Ben Carson is weird. Ok, I know that is not news since he keeps adding to that impression, like his ‘fruit salad’ comment at the last debate. But he outdid himself by claiming that president Obama cannot speak to the black experience because his life growing up was not genuinely black, whatever the hell that means.
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… because he will take it anyway.
But joking aside, his tactical abilities were on display today. Marco Rubio was making the rounds on media outlets this morning touting his debate performance as a knockout blow against Trump that would turn the tide in his favor although the verdict on that is decidedly equivocal. Since he has been chosen to be the establishment candidate to defeat Trump, he was sure to get a lot of positive media attention to bolster his claim.
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The debate last night was as expected a slugfest between Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, with Ben Carson and John Kasich largely bystanders. It looked like Cruz and Rubio had decided to join forces and attack Trump rather than each other (maybe they met in a closet before the debate to plan their strategy) and they did manage to land some blows on him. This report from the Guardian suggests that Trump stumbled but similar instant judgments have proved in the past to be not good predictors of his fortunes.
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There is something sweet about poetic justice. Jessica Williams of The Daily Show returns to a church with a virulently anti-gay pastor. The building is under foreclosure because he has not been paying his water bills among other debts and now owes about a million dollars. The pastor seems to think that having tax-exempt status (itself an indefensible boondoggle) means he is entitled to free water as well. Why stop there? Why not free electricity too? And internet? And cable TV?
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Today there will be another Republican debate at 9:00pm ET in Houston, Texas and aired on CNN. It will be the last debate before a slew of contests to be held on Tuesday, March 1 and there is no doubt that Donald Trump hopes to run the table of 12 primaries and three caucuses. Trump leads in the polls everywhere except Texas and Arkansas where Ted Cruz has leads. Texas is the big prize because if Trump can defeat Cruz in his home state, that will be a crushing blow and likely force the latter’s exit from the race.
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Seth Myers has a hilarious run down of recent political events, including the secret meeting of Ted Cruz and Ben Carson in a closet. Yes, you read that right: They met in a closet. Why, you ask? What a silly question. After all that has happened in this campaign, you still think things have to make sense?
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The increasing support for the BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions) movement targeted at the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands around the world has caused great concern within the Israeli government and they have launched a propaganda effort to try and discredit it, such as retaliating against those who advocate for it by going to the extent of getting sympathetic western governments to even criminalize speech in support of it.
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Now that the Republican race is down to just five people and Jeb! has gone, John Kasich seems to have cemented his position in the media as the ‘moderate’ and ‘reasonable’ candidate. It’s about time that someone exposed his aw shucks, midwestern moderate shtick for its phoniness and Samantha Bee does an excellent job in her latest episode of Full Frontal.
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So Donald Trump has handily won the Nevada caucuses, surpassing all expectations with 45.9% of the vote, exceeding even the combined total of Marco Rubio (23.9%) and Ted Cruz (21.4%). Trump currently has 81 delegates out of the 1,237 required to win on the first ballot at the convention, while Cruz and Rubio have just 17 each. Note that he handily won both South Carolina and Nevada after saying that George W. Bush did not ‘keep us safe’ because 9/11 happened on his watch, and that the war in Iraq was a mistake and that GWB lied the nation into that disaster, all unspeakable heresies that pundits felt might finally, finally, doom his candidacy.
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One can be tempted to feel sorry for Jeb Bush, especially given his ignominious exit from the Republican race. During the campaign he seemed affable and even reasonable. He seemed to be personally a nice guy who, through an unfortunate series of events, failed in his pursuit of the presidency. Using a high school metaphor, he gave the impression of being an earnest type whose run for class president was upended by the relentless taunting he received from the uncouth school bully Donald Trump.
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