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A Foxy, Rowdy Republican Debate — The first question to Chris Christie was about the nine credit downgrades that New Jersey had suffered since he became its governor. — Ben Carson was reminded of his domestic-policy blunders, of his foreign-policy blunders, of a whole raft of loopy statements …
Discussion:
Liberaland, The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and No More Mister Nice Blog
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The GOP debate: 7 takeaways — The first Republican debate of 2016 turned out to be an empty-calorie joy ride. — Takeaway 1: Jeb Bush was meh. Getty — That was fun. Now what? — The first Republican debate of 2016 was an empty-calorie joy ride, thanks to Donald Trump …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page

Fox News Couldn't Kill Trump's Momentum and May Have Only Made It Stronger — Judging by Thursday's electric debate, he may have sensed his true opponent before anyone else had a clue: the network. — t joshuagreen — A few hours before Thursday's Fox News debate, a friend of Donald Trump's confided to me that Trump was nervous.
Discussion:
NBC News, Politico, Bloomberg View, Business Insider, The Week, New York Magazine and Taylor Marsh


The Debate's Biggest Winners-And Losers — 22 political experts give their snap reactions. — Getty. — SHARES — ‘The best two performances came from John Kasich and Marco Rubio.’ — Get POLITICO Magazine in your feeds — By John Hudak, Brookings fellow in Governance Studies and author of the GovFix blog.
Discussion:
New York Times and Washington Post


Republican presidential debate: 8 takeaways — Story highlights — (CNN)The top 10 candidates for the Republican presidential nomination only had a few minutes each on Thursday to capture the attention of voters tuning in to the first big-league Republican presidential debate.
Discussion:
ImmigrationProf Blog

Trump Alters the Way the Rest of the Field Is Perceived
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, Hit & Run, Bloomberg Business and Politico


Republican debate: Donald Trump still focus of campaign after sprawling fight - live updates
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Hollywood Life, US News, Raw Story, Mashable, Business Insider, The Last Refuge and The Daily Caller

Trump wins the Internet
Discussion:
The Hill, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, BizPac Review, The PJ Tatler and NPR


My Position on the Iran Deal — Every several years or so a legislator is called upon to cast a momentous vote in which the stakes are high and both sides of the issue are vociferous in their views. — Over the years, I have learned that the best way to treat such decisions is to study …
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Chuck Schumer Opposes Iran Nuclear Deal, Shaking Democratic Firewall — WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, said Thursday night that he would oppose President Obama's deal to limit Iran's nuclear program. — “Advocates on both sides …
Discussion:
CNN, Althouse, Reuters, Balloon Juice, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Power Line, Instapundit and USA Today


Chuck Schumer Breaks With Obama, Will Oppose Iran Deal
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Business Insider, The Week and Washington Free Beacon

Why I'm Supporting an Imperfect Iran Deal
Discussion:
The Hill, Refinery29, Politico, Hot Air, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Atlantic, POLITICO New York, Washington Post, Mondoweiss and whitehouse.gov

Donald Trump: Megyn Kelly ‘behaved very nasty to me’ — CLEVELAND — Donald Trump says he didn't get a fair shake. — Speaking in the spin room behind the debate stage, Trump said the questions he received from the moderators Thursday night “were far tougher” than those asked of the other candidates.
Discussion:
Yahoo Politics, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette and Taylor Marsh
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GOP debate: Early numbers suggest record audience — Early overnight Nielsen ratings suggest that Thursday's Republican debate was not just the most-watched primary debate in history — it may have been twice as big as the previous record-holder. — The debate on Fox News …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Mashable and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »


Trump: Fox News Questions “Not Nice,” “Inappropriate” — CLEVELAND — Donald Trump criticized the questions asked by Fox News in the opening presidential primary debate on Thursday, calling them “inappropriate” and saying that Megyn Kelly “behaved very badly.”

Donald Trump lunched with Fox's Roger Ailes
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and BuzzFeed


Democrats tweet sexist attack on Carly Fiorina — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More — During Thursday's undercard debate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina noted her business experience, which during her tenure saw the tech company's revenue double to $90 billion.
Discussion:
Althouse, The Daily Caller and Hot Air
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Fox News Had Its Own GOP Debate Agenda: Narrow Down The Field
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Politico, Washington Post, Democratic Strategist and New York Times

Fiorina stands out in Republican ‘happy hour’ debate
Discussion:
Slate, ABC News, Fusion, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Yahoo Politics


Transcript: Read the Full Text of the Primetime Republican Debate — Ten Republican presidential candidates met in Cleveland for a primetime debate on Fox News. — At the debate, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Hullabaloo and The Federalist
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Annotated transcript: The Aug. 6 GOP debate
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Progress Pond, Slantpoint, Shakesville, Althouse, Informed Comment, Weekly Standard and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Live-blogging the first major Republican debate of the 2016 presidential race
Discussion:
Defense One, Mediaite, The Week and Althouse


Recordings: State rep asked aide to hide relationship — Lansing — State Rep. Todd Courser planned the distribution of a fictional email alleging he had sex with a male prostitute in a bid to conceal his relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat, according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Right Wing Watch, Jezebel, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money


Senate bill would nearly double the gas tax — Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) is introducing legislation that would nearly double the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax to help pay for road and transit projects around the nation. — Carper's bill would increase the gas tax by 4 cents per year …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Oops: Jeb's Website Publishes, Then Deletes, Attacks on Walker, Rubio — The former Florida governor's campaign describes the attacks as “draft pages.” — Jeb Bush's official campaign website on Thursday briefly featured two separate sections attacking two top Republican rivals …
Discussion:
Political Wire