the heavy weapons and cruise missiles will be used in debate 3 to take out the whole shebang.

The whole party is going to go down like the Hindenburg. Clinton looked Presidential; she walked away largely untarnished, the status-quo was upheld, and most importantly--the Republican base is salivating right now. They love what they saw and believe that they won. In their world, this is what they've always wanted. They are getting it, and it's going to destroy them.

she deftly ignored it, and now it is spent with basically zero impact.

They've got an out of control candidate who is taking down their political institution and whatever spec of dignity it had left. And they are impotent.

I think the third debate is going to be a nightmare of slime dumped on her and she is going to win it by letting him slime while talking about policies that help people. It's a weird thing to say because pundits seem slow to realize, outside his base most Americans like Obama, want to know about things, don't care how much Trump hates things and Clinton.

Frankly, I'm surprised he showed up tonight. What does he have left to smear Hillary with? Let's get ready for the cage in Vegas. Trump will never be POTUS and he may take congress with him.

This madman is all about the presentation and show ...particularly when he feels good about it.
3rd debate will be buckets of green slime like one see's on the kiddo shows on Nick. And when Don the Con
loses he will brag about how he got such AMAZING tV ratings for the Presidential debates.

his mouth like he was a singer waiting to jump in because he KNEW he had the zinger that would clinch the election.
Then finding out she slaughtered him in the debate polls.

"Well I guess I will have to carry him a few rounds before he drops." Larry Wildman

The base at freerepublic and on Fox (not the Republican insiders) is giddy thinking he won. It's actually beyond belief, to a rational person, how happy they are. In reality, he's just digging the hole deeper and deeper.

Trump's side did win tonight.

Multi-level chess being played by the Clinton campaign. Your insight is truly brilliant!

I see a lot of pundits still do not understand what has happened tonight.

Trump did enough to placate his base, but did nothing to increase it. He's stuck, and with him is what's left of the Repubs pols who have stuck with him. They can't bail, fearing they'll lose there own constituency, and like Trump, can't increase their support. If the rumored video surfaces with a Trump using the "n" word, it's a done deal, and the Repub Party drowns.

Money's been offered. So, it's up to some soul with access to deliver.

Country and Constitution be damned.

Groping, unwanted kissing and touching is alright by them, so long as it's their candidate, they snicker.

Translates: (I no longer give a flying F*** what he does, and you should not either...)

We are entering a new phase. The last phase was the "disqualifying" round. It could have needed a couple more weeks of work with a normal candidate, but Donald carried the ball over that goal line for us.

The next phase is the "elevating" round. This is the "morning in America", "Stronger Together" phase. It is lofty and aspirational. She leaves Donald mired in the conspiracy theory/"Benghazi!"/ Paula Jones / Monica muck and starts talking about the upside of working together as a patriotic theme.

In short, other than the very occasional reminder, they are pretty sure Donald has sufficiently disqualified himself that they no longer need to spend much money or time there.

so accurate I want to congratulate you. You could see that the slimeball Scarborough was energised by what Trump said and did last night, and he is reflective of the head-up-the-arse Republicans, one who was lathering in Whitewater etc. The penny clearly hasn't dropped, that the outcome of this is just to make the GOP bomb even bigger when the next tape is filered out.

In the beginning, they attempted to create distance between Donald and the rest of the Republicans. It was the, "he's not a real Republican" defense. Now, the gear is about to shift, and he's about to become a bludgeon against all Republicans. Every single Republican who has not fled for their lives is going to be called on to answer to everything Donald Trump has ever said and done, and regular people are going to expect them to demand Trump drop out. However, they are not going to be able to do it. Those who have already fled Trump are going to feel the fire from their base, as well as those who attempt to escape now.

There is no escape from this. The explosion is going to take the entire Republican party out. Watching Joe's reaction, he should probably see a doctor; his erection has apparently lasted more than four hours.

Hillary held back to keep the loser Trump on the ticket and keep the Rs in a state of disarray.

She will be President. His brand will suffer greatly. The Republican Party will become engulfed in civil war.

Well played, Madam Secretary.

I am so enjoying being with her today

It is frustrating to see so many people in the media thinking that Trump won because Hillary didn't climb down into the mud with him. They do not see what the clear strategy was in the debate. Had Clinton delivered a killing blow to Trump, that would have allowed Republicans this morning to flee from him en masse. That is the last thing we want if we want to win the House and Senate. We want to chain Donald to them so that they cannot escape from him, and if they try their base will turn against them.

Republicans created him. They own him

I updated my OP with this:

NBC is finally starting to catch up to the reality. Watch here as Chuck Todd breaks down the numbers. Hillary Clinton now has a double-digit lead over Trump--she's broken 50 percent. He says the House is in play, and it is every Republican for themselves now.