The Republicans debate last night

The Young Turks did an instant evaluation last night on the latest round of the Republicans' scary-clown show, CNN GOP Debate: The Young Turks Summary 09/16/2015:

Some notable additional comments on the debate.

Charlie Pierce: "If you eliminate 'telling the truth' from the assessment, Carly Fiorina was every bit the winner she is universally acclaimed to be this morning." (Carly Fiorina: Strong, Crisp, and Effective if You Ignore the Facts 09/17/2015)

Ed Kilgore: "Even as Carly Fiorina’s mendacious disquisition on Planned Parenthood last night encouraged those who want to shut down the government over funding for that organization, congressional Republicans continued to run for cover to the big mainline antichoice organization, the National Right To Life Committee ..." (Ducking For Cover on Planned Parenthood Washington Monthly 09/17/2015)

Digby Parton: "How often do you find a candidate who has the ability to demagogue on Iran and Planned Parenthood in the same sentence? That’s a skill usually limited to only the best hate talk radio hosts. But Fiorina did it last night to great acclaim from right wingers and the media alike." (Don’t believe the Carly Fiorina hype: Here’s every major problem with her performance in the GOP debate Salon 09/17/2015)

Josh Marshall: "It was, to put it simply, a race to embrace Bush foreign policy on steroids." (The War Party TPM 09/17/2015)

Joan Walsh: "Of course, all the contenders genuflected at the memory of Reagan while trashing President Obama’s Iran deal — yet nobody mentioned Reagan’s role in bolstering the Iranian hardliners by violating an embargo to sell them arms in exchange for help to the Nicaraguan contras and a possible hostage release." (The GOP farce plods along: Why last night’s interminable debate was an affront to the party’s patron saint Salon 09/17/2015)

Adele Stan: "The evil genius of Fiorina, as I’ve written here before, is her uncanny ability to play the gender warrior within the GOP while promoting the party’s misogyny." (GOP Debate: Fiorina Vanquishes Trump The American Prospect 09/17/2015)

Michelle Goldberg: "What is clear, however, is that even if Trump goes away, the Republican Party isn’t climbing out of the fever swamps anytime soon." (Judging by Last Night’s Debate, the GOP Race Is Only Getting Crazier The Nation 09/17/2015)

Steven Cohen: "they are articulating a coherent strategy to win back political power, one predicated on the supposed threat that immigration poses to the security, cultural purity, and economic stability of white America." (The Republican Party Has Given Up on Hispanics The New Republic 09/17/2015)

Steve M: "Fiorina's words are brined in contempt -- nearly every sentence she utters seems as if it could be completed by an unspoken "you idiots." Palin, in her own uninformed, bratty, inarticulate way, comes off this way as well -- but her targets are always the right-wing base's enemies. Fiorina is going after base favorites like Donald Trump. I can't imagine the base warming to her if she's challenging one of their heroes." (Phony Carlymania Will Bite The Dust No More Mister Nice Blog 09/17/2015)

Rush Limbaugh: "But I just want to make some general observations here. I really thought that there was a lot of conservatism. There was a time I thought I was watching 11 Rush Limbaughs last night." (Limbaugh: Watching GOP Debate Was Like "Watching 11 Rush Limbaughs" Media Matters 09/17/2015)