first delivered it. Jail Melania Trump for theft!

One thing to keep in mind while you watch (or intentionally avoid watching) the clusterfuck in Cleveland: Trump voters should feel deeply ashamed, especially the party types like Charlie Copeland.…