Trump, Carson, Fiorina, and Christie would describe the Civil Rights movement today as “disgusting…infantile behavior…we’re being a little too tolerant…much further toward anarchy…political correctness!”

The idea is stunning. Did we just see the GOP presidential candidates inject themselves into a local campus’ problem with racism?

Yes, in the most bizarre way too. Here’s what happened:

The two frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination criticized protests at the University of Missouri Thursday, arguing that the university administrators who resigned in the wake of racially-charged incidents may have set a harmful precedent by acquiescing to students' demands.

"I think it's disgusting," Donald Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network. "I think the two people that resigned are weak, ineffective people. I think that when they resigned, they set something in motion that's gonna be a disaster for the next long period of time."

Republican candidate Ben Carson also said Thursday that students at the school were giving in to "infantile behavior. We're being a little bit too tolerant, I guess you might say, accepting infantile behavior. I don't care which side it comes from. To say that I have the right to violate your civil rights because you're offending me is un-American," he said on FOX News' The Kelly File. "The officials at these places must recognize that and have the moral courage to stand up it. Because if they don't, it will grow, it will exacerbate the situation and we will move much further toward anarchy than anybody can imagine, and much more quickly," he added.

Fellow Republican Carly Fiorina echoed concerns about "political correctness" on college campuses, telling reporters Thursday evening that the phenomenon is "choking candid conversations in this nation. One of the things you see going on, on so many college campuses now is kids are taught, you know, if anything offends their sensibilities that they should stand up and say, 'oh don't talk to me that about that.'" she said.

Speaking in Iowa, New Jersey Republican Chris Christie blamed the unrest on an atmosphere of "lawlessness" fostered by the president. "When people think justice is not applied evenly and fairly, they take matters into their own hands," he said during an appearance in Iowa.Democratic presidential candidates have been generally supportive of the protesters, emphasizing the students' fight to address the racially-charged incidents that originally prompted the tensions in Missouri and at other institutions nationwide.

Bernie Sanders said in a tweet that "it's time to address structural racism on college campuses."

Media Matters put it this way:

Only on Fox News are armed militia members protesting federal law "patriotic," while university students and faculty speaking out against racism are labeled as anarchists.

But that's not all, as you'll see in this story from Rachel Maddow about a Trump crowd reaction to another protester:

Johari Osayi Idusuyi, who received internet acclaim when she was seen on camera reading Claudia Rankine's “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a book of poetry about race, at a Donald Trump rally, talks with Rachel Maddow about what happened in the seats...

Republican caught lying again: Fiorina's video deception, and Chaffetz's Planned Parenthood Fiasco!

Now that the whole Planned Parenthood abortion video story is out there, it's time to look back. I've compiled the bizarre antics to this point. Imagine a Republican administration running the country from the alternative reality they've created just around this one issue.  

The latest news should make every sucker who fell for Fiorina's big debate moment, question their party's deceptive tactics:

Ring of Fire: The video was released by anti-abortion activist (from) the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, Gregg Cunningham.  Fellow activists, David Daleiden, had taken the raw footage, then used a voice-over from an entirely different procedure in which fetal tissue was being harvested for medical research. That voice-over had nothing to do with the events in the video clip, which by now, is known to be of a miscarriage – not an abortion.

Daleiden admitted that it was a miscarriage – but told CNN that it “didn’t matter” – as long as it proves his point. Egregiously, Daleiden did not have the distraught mother’s permission to film the event or use it. “We used it to illustrate exactly the kind of late-second trimester baby…fetus that we’re talking about in these cases of organ harvesting.”

In other words, Daleiden, Cunningham and the rest are perfectly willing to present blatant fabrications in order to advance their agenda. Furthermore, Fiorina knew that the video was misleading and depicted a miscarriage rather than an abortion. 

In an amazing example of projection - pot calling the kettle black - Fiorina flipped GOP tactics upside down, blaming Democrats and the media for attacking her:

Fiorina accused the women's health organization of pushing "propaganda" against her while being "aided and abetted by the media."

Ah, shame on the media for covering the story, a story that made Fiorina a top Republican candidate for president? Wouldn't you know it, Fiorina is now poking at the media with an ad that keeps this story front and center:

Fiorina's campaign released an online ad that again includes the image, with the claim that "Carly Fiorina won the debate. Now come the false attacks." This, despite the fact that the baby was miscarried, not aborted, and that the image comes from a hospital procedure unconnected with Planned Parenthood. Pew Research Center found in a Sept. 22-27 poll that 60 percent of adults in the U.S. wanted a budget deal to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood. But among Republicans, 66 percent said any budget deal must eliminate the money — 78 percent among those who identify as "conservative Republicans."

The House Embarrassment Hearing: In one clarifying moment, Americans saw up close how Republicans can work the bullshit, as described by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, and shown in a compilation of clips that will never be forgotten:

At this point Republicans may wish to consider aborting to protect the health of the party. Chairman Jason Chaffetz (Utah) made the startling confession that “without the videos, we can’t have a good discussion about them.” But we can shut down the federal government over them?

Chaffetz flashed a chart showing that since 2010, the number of abortions at Planned Parenthood has surpassed the number of its “cancer screenings and prevention services.” But no such shift occurred. The fine print on the chart showed that the number of abortions (327,000 in 2013) never came close to reaching the number of cancer screenings (935,573 in 2013) at any point.

Richards said the chart “absolutely does not reflect what’s happening.”

“I pulled those numbers directly out of your corporate reports,” the chairman said.

In fact, the chart said the source was the antiabortion group Americans United for Life — which Richards pointed out to Chaffetz.

“Then we will get to the bottom of the truth of that,” the chairman said. 

Chaffetz is following the radicalized GOP tactic of doubling down on the lie, despite good questions by CNN's Wolf Blitzer:

Fiorina says Part 3: Nails Trump on her looks, but forgot the shot she took at Sen. Barbara Boxer's looks....

Really, it took this long for Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer to reveal Carly Fiorina's hypocrisy on criticizing women for the way they look?

Fiorina earned praise from viewers and media pundits alike for her take down of Trump's petty sexist insult about her face. Perhaps Fiorina should practice what she preaches:

Boxer also recalls the time Fiorina called her out for having hair that was "so yesterday."

The last part of the short video above deals with HP CEO Fiorina illegally selling printers to Iran, against an executive order not to do so. Actually, it was kind of Reaganesque.

Fiorina says, Part 2: Forcefully delivered wrong, detached from reality answers earns kudos from press.

Carly Fiorina's impressive performance was exactly that, a performance, devoid of accurate truthful answers.

Vox: She made everyone else on the stage — especially Trump — look unprepared. But she did it in part by playing fast and loose with the facts. Her barrage of specifics often obscured a curious detachment from reality.

In just scratching the surface, here are just a few easy fact checks that cut through the Fiorina fiction:

Fact checkers will have a field day with Fiorina: Her answer on Russia, for instance, was bizarre.

Fiorina: “What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message.”

The Sixth Fleet is already huge, and it's hard to say why adding to its capabilities would intimidate Putin — after all, America has enough nuclear weapons pointed at Russia to level the country thousands of times over. Her proposal for more military exercises in the Baltics seemed odd in light of the fact that President Obama is already conducting military exercises in the Baltics. And the US already has around 40,000 troops stationed in Germany, so it's hard to say what good "a few thousand" more would do. And pushing on a missile defense system in Poland is a very long-term solution to a very current problem. In total, Fiorina's laundry list of proposals sure sounded like a plan, but on inspection, it's hard to see why any of them would convince Putin to change course.

Here's another favorite fabricated GOP narrative about Obama doing nothing about immigration:

Her immigration answer was also odd to anyone who knew the issue's recent history. It's true Obama didn't immediately push immigration reform when he took office, but it was his top priority after reelection, and he spent a solid year trying to make the Senate's comprehensive immigration-reform bill — the one crafted, in part, by Sen. Marco Rubio — into law. That legislation was stopped by Republicans in the House of Representatives, not by the Democrat in the White House. "Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months," Obama begged in 2013, "and I will sign it right away."

Check out this bonus Fiorina fiction that will bend your brain:

Or take her biggest applause line of the night: a riff on the Planned Parenthood tapes that set conservative Twitter afire. "I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain."

The only problem? Nothing like that happens in the Planned Parenthood tapes. As Sarah Kliff, who has watched all the tapes, wrote, "either Fiorina hasn't watched the Planned Parenthood videos or she is knowingly misrepresenting the footage."

And who can forget the approved Fiorina campaign ad with demonic sheep?

Fiorina says U.S. can't change climate, so why try? Wants to make coal "less bad."

Carly Fiorina is not a smart person, and I’m not afraid to saying it. Let’s face it, you can’t be a Republican presidential candidate without being completely out to lunch, appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Like most Republicans, Carly admits defeat right away, essentially saying there’s no such thing as American exceptionalism. She's saying climate change can’t be done by just the U.S. alone, so, that’s it, can’t be done. That’s the American spirit.

JOHN HARWOOD: Do you believe that humans contribute to climate change and that government ought to do something about it?

Defeatist Republican Attitude- FIORINA: I believe if you're going to go to science, you need to read the fine print. And here's what the scientists say: A single nation acting alone can make no difference at all. The only answer to this problem, according to the scientists, is a three-decade global effort, coordinated and costing trillions of dollars. Are you kidding? It'll never happen.

But even more bizarre is the solution; “innovation.” Huh? Yes, magical innovation will turn even coal into something “less bad.” Oh, and did you know big energy isn't "powerful enough" yet to innovate. They need more power and money, because tens of billions in profit isn't enough. Would I kid you:

Innovation Magid- FIORINA: The answer is innovation. And the only way to innovate is for this nation to have industries strong enough that they can innovate. So we're going to become the global energy powerhouse of the 21st century. To create jobs, to make the bad guys less bad, and so that we have industries including the coal industry that's powerful enough to be able to innovate. That's how you're going to solve an intractable problem. It's always the way you solve an intractable problem. Not with regulation—with innovation.

Republicans like big talking millionaires, no matter how bad they've failed in the past. Here's a quick reminder:

In an article about worst CEOs in USA Today in 2005, Yale business Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld said that Fiorina was "the worst because of her ruthless attack on the essence of this great company. ... She destroyed half the wealth of her investors and yet still earned almost $100 million in total payments for this destructive reign of terror."

Oh yes, there's more, when asked today if he could add to his 2005 opinion:

"...while Fiorina was at HP, "virtually everything she bought ... has been shuttered or divested." He pointed out — emphasis his — that "She has NEVER been offered another CEO position in the decade since."

Failure is a prerequisite in the Republican Party, because apparently, even the following hasn't swayed Fiorina backers:

My brother, smiling, scaring me...

Yahoo: In an article about worst CEOs in USA Today in 2005, Yale business Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld said that Fiorina was "the worst because of her ruthless attack on the essence of this great company ... She destroyed half the wealth of her investors and yet still earned almost $100 million in total payments for this destructive reign of terror." While Fiorina was at HP, "virtually everything she bought ... has been shuttered or divested." He pointed out — emphasis his — that "She has NEVER been offered another CEO position in the decade since." 

She's famous for buying Compaq over the strong objections of some board members. Fiorina angered many employees with a massive layoff right after the acquisition, cutting a reported 30,000 HP jobs. Fiorina was accused of off-shoring thousands of HP jobs and making the workers who lost their jobs train their overseas replacements. 

More Fiorina BS: blames "Democrat Party" instead of GOP, for treating women as a special interest group.

Note to Carly Fiorina, we are the DEMOCRATIC PARTY...DemocraTIC Party!!!

In Fiorina's new ad in response to Trump's comment about her expressionless face, she mangles the party's name and tells the Democrat Party that women are not special interests. Sorry Carly, tell that to your own Republic Party.


DEMOCRATIC PARTY: So which is it; is Fiorina intentionally spitting in the face of every Democratic American, or does she not know how to say the name of the oldest U.S. political party. I say both.

Since it's intellectually insulting, Democratic Party members shouldn't tolerate this divisive verbal attack without correcting every disrespectful Republican who snorts this out. It's time we stop being the abused partner in all this.

I edited together the offending remark from Fiorina's ad below. It's as egregious as it sounds:

The Empty-Headedness of Carly Fiorina...this time on Climate Change.

My conservative friend in Milwaukee loves Carly Fiorina. She's so smart.

I don't usually throw the word "dumb" around very much (okay, you got me on Dumb Ron Johnson), but it's the only word that keeps ringing in my ear when I hear Fiorina talk in her dead pan style, about anything. I actually want to run screaming from the room.

And yes, I can prove it. Just watch this mind numbing interview denying climate change making the rounds in conservative circles, where they say "Fiorina OWNS Katie Couric," and "Fiorina makes mincemeat out of interviewer Katie Couric." I'm just sad for them:

Vox: In a recent interview with Katie Couric, for instance, Fiorina delivered a four-minute riff on climate change that the National Review enthused "shows how to address the left on climate change." The only problem, as David Roberts pointed out, was that every single thing she said in it was wrong.

Fiorina gets "F" on Common Core opinion.

Carly Fiorina is a corporate failure, and now bullshitting Republican presidential candidate. That can't be good.

Fiorina also has no idea what Common Core is, or how well its been working for my kids and others around Wisconsin. But she does know it gets a few right wingers angry, and that's a vote getter.

Let’s start with her mindless and meaningless Common Core jab:

GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said on Sunday she would give Common Core a failing grade for how it teaches American students.

Fiorina, like all Republicans, doesn’t like public education, and lumps all states and school districts into an incredibly misleading talking point:

“Our education system is a big problem,” Fiorina told host Chris Wallace.

Our world ranking suffers because we average in a greater proportion of low income, lower scoring children than other countries. Blame supply side economics.

“When a Washington bureaucracy gets involved in program, it becomes heavy-handed and standardized,” she said.

Nothing is standardized, she’s pulling that out of her ass.

Fiorina pointed to China on Sunday as an example of how federal involvement in education could hurt a country’s knowledge base.

Fiorina must not be aware of all the European countries with national curriculum's and tests. Oh, and these countries are always near the top of the rankings.

“Common Core, unfortunately, limits parents’ choices,” Fiorina said. “It will, over time, limit our children’s options.”

It doesn’t limit anything, so we can only assume she has no idea what Common Core is. Districts across the nation pick and choose how and what they’ll teach.

I hope reporters start educating themselves about Common Core, vouchers and charter shools.