I am just now finishing the debate here, having devoted most of my night to the World Series. A few observations:

1) The kerfuffle over tone and “gotcha” questions has fed into the persecution complex of the right wing lunatic fringe well. It’s not like anyone actually answered the question they were asked anyway!

2) Cruz’s outburst and the combative dynamic that followed were nothing but a cynical gimmick to appeal to the assholes in the audience. Newt Gingrich pioneered this tactic in the last cycle.

3) It was incredibly cowardly for CNBC and the RNC to allow 10 people on the stage yet again. The logistics of having a debate like this will ALWAYS lead to whining about talk time.

4) How in the world does Rinsed Pubis Reince Priebus get to keep his job? Because he presided over a huge midterm last year? Michael Steele presided over a huge midterm in 2010 and got fired. He is the genius who was supposed to make this process less dysfunctional than it was in 2012. If anything, this early campaign season is even MORE of a train wreck.

5) These people can throw out bogus statistics all night long and nobody cares. The “fact checkers” can correct them minutes, hours or days later…the majority of people who will show up to caucuses/primaries to support these people don’t give a fuck about reality.

6) Rubio continues to move into position to become the establishment’s anti-Trump, but the man has absolutely zero ability to sound as if he is speaking off the cuff.

7) My expectation that Bush would not show up as a guy really ready to fight for his political life is looking prescient. I think the only question is if he even makes it to Iowa.