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.....

GOP Debate Minus Trump Tweets (2 of 3)

We continue the multiple blog entries about last night's debate (it is now past 9:00 a.m. in Dubai) with tweets from various folks across the political spectrum in America (ok, most of these folks seem to have a liberal bias as I do), and perhaps even Canada...

 (pictured are 1) Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly; 2) a windmill in Elkhorn, Iowa; and 3) Ben Carson):

1) Patton Oswalt: How ya gonna deal with Putin? With shootin-ass-batin' and root-a-man-hootin

2) Dean Obeidallah (standup comic and activist of Muslim heritage): Please turn off Ben Carson's microphone.

3) Edward Luce: Ben Carson was totally wise to boycott this debate.

4) Carlos Lozada (Washington Post): Finally, the Estonia question.

5) PBS Newshour: Jumping from religion back to foreign policy.

6) Kai Ryssdal (NPR's Marketplace): Hahahahahahahahahaha. President Ben Carson. Man that cracks me up.

7) Karen Tumulty (Washington Post): Rand Paul is having a debate with Rand Paul about abortion.

8) E.J. Dionne (Washington Post): Marco Rubio like John Kasich talks about faith and obligation to the poor. Interesting how Rubio mixes this with appeal to evangelicals.

9) Alexandra Petri (Washington Post): Ohhhhhh........nothing like the sight of a stage full o' men talking about abortion.

Democratic Debate Forum Tweets from Winthrop U in Rock Hill, SC (1 of 3): Larry David 2016

Tonight, we give you live tweets from the Democratic Debate/Forum aired on MSNBC (which we are taping, but first we want to inform the world that the University of North Carolina women's volleyball featuring Paige Neunfeldt (pict. bottom) won on the road at Syracuse University by a score of 3-1 (25-19; 18-25; 26-24; 25-21). Kudos to the Tar Heels.

The Democratic debate took place at Winthrop University (center image is school mascot) in Rock Hill, SC, where my late grandfather Dudley "Doc" Sturgis once taught economics.

Though we didn't find any tweets we could use referring to comedian/actor Larry David (pict. top), there was much mention of him as he played presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) who was joined at Eagles U by Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley.

Since the last debate in Las Vegas, candidates Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffee have dropped out of the race.

Here we go; most of these tweets were right before the start of the forum. Others are about politics or political views  in general:

1) Winthrop U: As Byrnes Auditorium filled up before the forum, attendees took time to document the special night with selfies.

2) Jim Bradley (A WSOC-TV reporter; ABC/Charlotte, NC): "Supporters outside Byrnes Auditorium. National spotlight on Rock Hill, SC. I'll let you know what the candidates say."

3) Bernie Sanders (from earlier in the day): Anybody who suppresses the vote, who intentionally tries to keep people people from voting, is a political coward. They are undermining democracy." (Ahhh, it's too bad Sanders didn't run against Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey; we aren't a fan of his).

4) Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va., from earlier in the day): Effects of climate change in VA are real. Sea levels rise and recurrent flooding putting community of Hampton Roads at most serious risk."

5) Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC, from earlier): "The president's rejection of Keystone XL pipeline, which has strong bipartisan support, is shameful."

6) Anna Douglas (newspaper reporter for "The Rock Hill Herald"): "The stage seats are full now too. I see many Winthrop students. They look excited."

7) David Corn (liberal journalist with "Mother Jones" referring to the next GOP debate): "Chris Christie in the kiddie debate will be like Godzilla against the kittens."

8) Michael Clark (WBTV-TV; CBS/Charlotte, NC): A mix of Hillary Clinton and Sen. Sanders supporters outside forum.

9) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post blog "The Fix" discussing GOP contender Ben Carson): "Just to avoid future controversy; I applied to Stanford. They saw fit not to admit me."

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).

Top 10 Comics from Sunday's Washington Post: Space Aliens and Donald Trump

Carly Fironia, Carly Fiornia, Carly Fironia, Carly F-I-O-R-I-N-A.............ok, so I'm having a difficult time trying to spell the name of the lone Republican presidential candidate (pict. center). This week, Garry Trudeau made fun of her as well as her opponents Ben Carson and the extreme ego maniac Donald Trump whom the cartoonist referred to as "Mister Clown."

"Doonesbury" finished second in our survey of comic strips in the nation's most political newspaper. First place actually went to the Danish import "WuMo" which featured a little green man from outer space at what appears to be a futuristic gas station in a town like Altoona, Pennsylvania pumping gas for his UFO (pict. top). This was actually a different "WuMo" than the one shown nationally, which to our recollection made fun of Indonesian monkeys.

"Brewster Rockit: Space Guy" featured a clever strip in which creatures from outer space, including Darth Vader and the spaceworm from "Dune," displays their past offenses via public shaming.

Among the other comic strips which made the top 10, we also like Scott Stantis' strip "Prickly City," which had a yellow dog, one of the title characters along with a little girl who looks a character from "The Waltons" or "Eight is Enough" (hmmm....I sense we lost millenials there), making wings to fly and crashing to the earth ala Icarus (pictured bottom) or Wile E. Coyote.

Here is the list:

1. WuMo

2. Doonesbury

3. Brewster Rockit

4. Lio

5. Candorville

6. Sheman's Lagoon

7. Foxtrot

8. The Argyle Sweater

9. Prickly City

10. Dustin

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.gocomics.com/wumo

http://www.gocomics.com/pricklycity