Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Happy Saturday, For the Record peeps! We don’t want to keep you from the beautiful Saturday you have planned (#sleepingin), so let’s get right down to the flavors of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>week.
[h=3]THE ART OF DEBATE (OR LACK THEREOF)[/h]Is anything happy to be here? Bueller? (Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images)
Fox Business News and the Wall Street Journal announced Thursday the lineup for next week’s debate, and only eight candidates will appear in #GOPDebate 4.0’s<span style="color: Red;">*</span>prime time slot: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb(!) Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Rand Paul. Left out in the cold/happy hour debate: Chris Christie (supposedly one of the rising stars from 3.0), Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum. Wishing they could simply be there: Lindsey Graham and George Pataki.
Here’s the thing: No one seems to be very happy about this process. Even before the lineup was announced,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Carson, Graham and Cruz all called for changes<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump said he’d put his negotiator hat on for future debates. Now, post announcement, the candidates left out have cried foul and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump says Christie and Huckabee should get to play on the main stage. Will anything actually come out of it? Well, given that we only have three days between now and then, we’re going to say probably not.
[h=3]MARCO’S THE CREAM OF THE CROP[/h]We’re coming up with a witty nickname for him this weekend. (Wilfredo Lee, AP)
What? A more establishment-type Republican has found his way to the top of the food chain? That’s what the political experts who weigh in on USA TODAY’s GOP Power Rankings say. Rubio’s strong performance in the #GOPDebate 3.0 brought him to the top of the list. As the Donald has told us repeatedly, it pays to be a winner! And, predictably, Trump is not pleased about this particular champ, and he’s started pulling<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the punches:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Marco is overrated.”
[h=3]GOTTA BEAT ‘EM ALL, HILLARY[/h]Gotta beat ’em all, gotta beat ’em all, yeah (AFP/Getty Images)
We spend so much time talking about the Republican primary (see above two items) that you sometimes forget that there’s a whole general election to go after these shenanigans are over. (OK, fine, we never actually forget. But wouldn’t it be nice?) <span style="color: Red;">*</span>So what does the post-primary world actually look like? A new poll from NBC/Wall Street Journal<span style="color: Red;">*</span>found that Hillary Clinton would tie with Ben Carson. And she would beat the rest: Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Jeb(!) Bush. Interestingly, Feel the Bernie Sanders<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would beat Trump by a wider margin than Clinton would. Still,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>voters are fickle and hypothetical situations aren’t real and Election Day 2016 is exactly a year from tomorrow(!).
[h=3]BEN CARSON: FICTION WRITER?[/h]Maybe he has more in common with your average politician than he realizes (Andrew Burton, Getty Images)
Back in the day, Ben Carson was an angry young man prone to violence who could have gone to West Point on a full scholarship if he wanted to. Or was he? That’s all coming into question this week. Two published accounts have anonymous people saying<span style="color: Red;">*</span>they have no memories of Carson’s violent episodes. On this, Carson (sort of) defends himself:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“If you choose not to believe it, if it doesn’t fit the narrative that you want, that’s fine.” But another part of his story is simply not true;<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Politico revealed on Friday that Carson did not actually get a scholarship to West Point. His campaign was forced to admit<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that he never applied. Some say that this is enough to topple the front-runner. We say that it’s a weird time and a weird election cycle, and we’ll leave it at that.
[h=3]RIP, FRED THOMPSON[/h]Good night sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (Andrew West, Fort Myers News-Press)
And now, a moment of silence for Fred Thompson, former senator, “Law and Order” actor and 2008 presidential candidate. We tip our collective hat to you, security, unity and prosperity, sir.
[h=3]DON’T FORGET[/h]The Man, the Hair, the SNL Host (John Locher, AP)
The Donald is hosting<span style="color: Red;">*</span>SNL tonight! This is really happening,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and who knows what it’s going to look like. So let’s livetweet this stuff up. For the Record’s Jessica Estepa will be there for you when the rain starts to pour…on Twitter, anyway. And on East Coast time.
And since it seems important to reiterate this: Really, Martin O’Malley, we do know who you are…even if some other Millenials don’t.
We’ll see you Monday morning in your inboxes,
Jessica, Brett and Joanna
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