I knew it. Tulsi Gabbard will be the Democratic nominee, if not her than Kamala Harris.
At least she's started to speak out in favor of diplomacy on North Korea. But given her background and shady connections I just don't trust her. Also, she could use some teeth whitening strips.
It's far too early to say that. We don't even know if she'll run, and 90% of Democrats probably don't even know who she is right now. Same for Harris.
She has the "hype" factor. Although in her case it isn't all hype as she actually did do something newsworthy. But let's just say she knows how to promote herself. She has the "magic". Harris also does, to a similar extent, but from a more establishment oriented angle. So far those are the only two candidates with the "magic" factor. "Magic" factor candidates always become supercharged. You can always tell from the social media response, and live speech/rally response.
What's with all the hate? She is one of my favorite politicians.
Lots of reasons. She still has good relations with her very conservative roots, and one gets the sense she only switched to a Democrat because it's important in Hawaii politics to be a Democrat, and she saw how "Muslims disrespected women" during her tour in Iraq. Her ties with the BJP, especially Modi during the time he was heavily criticized for the Gujarati riots. There is a whiff of Islamophobia around her. As late as age 24 she was still opposed to gay rights, which is something very unusual for her generation. Then, there is her secret visit to war criminal Assad. It's one thing to oppose intervention in Syria, a lot of people do, but going out of her way to visit a guy who gassed kids? And her whole tone of it was just fanatical. There is just something off about her. There always is with these super-charged self-promoters. Whether it be total failures like Weiner or successes like Obama, whatever it is, they never turn out to be what they present themselves to be. Whenever I get the sense from a politician that they are a super suave self-promoter I don't trust them. Sadly though, these are the types that Americans love.
I read the Wikipedia article on her which describes some of her positions, it does mention she still is "personally opposed" to gay marriage but believes it should be legal. She attributes this to her time in Iraq. For me, even as someone who is bisexual, as long as she respects the law and doesn't fight
against gay rights it's fine.
She did say Assad is a dictator, but still the Syrian stance is a bit strange. I don't support overthrowing Assad, not because I support him, which I don't, but instead because I'm a non-interventionist.
Still, her positions are more similar to mine than most of the other potential candidates, so she has my endorsement until further notice.
