Flotsam and Jetsam - It's Debatable . . .

Whether last night's debate mattered. Stacy McCain asks the obvious question, Did Anybody Watch the Debate?

The Network That Fired Tucker Carlson™ hosted a debate Wednesday night between Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and six people who will definitely not get the Republican presidential nomination. Like, why is Asa Hutchinson even doing this? Or, who exactly thinks Chris Christie is going to win anything? And . . . Doug Freaking Burgum?

DeSantis is governor of the best state in the country right now. Ramaswamy at least has the “outsider” businessman thing going for him. The rest of them . . . Well, they’re wasting their time, and because Trump declined to participate, the whole thing was pretty pointless, since he’s 40 points ahead of everybody else. Politico has some “highlights” of the debate, if anybody actually cares, which I don’t think so.

We didn't. I'm content to see various clips on line, and Georgia just hates politics. Althouse at least read about it at the NYT (of course), who thought Vivek made point, The NYT headline is "Ramaswamy Seizes Spotlight as DeSantis Hangs Back." And: "It was the Ramaswamy show." "The subheadline for the article offered "7 Debate Takeaways,"It was the Ramaswamy show" — in boldface — was the first takeaway." Sister Toldja at Red State, Vivek Gets Rocked - and Clocked - at First GOP Presidential Debate. Never-anybody-but-Trump sundance at CTH, Perfect – Everything in the First Loser Fox News Debate Summarized in One Singular Moment – Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right. 

And while Trump was not at the debate, Tucker Carlson released a pre-recorded interview with Trump at the same time, which sucked up a lot of the oxygen. Leah Barkoukis at Town Hall, Donald Trump’s Interview With Tucker Carlson Got a Jaw-Dropping Number of Views. PJM's Vicky Taft reports Trump and Tucker Show Was Perfect Counterprogramming to Fox News GOP Debate. Both article have the TwitterX post of the interview embedded. And of course, sundance at CTH has the Rumble Replay – Tucker Carlson Interviews President Trump, Full Video,  President Trump and Tucker Carlson Draw Over 75 Million Views in First Hour and President Trump Interview With Tucker Carlson – 8:55pm Broadcast  In advance, Da Feds Tristan Justice noticed that Trump-Hating Media Boost Chris Christie While Giving Biden’s Primary Rivals The Shaft. 

Jonathan Turley at NYPo, Joe Biden’s Ukraine defense falls apart. Hat Hair's Capt. Ed, Have newly disclosed State memos demolished Biden's Ukraine defense? Yes. Best to impeach him now.  NewsMax reports an "Elite" cyber unit at DoD hosted Biden's pseudonym e-mail accounts

EXCLUSIVE: The federal agency that hosted the domain for then-Vice President Joe Biden's hidden email address has been uncovered, Chief White House Correspondent @JamesRosenTV reports. pic.twitter.com/J7Ighw901T

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) August 23, 2023

Dave Harsanyi at Da Fed calls the Hunter Biden Special Counsel Appointment A Blatant Act Of Corruption. At Compact Adam Lehrer has a review of Hunter Biden’s Raw Art. Da Caller, ‘That Is Wrong’: DeSantis Blasts Hunter Biden For Making A Fortune On ‘Lousy Paintings’ at the debate. I&I notes Damn It Feels Good To Be A Biden. Harold Hutchinson at Da Caller, Kevin McCarthy Threatens Impeachment Inquiry If DOJ Uses Special Counsel To Stonewall House Probe Into Bidens.

Hat Hair's Beege Wellborn calls the All clear: POTATUS back on vacation after his Maui mauling. Dave Harsanyi again, There Is Something Demented About Biden’s Lies. "Certainly, Biden’s mendaciousness is abnormal even by the low standards we typically use to judge politicians." It must work, look, he ended up President. Ace cites Jason Chaffetz: Biden Isn't Running in 2024 and Neither is Kamala Harris, "Is Joe Biden really running?" If not, who does he, or rather his handlers, intend to hand it off to, Newsome? 

At the Free Bacon, Most New Yorkers Say Migrant Influx a 'Serious Problem,' Poll Shows. Capt. Ed snarks "Welcome to the party, pals! It was all fun and games in the sanctuary movement until you actually had to *provide sanctuary*. If the state wants to “slow the flow,” then they need to replace Joe Biden. Maybe they’ll start considering it at this point, but it might take another year or two of getting 1% of what the borders states deal with before the solution dawns on them."

PJM's Vicky Taft hears Trump Attorney Surrenders to Georgia DA, But Not Before a Scathing Lecture on the Constitution. Sundance, A Permanent Stain on Our Republic – Rudy Giuliani Speaks After His Arrest in Fulton County, Georgia. Hat Hair's KT notes Fulton County DA Fani Willis rejects proposal to delay surrender for Mark Meadows pending appeal. She's going for maximum publicity. Jeff Lord at Am Spec says Fani Willis Indicts Free Speech. "The 98-page Georgia indictment is an assault on the Constitution." Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad@VictoriaTaft, "The hardest job in America might be the Fulton County DA's. Think about it. She must convince a jury that Donald Trump didn't really believe that the same political party that called him a Russian Secret Agent, claimed he had a magic phone to the Kremlin, and hired imaginary hookers to pee on an imaginary bed, wasn't willing to steal an election in 2020. Good luck with that. The Dersh on substack, Justice Requires Fair Procedures. Capt. Ed says "These are good points, and Dersh has more on the aggressive-to-insane scheduling request from Fani Willis on her 19-defendant, 41-count RICO indictment too. I’m mystified by the indictment of John Eastman, who may have given Trump some stupid advice, but stupid advice is not a criminal act. Perhaps Willis has evidence of Eastman directing the ‘racket’ more explicitly, but for now, this looks like a bald attempt to use RICO to charge Trump and some others in the indictment over their speech and opinions." At Da Caller, Jonathan Turley Calls Barring Trump From Ballot ‘The Single Most Dangerous Constitutional Theory’ Ever, a high bar indeed, but Trump does inspire people.

Althouse, "A stolen traffic sign that someone had painted over with the slogan 'Stop the Steal 2020' and the image of a grinning skull with Donald Trump’s hair, smoking a cigarette..." "From "Insurrectionabilia at the Smithsonian/In 2026, we will celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, and also the fifth anniversary of the January 6th uprising. Curators diligently preserved detritus from the Capitol attack, including photos of a wooden gallows" (The New Yorker)."

At I&I, The FBI Killing Of Craig Robertson Is A Wakeup Call To Gun Owners.

Kylee Griswold at Da Fed takes a Look How at Google Shoos You Away From The Biden Family Biz And Other Big News. Da Caller reports the  Dem Candidate Targeting Florida GOP Senator Is A Massive Censorship Advocate. Well, she is a Democrat.

From Da Wire, ‘I’d Do It Again’: Mom Fired From Her Job After Speaking At School Board Meeting Remains Undeterred. And it's happened again, from Twitchy, Police remove man from school board meeting for reading from a book in the library. It's funny that middle schoolers can get out of the school library what reading aloud in a school board meeting will get you arrested. At Hat Hair John Sexton is amazed that NY Times does a deep dive on St. Louis gender clinic: 'No one is ever told no' and Jazz Shaw catches the AMA: Taxpayers should fund uterus transplants for males. 

Chicks on the Right, Soap Promo Sets New Record for Insulting Women

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Yeah, that's pretty awful. At Twitchy, Rachel Bitecofer claims creator of 'Libs of Tik Tok' will be next SOS if GOP wins in 2024 and Chaya plays along. Hey, I was already going to vote GOP, now I have another reason! Tristan Justice at Da Fed reports the Columbia Journalism Review Smears Cowboy State Daily As ‘Dehumanizing’ For Accurate Pronoun Use. Screw zir. 

NYPo reports ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ singer Oliver Anthony earning $40K per day after turning down $8M record deal. OK, IMHO, the song isn't that great, but it clearly struck a chord or three.

At Behind the Black, Blacklisted 12-year-old appeals lower court decision saying he has no free speech rights, "You can read her convoluted ruling here [pdf], which required her to ignore numerous previous Supreme Court rulings that have specifically protected student speech exactly like Morrison’s. Moreover, her decision is also based on the fraudulent premise that people are supposed to be protected from speech that offends them. If people have the power to silence any speech because it hurts their feelings then no free speech exists at all. We will live in a totalitarian nightmare worse than anything dreamed up by George Orwell."

Madeleine Hubbard at JTN, 'Choke Point 2.0': Bank regulators cut porn industry off from banks, states pass age limits to porn, "A two-pronged attack sees states imposing age limits to online porn access while federal banking regulators are coercing banks to shed the adult film industry as clients. Attorneys say the new laws are unconstitutional and a reanimation of Obama's "Operation Choke Point."" The porn industry can take care of itself, but you know they will quickly expand to gun makers, and conservatives, if this isn't stopped.