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[Veritigo_X]

The problem is that it happened too early and only once. Have you ever been on the tilt a whirl ride where early in you're with a fat person and you hit a hill just right and you go fucking spinning? Like a five rotation spin? Then the rest of the ride you spend waiting to get another fiver but you only get a three rotator and mostly twos? That was tonight. Rubio blew but he blew SO badly early that it wasn't possible for it to happen again.

It really depends on what the news is talking about and right now they're talking about how poorly Rubio did.

 

[danm999]

I just don't see what state Rubio wins after New Hampshire to turn things around in time.

Yeah it's early but there needs to be one Establishment candidate to take on Cruz or Trump and this thing just took everybody back to the drawing board.

 

[gaugebozo]

Let's dispel with this fiction.

Bubble boy would still be hard to beat regardless of how robotic he is at debating.
They all use canned lines, he's just bad at hiding them. He's the Dragon Age 3 of debaters.

This President hunts in packs, arisen.

 

[B-Dubs]

CNN going in on Cruz after the break, goddamn. First Trump shivs him at the end and not CNN piles on, bad night for Cruz and it couldn't happen to a bigger dick.

 

[Y2Kev]

The timing was awful, I agree. It shows some fundamental weaknesses, that really a lot of people in here have already noted. He is no GOP Obama.
But if in a few days he finishes strong, it will be forgotten, and whatever happens his debate prep is going to be much more thorough after this debacle I imagine.

Agree 100%

He will have a real response to this line of attack next week.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

The timing was awful, I agree. It shows some fundamental weaknesses, that really a lot of people in here have already noted. He is no GOP Obama.
But if in a few days he finishes strong, it will be forgotten, and whatever happens his debate prep is going to be much more thorough after this debacle I imagine.

I guess that's a matter of wait and see. I predict a 3rd place finish for him in NH after tonight. And if you finish 3rd in both Iowa and New Hampshire, your campaign is done. There's no way around that. I don't think there's any historical precedence showing that's been overcome nor any indication going forward to think Rubio will break that precedent.

 

[shinra-bansho]

A third place finish would be bad. He managed to turn bronze into gold once, but you don't do that twice I agree. I don't think he needs to beat Trump though, the other three just have to do poorly enough that he becomes the GOP establishment's last hope.

It really depends on what the news is talking about and right now they're talking about how poorly Rubio did.

It's probably worth looking at which news though. Is it the biased liberal media or the fair and balanced one?

 

[Aaron]

The timing was awful, I agree. It shows some fundamental weaknesses, that really a lot of people in here have already noted. He is no GOP Obama.
But if in a few days he finishes strong, it will be forgotten, and whatever happens his debate prep is going to be much more thorough after this debacle I imagine.

No amount of debate prep can save Rubio. He's the emptiest of suits. He's the black hole of the GOP.

 

[Y2Kev]

I guess that's a matter of wait and see. I predict a 3rd place finish for him in NH after tonight. And if you finish 3rd in both Iowa and New Hampshire, your campaign is done. There's no way around that. I don't think there's any historical precedence showing that's been overcome nor any indication going forward to think Rubio will break that precedent.

I honestly don't see cruz getting second so do you think someone else will? Who and why? Jeborah?

 

[RustyNails]

I wouldn't go that far since he's still the most viable establishment candidate. But clearly his flaws are on display.

Nope, he's done. It's one of those critical moments in debates that happens every election. Not as succint and soundbitable, but he got skewered on all other points:

1. Targeted (hits him where it hurts, the notion is that he is a scripted robot): Nailed 100%.
2. Impactful: You bet...everyone is talking about it, from CNN, to MSNBC to ABC. Social media already all over it.
3. Soundbiteable: Not quite, but enough material in there to show him choke.

Apply those three things to any legendary moment in past (HW fucking up, Stockdale's "where am i", Biden nailing Rudy on verb, noun and 9/11, etc) and it stacks up.

 

[Officerrob]

So I hear Barack Obama knows exactly what he's doing

 

[Y2Kev]

Total overreaction. Quote me on Tuesday after the queen surprises the world by beating wacky Bernie.

 

[Veritigo_X]

It's probably worth looking at which news though. Is it the biased liberal media or the fair and balanced one?

We'll need to wait for the Drudge headline.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I honestly don't see cruz getting second so do you think someone else will? Who and why? Jeborah?

Kasich SURGE has been happening for a while now.

NH voters have ADHD so Christie gets some bump too.

 

[daedalius]

Rubio is hilarious.

Also Hildawg's twitter right now is pretty great... and I just looked at it and its literally filled with gifs. This is kind of incredible.

 

[Rafa=FedKilla]

CNN going in on Cruz after the break, goddamn. First Trump shivs him at the end and not CNN piles on, bad night for Cruz and it couldn't happen to a bigger dick.

Like a dog in heat they need to stay on that. Run that shit into the ground like Benghazi. Like Ben said, Cruz is taking that approach.

 

[Roland_Gunner]

Christie is far too liberal for GOP base. Debate performances have not proved to be important at all.

The GOP primary has been so much about personality I almost think Christie can bluster his way past his policy issues. His bigger problem is that graveyard full as skeletons in his closet. No one is worried about him yet but that will come up if he ever breaks out.

 

[Officerrob]

Agree 100%

He will have a real response to this line of attack next week.

I'm sure he will, his programmers will get to work immediately

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

I honestly don't see cruz getting second so do you think someone else will? Who and why? Jeborah?

Kasich. Rubio drops, kasich stays where he is, kasich takes 2nd.

 

[East Lake]

So I hear Barack Obama knows exactly what he's doing

This president.

 

[Y2Kev]

I'm sure he will, his programmers will get to work immediately

Christie can toy with him again.

Oh wait he probably won't even be on the stage

 

[PBY]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

"This president knows exactly what he's doing." I agree tbh.

 

[User 463088]

I think Kasich takes the highest Establishment position in NH. I'm not 100% willing to give him 2nd, but it's possible. I think there's a small chance Cruz could get 2nd if Rubio falls.

 

[Wilsongt]

We need a gif of Cristie suplexing Rubio.

 

[Rafa=FedKilla]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

Absolutely incredible.

 

[Splendor]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

Good, not great. One unique thing is that he felt above everyone, like a king watching court jesters dancing around. He won the Jeb exhange and turned the crowd for and against him whenever it served him and it was enjoyable to see.

 

[HylianTom]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

Pretty optimistic. Tonight helped.

A while back, we spoke of the possibility that he wins three of the first four contests. If the establishment lane remains in disarray (the crab bucket metaphor), this looks really possible.

(Edit: I love the unity we've seen tonight. Hillary fans and Bernie fans, joining together in united disdain for that slate of candidates. Delicious.)

 

[Makai]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

Killed it. Destroyed Ted a couple of times. Destroyed the crowd.

 

[B-Dubs]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

He's going to make me all the money.

 

[User 463088]

Ya, Trump acted like a front runner tonight. I think he did enough to prevent anyone from gaining momentum. He knew how to turn that crowd out. He's so fucking good at this it's scary.

 

[RustyNails]

Good, not great. One unique thing is that he felt above everyone, like a king watching court jesters dancing around. He won the Jeb exhange and turned the crowd for and against him whenever it served him and it was enjoyable to see.

That's exactly how a frontrunner acts.

Keep in mind Trump's threshold in a debate is way low. As long as he doesn't damage himself, he wins the debate.

 

[B-Dubs]

That's exactly how a frontrunner acts.

Keep in mind Trump's threshold in a debate is way low. As long as he doesn't damage himself, he wins the debate.

It helps that he's the only one that isn't constantly stabbing himself.

 

[NeoXChaos]

How do we feel about Trump tonight?

or

 

[Jack Remington]

Rubio got crushed. Wasn't ready for prime time or the pressure of coming in as the guy with the target on his back. He could have gotten away with this on most nights given how weak the field is, however I thought multiple candidates did really good tonight. Christie was commanding from beginning to end. Kasich turned in a good performance. Even Bush did well overall. Cruz stumbled on waterboarding (I agree with him but clearly the base does not) but overall did well. Carson was bad as usual.

The brilliant thing about Christie's attack is that it colored the way I thought about every Rubio answer afterward. Even his good answers didn't resonate much with me because you could tell how canned they were. Sure, nearly everyone on stage gives canned answers. But hearing Rubio repeat his over and over made quite an impact.

Totally agree with this. Great summary.

Folks: we're on the verge of Trump winning a primary.

Wow.

If only PhoenixDark could be here to see it.

 

[johnsmith]

Oh man, after tonight's debate I feel a lot better about the dem's chances vs Rubio as the nominee.

 

[Cesare Borgia]

Nope, he's done. It's one of those critical moments in debates that happens every election. Not as succint and soundbitable, but he got skewered on all other points:

1. Targeted (hits him where it hurts, the notion is that he is a scripted robot): Nailed 100%.
2. Impactful: You bet...everyone is talking about it, from CNN, to MSNBC to ABC. Social media already all over it.
3. Soundbiteable: Not quite, but enough material in there to show him choke.

Apply those three things to any legendary moment in past (HW fucking up, Stockdale's "where am i", Biden nailing Rudy on verb, noun and 9/11, etc) and it stacks up.

Yes it was bad but the media still wants him to win, and they want him to overcome this misstep. If he does well in NH the media will be there to catch him with a "Rubio comeback" narrative.

It was somewhat beneficial that Christie smacked him down instead of the other establishment candidates. I don't think Christie is viable anywhere else, whereas Kasich just has to make it until Ohio. NH could be the end of Christie, and I think the establishment will still pick Rubio as their man.

Personally I'm more apt to believe Rubio will be taken out by scandal, not this.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Did Bush and Christie fucking pack the room with their supporters? Everybody is cheering them like they're Michael Jackson and Prince.

 

[User1608]

.

I just hope Hillary is preparing herself for when Trump inevitably brings up her campaign contributions.

 

[Plinko]

Best case scenario happened tonight.

Trump was Trump.
Rubio was eviscerated.
Jeb was actually really good, which can take Rubio votes away.

Jeb could be the spoiler here for Rubio. He seems to have woken up, and that may siphon some Rubio support after NH.

 

[PBY]

I just hope Hillary is preparing herself for when Trump inevitably brings up her campaign contributions.

Her answer still sucks but it got a little better.

 

[shinra-bansho]

I really don't think Yeb can spoil anything. If it's going to be anyone it will probably be Kasich.

 

[B-Dubs]

I just hope Hillary is preparing herself for when Trump inevitably brings up her campaign contributions.

Her answer is getting better, she'll be there long before Trump even gets to try and hit her.

 

[GnawtyDog]

Rubio got nailed pretty hard no doubt about that. We'll see how it hurts him. The establishment is not going towards any other candidate so they'll downplay this using every means necessary - that includes the press they can and DO dictate. Whether Rubio and his camp build a response to this attack or not is inconsequential -- the initial burn is so blatant and big that it will define him of sorts aka the playbook.

What I found most gross was this GOP puppet stealing Obama's/Hillary's foreign policy in the middle-east and getting applauded for it - the ignorance of voters knows no bounds. Since he's basically an arm extension of the GOP establishment, basically a mouthpiece, kinda worse.

 

[Cybit]

I just hope Hillary is preparing herself for when Trump inevitably brings up her campaign contributions.

I have a real bad feeling of how hard Trump will hit her on the campaign contributions. When she asks "when did I change my votes?", he's going to pull out the specific checks he wrote for each law.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Did Bush and Christie fucking pack the room with their supporters? Everybody is cheering them like they're Michael Jackson and Prince.

Right to Rise has more money than God, why the fuck not make it an anti-Rubio crowd?

 

[HylianTom]

Chris Matthews just compared Marco Rubio to Dan Quayle. I nearly spit.

 

[Splendor]

I really don't think Yeb can spoil anything. If it's going to be anyone it will probably be Kasich.

But any governor doing well is bad for Rubio, all doing well, like they did tonight, is just that much worse. Making establishment voters split and flip flop on who to vote only gives Trump more time in a multi-man race, which is what he needs to win.

 

[User 406]

Let's dispel with this fiction that Marco Rubio doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's only here so he doesn't get fined.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Yes it was bad but the media still wants him to win, and they want him to overcome this misstep. If he does well in NH the media will be there to catch him with a "Rubio comeback" narrative.

It was somewhat beneficial that Christie smacked him down instead of the other establishment candidates. I don't think Christie is viable anywhere else, whereas Kasich just has to make it until Ohio. NH could be the end of Christie, and I think the establishment will still pick Rubio as their man.

Personally I'm more apt to believe Rubio will be taken out by scandal, not this.

No candidate who loses both IA and NH has a viable chance. Discussion of their candidacy after this point is only to fill airtime. After NH, this will be a race between Trump and Cruz. It is only our disbelief that one of them is actually going to get the nomination that keeps Rubio alive.