Sarah Palin smells blood in the water, goes after the politically hemorrhaging Ted Cruz.

This is a big day for Palin, she actually gets to make her nasty remarks someplace besides Facebook.

I mean sure it's just that defunct site Breitbart, but hey baby steps.

Courtesy of the aforementioned defunct site: 

Turns out Ted Cruz’s partner, Carly Fiorina, had a more graceful exit from the political stage than he had. 

Cruz’s broken pledge to support the will of the people tonight was one of those career-ending “read my lips” moments. I guarantee American voters took notice and felt more unsettling confirmation as to why we don’t much like typical politicians because they campaign one way, but act out another way. That kind of political status quo has got to go because it got us into the mess we’re in with America’s bankrupt budgets and ramped up security threats. 

It’s commonplace for politicians to disbelieve their word is their bond, as evidenced by Cruz breaking his promise to endorse his party’s nominee, evidently thinking whilst (Whilst?) on the convention stage, “At this point, what difference does it make?” We’ve been burned so horribly by that attitude that voters won’t reward politicians pulling that “what difference does it make” stunt again. Politicians will see — it makes all the difference in the world to us.

So Sarah Palin is criticizing Ted Cruz for not keeping his word?

Seriously does Wasilla not have at least one dictionary which can define "hypocrisy" for these people?

Palin also included this rather nasty video which mocks not only Ted Cruz, but also his former premature running mate Carly Fiorina.

As for Cruz, well dammit he is mad as hell and he is not going to take it anymore.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

“[I’m not going to] come like a servile puppy dog and say, ‘thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.’”

I don't usually condone violence, but Republican on Republican violence?

I could watch that. 

Watch as Ted Cruz works the crowd ignoring the fact that his VP pick just face planted in front of him.

Watch Carly Fiorina do a face-plant off a stage while Ted Cruz ignores her https://t.co/LJqpNe2YLQ pic.twitter.com/2fvvaT3sEP

— Raw Story (@RawStory) May 2, 2016

Here is the video for a little more context.

You know I think it is Ted Cruz's compassion and empathetic nature that really speaks to his supporters.

To be fair she had already finished introducing him so what further use did he have for her? 

Just for fun let's watch Carly Fiorina, who Ted Cruz just chose as his running mate, gush over Hillary Clinton back in 2008.

Courtesy of The Wrap: 

Back in 2008, while campaigning for Arizona Sen. John McCain, Fiorina released a special video with a message to women voters that heaped so much praise on Clinton, you’d think the two were besties, braiding each others’ hair at a slumber party. 

“I have such great admiration and empathy for Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina says in the video. “I know what it takes in some small measure to do what she has done.” 

 “As a woman, I take great pride in the fact that Hillary Clinton ran for president,” says Fiorina circa 2008. “And I also watched with a lot of empathy as I saw how she was scrutinized, characterized, talked about as a woman.” 

And just for kicks, she ends her ode to Hillary with this touching love letter: 

“Women in positions of power — particularly bold women — who are trying to drive change as Hillary Clinton most surely is … bold women, women in power are characterized, scrutinized differently than their male counterparts are.”

Oh yeah Republican women really admired Hillary Clinton right up until it started to look like she might actually win the White House.

And then it was all "She's so corrupt," "She's playing the woman card," She never accomplished ANYTHING!"

So either Hillary Clinton has fundamentally changed in the last eight years, or perhaps instead of her political opponents being impressed by her accomplishment they now are threatened by them.

Gee, I wonder which seems more likely?

Ted Cruz to name Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Oh yeah, THAT will help. Update!

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) intends to name former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential running mate if he succeeds in winning the GOP nomination, multiple sources reported Wednesday. 

Cruz’s move is seen as a last-minute gambit in hopes of shaking up the race and blocking front-runner Donald Trump, who easily swept five primary states across the Northeast on Tuesday. 

Personally I have no idea how appointing one of the most anti-female female candidates in history is going to help Cruz at this point, but hey when you are desperately grabbing at anything to stay afloat even a rusty anvil looks promising at first glance.

I am so sure that Carly Fiornia's attacks on Planned Parenthood and lies about what she saw in those doctored videos is really going to go over big with those soccer moms. Assuming that soccer moms is still a thing of course.

You would think he might have learned the lesson from John McCain when he made a similar mistake back in 2008.

Speaking of Sarah Palin you know that somewhere she is pressing her thighs together and muttering to herself that soon it will be time for Donald Trump to reward HER for her dedicated ass kissing, just like Cruz is rewarding Fiorina.

"Second time's a charm America, this time around my brand new elderly sugar daddy and I are going all the way!"

Update: It looks like Palin has decided to try and make herself part of the news day by mocking Ted Cruz for his basketball gaffe in Indiana:

Damn speaking of having a shelf life hasn't the expiration date been reached on this tired old basketball trope of Palin's?

After all she was as much of a basketball star as she was a hunter, or journalism major, or book author.

Meaning, you know, not.

Bristol Palin (Well Really Nancy French) don't want you to forget this one thing about Carly Fiorina now that she has quit on her campaign.

52 and still looks this good 🙀

A photo posted by Bristol Palin (@bsmp2) on Feb 11, 2016 at 9:19am PST

(Bristol Palin wishing her sugar momma a happy birthday.)


So as you guys know yesterday Carly Fiorina had a rational moment and realized that nobody in their right mind would ever elect her to anything, and jumped out of the GOP clown car.

That is arguably good news for just about everybody.

Everybody that is except Brancy who has a case of the sads:

I sort of hate to hear that Carly Fiorina is suspending her campaign. 

But let’s take a moment to remember this amazing 35 seconds that she delivered during one of the debates!

Then Brancy embedded this soon to be iconic video.

Here's the thing, I also don't want people to forget that Carly Fiorina said such an ignorant thing during a nationally televised debate.

Especially as it was proven to be complete bullshit.

Gee it's so rare that I agree with anything that Nancy French/Bristol Palin/Sarah Palin has to say that I am going to take a moment to bask in the golden light of our unity on this issue.

Okay, done basking now. 

Carly Fiorina ends her campaign, sources say Chris Christie soon to follow.

Courtesy of  NPR:

Carly Fiorina is exiting the Republican presidential race after a seventh-place showing in last night's New Hampshire primary. 

"While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them," said Fiorina in a statement. 

Well so much for Fiorina "taking on " Hillary Clinton.

Though I have to admit, I would probably have enjoyed seeing that.

And it looks as if Carly might not be the only one getting ready to call it quits. 

Courtesy of Politico: 

Chris Christie is expected to formally suspend his campaign later on Wednesday, according to a source close to the campaign, after finishing a disappointing sixth in the New Hampshire primary. 

The New Jersey governor was expected to spend part of the day reaching out to donors and top supporters to discuss his decision, the source said. 

I would not put it past Christie to stay in the race a little longer just to prove the pundits wrong.

But even if Christie stays in the race out of sheer stubbornness, the writing is already on the wall.

In fact it always has been.

I mean were we ever seriously considering the idea of electing this guy?

Yes it's time for yet another GOP debate.

I actually missed the fact that this was on tonight until about six hours ago.

Probably a case of cognitive dissonance on my part.

So I have a handful of predictions for tonight, because those of us covering these events are supposed to do that sort of thing.

Mine are rather simple.

After missing the last debate Trump is going to go out of his way to make a mark tonight so that the people of New Hampshire have him on their minds when they caucus next week. So expect plenty of  Trumpisms and insults.

Speaking of insults Trump is also going to punish Ted Cruz like a naughty puppy for beating him in Iowa.

EVERYBODY is going to go after Marco Rubio. Especially Chris Christie and Jeb Bush.

Unfortunately nobody can go after Carly Fiorina because apparently she has now been sent to the back of the bus and will not be on stage with the fellas.  (Come on, it's the GOP did anybody REALLY think that her candidacy was going to be taken seriously?)

But most important of all is that those of us who were blown away by last week's Democratic debate are going to be totally underwhelmed by the low blows, backstabbing, and cat-fighting which defines the GOP debates.

If that happens just do what I'm planning to do and imagine Hillary or Bernie eating these idiot's lunches for them. 

As always I will be on Twitter.

And I will also be back to update the post as events warrant.

Despite findings by a Texas grand jury Carly Fiorina has no intention to stop lying about Planned Parenthood.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

Carly Fiorina hears only what she wants to hear, apparently. 

In Thursday's GOP undercard debate, the presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard executive clung to the notion that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue for profit, an allegation that a Texan grand jury declared baseless on Tuesday. Fiorina, however, is having none of that. 

"Here are the facts," she said in the debate. "Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts." 

To be clear: There is no evidence that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue for profit.

I think it's pretty clear who Planned Parenthood needs to sue next. 

Interesting how Fiorina seems to think that since Hillary Clinton has not been indicted that it somehow proves our justice system is broken.

You know it could just be that Hillary is innocent as well.

You know, just like Planned Parenthood.

Grand jury indicts anti-choice activists behind doctored Planned Parenthood videos.

David Daleiden

Courtesy of The New York Times:  

A grand jury here that was investigating allegations of misconduct against Planned Parenthood has instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who made videos of the organization. 

In a statement, the Harris County district attorney, Devon Anderson, said Monday that the director of the Center for Medical Progress, David Daleiden, had been indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs. 

Another center employee, Sandra Merritt, was indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record. 

The Center for Medical Progress had covertly shot videos of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the provision of body parts from aborted fetuses for research. Mr. Daleiden, 26, had posed as a biotechnology representative to infiltrate Planned Parenthood affiliates and surreptitiously record his attempts to procure tissue for research. 

Ms. Anderson said in the statement that grand jurors had cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing. She did not specify in the statement what record or records were allegedly tampered with.

You know sometimes justice does prevail.

This is great news and I look forward to Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina, Fox News, and many other conservatives to come out an apologize to the American people for misleading them about these videos.

Oh who am I kidding, these people will NEVER take responsibility for their actions.

Carly Fiorina ambushes group of innocent preschoolers and subjects them to anti-abortion speech.

Courtesy of the Guardian:

Carly Fiorina has been accused of “ambushing” a group of children, after she ushered pre-schoolers, who were on a field trip to a botanical garden, into an anti-abortion rally in Des Moines. 

On Wednesday, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive embarked on a day of campaigning across Iowa, in an attempt to boost her ailing presidential campaign. 

The alleged ambush occurred when Fiorina hosted a “right to life” forum at the Greater Des Moines botanical garden. Entering the rally, before a crowd of about 60 people, she directed around 15 young children towards a makeshift stage. 

The problem, one parent said, was that the children’s parents had not given Fiorina permission to have their children sit with her – in front of a huge banner bearing the image of an unborn foetus – while she talked about harvesting organs from aborted babies. 

“The kids went there to see the plants,” said Chris Beck, the father of four-year-old Chatham, one of the children Fiorina appeared with. “She ambushed my son’s field trip.”

Okay that is just straight up child abuse in my opinion.

These are preschoolers for God's sake. Telling them about sex, procreation, and the termination of a pregnancy without their parent's permission is WAY over the line.

Clearly Fiorina needed some props for the camera, and did not care one bit if she traumatized these kids while getting her photo-op.

In response to the accusations a Fiorina staff person sent an e-mail saying this:

“We were happy that these children chose to come to Carly’s event with their adult supervisor.”

Yes the kids "chose" to attend a rally that they do not understand anything about, and to hear a strange lady with a weird face lecture them about an election in which they are too young to participate.

Uh huh.

Yes the problems the Republican party faces today can indeed be traced back to Sarah Palin and the 2008 election.

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

We need look no further than the 2008 nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president to understand when the Republican Party left the rails. 

Seven years on -- following two crushing defeats in presidential elections and the likelihood of a third in November -- the destruction that the former half-term governor of Alaska has wrought is immense. And continues to grow. In a much-quoted Washington Post op-ed piece, former Obama chief of staff Bill Daley wrote that Palin set "a new standard" for the Republican Party that has gifted us Carson and Trump, among other buffoons: 

"Once John McCain put Sarah Palin on the ticket, Republican 'grown-ups,' who presumably knew better, had to bite their tongues. But after the election, when they were free to speak their minds, they either remained quiet or abetted the dumbing-down of the party. They stood by as Donald Trump and others noisily pushed claims that Obama was born in Kenya. And they gladly rode the Tea Party tiger to sweeping victories in 2010 and 2014. . . . 

"It's hard to feel much sympathy. The Republican establishment's 2008 embrace of Palin set an irresponsibly low bar. Coincidence or not, a batch of nonsense-spewing, hard-right candidates quickly followed, often to disastrous effect." 

Daley may seem to be belaboring the obvious, but the deeply toxic effect that this narcissistic, power abusing kook and liar (who now threatens to take on Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski out of sheer spite) has had on the GOP still is not fully appreciated, and only barely so by historians as well as Republicans who mourn the destruction of the GOP Big Tent and the party's descent into pooch screwing. 

Nor is McCain's decision to invite Palin to join the ticket after spending less than two hours with her (his man in charge of vetting veep nominees never even met her face to face) properly understood to be the most irresponsible decision in the history of presidential campaigns.

Palin is not the only reason for the Republican Party's dysfunction, but her toxic lip lock is evident in the hapless 2016 presidential campaign.

As I am sure all of you know this is the song that I have been singing for years.

THIS is why I continue to cover Sarah Palin, And THIS is why what is happening to her today, helps to explain what will happen to the Republican party tomorrow.

I still maintain that without a Sarah Palin we would not now see a Ted Cruz, or Ben Carson, or Donald Trump, on the national stage.

She blazed the trail that they are navigating on today, and helped to identify the lunatic fringe that would support them if they tapped into the magical unhinged rhetoric which triggers their paranoia.

Way back in 2009 when Palin up and quit her job I attended a rather festive gathering of Alaska bloggers, where the high fives were many, and the jubilation was contagious.

However when most of them were talking about never having to write about the Wasilla Wendigo ever again, I was the lone voice saying that her story was not yet finished and that she would continue to have a destructive impact in the years to come. And that it was our duty to cover her until the bitter end.

I was right, and by staying on top of the story from the dizzying heights of her first book tour and almost constant media presence, to the inevitable crash that many of us predicted as far back as 2010, she has remained my barometer for determining where the Republican party itself was headed as well.

So today virtually EVERY GOP presidential candidate has a book they are hawking, and many of them seem far more concerned about building up their brand for speaking tours and consulting jobs, than they seem to care about winning the nomination.

In fact a few, like Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, seem as if they were to actually get close to winning the damn thing that they would quickly sabotage their chances in order to take the pressure off.

Sarah Palin NEVER wanted to work in politics again, but she knew that there was big money in making people believe that she might.

Sarah Palin, as far as I can tell, was never REALLY part of the Republican party. But she knew that the party had piles of cash, and gullible supporters.  

So she shook her money maker in their faces, twirled the tassels on her pasties to the beat of the music, and leaned back as fistfuls of money were shoved into her g-string.

Donald Trump may not have Palin's once upon a time good looks to seduce the conservatives into supporting him, but he certainly knows how to put on a show and to hit the notes that reverberate within their gullible little hearts. And apparently in this election cycle that is enough.

But in the end Trump might end up accomplishing what Sarah Palin started back in 2008, and has nurtured and promoted ever since, the destruction of the Republican party as we know it.

So true.

Six of the current GOP presidential hopefuls promise to support legislation allowing businesses to discriminate against gay people under the guise of "religious liberty."

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Six of the Republican candidates vying for the presidency have signed a pledge promising to support legislation during their first 100 days in the White House that would use the guise of “religious liberty” to give individuals and businesses the right to openly discriminate against LGBT people. 

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee vowed to push for the passage of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), legislation that would prohibit the federal government from stopping discrimination by people or businesses that believe “marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman” or that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.” 

The pledge is supported by three conservative groups: the American Principles Project, Heritage Action for America, and Family Research Council Action. 

“It has become clear that the First Amendment Defense Act is rapidly becoming a signature issue that unifies the GOP,” Maggie Gallagher, Senior Fellow at American Principles Project, said in the group’s statement announcing the pledge. “Three out of the four top contenders for the nomination — Carson, Cruz, and Rubio — have pledged to prioritize passing FADA in their first 100 days of office. Additionally, Bush, Graham, Paul, and now for the first time, Donald Trump, have publicly expressed support for FADA.” 

Gallagher added that a Republican win in 2016 could mean that FADA becomes reality. “Real, concrete protections for gay marriage dissenters appear to be just one election victory away,” she said.

This is for all of you who are claiming they will sit this election out if the Democratic candidate of your choice does not win the nomination. 

Time to grow the fuck up and recognize just what is at stake.

Or should I also bring up the potential Supreme Court appointments?

Okay so once again it is time for yet another GOP debate. Get your booze, popcorn, and stress balls within arms reach and let's do this thing! Update!

The stage is set for the final #GOPDebate of 2015 https://t.co/X1KP0OgsxM via @CNNPolitics pic.twitter.com/QJoEWZF8he

— CNN (@CNN) December 15, 2015

Okay so tonight will be the fifth Republican debate, and as always Donald Trump is leading the field, but now he has not only Ben Carson but also Ted Cruz breathing down his puffy orange neck.

I really think that we are going to see some backstabbing and sucker punching, because there are a whole lot of presidential wannabes who are damn sick and tired of being left out of the conversation.

Here are a couple of links to get you started.

Politico claims to offer everything you need to know about the debate.

CNN has 7 things that you need to watch for.

The Hill let's us know that Trump might have done a little Sheldon Adelson ass kissing today.

 Rachel Maddow would like to know why CNN is lying about how Rand Paul made it to the main debate stage tonight. (Good question actually.)

And finally my favorite modern author Stephen King has an observation about Donald J. Trump.

As always I will be updating this post as things unfold, and Twittering my little fingers to the bone.

I imagine that much of this debate will center around terrorism and national security so expect there to be gallons of testosterone ejaculated onto stage and quite a lot of muy macho chest beating.

Oh joy.

Update: Oh looky looky.

 I think they're in the cheap seats.

Update 2: So of course these too got together.

 I bet they are arguing over who loves John McCain the most.

Update 3:

Getting tired. If @RandPaul does'nt mount his podium, rip off his wig to use as a loincloth, and attack @marcorubio then I'm out. #GOPDebate

— Gryphen 2009 (@Gryphen2009) December 16, 2015

I'm so beat I misspelled doesn't. 

Will Ferrell returns to SNL to do his George Bush impersonation, and it is not to be missed.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

This week’s Saturday Night Live opened in high style with alum-turned-film star Will Ferrell playing former President George W. Bush in the cold open. The momentous occasion? An announcement that the term-limited Dubya will seek the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

This was literally the only portion of SNL that I stayed up long enough to see. So I fell asleep in mid chuckle.

I loved how he just started laughing uncontrollably at the picture of Donald Trump, and  about his brother he said "You gotta admit it's a pretty good plot twist that I turned out to be the smart one."

CNN's Chris Cuomo asks presidential candidate Carly Fiorina if she feels guilty for inspiring the Planned Parenthood shootings. And with that the bovine excrement hits the air circulation device.

Courtesy of Mediaiate:  

"Do you feel any sense of regret about how you characterized what was going on at Planned Parenthood after the attack in Colorado?” Cuomo asked. “Because of what the man said which seems as though he was influenced by some of the rhetoric coming out of you and others that painted a very ugly picture and unfair one about Planned Parenthood.” 

Fiorina was less than enthused about the question. “Oh, please. Really, Chris?” she asked. 

“What happened in Colorado is a terrible thing, this guy is a deranged murderer, and I hope he is put away for life,” she said. “It may be that we should be classifying that as domestic terrorism as well. But that has nothing to do with the truth of what is going on in Planned Parenthood, and this is a typical left-wing tactic, to try and shut down the truth by silencing people.” 

“The videos were edited, you know that,” Cuomo said. 

“Actually, I don’t know that,” she insisted. “There’s been forensic evidence of those nine videotapes over and over again, there have been reports that say they are not edited.”

Look how smug and confident Fiorina is in her ignorance.

How is that really any different from the way that Donald Trump acts when he talks about Muslims, or Ben Carson when he talks about Egyptian pyramid grain silos, or Ted Cruz when he talks about....well pretty much everything?

As for Fiorina saying that "She does not recall anybody in the pro-life community celebrating this tragedy," I would imagine that is because she never bothered to look. 

I am coming to accept the fact that ALL of these GOP presidential candidates are simply smarmy, misinforming morons.

Sure they may not all agree on exactly WHAT to lie to the American people about, but they are going to lie to them about something. And when confronted about their lies, they're going to misrepresent the facts and blame the media for not seeing THEIR reality.

Truly a terrifying group of sociopaths.

Yeah don't you hate it when that happens?

And as Salon points out there are others deserving of blame as well: 

Partisans on the right can pretend the motivation for the killing spree will remain an eternal mystery. But a plausible link obviously exists. As does a plausible link between blood-soaked verbal attacks against Planned Parenthood and the possibility they inspire people to commit violent, and even deadly, acts.

 “When Bill O’Reilly compares Planned Parenthood to Nazis,” wrote Michelle Goldberg at Slate, “we shouldn’t be surprised that some people conclude that taking up arms against it is permissible.”

The really troubling part is that they are unlikely to stop, and this is unlikely to be the last murderous rampage as a result. 

Scientists grade presidential candidate's knowledge about climate change. On Ted Cruz:"This individual understands less about science (and climate change) than the average kindergartner."

Courtesy of The Big Story: 

At the request of The Associated Press, eight climate and biological scientists graded for scientific accuracy what a dozen top candidates said in debates, interviews and tweets, using a 0 to 100 scale. 

To try to eliminate possible bias, the candidates' comments were stripped of names and given randomly generated numbers, so the professors would not know who made each statement they were grading. Also, the scientists who did the grading were chosen by professional scientific societies. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had the highest average score at 94. Three scientists did not assign former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley a score, saying his statements mostly were about policy, which they could not grade, instead of checkable science. 

Two used similar reasoning to skip grading New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and one did the same for businesswoman Carly Fiorina. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had the lowest score, an average of 6. All eight put Cruz at the bottom of the class. 

"This individual understands less about science (and climate change) than the average kindergartner," Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor, wrote of Cruz's statements. "That sort of ignorance would be dangerous in a doorman, let alone a president."

Well they certainly had not problem pegging Ted Cruz.

The rest of the field rounded out like this:

Martin O'Malley: 91
Bernie Sanders: 87
Jeb!: 64
John Kasich: 47
Rand Paul: 48
Carly Fiorina: 38
Marco Rubio: 21
Donald Trump: 15
Ben Carson: 13
Ted Cruz: 6

Does anybody else find it especially interesting that the three candidates with the lowest scores are at the top of the polls in the GOP race?

What? Another GOP debate Open Thread?

It may not be the best way to get clicks, but to be completely honest I really wish I could skip this debate tonight.

However since this is a political blog, and it really DOES matter who the Republicans choose to lose against the infinitely superior Democratic candidate, I will suck it up and watch the entire two hours even if it kills me.

(You don't think it will kill me do you?)

Things to watch out for tonight are the following:

• Ben Carson making things worse for himself by trying to defend some of the batshit crazy things he has said.
• Marco Rubio baiting Jeb Bush into a battle of barbed comments, and possibly a slap fight. (OH please, oh please, oh please)
• Jeb Bush talking more about exactly HOW he would murder baby Hitler.
• Carly Fiorina trying desperately to fight the botox in her face to change expressions once in a while.
• Ted Cruz deciding midway through to announce that if he wins he is choosing Jesus as his running mate.
• Rand Paul to try and avert attention away from his hairpiece. (As usual.) 
• John Kasich to just stand there shaking his head in disgust.
• And of course Donald Trump to mention his poll numbers, his business acumen, and how much he hates the Chinese as often as possible.

Of course the REAL question of the evening is will the moderators even be allowed to do their jobs, since the GOP candidates seem to think that having to answer questions is an attack on their character?

I mean the entire evening could just be a lot of, "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I think you are being a dick."

Gee what fun.

As usual I will be on Twitter, so you can follow me there.

And of course here on IM I will be periodically updating as the debate progresses.

So without further ado, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Update: I am already having trouble concentrating.

@RandPaul is talking Don't look at the hairpiece, don't look at the hairpiece, don't look at the hairpiece. Damn too late! #GOPDebate

— Gryphen 2009 (@Gryphen2009) November 11, 2015

Carly Fiorina claims when it comes to appearance there is a double standard in how the media treats conservative female candidates and how it treats Hillary Clinton.

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:  

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina suggested on Sunday that conservative women faced a "double standard" because they were attacked with sexist remarks about their appearance while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was not. 

Fox News host John Roberts pointed out that hosts of ABC's The View had said that Fiorina looked "demented" because she forced herself to smile throughout the Republican presidential debate. 

"Is there a double standard here for Republican women?" Roberts asked. "I can't imagine that they would say things like that about Hillary Clinton." 

"Oh, ya think? Yeah," Fiorina replied. "I think there's a double standard... There is nothing more threatening to the liberal media in general and to Hillary Clinton in particular than a conservative woman. So, of course there's a double standard." 

"Conservative women from Sarah Palin to Michele Bachmann to Carly Fiorina are long used to this," she added. "It will not stop me, it will not scare me."

First off it is totally untrue that Hillary does not receive criticism based on her appearance, or demeanor.

In fact Sarah Palin herself recently mocked Hillary for smiling after the Benghazi hearings. 

Yeah, how dare she express a human emotion while the conservatives are trying to portray her as the heartless Dragon lady.

And by the way male politicians are also called out for looking sweaty, crazy, angry, bored, or, in the case of Ben Carson, unconscious.

As for the appearances of female conservatives being judged more harshly that Hillary's appearance, it should be pointed out that Hillary has never traded on her looks in order to gain attention like Sarah Palin has done repeatedly.

Nor has she obviously subjected herself to plastic surgery in order to appear more youthful and attractive unlike some people we could mention.

So is there a double standard?

Yes, the public treats phonies, and political prick teases, far more harshly than they do more authentic female politicians.

Get over it.