I’m still shocked no one is taking seriously the “Democrats should pick Romney as Presidential choice because reasons” that has seriously been floated.
I wonder: how many times has someone given a big platform to someone so they can suggest that the Republicans should select a Democrat as their choice? Probably never? Why is it that people always say - with a straight face and very, very seriously - that it is Democrats that should run Republicans on their tickets, because something something unity and tone.
Because it’s not a good idea. They select him and don’t convert Republican voters, lose a good portion of the progressive base and only get marginal, less reliable, swing voters with that move. That’s at least a ten point loss right there.
It’s going to be a safe bet like Josh Shapiro or, slightly less safe, Cooper.
Cooper
Was curious why “less safe”? I was thinking that’s a decent strategic pick, a southern democrat that’s able to win the same elections that Trump and Robinson won, while still pretty well aligned with the democrat platform broadly. He has a good chance to immediately be 16 electoral votes, he has to vacate his governorship this year anyway, so you don’t vacate a known factor in favor of a less known factor. Pandering to Pennsylvania may be a bit more likely with more bang for the buck though given that Pennsylvania has historically been more “winnable” and has more votes though…
Yeah, it’s of course a ridiculous idea that moderates and Republicans seem to suggest that Democrats do, but I never see anyone given a big platform to suggest that, say, the Republicans should force donnie to step down and select Hillary as the centrist option, for example. I mean, the New York Fucking Times let Aaron Sorkin suggest that Mitt Romney should be the Democratic pick. I mean, what. The. Actual. Fuck.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/21/opinion/biden-west-wing-aaron-sorkin.html
Add this to another in a long list to why I laugh right out loud in someone’s face when they insist that NYT is “liberal”.
It’s also a near-perfect demonstration of Murc’s Law - it’s not up to Republicans to amend their awful and despicable ways, no, the Democratic Party has to nominate someone like Mitt Romney in the hopes that would somehow heal a divide (by coming all the way over to the right, basically) that the right wing is entirely responsible for.
In that vein, why not Liz Cheney? She’s vehemently anti-trump / maga… <shrug>
The irony is that liz is much more right wing than donnie; she just happens to believe in the rule of law.
I don’t like that option, but I do think it would be effective to disrupt the Republican party. It’d really force a lot of modern “Republicans” to face what the party has become.
I think it’d be better to out him as VP under Harris than president though. To have a traditionally popular Republican candidate on the ticket would give them a huge platform to point out that the MAGA party is not the Republican party many supported before. It’s just Fascists who stole it because people were too dumb to pay attention.
He has a horse in the olympics and does not even watch them!
I’d rather not be one bullet away from a Republican president in the current climate…
Which platform was that? Fucking lunacy.
New York Times.
Of course. Basically the top journal for Nazi op-eds.
Sure. He’s white, straight, and male, to balance out the ticket for racists/sexists/homophobes. Package him, ship him out, and let’s defeat Trump and Project 2025!
He’s a pair of wraparound sunglasses and a selfie in a truck away from looking like a lot of Trump’s base. That sort of thing helps because we should not assume
votershumans are rational.Trump’s base is voting for Trump… Going after them even a little is a waste of everyone’s time, energy, and money.
Yes, but if people adjacent to Trump’s base see themselves on the Democratic ticket they’ll be less likely be alienated from the party.
I’ve lived in Trump country. For every Red Hat there’s five or six undecided guys who work/drink with them. If they see a guy who could also be pounding Rolling Rocks with them on the Democratic ticket it will help a little bit. And when there’s 10,000 votes between us and fascism we need all the help we can get.
To repeat: Stop assuming humans will be rational.
Right?! How about instead of “balancing” the ticket for bigots on the right, we balance it for progressives on the left?!
Oh but the left never votes and the center right always does… Yeah, because the center right always has at least 2 candidates to choose from while the left has none.
Believe me, I agree with you; I wish I had a true Progressive to vote for this November! By the way, were not really balancing the ticket for right-wingers, it’s more courting undecided voters, whether they be left, center, or right. Like it or not, the swing states will decide this election. And we can’t let Donald Trump and Project 2025 win, there’s too much at stake.
Please vote, volunteer, and donate for Kamala Harris. When she’s president, turn that attention to getting progressives elected. Showing the American people an improvement in their lives is the only way to avoid these narrow 50/50 splits between good and bad candidates as we reform and improve things…
I don’t believe there are that many undecided voters in the center… The “undecided” voters are all on the far left… And they’re deciding whether to show up, or not show up at all. Going after them by showing that the Dems will actually be fighting for them (against the oligarchy) is the smart move. The center is already decided.
However, I am open to the possibility that what’s true on a national level might not necessarily be true in the swing states… So if anyone has any studies comparing the center undecided with the left undecided in the swing states, I’d love to see it
Also astronaut, veteran, and fairly progressive.
Could you shortly define “fairly progressive” in this context for a non-American? (Nordic, specifically.)
Don’t ask lemmings to define people’s progressive cred rofl
Literally nobody is left wing. It’s a pure, unattainable ideal, untainted by mortals and their worldly failings.
I was more interested in how he replies than the actual answer.
Sort of making them confront their own statements.
Likely more to the right than center, as many Democrats would be outside of America.
And from a swing state
And married to a victim of an assassination attempt.
I fall to see the relevance… can someone enlighten me?
He stood by his wife, then-US Representative Gabby Giffords, after she was shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting
Basically, he also gets points for just being a good husband.
I see, thnx!
It’s pretty odd to me that people feel like they really need to shore up the “moderate” lane. Boosting the AZ chances makes perfectly fine sense, but Harris isn’t expected to be particularly progressive. She’s a middle of the road Democrat, so unless she’s going to come out fighting for big progressive change, just run her as a solidly competent Democrat. No need to find a new Joe Lieberman.
Plus, for the love of god, don’t give up an iffy senate seat.
On that last point, it is possible to run for VP while still holding the Senate seat, and only give up the Senate seat if they get that promotion. It makes campaigning a little tough, since it has to be done around their day job, but it’s manageable.
And their Governor is a Democrat, so if Kelly has to give the seat up the Governor can name an interim Democrat to replace him.
The vacancy would be filled at the next general election (2026), and Arizona’s senate seats are not safe. Kelly’s term would otherwise go until 2028. It’s not immediately catastrophic, but I have a hard time believing the VP (for a young nominee) is going to matter enough to be worth opening that seat up.
isn’t expected to be particularly progressive
Absolutely true if you look at it objectively.
But people aren’t objective. She’s a black, partly asian woman and thus her existence as a presidential candidate is already majorly “progressive”.
Yes, you have the right wingers throwing out “whore” for no reason, for saying her mothers name should be enough to disqualify her…
Now these people are too far gone to get any hope of their vote to be sure, however I suspect milder versions of those sentiments lie perhaps even subconsiously in some moderate voters. They may feel vaguely “uncomfortable” and doubling down might just exacerbate that while a milquetoast white dude might alleviate that discomfort.
Dem Governor, his seat is filled by her appointment. She’s been pretty great on not taking GOP shit from the state legislature, so I don’t expect any “concession” from her to try to appease anyone. She knows the GOP only takes and never gives those.
I like him, but PLEASE don’t vacate a Senate seat right now…! The balance is too tenuous at the moment. The Rs just lost a seat with Vance that could be filled with someone that isn’t batshit crazy; let’s not pull the same stunt in AZ.
Democratic Governor appoints new Senator to carry out remainder of term. It’s safe. A special election would then happen in 2026.
Vance only leaves if Trump wins.
I would love to see Mark Kelly as VP and then campaign for president.
He’s 60 right now. If Harris goes 2 terms, that’s 68.
Not a fan of him teaming up with Manchin to promote more oil drilling.
I’m just not a fan of Manchin.
Manchin can go to hell.
Manchin got us to 50 in a deep red state. There are so many red states in middle America that, in the current political spectrum, it is nigh impossible to get to 50 dems in the senate.
I hear you, Manchin wasn’t my guy, but we would have got bunk from the Biden administration without him.
Something something, it’s easy to hate, harder to love.
I recognize he’s done some decent things and he’s a dem in a deep red. I’m not a fan - but recognize his position. Rather have a DINO than Rep.
Manchin got us to 50 in a deep red state
With significantly more funding from the party coffers than other candidates and significant efforts to make sure that West Virginia would never get a choice of anyone but him and Republicans.
The desperately poor white working class of West Virginia might have primarily defaulted to Republican because of far right demagogues doing a better job than conservative Democrats of pretending to want to change the system to something that doesn’t abuse the poor as much.
A progressive candidate who genuinely cares about systemic poverty and agrees with the majority of West Virginians on the need for single payer health care could feasibly win in WV if not for the DNC fighting so hard to avoid it in favor of a coal baron beloved by party brass even know that he’s registered as an independent.
I’d say it’s likely either him or Beshear, with Beshear having a slight edge.
I don’t hate him, but he’s already 60. That means that if Harris goes 1 term and loses, or goes 2 terms and can’t run again, Kelly is 68 before he can run himself, which he will inevitably do. If he’s 68 when he starts, then he is running the country in his 70s and we have made 0 progress on this age problem that seems to plague presidential candidates. Beshear is 46, which keeps him in his 50s for most of his terms.
People around here seem to love old farts despite bitching about how tired they are of old farts running the country.
Ironic.
Hey guys! I’ve got a great story!
Lots of randos on Reddit, Mastadon, and Lemmy are saying “Kelly” should be the VP.
GFY Huff…
he’d be great for sure. if we could get gallego and another dem senator to replace him it would be even better. plus katie hobbs being gov would ensure republicans can’t just name whatsherfacenewslady
YES
We probably lose his seat in the Senate then. Though we aren’t going to keep the Senate so maybe that doesn’t mattet
Not a fan, and I don’t like his relative lack of political experience. However, his status as a white male veteran who is the husband of Gabby Gifford could win some points.
Hate that it comes to that, but this is what we get. Fuck, I just want out of this shithole.
The military background shuts up a lot. As it should.
How’s that going to help anything? Right now, we’re looking for solutions to improve our society through progressive means. Fighting wars is not the answer regardless if formerly served or actively served.
It’s about perception. I’m not saying to go fight wars. But military leaders have the respect of those that could lean right. It’s always about the middle. The left and the right are set. It’s the centrists that make a vote happen.
I’m sure John Kerry remembers the value of military service.
He was running against someone who also had vaguely credible military service, so there was room to discredit without blowback
It’s harder to nitpick a military record when running a draft dodger as your candidate. Given that the GOP is “supposed” to be law and order, it should provide some challenge for them to be running a draft dodging felon against a prosecutor and ex-military ticket.
Yeah, and I don’t know that Drumpf fans care all that much about military service. Well, at least they don’t care what Drumpf says.
Oh, but some of the clueless idiots here think he’s a WONDERFUL choice apparently. God damn, people are such fucking morons that don’t know anything about the candidates thoroughly. They just saw him as a replacement, got a boner and now will smite anyone critical of it.
Stupid idiotic voters are the bane of our existence every election cycle. We should hold them accountable as much as politicians. Because their stupid decisions fucks us all over.
He is center enough to balance her ticket. Problem is we’ll stave off fascism for one more cycle but we won’t get important changes pushed. It’ll be a don’t rock the boat presidency.
“Problem is we’ll stave off fascism” go to your room
Finish the sentence.
Did you literally stop reading right there? If so that’s on you.
Finish the fucking sentence.
How does center balance center? Or do you merely mean she’s a woman of color and he’s a white man?
Jump right in there with allegations and accusations do you?
Winning the presidency will be a wake up call for Republicans. Trump would be finished politically. If Dems hold the Senate and take the House it’s a mandate
People said the same thing in 2020.
We’re playing for time here. Good chance that Trump will be dead or clearly too old to run in 4 years. MAGA is a cult and without the cult leader, much of the danger is diffused.
That’s kind of assuming they can’t just find any other freak to take command while doing everything the foundations and conservative PACs and corporate donors want. I don’t actually think trump really has all that much charisma beyond his slightly flamboyant mannerisms and his weird accent that I’ve never heard anywhere else. They could pretty easily replace him with some other brainworm candidate, probably get someone way younger and slightly more well-spoken, lose maybe like, 10% of the diehard trump supporters, and then gain back those numbers and more after running their candidate for like five months and trying to ride with slightly more centrist appeal.
Trump isn’t like, the end of this, he’s just a kind of canary in the coal mine for what’s to come, because the conditions which created him still exist and are actively worsening pretty much all the time. It’s not gonna end with him.
Jeff Jackson from NC would be my vote. Dude has been pretty great for communicating with constituents, seems to genuinely give a shit, and is pretty progressive.
