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2016 Republican Primary Tag

The Donald posted a new ad to his Instagram account Friday morning and like everything else Trump, it's pretty, shall we say "bold"? Posted with the caption, "Happy Friday the 13th," and set to what sounds like a rip-off of the theme music from the popular slasher series, Halloween, Trump's ad wonders whether fellow Republican presidential candidate, Ben Carson, is a violent criminal or pathological liar.

Happy Friday the 13th

A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton cackled away comments about Carly Fiorina made during a New Hampshire town hall that, if made by any other conservative candidate, would be cause for healing circles and peace rallies all across America. During a Q&A on veterans' issues, a man—who is a veteran and who claims to have been an HP employee from 1999-2005—expressed his frustration with Fiorina by saying, “every time I see [Carly Fiorina] on TV I want to reach through and strangle her.” Need a refresher? Here's the video:

I was pleased with last night's debate. When all was said and done, I was happy to see my fellow primary voters hacking away at each other over who "won," who was "the most presidential," and who did and did not belong on the main stage. This means progress, people. That being said, I saw a lot of chatter about the respective performances of our current frontrunners. Depending on who you talk to, Ben Carson either flopped like a dying fish, or won the nomination by acclamation; Trump's performance fielded similar sentiment---was he presidential? Presidon'tial? Too quiet? Just right? Did he stagnate, or further encourage and solidify his substantial supporter base? Both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have received truckloads of praise for their performances. Both men have a solid base and rising stars---but will they rise fast enough over the next month to punch through to the top? Carly Foirina is fielding a similar, positive reaction, but enthusiasm is still not on par with that displayed for Cruz or Rubio. Still, there's room to grow, and she proved last night that she's willing to dive into the deep end.

Tuesday night, Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal hosted a Republican Presidential debate. Making a concerted effort to keep questions substantive and issue focused, moderator Neil Cavuto went so far as to say the debate was, "not about the moderators." Imagine that. A candidate debate in which candidates actually debate issues. What a novel idea! Fox Business nailed it. Questions were issue oriented and highlighted candidate policy differences. CNBC's handling of the last Republican presidential debate was so terrible, the debate highlight reel consisted of candidates channeling their inner Gingrich to swat back at absurd questions. The network's handling of the debate caused the Republican National Committee to suspend their relationship and any future debate arrangements. But because Tuesday's Fox Business debate ran as planned, political writers found the lack of entertaining, non-policy moments dull. Like Politico's Glenn Thrush:

Howdy and thanks so much for joining us tonight! Fox Business, host of tonight's Republican debate has limited online access to cable subscribers. If you'd like to livestream the debate, click here. But remember, the debate is being broadcast behind a paywall so you'll need your cable log-in information. On the debate main stage you'll find: Welcome to the main stage! Tonight’s debate will feature…
  • Carly Fiorina
  • Jeb Bush
  • Donald Trump
  • Ben Carson
  • Marco Rubio
  • Ted Cruz
  • Rand Paul
  • John Kasich

Watch real time debate reaction:

To providing a wide array of real time reactions, we've included a few different Twitter feeds for your entertainment. You'll find those beneath.

Apparently, the games began early. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that serious backers of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush are "seething" thanks to Senator Rubio's ascension in the polls. So incensed is the Jeb fan club, that they've threatened to dump mega bucks into a scorched earth anti-Rubio campaign.
That group, which has raised more than $100 million, has asked voters in New Hampshire how they feel about Mr. Rubio’s skipping important votes in the Senate. And the group’s chief strategist has boasted of his willingness to spend as much as $20 million to damage Mr. Rubio’s reputation and halt his sudden ascent in the polls, according to three people told of the claim. Seething with anger and alarmed over Mr. Rubio’s rise, aides to Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, and his allies are privately threatening a wave of scathing attacks on his former protégé in the coming weeks, in a sign of just how anxious they have become about the state of Mr. Bush’s candidacy. Their looming problem: In trying to undercut Mr. Rubio as unaccomplished and unprepared, Mr. Bush is a flawed messenger. Over the years he has repeatedly, and sometimes lavishly, praised the younger lawmaker, often on camera.

An ad released by a pro-Carly Fiorina PAC, Carly for America, released an ad Monday that spared no one. Taking on candidates both right and left, the ad features Fiorina begins with Fiorina explaining, "every election we hear a lot of talk, we hear a lot of good plans, we hear actually, a lot of good intentions, but somehow for decades, nothing really has changed."

One of the primary obstacles to repealing the failure that is ObamaCare has been the extremely successful framing of the debate by progressives on both sides of the aisle.  The question they posit and that derails any and all attempts to rid the American people of the ObamaCare albatross that is disproportionately strangling the poor and the middle class in myriad ways is:  What will you replace it with? This is a false choice.  No one called for a replacement of the 18th Amendment that made Prohibition not just the law of the land but a part of the U. S. Constitution.  ObamaCare is bad law.  You don't "replace" bad law, you get rid of it. Framing the argument as "repeal and replace" implies "if not ObamaCare then what other behemoth federal monstrosity should take its place?" and as such is a clever maneuver by ObamaCare defenders because it effectively posits that there are only two options:  ObamaCare or something just like it, i.e. another federally-mandated and -controlled health insurance system that does everything that is popular about ObamaCare and nothing that is controversial or unpopular about it.

Back in October, the ladies of "The View" decided to take out their political frustrations on Carly Fiorina's...appearance. The height of discourse, this show is not. At any rate, their comments ignited a firestorm of intense politicking that culminated with a second appearance for Fiorina---and a panel in high dudgeon. Whoopi Goldberg kicked things off by bringing up View-gate, and Fiorina took the ball and ran with it. Via Fox News:
“You know what, look I’ve been called all kinds of things, Whoopi… I’ve been called a bimbo from the time I was a secretary to the time I was a CEO. I think we need to be able to have civil conversations in this country about our differences… so I'd just like to have a conversation about where we agree and where we disagree,” Fiorina said.

Jeb Bush's campaign is in trouble, there's no doubt about that. His debate performances have been disastrous, he hasn't generated enthusiasm, and he's dropped to 5th place in the polling composites. No longer will Jeb be standing on the debate stage in the center three spots next to Trump. The symbolism of Jeb almost being in John Kasich territory is significant. But Jeb soldiers on, even as one of his big donors just called it quits over the negative tone the campaign has taken---specifically Team Jeb's seemingly spiteful desire to take down Marco Rubio at all costs:
There’s nothing inherently wrong with oppo-research dumps. That’s why oppo-research is done. And if there is a damaging skeleton in Rubio’s closet, let’s find out now.

Thursday night, Fox Business announced the lineup for upcoming Republican presidential debate sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. The debate will take place November 10. The undercard debate has a few new additions -- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee. Christie and Huckabee will be joined by Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Not making the cut at all are former New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. A minimum of 1% polling average was required for the entry to the undercard debate. The main stage debate will feature the 8 candidates with highest poll ratings.

If you've been waiting for the first rap ad of the primary season, your wait is finally over. Republican presidential frontrunner Dr. Ben Carson's campaign released a rap ad that will run on stations in some of the country's largest markets. ABC News reports:
Dr. Carson is launching a new 60-second urban radio advertisement scheduled to air Friday in eight markets. His new $150,000 radio ad buy, called “Freedom,” will air for two weeks in Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Birmingham, Alabama, Jackson, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee and Little Rock, Arkansas. The ad, specifically targeting young black voters, uses rapper Aspiring Mogul and is interspersed with portions of Carson’s stump speech throughout the 60-second ad.

"For the children" unless using children as profane props helps your cause, in which case, eff it. Or at least that seems to be the case with a presumably anti-Trump PAC, Deport Racism. Promoting their contest which offers a cash prize to any audience member who successfully disrupts Trump's upcoming Saturday Night Live appearance by shouting "deport racism" or calling Trump a racist, Deport Racism used children to share, a "few words of their own" with The Donald. Mainly, "f*ck you, racist F*ck!" WARNING: Language, obvs.

In this particular tale of media hit job turned embarrassment, we have what might be one of the best public displays of gun ignorance presented as fact I've ever seen. The only things missing are a barrel shroud and a couple rounds of rubber bullets. Gizmodo reporter Wes Siler thought he'd pegged Republican Presidential Candidate Senator Ted Cruz as a gun safety hypocrite. Last weekend, the Junior Senator from the Lone Star State went pheasant hunting. Note the unloaded, break-action shotgun resting on Cruz's shoulder.

I officially feel sorry for Jeb Bush. In the wake of the CNBC debate, I said without hesitation (for about the 55th time) that he simply doesn't want to be president. I've seen nothing out of him that convinces me he really wants this. (This is one of those "feature/bug" scenarios. I don't think there's anything wrong with the fact that he doesn't want the White House---I wouldn't---other than the fact that he's wasting his and our time with a multimillion dollar campaign.) The Bush campaign has gone from lukewarm, to tragedy, and finally to farce---but they're not done yet. We have a new slogan: "Jeb Can Fix It." Read this report from the AP while I rub my temples and quietly pray for 2017:

The CNBC debate has sparked a number of conversations on the very real issue of liberal bias in the media. As Professor Jacobson pointed out last night, this is an opportunity for Republicans. When the issue is being discussed seriously on MSNBC, you know we've reached a turning point. Yesterday on Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough challenged his panelists to answer a simple question. Mark Finkelstein of NewsBusters has the story:
Scarborough: No Republican Has Hosted Network Sunday Show or Newscast in 50 Years In the wake of the CNBC debate debacle, Joe Scarborough went on an epic rant on liberal media bias on today's Morning Joe. He summed things up this way, in challenging the panel: "you can't do it and nobody here can do it: name the single Republican that has hosted a Sunday show, that has been an anchor of a news network for the big three networks over the past 50 years: you can not do it."

On Saturday night, I wrote that the GOP needs to make an example of NBC News after the CNBC moderating debacle. The point was not that NBC News is the worst offender, it's that it was the wrong place at the wrong time for NBC News, and the right place at the right time for the GOP to pick a fight with the media. The RNC decision to pull NBC News (and its affiliate, Telemundo) from the debate to be co-moderated with National Review was a first step. But it is not enough. The GOP needs to reset the narrative of the networks being in control. For too long GOP presidential candidates have been subjected to Democrat-agenda journalists during Republican primary debates. George Stephanopoulos' grilling of Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican debate was a classic of the genre: