David Axelrod: Maybe Hillary should skip the third presidential debate (Sunday open thread)

null

**Written by Doug Powers

Sunday open thread time, with the third presidential debate just a few days away.

First off, David Axelrod thinks Hillary Clinton should consider skipping the third presidential debate because of Trump’s remark about drug testing:

“You have to wonder if @HillaryClinton will/should reconsider next debate, given the depths to which this has sunk,” Axelrod tweeted.

Trump floated the idea of a drug test during a campaign rally Saturday in New Hampshire, comparing himself and Clinton to athletes preparing for a big event.

“Athletes, they make them take a drug test, right? I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate,” Trump said.

Drug testing for politicians? Eh, I’ve heard worse ideas.

If Hillary were to skip the final debate it would be because she didn’t want to feel “stalked” again. We’re supposed to believe she’s tough enough to take on Putin and ISIS but got triggered by Trump?

*****

Billy Bush might be out of a job for his part in the Trump recording from 2005, but he won’t go hungry:

NBC is about to pay millions of dollars to Billy Bush to stop hosting the 9 a.m. hour of “Today” show.

The awkward arrangement is the result of the leaked 2005 “Access Hollywood” videotape showing Bush and Donald Trump making lewd and sexually aggressive remarks about women.

Negotiations between Bush and NBC are ongoing and “productive,” Bush’s lawyer Marshall Grossman told CNNMoney on Saturday.
Bush’s exit from NBC could be announced as early as Monday, another person with knowledge of the negotiations said.

Maybe NBC News will re-hire Chelsea Clinton just before the election to take Bush’s place.

*****

According to a WikiLeaks email hacked from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chair thought one of the most tragic things about the San Bernardino shooting was… the name of the shooter:

That’s what happens to you when you live your in a bubble of political agenda. Fourteen people were murdered and two dozen more injured and Podesta was sorry the attacker didn’t have a different name.

*****

One of Hillary Clinton’s paid Wall Street speeches from 2013 released by WikiLeaks was somewhat foretelling:

MALE ATTENDEE: My question is, as entrepreneurs, we risk a lot. And Mike Bloomberg had 30 billion other reasons than to take office. Do we need a wholesale change in Washington that has more to do with people that don’t need the job than have the job?

SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s a really interesting question. You know, I would like to see more successful business people run for office. I really would like to see that because I do think, you know, you don’t have to have 30 billion, but you have a certain level of freedom. And there’s that memorable phrase from a former member of the Senate: You can be maybe rented but never bought.

And I think it’s important to have people with those experiences. And especially now, because many of you in this room are on the cutting edge of technology or health care or some other segment of the economy, so you are people who look over the horizon. And coming into public life and bringing that perspective as well as the success and the insulation that success gives you could really help in a lot of our political situations right now.

Which “successful business people” did she have in mind? For an extra $250,000 she would have let them know.

*****

Yep, the president who promised “if you like your plan you can keep it” who is campaigning for the candidate who said there were never classified emails on her server actually said this about the GOP nominee:

Obama contrasted Clinton’s experience, qualifications and penchant for “sweating the details” with Trump, who Obama said doesn’t have the temperament, judgment, knowledge or “basic honesty a president needs to have. And that was true even before we heard about his attitudes toward women.”

One thing you obviously don’t need to become president is self-awareness.

*****

Donald Trump isn’t thrilled by Alec Baldwin’s impression of him on Saturday Night Live:

null

*****

And finally, here’s a preview of the final presidential debate:

Have a good Sunday all!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe