7 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

1. Good morning pols. I have to begrudgingly award a few points to Nikki Haley. That is all.

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   1. New York Times’ Pundits gave Haley the highest score among all the candidates (4.9 on a scale of 1 to 10):

      Michelle Goldberg One question going into this debate was whether Haley could build on her dominant performance last time. Turns out the answer is no. (Also the idea of sending American Special Operations forces into Mexico is insane.)

      Mike Pence brought up the rear (2.4/10):

      Michelle Goldberg With his deadly earnest Zombie Reaganism, he’s running for president of a party that no longer exists.

      “the entire debate was a gong show”

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      1. The crack about Mike Pence sleeping with a teacher for 38 years was truly disturbing.

         First, I had no idea that Karen "Mother" Pence was a teacher. I thought she was June Cleaver.

         Second, I would have been happy going to my grave not knowing that they sleep in the same bed.

          

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      2. A debate coach provides grades for the kids' table participants.

         Todd Graham on CNN: Opinion: When it comes to quality over quantity, this Republican contender nailed it

         Haley earned a B … the top grade for the seven.  Tim Scott got an F, though there was favorable notice of his adopting Critical Race Theory as part of an answer.

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2. TPM Shutdown Watch:

   Here’s the real power dynamic to focus on: There is bipartisan support for a budget deal in the Senate and there are enough votes in the House for such a deal, but the holdup (or the stickup, to be more accurate) is that the Freedom Caucus is threatening Kevin McCarthy’s speakership so he won’t bring bipartisan deals to the floor. That is the rub here. Full stop.

   Anything you read about the dynamic being Biden v. McCarthy or Senate v. House is simply wrong. It’s not even quite right to frame it as far-right House GOP v. rest of the House GOP. McCarthy is being extorted by the far-right and caving to the pressure by refusing to bring to the floor budget vehicles that would pass right now … today … in a heartbeat.

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3. I was taken by all the effort Chris Christie exerted to set up his new label for Trump.  AP reported

   There were some awkward and downright cringeworthy moments during the debate, from lines that were heavily rehearsed to some clunky retorts.

   Christie, in an early broadside against Trump, looked directly into the camera and declared that if he keeps skipping debates, he would deserve a new nickname: “Donald Duck.”

   Scattered laughter was slow to follow.

   The analogy doesn't provide much of an upside.  At best for Christie, "Donald is known for his semi-intelligible speech and his mischievous, temperamental, and pompous personality." But I can't think of a single storyline of Donald Duck NOT making an appearance when expected.  Even a moment's thought should have spiked the suggestion.

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   1. But he's not wrong: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Trump%2C%20Donald%20Duck%2C%20upside%20down#vhid=x7UGgtSqV3VD6M&vssid=l

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