Why not? It’s a big field and people should step up and say who they think is the best candidate for president. If the Obamarama differs they should endorse different candidates. There is a rumor that Obama prefers Biden or Kamala Harris. I don’t believe that.
Choose Obama Choose.
in the meantime, while waiting for them to choose, newsweek via msn reports on this taxing day:
Several Democrats fired back at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders over comments she made asserting that House members aren’t “smart enough” to understand President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Although House Democrats have requested the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) turn over several years of Trump’s personal and business tax documents by April 23, Sanders on Sunday claimed that lawmakers in Congress aren’t “smart enough” to adequately interpret the president’s finances.
“Dear @PressSec Sarah Sanders: How about sending us the tax returns of @POTUS as required by law. If we are not smart enough to understand them, we will send them back. Pinky promise,” Rep. Ted Lieu tweeted Sunday. “I am smart enough to understand @realDonaldTrump is gutting preexisting conditions coverage.”
“There’s an old saying. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If neither the facts or law are on your side, pound the table. And then there’s whatever this is,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Califf.) tweeted.
Rep Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) shared a report of Sander’s statement and commented, “Try us.”
“Our freshman class includes intelligence analysts, nurses, veterans, and – ahem – law professors,” Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) — a tenured professor at the Univerisity of California, Irvine School of Law — added. “I think we can handle it.”
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.
kgc, thank you again for the thread topic.
imho it’s way too early in the game for them to proclaim their choice…. it sure is too early for me. who knows who may yet come forth [and i’m not talking about joe].
and there’s the problem of backlash, both from the trumpsters and bernsters but also from the other candidates and their cohorts.
life begins (again) at 43
I’m of the belief that the Obamas, at least the former president, should not endorse. The finger on the scale backlash would be incredible. I think it would be a mistake. If his choice did not win the nomination the candidate would be weakened. If his Choice won the repugnants would extend the Obama Bad meme to the winner and have the base whipped up to a frenzy.
So yesterday we had a coolish morning – 60s that moved to upper 70s in the afternoon. We went down to Charleston (100 mi. South) to see the Doobie Brothers (believe me, they were an affirmation that age doesn’t stop folks from Rocking) and it was 85 degrees. So I look out the window this morning and see … snow falling from the sky. Ok it’s 40 and the snow was just for a few minutes, but WTF? It’s not like this is Minnesota or anything.
considering how she described herself and him in her book, am not sure that the obamas are monolithic in their political choices. bet she and he have different favorites for different reasons = his more practical and hers more philosophical.
what would be a nice surprise would be michelle deciding to run. wouldn’t that take the thunder out from under the twit!
optics hat observation (from the shallow end of the pool):
we’ve tended toward selecting tall photogenic folk for leaders. michelle fits the bill in that case.
Following some recent revelations about the role of large companies in America’s ongoing opioid epidemic, John Oliver takes another look at the crisis.
I suspect MP is exactly the type person Michelle will be content having as her prez
Flatus, why? because he’s a lot like her husband – except that he’s white and gay? The first half of that is important, the second, not at all, although some might argue that 2020 gay is the new 2008 black from a political perspective. It will be interesting to see whether that becomes a political third rail – unspoken by candidates but hammered on incessantly by voters and others who oppose his candidacy. Personally I’d be OK with Mayor Pete – he’s very bright, and he’s not an asshat.
Pogo, we are simpatico on MP/Michelle. On being openly gay, I suspect members of most American families are jumping with joy that being gay is now officially okay.
Ah, my IRS refund was in my bank account last Thursday; thank you Tax Slayer.
I’m with patd and Pogo on this topic. It’s too early for myself to make a selection… and for the reasons Pogo gives in his 7:41, IMO it wouldn’t be prudent (think Dana Carvey) for Obama to favor anyone… that is… unless… he says… “I favor a Democrat.”
Flatus, didn’t mean to suggest that you weren’t sympathetic to MP or the Os. I think it’s refreshing in our politics that the characteristics that were dis-qualifiers for the highest office in the country – race, gender and sexual orientation – have fallen by the wayside in just the last 15 or so years. And it is also noteworthy that the limits of age will likely be tested this cycle – with MP as the young end of the spectrum and Bernie!, Joe and SFB at the other end. Of course another presumptive dis-qualifier, being dumb as shit – fell by the wayside in 2016.
Renee, “.. at this juncture.” LOL Carvey used to make me laugh my ass off at GHWB. I agree – a hearty “I favor the Democrat not the asshat in the WH” would be a great endorsement from BO.
by George, he’s on a tear again
from ijr: George Conway Reminds Trump of His Defunct Airline After President Offers Business Advice to Boeing
President Donald Trump offered some unsolicited business advice for Boeing on Monday, but his comments are dredging up memories of Trump’s failed attempt at entering the airline industry.
“What do I know about branding, maybe nothing,” Trump wrote in an early morning tweet, “But if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name.”
“But again, what the hell do I know?” he added.
[…]
Though Trump’s current travel is mostly done on the VC-25A known as Air Force One, a military version of the Boeing 747, the president’s travel needs were once filled by his private Boeing 757 — colloquially known as “Trump Force One.”
But in addition to his private familiarity with planes, Trump once helmed the short-lived Trump Shuttle airline. However, Trump Shuttle isn’t remembered as one of the president’s better business ventures — within three years, he would sell the airline and be on the hook for at least $100 million in debt he had personally guaranteed when he purchased the venture from Eastern Airlines in 1989, according to the New York Times.
And the memory of Trump’s brief foray in the airline industry came back on Monday when Trump decided to offer his advice to Boeing. George Conway, the husband to one of the president’s closest adviser and a seemingly constant thorn in his side, made sure to remind Trump of the failed venture.
“Trump Shuttle ‘ran out of cash and defaulted on its debt in September 1990,’” Conway wrote in response to the president’s tweet, linking to the Wikipedia article for the short-lived airline.
Bernie!’s doing it again. (Per Jennifer Rubin)
Jesus H. Christ … hasn’t he caused enough damage?
And Georgie Conway – gotta love the man’s constant needling of SFB and his inadequacies as businessman and president.
the hill:
and from abcnews:
Rep. Ilhan Omar says she’s faced increased death threats since President Donald Trump spread around a video that purports to show her being dismissive of the 2001 terrorist attacks. “This is endangering lives,” she said, accusing Trump of fomenting right-wing extremism. “It has to stop.”
Her statement late Sunday followed an announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she has taken steps to ensure the safety of the Minnesota Democrat and the speaker’s call for Trump to take down the video.
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satire in today’s new Yorker:
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Americans are in a state of abject panic amid reports that Donald J. Trump is threatening to dump thousands of fired Cabinet members and aides on cities that do not support him.
Harland Dorrinson, who lives in San Francisco, said that “every American should be alarmed” at the spectre of former Trump staffers like Kirstjen Nielsen, Scott Pruitt, and Anthony Scaramucci descending on their towns.
“A lot of these people were unsavory to begin with, and their time at the White House only hardened them,” he said.
Carol Foyler, who resides in Boston, said that, with Trump staffers being fired at a rate of four hundred a day, she lives in terror at the prospect of these castoffs melting into the general population.
“I was on line at Starbucks the other day and I thought I saw Steve Bannon,” she said. “It turned out it was just some other creepy-looking guy, but my heart was racing. The fear is real.”
Tracy Klugian, who lives in Minneapolis, has started a petition to create a city ordinance preventing former Trump aides from settling in his town. “This city is full,” he said.
As they brace themselves for an onslaught of fired Trump underlings, some Americans are grasping for a silver lining. “As of now, Stephen Miller and Sarah Huckabee Sanders are still employed at the White House, where their movements can be closely monitored,” Foyler said. “But, it if that changes, God help us all.”
above new Yorker cartoon caption: “Every position here is ‘Acting.’ As in “We’re all acting like he knows what he is doing.”
wapo:
President Trump lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday night and again on Monday morning on Twitter following a CBS “60 Minutes” interview during which she recounted standing up to him and reiterated her opinion that he is unfit for office and knows it.
“There’s nobody in the country who knows better that he should not be president of the United States than Donald Trump,” Pelosi told CBS’s Lesley Stahl in a roughly 14-minute segment that aired Sunday.
[…]
When asked how she would describe Trump, Pelosi’s answer was blunt.
“I think that he describes himself on a daily basis,” she said, noting that Trump is aware “he should not be president.”
“But I respect the office he holds and he’s not worth the trouble of saying, ‘You’re so horrible we can’t work together.’ No, we need to work together.”
So Notre Dame (the one in gay Paree) is on fire. And it looks bad from the pics.
Well that’s a shame. Mrs. P has never seen Notre Dame, and it was on her bucket list of places to visit when she goes to Europe.
and for those who would rather read about it from NYTimes:
Part of Notre-Dame Cathedral Spire Collapses in Fire
PARIS — Notre-Dame cathedral, the iconic symbol of the beauty and history of Paris, was scarred by an extensive fire on Monday evening that collapsed part of its delicate spire, bruised the Parisian skies with smoke and further disheartened a city already back on its heels after weeks of violent protests.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, André Finot, a spokesman for the cathedral, said in a telephone interview, and there was no immediate indication that anyone had been hurt.
But the spectacle of flames leaping from the cathedral’s wooden roof — its spire glowing red then turning into a virtual cinder — stunned thousands of onlookers who gathered along the banks of the Seine and packed into the plaza of the nearby Hotel de Ville, gasping and covering their mouths in horror and wiping away tears.
[continues]
The destruction of Notre Dame is so very sad. I feel sorry for our French cousins.
Vertical lift pump switch is working very well. One less thing to stumble upon the path to happiness.
Now that the next version of the Barr interpretation of the Ballet Russes is coming this week I expect more hell from the master of hell. SFB must be ready to blow out a vein somewhere, perhaps the pea brain. The problem is no heart to have a heart attack.
The burning of Notre Dame is so very sad. The loss of such works of art and a symbol of western civilization is heartbreaking. One would have to be a dead fish to not get that no matter your religious affiliation or not.
Renee, you are exactly right. I saw ND 30 or so years ago and was awed by it. Yes, me, the heathen (as Mrs. P reminds me from time to time).
Everyone who cares should be educating themselves on the candidates and standing up and making a choice.
This is the time to make yourself heard. Otherwise we end up with the media’s candidate.
I’ve heard about 6 words from most candidates. Unfortunately I don’t have the time or inclination to read through multiple white papers on policy from a16 candidates and won’t make a choice until I’ve heard them talk in response to debate questions. And I don’t give a crap about who the media favors. It’ll change next week so I like to think I won’t be persuaded by what I don’t spend any time listening to. I’ll choose who I think can beat SFB. It may be from among 2 or 10 candidates. I ain’t making a decision yet.
Kamala, Liz, . or Amy.
BB, I’m glad the switch & pump are working but, the other day, you said you were experiencing encroachment of 2-in an hour. Over how large an area. Translate to gallons. Bad shaft seal? Over the Bow?
BB, what Flatus asked. Shaft, rudder post, through hull fitting, ….?
Leaks on boats. ? Annoying as hell.
Sturge, I’ve almost eliminated Liz as able to present her positions and able to make SFB look like the ass he is, but I don’t believe she can beat him in November 2020. I could change my mind after seeing a debate. WTF do I know? If I had to choose today I’d choose Kamala, but I’d be nervous.
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