Super Tuesday 4 Tweets: Ted Cruz Has Awful Night

To keep it brief: Donald Trump won Republican primaries in Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Maryland over John Kasich and Ted Cruz, who finished last in those states tonight.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton appears poised to claim the party nomination as she was unable to do during the 2008 election cycle. She won four of the five primaries with challenger Bernie Sanders winning in Rhode Island.

The Philly Phanatic is being featured as one of our images in honor of the Pennsylvania primary; the Phillies won tonight over the Washington Nationals 3-1 (we think).

We tried to capture the night with tweets from the left, the right and the center. Alas, we were unable to get many tweets from women but the one we did get was from Jessica Valenti, who is a feminist American-based reporter for "The Guardian" (UK).

Here are the tweets; we will put Valenti first:

1) Jessica Valenti: 'It's very easy to be presidential' Hmmm....

 2) Anderson Cooper: Donald Trump says Bernie Sanders should run as an independent.

3) Dave Rubin: Cruz did win exit poll for Candidate Most Likely to Scare Children.

4) Matty Ice: Trump just won more states than Ted Cruz's mistresses.

5) David Axelrod: On big night, team Trump can't get mike to work??? Still a few wrinkles to work out, I guess.

6) Ricky Vaughn: Looks like Rhode Island delegates will be Trump 11 Kasich 5 Cruz 3.

7) Matthew Ygelsias: John King's enthusiasm for the state of Rhode Island is making the evening for me. (King is with CNN).

8) Rich Lowry: Trump's 57 percent in Pennsylvania is just astonishing.

9) Major Garrett (CBS): 'I'm not doing that,' Trump when asked about vetting running mates. 'I don't want to think about it.'

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.....

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).

Chaos in DC: Tweets from the Republican Congress Mess

Greetings to our blog readers in Serbia, Finland, and Scotland.........


Yes, it has been a full two weeks since I last posted. In the mean time, actor James Woods has reverted back to being a progressive and Susan Sarandon has become a tea partier......well, of course, neither of those things has happened, but we are still here, and we still maintain a center-left point of view.

The images pictured here are of: 1) Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who is one of 46 Republicans trying to become House Speaker since Cong. Kevin McCarthy stunned the nation by dropping out of the race (in actuality, there are 10 candidates who might be speaker), 2) Bao Bao the National Zoo panda who doesn't get to vote for House Speaker, and 3) Turkish ambassador Serdar Kilic posing with President Barack Obama, the man who has replaced Thomas Jefferson on the two dollar bill. (I think we lost some conservatives in the audience with that quip).........we refer to Kilic because Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was mentioned in a tweet (see below).......

Here are 11 tweets, one for each member of the D.C. United soccer team regarding the predicament over which Republican will prevail as House Speaker in the wake of Cong. John Boehner's (R-Ohio) stunning resignation.

1)  Donna Brazile: #TheSpeakerofTheHouse is second in line after the Vice President to accede to the Presidency. This is serious.

2) The Hill: Amid chaos, Dems catch GOP off guard with Planned Parenthood vote.

3) Roll Call: One member* stomped into an elevator away from reporters with an emphatic "no!" when asked if running for speaker (*-Cong. Trey Gowdy R-SC).

4) Slate: Ted Cruz ambushed the Sierra Club's president** on climate change (**-Aaron Nair). 

5) Gawker: Dr. Ben Carson just won't quit it with the Hitler talk.

6) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.): "#chaosintheHouse who will be speaker?"

7) Politico: Leading Republicans to GOP conference: keep calm

8) Jonathan Chait: Biden seen ordering ice cream cone.

9) Ken Rudin: Newt Gingrich says he wouldn't rule being temp House Speaker.

10) New York Post: Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich won this year's Nobel Prize in literature.

11) The Economist: Turkey's Erdogan once visited Brussels begging for favours. The tables have turned.

Now, that we're done, we should head to the Turkish restaurant Meze http://www.mezedc.com though it is late and we don't actually live close to the nation's capital.

The Republican Candidates for President: Worst to Best........

We gather that it's entirely possible that folks in Ankara, Turkey, and Tel Aviv, Israel may have been watching the Republican debate on Fox News from Cleveland, Ohio, on Thursday night, even though it was 2:00 a.m. when the debate aired in Turkey and Israel, two countries which are both seven hours ahead of Cleveland, Washington DC, and New York.

Here in America, 24 million people were watching including Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the most liberal Democratic candidate in the face, who was followed and retweeted by more people than anyone else during the GOP debate that he was watching live.

While everyone from David Letterman to Garry Trudeau was rightfully lampooning Donald Trump, whose candidacy seems like a joke, given that he has zero political experience and a reputation for insulting people for the sake of doing just that, there are actually three candidates who are worse than Mister Clown.

These include Rick Perry (pict. top) the notorious former governor of Texas who left years of scandal and probable wrongful executions behind him when he ran for president for the first time four years ago, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas,pict. center) a darling of the Tea Party movement who is probably less progressive than members of the Iranian Parliament, and Mike Huckabee (pict. bottom) an evagelical former governor of Arkansas who dropped a Nazi Germany reference against President Barack Obama.

Here are the candidates from worst to best, to be 'fair and balanced,' we have the candidates listed from best to worst on our sister blog http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

1. Rick Perry, Texas

2. Ted Cruz, Texas

3. Mike Huckabee, Arkansas

4. Donald Trump, New York (currently first in the field)

5. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania

6. Bobby Jindal, Louisiana

7. Scott Walker, Wisconsin

8. Ben Carson, Maryland

9. Jeb Bush, Florida

10. Rand Paul, Kentucky

11. Jim Gilmore, Virginia (currently the last field, the only candidate we have met in person)

12. Marco Rubio, Florida

13. John Kasich, Ohio

14. Carly Fiorina, California (the only woman in the GOP field)

15. Chris Christie, New Jersey

16. George Pataki, New York (at 72, the oldest Republican in the race)

17. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics

http://www.politico.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.nationalreview.com (A conservative journal)

http://www.thenation.com (A liberal journal)

http://www.theonion.com/politics (A satirical site)

Tweets from Around the Crazy Galaxy: Reactions to the Brutal Execution of American Journalist

As the late Peter Finch declared in Sidney Lumet's film "Netword" (1976): "I am mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more." With the beheading of American journalists Steven Scotloff and James Foley by the terrorist group ISIS or ISIL, it seems everyone is chiming in about what America should do next with regards to what has become a very messy, tense situation in Syria and Iraq.

Here are some tweets from the right, the left and the center as well as views from Muslims and non-Muslims. These are not necessarily views with agree with, especially the supposed right-winger who is cheering remarks by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Though we would like to see justice brought forward, we are not inclined to endorse the most right-wing American senator in decades:

1) Stephen Bright: "1.6 billion Muslims Worldwide per CNN. Why aren't they taking a stand against these extremist group misrepresenting their religion?"

2) New Jersey Hockey: "I like Sen. Ted Cruz's response to the second U.S. beheading in as many weeks: 'Let's Bomb ISIS back to the Stone Age."

3) Slate:"Obama now says the U.S. will 'destroy' ISIS. What does that mean exactly?"

4) Laila Lalami: "WANTED. Fox News experts on Islam. No prior training or experience necessary. Frequent references to sharia and Kenyan socialism a must."

5) Arsalan Iftikhar (The Muslim Guy): "The terrorist group ISIS just killed (and beheaded) my Facebook friend (and American journalist) Steven Sotloff.....ISIS are the dogs of hell."

6) Miami News Now: "To the end, journalist Steven Sotloff kept Jewish identity secret from Islamic state captors."

7) The New Republic: Steven Sotloff was just 31 years old_ a journalist only embarking on what should have been a long career.

http://www.tnr.com

http://www.slate.com

DC Week (8 of 8): Afternoon Tweets__The Shutdown May End By Sunrise????

From what we gather, and we don't have PBS talk show hosts Gwen Ifill and Charlie Rose to verify this, the federal government shutdown may end by late tonight. We put a strong emphasis on the word MAY.

So, we decided to post tweets about this crucial issue du jour instead of posting an entry about the new play "Love in Afghanistan" being produced by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. or the fact that Ford's Theatre can now perform its play "The Laramie Project" at the Ford's Theatre instead of an alternate venue.

But, we are hoping to find some time for those entries by the weekend, in the mean time, here are the links:

http://www.arenastage.org/

http://www.fordstheatre.org/



We also learned today that the term 'tea bag' is a dirty slang word, we won't say what it means, but you can find out what it means in the Urban Dictionary:.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Here are the tweets which mention New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (pictured top) and right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh (pictured bottom):

1. David Wolman (with "Wired): I guess bipartisan agreement is now what House Republicans say they've kneeled before Zod." (this is an apparent reference to the antagonist in "Superman II.")

2. The Fix: RT Omar Villa France_ "I'm curious to know who gets the Worst Week in Washington crown this week. And it's only Wednesday."

3. The Onion: "Blood-soaked Mayor Michael Bloomberg Announces Homelessness No Longer a Problem in New York City." ("The Onion" is a faux news publication)

4. Slate: "Ted Cruz is now basically the Sarah Palin of the Senate."

5. Mark Harris ("Entertainment Weekly"): "I assume the next step for the Tea Party is to start referring to the shutdown on 'The Noble Cause' and staging cosplay repleacements." (Cosplay is a type of Halloween costume).

6. Cong. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): "Should have happened weeks ago. Sen. Reid announces deal to debt limit; reopen government."

7. Cong. Steve Pearce (R-Pa.): "Former White House official calls Obamacare roll-out 'excruciatingly embarrassing.'"

8. Politico: "Rush Limbaugh says GOP created 'one of the greatest political disasters I've seen in my life."

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.politico.com

Tweets Considering All Things Washington DC (1 of 2)

Just because we have a photo of Sen. Ted Cruz, that does NOT we are endorsing him.

Here are some tweets about Washington, DC, today, and not just Congress and the federal government (well, this entry is):

1. Politico: "Delay is not a major blow to Obamacare, exchanges for individuals are still expected to open on time."

2. Hunter: "Obama is supposed to negotiate with ppl who refuse to negotiate even with their own party. Yeah, that will work."

3. The Daily Show: "Ted Cruz cites a children's book about a stubborn jerk who decides he hates something until he's tried it."(They are referring to "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss)

4. Tea Party Cat/Top Conservative Cat: "#GOPDEMANDS: All liberals must watch all 21 hours of Ted Cruz's filibuster until they proclaim him as a savior."

5. Cong Virginia Foxx (R-NC): "Americans aren't interested in spin, they're concerned about whether they'll be paying more for health care on Jan.1"

6.The Onion: "It was a gamble, but 'it paid off'...............45th President of the United States: Ted Cruz."

http://www.politico.com/

http://www.theonion.com/

GOP Tweets_Turning It Over to Bill, Cenk and Charlie

Last year, a good friend of mine, announced to the world that he woke up one morning and decided to quit blogging. He had 10 times as many followers as I did, so this was a shock. Well, now I understand how he feels. While I'm not completely stepping away from blogging, I am going to wrap up this Republican convention tweet-a-thon sooner than I expected; but I will leave the coverage up to the subjective Bill O'Reilly (from the right) and Cenk Uygur (from the left; I personally prefer Cenk over Bill O) and the objective Charlie Rose.

But, we do hope to post entries on both blogs later in the week about a few heated races, and perhaps I will post a commentary on my thoughts regarding the GOP Convention in Tampa and coverage of it.

We are posting an image of Gov. Chris Christie (R-New Jersey) and American Olympics gold medal gymnast McKayla Maroney because we were thinking the other day that if Maroney got an on an elevator with the governor that a red light would come on. If this seems a bit mean, I should point out that I'm a hefty guy myself and folks have said much meaner things on Twitter about his weight, even Republicans!

As for Maroney, we have no idea where she stands politically (she is not quite old enough to vote), but her unimpressed/disappointment look has made her an Internet sensation, or what is called a meme. She made the wince when she got a silver medal on vault in London; an event where she was highly favored to win gold.

Here are some tweets about the GOP Convention from the night, some adjustments have been made to teh tweets for clarity: 

1) @susanlbrannigan (Susan L. Brannigan): "Rachel Maddow made the Olympic gymnast 'not impressed' look there for a second. LOL!"

2) @THEHermanCain (Herman Cain, a fringe candidate who sought the GOP nomination): "Why all the focus on #Isaac & how it hurts #GOP2012? #Pray for New Orleans and let's focus on #Solutions in Tampa."

3) @BlueInRedZion (a liberal blogger from Utah referring to the heated Congressional race between Mia Love, a Republican challenger to Utah Democratic representative Jim Mattheson): "#MiaLove to speak because she is representative of all female, black Mormons as Rs for Congress."

4) @LeslieType: "I adore Chris Christie. A straight talking mind your business, do as I say New Jersey man. I love it! Repubs and Dems are not ready for him."

5) @cocaoforreal (Touche): "not a big fan of Chris Christie, but of all the GOP 'stars,' he's the most tolerable to me."

6) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, a liberal satirist tweeter): "Because tonight's #RNC was rained out, no speeches from Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee or Jeb Bush. Just reruns of 2 Broke Girls. Oh, the irony!"

7) @TedCruz (Ted Cruz, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Texas; he will face Democrat Paul Sadler. Cruz has a radical Fire Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General on his campaign web site): "Speaking at@GOPConvention tomorrow night at around 8:10 CT! Please tune in and RT to remind your friends."


http://www.tytnetwork.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.billoreilly.com

http://www.charlierose.com

http://www.blueinredzion.com

http://www.cainconnections.com