143 Comments
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Brian Beutler's avatar

Hate to say good for Christie, but good for Christie.

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Albert Marten's avatar

The only Repub on the stage with enough guts to criticize Trump.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Update! Mike Pence wants everyone to know he has sex.

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Lisa's avatar

I don’t believe it.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Chris Christie update: The dig at Biden for being married to ("sleeping with") an educator was really gross.

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M Murray's avatar

Yes, it was not his best moment.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Well, that was the first "anti-anti-menthol cigarettes" ad I've ever seen.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Ok, gotta prep some morning content. Appreciate you all very much. Feel free to keep mixing it up among yourselves, and I'll check back in tomorrow, and ahead of the next AMA. Good night!

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Alright folks—gonna wind this down in about five minutes. Any final questions?

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M Murray's avatar

Thank you, looking forward to reading Off Message

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Jacob Crites's avatar

Oh hell yeah, count me in! (Unless I forget and get caught up playing Starfield again) It’s going to be a glorious shitshow now that it’s even MORE apparent that none of them win. Who’s vying for a VP or cabinet nom? Will DeSantis bother to criticize Trump now that he has no shot of winning? Is Mike Pence technically still a person who exists? So many questions!

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Banning Confucius Institutes is a new one to me.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Ok, free for all. Comment wherever you want! I'll keep up as well as possible and make notes to self about organizing these more intuitively going forward.

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Michael Anderson's avatar

You really tried!!

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Brian Beutler's avatar

It's a ~~~learning process~~~ but the point is to have fun.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Hi everyone! Welcome to hell/the second GOP debate and (more auspiciously) the first of hopefully many Off Message AMAs. I'm new enough to the platform that I'm not totally sure what the best way to do this is, so how about we just hang out under this comment and see how it works. If it's too kludgy, maybe the next one will be on notes. But for now, let's have fun, and be kind to one another (but not to Vivek Ramaswamy et al).

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Also, you will quickly notice, my wife and I are cord cutters, so I'm always a few second behind those of you wired in. Can make for some hilarious confusion!

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Lily's avatar

Re: incoming government shutdown: Christie is saying everyone's to blame -- which, no -- but a note on mainstream portrayal on it: ABC World News Tonight laid the responsibility at Republicans' feet.

Also, basement? Really? Wasn't that a 2020 thing?

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Lily's avatar

There's this thing called Chat (Matt used it once about a year ago): https://on.substack.com/p/chat.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

I kinda like this nested idea (so long as people find us here) but after today I'll iterate, so this can be as smooth as possible.

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Michael Anderson's avatar

fyi seems easier to reply to the whole comment section

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Sep 28, 2023
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Brian Beutler's avatar

I was thinking it looks like it's grown two, three inches since the last one?

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Steve's avatar

it looks like a wig!

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Albert Marten's avatar

TV debates are emblematic of the modern Republican party. Performative nonsense interspersed with marketing pitches.

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Seth's avatar

Is anyone else horrified by all the references to “we need to be a country of laws” without calling out trump

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Brian Beutler's avatar

constantly horrified about many things, but I'll add to that: if there were a Democratic primary this year, many Democrats would ALSO duck the Trump question for fear of commenting on an ongoing prosecution (or whatever). A whole political elite that has psyched itself into saying almost nothing about one of the biggest stories in American history.

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Lisa's avatar

What’d i miss? What’d I miss?

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Albert Marten's avatar

When I watch Republican presidential aspirants, I imagine the word quisling in neon blinking over each of their heads. Stressful.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

Honestly not bad question about Obamacare.

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Lisa's avatar

I wish I had the fortitude to join you, but I just can’t do it. You’re a stronger person than I. Good luck!

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Karen's avatar

I agree, LISA. There’s not enough wine and Valium in the world to make this tolerable.

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Brian Beutler's avatar

NO, you're scaring people!

Also, funny, my sisters are named Lisa and Karin (with an 'i' so not quite a perfect coincidence, but close).

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Karen's avatar

Oh, I thought that might be your sister Lisa. I met you and Lisa when you were children. I am a clinical microbiologist and worked for a long time at a hospital in the inland empire with your father.

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Lisa's avatar

I was the designated watcher for CNN’s Trump town hall. I lasted 7 minutes. I let my friends down, man.

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