2016 elections - because it's never too early

[DGuller]

I watched SNL tonight, because Trump.  Haven't done that in ages, save for the scenes that make the news.  Will not do that again.  It's dull as dishwater.

[Tonitrus]

I watched SNL tonight, because Trump.  Haven't done that in ages, save for the scenes that make the news.  Will not do that again.  It's dull as dishwater.

Yeah, I am watching it now (because Alaska)...it's quite terrible.  There was the minor stir of protests against him being on it, but it's more likely to hurt him than anything.

[Martinus]

Incidentally, Washington Post has a #pastfrontrunners account that shows people who were nomination front runners at the same point in the past election cycles.

The comparable today's results are:

2004: Dean +1
2008 (D): H. Clinton +23
(R): Giuliani +13.7
2012: Cain +1.9

[The Brain]

How is SNL still on the air? Who's watching?

[jimmy olsen]

I watched SNL tonight, because Trump.  Haven't done that in ages, save for the scenes that make the news.  Will not do that again.  It's dull as dishwater.

Yeah, I am watching it now (because Alaska)...it's quite terrible.  There was the minor stir of protests against him being on it, but it's more likely to hurt him than anything.

He didn't take the opportunity to mock his opponents ?

[Eddie Teach]

How is SNL still on the air?

Because it occupies an otherwise useless time slot.

Who's watching?

More people than watch infomercials for Hot Sounds of the Seventies compilations.

[MadImmortalMan]

Trump wants to snuggle up to Putin.

[Admiral Yi]

More people than watch infomercials for Hot Sounds of the Seventies compilations.

Mickey Dolenz needs to eat too. 

[DGuller]

Did Rand Paul just own Trump on the trade deal exchange?  Trump seemed unusually humbled. 

[MadImmortalMan]

Did Rand Paul just own Trump on the trade deal exchange?  Trump seemed unusually humbled. 

That was funny.

[Razgovory]

Trump wants to snuggle up to Putin.

They are kind of cut from the same cloth.

[MadImmortalMan]

Cruz said the financial crisis was triggered by money tightening. Then he said we had massive growth under the gold standard. 

[Valmy]

Cruz said the financial crisis was triggered by money tightening. Then he said we had massive growth under the gold standard. 

What we need is a loose gold standard. Maybe if the government had access to a bottomless gold mine.

[jimmy olsen]

Cruz said the financial crisis was triggered by money tightening. Then he said we had massive growth under the gold standard. 

What we need is a loose gold standard. Maybe if the government had access to a bottomless gold mine.

It's called the Asteroid belt.

[garbon]

Because if you refuse to talk about an issue - it can't hurt you?

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/ben-carson-is-done-answering-questions-about-his-055931339.html

Ben Carson is done answering questions about his life story

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is ready to tell people who ask questions about his history to "go jump in a lake."

Carson, a former neurosurgeon, is currently one of the leaders in the GOP primary field. As he has risen in the polls, a series of reports have highlighted inconsistencies about aspects of the personal narrative he has told in books and speeches over the years. Carson defended himself during the Republican debate here on Tuesday night. After he left the stage, he spoke to reporters in the spin room, and declared he was done answering questions about his stories.

"The only way I turn the page on my life story is: Stop answering the questions and direct them to something more important," Carson said. "Because if I continue to answer the questions, that's what I'll be doing from now until Election Day. I know that."

The reports that have called Carson's biography into question include a CNN investigation that noted that "nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson" had no memory of various stories he has told in which he describes himself as angry and violent as a youth.  Carson has presented these stories, including one about attempting to stab a friend, as a central part of his narrative of personal redemption through religion.

Carson's campaign has declined to identify the individual he supposedly tried to stab. As Carson walked into the spin room, Yahoo News asked why he has not named the person, if it would help put the questions to rest. He waved off the question without responding. Carson elaborated on his rationale for not addressing skepticism about his biography when a reporter asked whether he felt that the moderators had let him "off the hook" during the debate by not pressing him on the issue.

"From this point on, I get to determine what the hook is. I get to determine whether I'm going to answer what i consider silly questions," Carson explained. "If people have substantial things to talk about, I will. But if they want to talk about, well, you know, 'Back in this book in 1990, you know, your mother got into some trouble, and can we talk about that?' No, I'm going to say go jump in a lake."

Yahoo News pointed out that many of the stories that have raised questions came from Carson's own books and speeches.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to talk about them," Carson said. "I'm going to choose not to talk about them, because I would be talking about them from now until the election and I'm not going to let people drive this. I'm not going to let them drive it."

Yahoo then asked Carson why he wrote stories about his past that he no longer wants to discuss.

"Because before it was an autobiography, and it's not an autobiography now because it's already been written," Carson said.