SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

THE UNKINDEST CUT – From The Politico:   Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee failed to make the cut for the main stage at next week’s Fox Business Network/Wall Street Journal debate, a particularly harsh blow for the New Jersey governor who has struggled to gain traction in the presidential race after being seen as a rising GOP star in 2012.  The two Republican candidates failed to meet the 2.5 percent average polling threshold, meaning they'll both be bumped to a 6 p.m. undercard debate on Tuesday, appearing alongside former Sen. Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.  Christie and Huckabee weren’t the only ones to get bad news in the Fox Business lineup. Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki, and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore failed to register enough in four recent national polls to participate in the Nov. 10 event at all. They needed to get just 1 percent support in one of those polls. It will be Graham and Pataki's first time not getting to participate.  This was inevitable.  The herd must be thinned to allow voters to concentrate on a smaller number of candidates.  The main debate Tuesday night will feature Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, and John Kasich.

NOT THE LIST TO BE ON – From frontpagemag.com:  Harvard, Columbia and Brandeis are among 10 American universities cited by the David Horowitz Freedom Center as among the “most friendly” in the nation to Islamic terrorists against Israel...In alphabetical order, the ten universities are: Brandeis University; Columbia University; Harvard University; Rutgers University-New Brunswick; San Francisco State University; University of California, Irvine; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, San Diego; University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; and the University of New Mexico.  You may be sure that Israel isn't the only target of some of the radicals on these campuses.  Israel is the Little Satan.  We're the Big Satan.  You might want to slip this list to some relatives applying to college. 

WHAT A FLIP-FLOP – Bernie Sanders is learning from Hillary.  From the Washington Free Beacon: Bernie Sanders is walking back one of his statements from the first Democratic primary debate, now expressing support for the FBI investigation into the former secretary of state’s personal server.  In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Sen. Sanders (I., Vt.) clarified his outburst during the CNN Democratic debate on Oct. 13 during which he defended Clinton on the email issues.  “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!” Sanders shouted on the debate stage, inviting laughs and a handshake from Clinton.  “You get 12 seconds to say these things,” Sanders told the Journal Wednesday. “There’s an investigation going on right now. I did not say, ‘End the investigation.’ That’s silly. … Let the investigation proceed unimpeded.”  Gee, Bern, that's what Republicans would say.  I hope Bernie is watching his back and wearing his flak jacket.

November 5,  2015