Tulsi Gabbard Has a Sad

Andrew Donaldson

Born and raised in West Virginia, Andrew has since lived and traveled around the world several times over. Though frequently writing about politics out of a sense of duty and love of country, most of the time he would prefer discussions on history, culture, occasionally nerding on aviation, and his amateur foodie tendencies. He can usually be found misspelling/misusing words on Twitter @four4thefire and his food writing website Yonder and Home. Andrew is the host of Heard Tell podcast. Subscribe to Andrew's Heard Tell SubStack for free here:

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10 Responses

  1. Aaron David says:

    I am no real supporter of Gabbards, though she seems to be slightly more honest than most of the yahoos up on those debate stages, she did deliver a serious gut-shot to the evil that is Kamala Harris. By exposing her hypocrisy and inexperience she and others of the long shot brigade bring a level of reality to these pageants. For that is what the partisans really want, a chance to showcase anyone they like without any serious friction. See who is the prettiest under the lights without any chance to see how they do under the pressure of an opposition party.

    Tulsi forced at least one of the contestants to show that she had no real chops. That is worth her weight in gold.Report

  2. blake says:

    Anyone who thinks the “standards” created weren’t reverse-engineered to produce the desired results is a goof.

    The only reason Trump’s in office right now is that the GOP didn’t take him seriously enough to eliminate him beforehand.

    The problem, for the Dems, is that they run heavily on “fairness” and they (successfully) attack the Reps on that nebulous front all the time. Let ’em hang by it.

    Apropos of nothing, Tulsi’s cute and she can sing. Actually, that probably severely turns off part of the base. Heh.Report

  3. George Turner says:

    I’m relieved that she’s out. Frankly, I think she was the only one who had a small chance of beating Trump absent a severe economic downturn or war with China, assuming she let Mike Dwyer adjust a few of her political positions.

    The Democratic front runner, who was Obama’s VP, has lapses were he can’t even remember Obama’s name and has to refer to him as “my boss.” The other day he related a gripping, personal, and entirely fictional war story. A team of Clydesdales couldn’t drag him across the finish line.

    Warren and Sanders might have a shot in France, but the American center-middles who don’t want all their assets seized aren’t going to pull the lever for self-impoverishment and Venezuelan socialism. All those old folks sitting on a ton of assets, and who could have paid for their college degrees by redeeming pop bottles, go to the voting booth in large numbers.

    The rest of the list are vanity candidates like Booker, Beto and Yang (“I’m so smart I should be President!”), poster-children for unbridled ambition like Harris, or uninspiring governors.

    It would not surprise me in the least if the DNC had told some of the approved polling sponsors to not conduct a particular poll if they feared its results might get Tulsi in, which would show up as a drop-off in the number of approved poll results right when those polls were most needed.Report

  4. Marchmaine says:

    On the one hand I completely agree that political parties should pre-determine and field a slate of candidates (let’s say 5) purely of their own choosing for validation in primary contests.

    On the other hand, one could argue that we don’t really have political parties so much as a duopoly that requires monitoring and regulations for fair and open trade. Which is why the parties get “taken over” rather than replaced by new parties.

    But in either case, *if* you say that we’re going to do this in a fair and openly democratic way, then you are bound by your own promise to be fair.

    Don’t promise to be fair, select your slate, let’s break the duopoly.

    The only election that needs to be an election is the one that counts.Report

  5. Jesse says:

    I look forward to Tulsi’s future Fox News career, because then I won’t have to hear about her anymore.Report

  6. Pinky says:

    2% in four polls is not the greatest hurdle. I mean, I couldn’t get 2% in four polls, but it’d be a lot easier to do that than to place in the top four in Iowa or New Hampshire. You’d need some name recognition and a very good two weeks in the news.

    I tend to believe that anyone running for president wants the job. I’m not sure the secondary benefits ever pay off, or at least not for the time and effort that a national campaign takes. A Hickenlooper would have been better off spending the time running for Senate. With a field this weak, and a strange incumbent, I could see a long-shot trying for the brass ring, because he/she might get it.

    That said, whatever benefit running for president might have, including the possibility of becoming president, gets undermined by complaining about the process. Better to leave with head held high, or even to continue campaigning and hope that someone else falls.Report

    • George Turner in reply to Pinky says:

      Tulsi is in an odd position regarding complaints about the process because she famously gave up an important DNC position to protest how the 2016 primary was rigged. So with her it’s not just sour grapes, it’s a consistent stance against the hidden hands and secret deals within her own party.

      However, there’s always an inevitable whiff of “I was robbed!” to such complaints.

      I also wouldn’t be surprised that if Biden wins, he’ll pick her as VP because she’d bring youth and authenticity to his campaign.Report

  7. GS Ruddin says:

    Good riddance, she sounds more like the Republican or Russian apologist than a true Democrat. Her ties to Adelson tells me she’s fake on antiwar credentials.
    A Biden-Warren ticket is unbeatable for women, blacks and even a few rednecks.Report

  8. Paul de brose says:

    I’m alarmed that Gabbard was pushed out of the next debate by the DNC and their Mainstream media (MSM) media arms.
    These big media groups in collusion with the DNC pretty much determine who’s the nominee and who gets to be heard AND who doesn’t get to be heard
    The DNC’s MSM create the most widely used,viewed narratives.
    They do the debates A-Z and the post debate spin .
    And directly and indirectly control the polling.
    No one can objectively look at those realities and say the process is fair and openReport