The Iowa GOP Debate Hangover in Tweets

The images of an elephant in a zoo (the animal is the unofficial mascot of the Republican Party), T.C. Panther the mascot for Northern Iowa U, and a still with Robert Redford in "The Candidate" (1973) one of the best films ever made about American politics start us off here this afternoon.

Here are some tweets from the Day After as well as some we overlooked last night during the Republican Debate Minus Donald Trump broadcast by Fox News in Des Moines, Iowa.:

1) Liz Mair (conservative): If Marco Rubio were gay, his hair would look better.

2) Rich Lowry (conservative): Another takeaway which may get lost, but this is the debate when Rubio lets his full disdain for Cruz show.

3) Lila Rose (conservative pro-life activist): Thank you, Rand Paul for sharing during GOPDebate that 'abortion is always wrong' and for spearheading legislation protecting the unborn.

4) Christopher Hayes (liberal): This campaign is starting to feel more and more like a long, national nervous breakdown.

5) Brian Stelter (CNN): The #s are in.....12.5 million people watched Fox's GOP debate last night.

6) John Fuselgang (liberal): I especially liked the 1 question about Flint 51 minutes into the GOPDebate that was quickly dodged by Kasich and then forgotten.

7) E.J. Dionne (liberal, Washington Post): Interesting. Jeb Bush seems more confident with Trump off the stage.

8) Tyler Morrison (stand-up comic): Jeb Bush reminds me of a supply teacher who is constantly losing control of his class.

9) Des Moines Register: Rand Paul and Marco Rubio took turns attacking Ted Cruz at the GOP Debate.

GOP Debate from Iowa Minus Trump (3 of 3)

Before we get to our final entry on this blog about tonight's GOP debate from Des Moines, Iowa, let's say Gunaydin/ Good Morning to our American Ambassador John Bass in Ankara, Turkey, where it is now 8:30 a.m. Yes, I know there is a less than one percent chance he reads this blog....

For your knowledge, the man at the top is Gov. Chris Christie and the man at the bottom is Sen. Ted Cruz, the state capitol building in Des Mones (not where the Fox News debate took place) is in the middle.

Here are the tweets:

1) Peter Beinart: Chris Christie__ the fact that your wife was near Ground Zero on 9/11 is not a foreign policy credential.

2) David French (conservative): Jeb Bush is right_he's been out front on ISIS strategy__and getting lawyers off the damn backs of the military__Yes!

3) Andrew C. McCarthy (conservative, no not the brat pack actor from the '80s): You think something about Muslims is suspicious.....and Chris Christie says you're a Sharia crazy.

4) Meghan McCain (conservative, daughter of Sen. John McCain): This is a completely different and more substantive debate with Trump off the stage.

5) Patton Oswalt: Mohammad Atta tried to fly a plane into my wife on 9/11........Chris Christie....

6) Spartan Basketball: With 513 wins at Michigan State, Coach Tom Izzo moves ahead of Gene Keady for second-most victories at a Big Ten school (yeah, we did this to play a mind game on you)

7) Zeynep Tufekci: They were trying to out-Trump each other yet they got hit with tough Qs while Trump didn't? Umm.....maybe, I'll read this Art of the Deal book.....

8) Cenk Uygur (liberal): Ben Carson just copied and pasted his closing statement. Too much effort to come up with his own conclusion.

9) Michael Medved (conservative): Maybe Trump's strategy worked....in his absence, chief rival Cruz had his worst debate, by far.....

Tonight's Republican Debate from Iowa Minus Donald Trump in Tweets (1 of 3)

Here are tweets from tonight's debate from folks who are right, left, center and non-partisan. As everyone outside of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, probably knows Republican front-runner Donald Trump (pict. top) ironically boycotted the Fox News debate because of a feud with moderator Megyn Kelly.
The other images are of the eastern Iowa town of Nemaha (the debate was actually held in Des Moines) and an image of Jeb Bush (actually from an event in New Hampshire):

1) Erick Erickson (conservative): This is a brilliant part of the debate. Megyn Kelly's accountability project.

2) Cenk Uygur (liberal): I have to give credit to Fox News for asking really targeted and fair questions showing these candidates' clear hypocricy.

 3) David Corn (liberal): Asked about immigration, Ben Carson points out that he declared war on ISIS.

4) Molly Ball (The Atlantic): Ivanka is due in two weeks, but Trump is hoping she has baby in Iowa: 'It'd be great. I'd definitely win.'"

5) Michael Ian Black: "Carson: 'I recognize not all Mexicans are terrorists.' Brave."

6) Michigan State Spartans Basketball: "With 15:18 remaining, MSU leads 41-29." (They wound up winning the game over Northwestern; yeah, this has nothing to do with the debate).

7) Ana Marie Cox (liberal): 'Chris Christie: I will flip flop in public so you can totally trust me." (Yeah, he didn't actually say that).

8) Michael Medved (conservative): If Ted Cruz wants to win anything, anywhere, he MUST learn not to talk like a bad, slimy televangelist. (Yeah, Medved did actually tweet this!)...

9) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Jeb Bush is getting better as a debater. But, he's not natural at all."

Colorado Republican Debate Tweets: The World According to Ben Carson (3 of 3)

Yes, we thought it would be fittingly ironic to have Martin Sheen, one of Hollywood's leading liberal activists who also played a fictional American president on "The West Wing," for this entry on the CNBC Republican Debate from Boulder, Colorado, tonight.

These tweets are mostly from partisans on both sides of the political spectrum, one of these tweets contains mature language:

1) The Daily Edge: Ben Carson: "I will eliminate regulations on small business, but dramatically increase them on your wife's uterus."

2) Dean Obeidallah: " 'Please someone on stage tell me how I'm losing to Ben Carson.' The thought of every candidate on stage."

3) Elaina Pott (conservative): "Please recall that at the last debate I wondered if Ted Cruz had disappeared from stage, ripping tequila shots. I have been vindicated."

4) Alexis Levinson (conservative): Oh hey look, Rand Paul is still here.

5) David Corn (liberal): Rand Paul: 'People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern.' Whoa, we certainly don't want that!

6) Dana Libelson (liberal): Love how candidates use wives as stand-ins for people who don't understand money.

7) Bret Baier (Fox News, we assume he's conservative): "The Marco Rubio pushback to Jeb Bush and to the media narrative on his votes plus the Cruz media rant probably the leading moments so far."

8) Suzy Khimm (liberal): "Cruz bemoans the plight of single mothers and poor women but doesn't offer a solution other than BIG GOVERNMENT BAD."

9) Cyclone Volleyball (Iowa State, SPOILER ALERT): Kansas defeats Iowa State 3-1 (20-25, 28-26, 25-15, 25-20....(the game was played in Ames, Iowa, as the debate was occurring).

Colorado Republican Debate Blogathon: People Are Watching This in Israel?!

It dawned us that it was quite ironic that tonight's CNBC Republican debate was taking place in Boulder, Colorado, the state's most liberal community, which is represented by Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), one of the few openly gay members of Congress.

Polis is not the man pictured here who is in fact Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) one of three current U.S. Senators seeking the GOP nod; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), a democratic socialist is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination.

Here are tweets from a crazy night:

1) Felix Salmon: Carly Fiornia thinks she can bring the tax code down from 70,000 pages to 3 pages. So realistic.

2) Red Six Jones: I'm going to need more wine for this debate.

3) E.J. Dionne (Washington Post): One of my NH Republicans: "Wow! This is a zoo!"

4) Cyclone Volleyball (Iowa State): Different lineup to start set four. Capeizo. Conaway. Lazart up front, Berta, Harris, Nolan in back.

5) Michael Medved (conservative radio host): Whoever advised Jeb that he could help himself by attacking Marco Rubio did him no favors....makes a nice, serious guy look like a bully.

6) Ken Rudin (non-partisan political analyst): Methinks Jeb's attack on Rubio's attendance record in the Senate was a mistake. There was no need for it.

7) Chemi Shalev (Haaretz, Israeli newspaper): Finally, GOP debates gets heated enough to start resembling Israeli tv shows.

8) Cenk Uygur (liberal talk show host): Republicans think it shows strength to ignore the questions and talk over the moderators.

9) David Frum (center-right pundit): 'They don't believe in building walls.' Even when he's not talking about immigration, Jeb Bush talks about immigration."

Top Ten Comics from Sunday, Jan. 25th Roanoke Times: Get Fuzzy Finally Comes in First

Greetings to our blog readers in Estonia, Wales and India.

The images above are of 1) Jeb Bush (for "Doonesbury) ; 2) Danny DeVito (the boss) and the late Andy Kaufman on the '70s sitcom "Taxi" (for "Pearls Before Swine) and 3) Warren Beatty as "Dick Tracy" (for "Funky Winkerbean").

Kudos to Stephan Pastis of "Pearls Before Swine" for having the guts and gumption to make fun of his boss comics syndicator John Glynn!

"Get Fuzzy" usually takes places second place in our comics survey, but today, it finally made it to the top slot.

Here is our top ten from the latest Sunday edition of "The Roanoke Times:"

1) Get Fuzzy

2) Doonesbury (made fun of Jeb Bush)

3) Pearls Before Swine (made fun of Big Boss Man)

4) Speed Bump

5) Dilbert

6) Funky Winkerbean (featured 'Dick Tracy')

7) Agnes

8) Garfield

9) Jump Start

10) Red and Rover (featured Snoopy from "Peanuts"!)

http://comicskingdom.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/explore/comics


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Our Favorte Comic Strips from Sunday, Dec. 14th Roanoke Times: Drones Away

Greetings to our blog readers in Cuba, Estonia and New Zealand.....

Today, we turn our attention to our 10 favorite comic strips from the Sunday, Dec. 14th edition of "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va. (yes, we are a bit behind schedule).

Our top choice is "Pearls Before Swine," in which Rat, one of the three title characters along with Goat and Pig, promises that if he is elected president that he will get one drone to spy on every person on earth at all times; hey, I'd still vote for him over Jeb Bush or Mitt Romney! (forgive the political humor).

"Speed Bump" has a hilarious take on what modern tech would have been like in medieval times, and these means trouble for Sir Textalot as he faces an opponent in a horseback joust in Dave Coverly's single-panel comic strip. Hence, the reason for our image of a "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" poster.

Lastly, "Family Circus" makes a rare appearance in our top ten with a strip that depicts every parent in a grade school auditorium taking photos and videos with mobile devices, we thought it would be humorous to go with an image of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" (middle) as this would assuredly be a difficult play for youngsters to perform.

Here is our top ten:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Speed Bump

3) Doonesbury

4) Garfield

5) Dilbert

6) Zits

7) Get Fuzzy

8) Funky Winkerbean

9) Non-Sequitur

10) Family Circus

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.gocomics.com

Sunday Best: Honest Abe Makes for Great Gag

Here is our weekly Sunday comic strip survey, and this weekend we turn our attention to the comics section of the May 18th edition of "The Roanoke Times," in which "Pearls Before Swine" made fun of Abraham Lincoln (he is tweeting about going to a play at Ford's Theatre), "Speed Bump" made fun of angels in heaven, "Zits" made fun of lazy teenage boys and "Doonesbury" made fun of Jeb Bush.

As we sip on Zevia zero calorie ginger ale, here are is our weekly top ten:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Speed Bump

3) Zits

4) Doonesbury

5) Dilbert

6) Get Fuzzy

7) Garfield

8) Funky Winkerbean

9) Agnes

10) Blondie

PS: Earlier this week, we had an entry for graduation commencement speakers across the United States, today we add three more: 1) Col. Michael S. Hopkins, a NASA astronaut, University of Illinois; 2) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Clemson University and 3) Conan O'Brien, Dartmouth.

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.zevia.com

http://www.dartmouth.edu 

Republicans Who Might Run for President in 2016: The Sane Ones Vs. The Tea Partiers

In a very fascinating well-directed documentary film entitled "Mitt," produced by Netflix, about the presidential campaign on Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee states that it was amazing he got a chance that he got to run against President Barack Obama given that the GOP is now more of a Southern Baptist populist party while Romney was a New Englander Mormon wealthy man.

So, conventional wisdom is that the Republicans will go South in 2016, which may cost them in the general election in swing states, such as Wisconsin, New Mexico and Colorado, but hey I'm no Dan Balz ("Washington Post" reporter who is a veteran at covering politics).

Nevertheless, with CPAC2014 happening over the weekend in Washington, DC, last week, here we offer a look at which possible candidates will run: Some will attract the establishment (Jeb Bush) while other will attract the Yosemite Sam/ Tea Party types (Sen. Ted Cruz) who think every six-year-old boy should carry a Glock (one thing I like about blogging as opposed to reporting is being allowed to be subjective, when it's called for).

Here is the list:

1) Jeb Bush (Florida, pictured top)

2) Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky, pictured middle) 

3) Gov. Bobby Jindal (Louisiana, pictured bottom)

4) Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania)

5) Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)

6) Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida)

7) Gov. Nikki Haley (South Carolina)

8) Gov. Chris Christie (New Jersey)

9) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)

10) Cong. Paul Ryan (Wisconsin)

http://www.c-span.org/

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://www.thenation.com/#

http://thehill.com/

http://www.netflix.com

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- The Last Words of Angel Diaz

The case of Angel Diaz, who was 55 when executed on Dec. 13, 2006, made national headlines because the lethal injection process required a second dose that caused the execution to take a staggering 34 minutes. Jeb Bush was the governor of Florida at the time.

Diaz was sentenced to death for murdering Miami topless bar owner Jospeh Nasy in 1979, a crime which he denied up until his last moments of life.

The anti-death penalty site Last Words of the Executed tweeted a portion of Diaz's statement on that night.

We make no secret on this blog of our opposition to capital punishment, but without getting into the politics of the delicate matter, and we certainly sympathize for those who have lost loved ones due to homicide, here is that statement from Diaz:

"The state of Florida is killing an innocent person. The state of Florida is committing a crime, because I am innocent. The death penalty is not only a form of vengeance, but also a cowardly act by humans. I'm sorry for what is happening to me and my family because of this."

And, this will in all likelihood be our last blog entry of the year!