GOP Debate from Iowa Minus Trump Tweets (3 of 3): Everyone Hates Bernie.......

Wow! This is somehow our 2,750th entry. Of course, when we started this blog, it was in 2005 and Steve Jobs was still alive and perhaps still parking his Mercedes in handicapped parking spaces.

Since we adore irony here, we are starting with an image of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) the democratic socialist who has somehow become Hillary Clinton's main Democratic challenger and nemesis; yes, Bernie is not a Republican, in fact, they really seem to hate him.

The image in the middle is an Iowa wind farm, and the guy in the last photo is Gov. John Kasich, whom the average seventh grader at Stillwell Junior High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, has probably still never heard of.

Here are the tweets:

1) Benjamin Freed (Washingtonian magazine): Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister.

2) Brian McFadden (liberal): I'll risk Sweden and it's Seasonal Affective Disorder over the no-government Republican ideal of Somalia.

3) Matthew Yglesias (liberal): Bernie is probably not left-wing enough to lead the Swedish social democrats.

4) Jonah Goldberg (conservative): I think Kasich should have a costume change between every answer, Roman centurion, cowboy, French maid, Klingon warrior........etc.

5) Jonathan Chait (liberal): The immigration round was like The Departed.

6) Marco Rubio (he tweeted during the debate??!!! Oh, it's from his helpers, right....): Let me be clear, there is only one Savior, and it's not me.

7) Dan Zak (Washington Post): Kasich was raised Catholic, but is now Anglican, has a brother who has dealt with mental health issues.

8) Dave Rubin: Solid answer by Christie. Your personal faith should doesn't trump the law. Simple as that.

9) Secular Talk: Chris Christie asked about Kim Davis*, deflects and attacks ISIS. Of course....

*-Davis is the controversial country clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

GOP Debate from Boulder, Colorado: Politics vs. Sports (1 of 3)

Though tonight's CNBC  Republican debate was held in Boulder, Colorado, as opposed to Ames, Iowa, we are going with an image of Cy, the Iowa State mascot, as we were also keeping track of an Iowa State home volleyball versus Kansas as well as the World Series. We will say who won that game in a later entry.

Here are tonight's tweets:

1) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Say what you want about CNN's intro music and stuff, it's WAY better than this.

2) Crowley Report: Let's keep the camera on the panel said a CNBC director who should be fired.

3) Boer Deng ("The Times" of London): Trump clearly never saw Mulan_you know the Great Wall gets breeched.

4) Liz Mair (conservative political strategist): "Donald Trump literally just compared Latin American unauthorized immigrant to Mongolian hordes. Interesting."

5) Jonathan Chait (New York Magazine): "First question for Donald Trump: Has your entire campaign been a dream"

6) Cyclone Volleyball: Maggie Anderson sends a serve wide and we on the board in the third set, 1-1."

7) Joe Perez (Kansas City Royals fan): Please never show the Matthew McConaughey commercial my World Series.

8) David A. Bell (Princeton U historian): Food fight!

9) Kai Ryssdal (host of NPR's "Marketplace"):Why is Trump going after John Kasich? Don't quite get it.

Happy Oscar Hangover Day

In case you were wondering, especially those of you who might still be behind a desk in Portland, Oregon, at this hour, we are featuring the Hindu love goddess Parvati because a short film called "God of Love" won the Oscar last night. Parvati happens to be the wife of Shiva, but this is not World Religions 101 (though I did get a 'B' in that class at Radford University in Virginia).

This deity should not be confused with Parvati Melton, the extremely gorgeous 22-year-old Bollywood star (who grew up in California!) who may very well have her very own Uma Thurman stalker from Mumbai (well, for her sake, we certainly hope that's not the case!).

Another very attractive young woman Natalie Portman, who is alas engaged to be married to a man who impregnated her (insert whinning here), won a well-deserved Best Actress last night for her amazing performance in "The Black Swan." The dark movie about a struggling ballet dancer was the subject of a recent nasty piece in "The New Republic" which almost made me cancel my subcription. But, we love their columnist Jonathan Chait, who always puts right-wingers in their place (give that man a raise!).

As for some other winners, we mentioned the short live action film "Gods of Love" which won last night. The film by Luke Matheny is about a love-struck lounge-sining teenage boy. It was one of the ten picks we missed last night though we did choose 13 right, including our pick for Portman.

"Strangers No More," a film about a school in Tel Aviv, Israel, with children from 48 countries, won a Best Documentary Short Oscar.

And, finally, "The Lost Thing" a short animated film about a boy who finds a strange creature on the beach and adopts it for himself was the winner in its category.

The very last thing I want to mention is that I thought one dress worn by Anne Hathaway (it should be pointed I know nothing about fashion and if I were to even have a Starbucks frappucino with Hathaway, I would get down on my knees and thank
Shiva) actually looked like something that the '80s punk band Devo would wear. Ok, well, I wasn't going to have a frap with Anne Hathaway anyway!

I Got a Letter from the Republican National Committee?!

I was very amused yesterday to get a letter from Michael Steele, head of the Republican National Committee, asking 'for my support.'

The letter was made more dubious (I am a fairly partisan Democrat) by the fact that it was addressed to Ms. Tilly Gokbudak. (yes, this is the reason we are featuring a photo of Frances Marie Burke who was Miss America in 1940). But, the last time I checked I had a prostate, so I am actually Mr. Tilly Gokbudak and I have been since I was born 40 years ago on March 4, 1970.

Let me post the opening part of this letter from Steele, a man I actually used to have a great deal of respect for since he is one of the few Republicans who is opposed to the death penalty and actually questioned some parts of George W. Bush's futile Iraq War policy:

"Dear Ms. Gokbudak,

After our Party's historic victory in the Massachussetts Senate race, I've had many Sustaining Members ask me when are Republicans going to take the fight to Obama and the Democrats in my community. THE TIME IS NOW!"

The letter goes on to boast about a new RNC AIRWAVE BLITZ (they used all caps) to set the 'record straight' about Obama's 'socialist schemes' to grow big government.

A few paragraphs down, the letter states:

"We are committed to using EVERY AVENUE POSSIBLE to reach those Americans who are concerned about the leftward direction that the Obama Democrats are dragging our country.

Ms. Gokbudak, our party must win the battle for America's future--- and I'm counting on GOP grassroots leaders like you in Mount Airy* to help us win the fight."

(*-I don't actually live Mount Airy, NC, but it is the town I use when stating my residency on this blog)

The timing of this over-the-top letter which has Glenn Beck's fingerprints all over it comes just as I had finished reading an excellent article by the ever-brilliant Jonathan Chait in the Feb. 4 issue of "The New Republic," my favorite political magazine since it reflects my nuanced center left political views (though I have now and then disagreed with them).

In his column stated "Steele Cage," Chait asserted that the GOP had found their inner Al Sharpton with Steele because the former Maryland lt. gov. was an embodiment of 'Republican racialism' which the analyst describes as 'an attempt to mimic Democratic racialism without first having any grasp of the original thing, like a person who decides to convert to Judaism by studying Madonna."

And, with that reference to the '80s pop music icon who I had the misfortune of growing up with (Oh great! "Vogue" and "La Isla Bonita" are now ringing in my skull, but that in itself won't make me switch to Rich Lowry and the arch conservative journal "The National Review"), we will conclude this entry so we can see if Old Dominion has in fact knocked off Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament though the Irish were up 10-6 when I last checked.

UPDATE: ODU has just won the game 51-50! Now, I guess I will have a mad Republican Fighting Irish fan to deal with........