Potluck Quote (2 of 10): Slavoj Zizek

According to the Instagram site for "Mental Floss," the American embassies for nations of Slovenia and Slovakia get together once a month to exchange letters that are meant for the other. We imagine the folks at "Washington Diplomat" are fully aware of this.

And, perhaps by merely mentioning Peter Sagal, the host of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," who actually wrote a play called "Denial" some twenty years ago, we can get a few more domestic hits for this blog.

Today, we quote Slovenian left-leaning philosopher Slavoj Zizek who is probably not admire by either Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio:

"When I really love someone, I can only show it by making aggressive and bad-taste remarks."

GOP Debate without Trump Hangover....

Here are some leftover tweets from last night's Republican debate in which Donald Trump pretended he was Matthew Broderick in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," as well as some nifty tweets that were posted today on Twitter:

1) John Fuselgang (liberal): GOP debate was like The Suicide Squad without their Joker.

2) Ian Cioffi (libertarian): If watch CNN you'd think Rand Paul had a good night. If you watch Fox News, you'd think Rand Paul never attended the debate.

3) Hugh Hewitt (conservative): I'm going to sleep because I'm agreeing with David Axelrod too much.

4) Donna Brazile (liberal): A GOPDebate can still provide winners and losers even without Trump there to proclaim himself the winner and call everyone else losers.

5) Michelle Malkin (black Republican): In case you missed Jeb last nite Immigration pandering__check. Generational pandering__check. The Cringe. It burns.

6) Markos Moulitsas (liberal): So Donald Trump is taking down the Republican Party, now he's trying to do the same for Fox? Best primary ever.

7) Michael Crowley (Politico): Gonna be a lot of 'Hey, maybe we wrote off Jeb Bush too soon' overnight and tomorrow. Might be too late though....

8) Bernie Sanders: EqualPayCantWait when women in America who do the same work earn 79 cents on the dollar compared to men.

9) John Robinson (UNC journalism professor): Politics as bloodsport is fun to watch, but I do wish presidential candidates acted with dignity and intended, at least, to be presidential.

That makes a cool nod to our Luca Libre (Mexican wrestling image) along with a still from the movie "The Hangover" with Bradley Cooper and an image of Iowa State cheerleaders. Go Cyclones! Well, we don't live close to Iowa at all actually.....

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.

Debate from Iowa Minus Donald Trump Tweets (2 of 3)

Wow! That photo of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at the bottom took all night to download, but it is in the public domain. The image at the top, also in the public domain (we hope), is of Donald Trump who decided he was too big for tonight's Republican debate. And, in the middle, since the GOP always aims to win over evangelicals, is an image of the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, Iowa,.........oh, we forgot some evangelical Baptists don't like Catholics..........oh well...........!

Here are the tweets:

1) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Best to worst so far.....1. Rand 2. Jeb 3. Rubio 4. Christie 5. Cruz 6. Kasich 7. Carson

2) Chuck Todd (NBC): But the more muddled this debate is it ends up helping one candidate.....the elephant not in the room.....(great pun, Chuck!)....

3) Ken Rudin (NPR): Oooops. Paul makes case against abortion. But if he were a true libertarian would he not leave to the states and stay out of it?

4) Bill Mitchell (conservative): The callers to CSPAN are VERY positive about Trump!

5) Doug Aus (liberal): Nabela Noor tells the GOP the truth....Islamophobia is radicalizing ISIS.

6) Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks): I propose we do a debate where every candidate has to do a shot of liquor before every question. That's the only way we'll get real answers.

7) Dan Speerin (liberal): My plan is to starve all Iranians.....because peace.....Marco Rubio....

8) Daniel Ashford (conservative): I believe we need a unifier on the right. I believe that person is Carson. He is the American dream and he is in this for America and not for himself.

9) Matt Soleyn (fiscal conservative): Rand Paul thinks people having sexual relations with an intern would lead to them being fired. He needs to visit Wall Street.

Debate Tweets from Iowa Debate......Minus Donald Duck....We Mean Donald Trump......

Here are some tweets about tonight's Fox News Republican Party Debate moderated by Megyn Kelly, which caused Donald Duck/Trump not to attend; one of his main rivals Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is pictured top. That's a cow from the Iowa State Fair in the middle. And, of course, Donald Duck is at the bottom:

1) John Fugelsang (liberal): Carly Fiorina will make a great president as soon as she's done catching the DALMATIANS!!!

2) Hind Makki (Muslim woman activist): Does Ben Carson remember that many of the Founding Fathers were also slave-owners?

3) Megan McArdle (The Atlantic): Ben Carson closes by reading the preamble to the Constitution. Sadly, this is the strongest answer he has ever given in a debate.

4) Peter Suderman (Reason magazine): Rubio delivers every line as if it's part of an epic monologue. He's like Aaron Sorkin if Aaron Sorkin were a Republican.

5) Ana Marie Cox (liberal): Interesting, Fox News outsourced almost all of its questions about race and immigration to Youtube.

6) Meghan McCain (conservative): I like Jeb Bush for the first time in any debate.

7) Sally Kohn (CNN): Overall I thought the the debate questions were refreshing. The answers unsurprisingly less so.

8) Theodore R. Johnson: Ben Carson closed with a Constitutional Easter Special.

9) Jonathan V. Last (conservative): Can't believe moderators let that BS 'climate of hatred' Islamophobia question into the debate. Advantage Trump.

Normally, we try to keep these things a tad bit objective, but we liked the first tweet the best! 

Colorado Republican Debate Tweets: The DC Insiders Perspective (3 of 3)

Instead of focusing on strife in places like Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan, the BBC World Service will be giving live updates from the CNBC Republican Debate held tonight in Boulder, Colorado. Perhaps, that it is indeed quite fitting.

SPOILER ALERT: The Kansas-Iowa State college volleyball game we mentioned in earlier tweets resulted in a Kansas victory (3-1).

These tweets are from Washington, DC, media outlets as well as some partisan and non-partisan observers. Now, the BBC is saying that Google is trying to reach remote jungle areas in Indonesia, hmm....yeah, we can't imagine we get many hits from those areas.

The photo above is of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex), one of the Republican candidates, who bears a stark resemblance to the late "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi.

Here are the tweets:

1) The Hill: "Ben Carson on homosexuality_ I believe our Constitution protects everybody."

2) The Onion (a satirical publication): Jeb Bush Inching Podium Closer to Center of Stage During Commercial Breaks.

3) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are just on a different level tonight.

4) Robert Costa (Washington Post): Bush muted. No more hits on Rubio for now.

5) Bernie Sanders (liberal presidential candidate): "It is an embarrassment that we have a major political party that rejects the overwhelming science on climate change."

6) Emily Stephenson (Reuters): Rubio: Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC, it's called the mainstream media.

7) Glenn Kenny (movie critic): One liners not withstanding Rubio's a goddamn fascist.

8) John Robinson (former  Greensboro, NC "News&Record" news editor): "You poor people watching the GOP Debate. You could be watching the Series or the NBA or Jane Seymour's Skin Care Secrets."

9) Tom Tomorrow (liberal cartoonist): Another hit on the media DRINK.

GOP Tweets_ Turning It Over to Bill, Cenk and Charlie

We had a thought earlier this week when we were watching Karl Rove on Fox News at a Dunkin Donuts in Myrtle Beach, SC, the rare place in America where Southern evangelism and sultry wet t-shirts night clubs intersect. In fact, the city has hosted a Republican candidates debate in 2008.

A few minutes later, I realized that Rove looked strikingly similar to the blue aardvark cartoon character that used to air with Pink Panther cartoons when we were kids (Well, they were actually reruns as "The Ant and the Aardvark" aired in 1969). Much to our surprise, the aardvark was just called aardvark.

The person between Rove and the blue aardvark is former reality tv show star Heidi Montag, a Republican who endorsed John McCain in 2008, who was on "The Hills."

The folks I referred to in the header are liberal Current-TV show host Cenk Uygur, a fellow Turkish-American, who I agree with 90-percent of the time, Bill O'Reilly, who I agree with nine percent of the time, if that, and Charlie Rose, the always exceptional PBS talk show host.

Here are some tweets from tonight and earlier in the day, all concerning politics or the Republican Convention in Tampa, which was delayed from today until Tuesday because of Tropical Storm Isaac:

1) @stevensantos (Steven Santos): "Pennsylvania GOP Senate Candidate: Getting Pregnant From Rape Is 'Similar' To Having A Baby Out of Wedlock." (That candidate is Tom Smith; he is challenging Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat).

2) @scottlinnen (Scott Linnen): "Gotta love Donald Trump being preempted by a bigger windbag and replaced by Two Broke Girls."

3) @SeanHanity (Sean Hannity, a right-wing Fox News tv host):  "Ran into Karl Rove at the workspace, told me about his new column."

4) @DavidShusler (David Shusler, a Washington, DC-based journalist): "My chat @GOPConvention w @KarlRove. I said 'Hi Karl.' He said, 'hey, still on tv some place?' I said, 'Yes and you?' He walked on...."

5) @kesgrander (Ken Gardner, right-wing tweeter): "Wait....did Marco Rubio just compare Obama's policies to Castro's policies in Cuba? If so, brace yourself for the left's phony outrage."

6) @TroubleBiscuits: "My family is very similar to many Cuban Americans. I'll probably cry during Marco Rubio's speech. I'll admit that now."

7) @LOLGOP: "REPORT: The GOP may have to trim its convention down to three teleprompter jokes and five minutes of Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan high fiving."