OPEN THREAD WEDNESDAY.

 It's open thread Wednesday, but I need your thoughts on a few things:

1. Is the president of the United States capable of empathizing with another human being?

2. Was Donald and his wife really plugging their own merchandise when they were supposed to be offering comfort and leadership to the people hurt by Hurricane Harvey?   

3. Is Ted Cruz such a disgusting human being that we actually like Chris Christie more than we do him?

4. Should LaDawn Jones be worried down in Georgia?

5. And finally, do you think this cartoon from Politico is insensitive?

Holla.  

Postmortem.

   There is so much to take away from the GOP debate last night that I don't even know where to start.

First, let me say congrats to Jeb for finally growing a pair. Unfortunately for him, though, it might be too little too late. The orange colored one seems to have his number. Yes Jeb, if you are running as a right wing republican demagogue, you can "insult your way to the presidency".

Then there was Chris Christie. He actually said that he would shoot down Russian jets if they violated the no fly zone. What's another World War among friends?  Then, to top it off, he actually called Obama a "weakling".

"“My first phone call would be to Vladimir, and I’d say, ‘Listen, we’re enforcing this no-fly zone,'” Mr. Christie said on MSNBC. “And I mean we’re enforcing it against anyone, including you. So don’t try me. Don’t try me. Because I’ll do it.”

 

Mr. Christie went on to say that Mr. Putin was “punching above his weight” and called Mr. Obama “this weakling in the White House.”' [Source] 

 

I got news for you Chris, anyone who goes against you is "punching up above his weight". (Sorry I couldn't resist.) But you might want t ease up on all the bluster just a little bit. Leave all the crazy talk for trump. No one is buying your tough guy I'm from Jersey, act. That little bridge issue you had has pretty much doomed all chances  you ever had of becoming president.

 

Carly was ....well... Carly. As is always the case she told a story that wasn't quite connected to reality.

 

"Carly Fiorina today stood by her debate claim about a general she said was pushed out by President Obama, even though that general did not serve in this administration.

 

She railed against how the current president has ignored advice from top generals, saying she would “bring back the warrior class.”

Fiorina said, “Petraeus, McCrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn, every single one of these generals I know, every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn’t want to hear.”

Now, General David Petraeus left for other reasons, but another issue in what she said was with the mention of Jack Keane, a former Army general and current Fox News analyst.

 

On Fox Business this morning, Keane told Stu Varney what Fiorina said was inaccurate since he served under George W. Bush, not Obama." [Source]

But I saved the best for last. My man Ted Cruz was in rare form as he went back and forth with Marco Rubio. (When my grandfather came to America) Unfortunately Ted forgot that he was talking to millions of Americans and some of the stuff he was saying was not for public consumption.

"Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), the chairman, told reporters on Wednesday that he had asked his staff to explore whether Cruz's comments about the National Security Agency's surveillance program constitute disclosing classified data, The Hill reported.

"I'm having my staff look at the transcripts of the debate right now," Burr told reporters, according to The Hill. "Any time you deal with numbers ... the question is, 'Is that classified or not?' Or is there an open source reference to it?"

Wait, I was wrong. What Ted Cruz did was not the best from the debate. The orange one saying that he is going to create a wall around the internet by closing it up to Isis was. "I don't want them using our Internet". He wants to "penetrate" the Internet and find out exactly where Isis is hiding in it. Ok then Donald.

"Donald Trump has said many things that make no sense. But at Tuesday night’s CNN debate, he outdid even himself.

For a man with such a remarkable social media presence, he appears to have literally no idea what the Internet is or how it works."

For his next trick Donald Trump will insult the Washington Post in 5..4..3..2..

*Pic from slate.com

 

 

Friday funnies.

"In the days following the riots in Baltimore, presidential candidate Rand Paul decided to reveal what he thought was the reason behind the city’s looting and arson — absent fathers.

 

Paul made his statements during an interview on Tuesday with conservative radio host Laura Ingram. Labeling the tense moments seen throughout the nation as “thuggery and thievery,” Paul listed a few reasons for the outrage, blaming low-income woes and absent fathers.

“There are so many things we can talk about: the breakdown of the family structure, the lack of fathers, the lack of a moral code in our society,” he said. “This isn’t just a racial thing.”

The riots followed the funeral of Freddie Gray on Monday. The 25-year-old died at the hands of six police officers who arrested him on April 12. A week after falling into a coma, Gray passed away from a severed spinal cord. Further autopsy results revealed his vertebrae was crushed in three places. Just last Friday, Baltimore Police admitted fault for not getting Gray medical help in a timely manner.

Critics slammed Paul for his comments and pointed out that his own son has had multiple run-ins with the law. Just last week, the 22-year-old was arrested for a DUI in Kentucky." [Source]

Now that was funny.

I think you need to stock up on some Windex®   there senator. You have a lot of  glass in that house of yours that might just need some cleaning.

And here is another funny guy:

"Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama had inflamed racial tensions" during his time in office.

"Speaking to members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the media, Cruz pointedly attacked the president for repeated missed opportunities to lead on race issues since he came into office.

 

"He's made decisions that I think have inflamed racial tensions -- that have divided us rather than bring us together," the Texas senator said. "We need leadership that brings us together rather than trying to divide us."

 

Cruz, who became visibly emotional talking about Baltimore during the hour and a half discussion of an array of issues facing the country, called for prayers for the victims of the violence and a fair investigation to find out what happened to Freddie Gray. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died while in police custody and thrust Baltimore into turmoil.

 

He cited Vice President Joe Biden's warning to an African-American audience that Republicans would "put you back in chains" during the 2012 campaign as proof of the kind of "incendiary and hateful rhetoric" that splits people apart.

 

Cruz could offer no specific examples on what he could do as President to address the tensions among minority communities when he was pressed." [Source]

 

Of course he couldn't. But at least he got a few laughs.