Gabbard's recent Syria trip/ meeting w/ Assad... Help or hurt her in 2020?

[GoTfan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_Sena

This sounds EXACTLY like the sort of group that Democratic primary voters are going to love. They'll definitely get behind a candidate with ties to them!

Well they got behind one who was friends with Saudi oil barons

Hillary was a Wahabiist Muslim?

Seriously the way you Tulsibots handwave EVERYTHING on a candidate with more baggage than a cargo plane is pretty amazing. Isn't it just possible the Democrats might just nominate someone else other than a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first, has a ton of dodgy and hasn't even expressed interest in running anyway?

I could say the same about Hillary's baggage being handwaved, but then I'd get shouted down.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

...OK but Hillary was a prominent and influential figure in the Democratic Party, not a a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first and hadn't even expressed interest in running anyway.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Should help, will hurt.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

...OK but Hillary was a prominent and influential figure in the Democratic Party, not a a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first and hadn't even expressed interest in running anyway.

I'm not trying to one up you or anything, but there are no backbenchers in Congress. A backbencher is someone who is not either in the governing party or the opposition party. She's in the opposition Democratic caucus, so she is not a backbencher.

That's not what the term means in the US since it would render it useless. A backbencher in the US typically means not in a leadership role of a prominent leader of any caucus or faction.

[publicunofficial]

...OK but Hillary was a prominent and influential figure in the Democratic Party, not a a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first and hadn't even expressed interest in running anyway.

I'm not trying to one up you or anything, but there are no backbenchers in Congress. A backbencher is someone who is not either in the governing party or the opposition party. She's in the opposition Democratic caucus, so she is not a backbencher.

That's not what the term means in the US since it would render it useless. A backbencher in the US typically means not in a leadership role of a prominent leader of any caucus or faction.

Backbencher is not widely used in the US, but okay.

I've heard it used plenty of times to describe congresspersons that are not prominent in leadership or in media presence, and are never talked about for higher office. Like say, Rick Larsen or Bob Gibbs.

[Mr. Morden]

...OK but Hillary was a prominent and influential figure in the Democratic Party, not a a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first and hadn't even expressed interest in running anyway.

I'm not trying to one up you or anything, but there are no backbenchers in Congress. A backbencher is someone who is not either in the governing party or the opposition party. She's in the opposition Democratic caucus, so she is not a backbencher.

No, that would be a crossbencher.  A backbencher is a member of the legislature who holds no office on the frontbench (meaning no Cabinet portfolio either in the government or in the opposition).  Since the US doesn't have a parliamentary system, no members of Congress are actually in the Cabinet, so it doesn't quite make sense.  But the nearest equivalent would be a member who isn't chairing any committees.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

I'm sure visiting a brutal dictator responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of his own people will certainly help.... /s

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

I'm sure visiting a brutal dictator responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of his own people will certainly help.... /s

-Abraham Lincoln, anyone?

[Rjjr77]

...OK but Hillary was a prominent and influential figure in the Democratic Party, not a a backbencher Congresswoman not even from the continental US who has no fundraising apparatus, refused to initially endorse her party's nominee at first and hadn't even expressed interest in running anyway.

I'm not trying to one up you or anything, but there are no backbenchers in Congress. A backbencher is someone who is not either in the governing party or the opposition party. She's in the opposition Democratic caucus, so she is not a backbencher.

That's not what the term means in the US since it would render it useless. A backbencher in the US typically means not in a leadership role of a prominent leader of any caucus or faction.

Backbencher is not widely used in the US, but okay.

I mean it is though, and has been for a while.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm sure visiting a brutal dictator responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of his own people will certainly help.... /s

-Abraham Lincoln, anyone?

...

[Shadows]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_Sena

This sounds EXACTLY like the sort of group that Democratic primary voters are going to love. They'll definitely get behind a candidate with ties to them!

Is this proof that Gabbard supports this group? And this is a political party fighting elections which does play on the religious concerns to get votes, in many cases similar to how most GOP ppl cater to Evangelicals.

But Gabbard has not expressed support for this group - Stop the smear & mud slinging!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=209038.0

Is anyone going to actually defend her Hindutva ties or are we only going to get some whataboutery with ridiculous comparisons to Keith Ellison and Hillary Clinton?

[7,052,770]

America will not elect a 39-year-old Hindu woman in 2020. She's less appealing than Hillary to the Obama voters who either switched to Trump or seriously considered it.

Could America elect a 59-year-old Hindu woman in 2040? Maybe, but let's table this Gabbard talk for at least a decade.

[Lief 🗽]

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=209038.0

Is anyone going to actually defend her Hindutva ties or are we only going to get some whataboutery with ridiculous comparisons to Keith Ellison and Hillary Clinton?

Funny that jfern supports primarying Tulsi in that thread.  That was before she started attacking Hillary Clinton and supporting Trump and won him over, I suppose.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

America will not elect a 39-year-old Hindu woman in 2020. She's less appealing than Hillary to the Obama voters who either switched to Trump or seriously considered it.

Could America elect a 59-year-old Hindu woman in 2040? Maybe, but let's table this Gabbard talk for at least a decade.

-No; she may well be more appealing than Obama. Romney wasn't a Christian, and still won 90% of Trump voters.

[publicunofficial]

America will not elect a 39-year-old Hindu woman in 2020. She's less appealing than Hillary to the Obama voters who either switched to Trump or seriously considered it.

Could America elect a 59-year-old Hindu woman in 2040? Maybe, but let's table this Gabbard talk for at least a decade.

-No; she may well be more appealing than Obama. Romney wasn't a Christian, and still won 90% of Trump voters.

Mormons are Christians, unless you're a moron

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

America will not elect a 39-year-old Hindu woman in 2020. She's less appealing than Hillary to the Obama voters who either switched to Trump or seriously considered it.

Could America elect a 59-year-old Hindu woman in 2040? Maybe, but let's table this Gabbard talk for at least a decade.

-No; she may well be more appealing than Obama. Romney wasn't a Christian, and still won 90% of Trump voters.

Mormons are Christians, unless you're a moron

-Tell any Christian the doctrines of Joseph Smith, and they will find them as foreign as the doctrines of Muhammad. Mormons are definitely not Christians, they just find political coalition with them.

[Vosem]

There's so much stupidity in this thread that I could spend a very long time replying to, but I'll stick to just answering the first part: it'll hurt. Democrats have long, consistently opposed Republican foreign policies; Joe Lieberman went from being the initial favorite in the 2004 Democratic primary to eventually getting single-digits in New Hampshire on account of supporting GWB's foreign policy, and Democrats are much more viscerally hostile to Trump than Bush.

Daily Kos (a progressive website if I've ever seen one) is already calling for Gabbard to be primaried out of her seat, and it shouldn't be too hard to find a Hawaii Democrat willing to try (Esther Kia'aina, who came in third in the House primary for this seat in 2012 and then came in third in the 2013 Senate appointment-process, has many ties to the Obama Administration and has long been a defender of their foreign policy; she comes to mind instantly as the obvious opponent, though it might end up being someone else). Gabbard could always end up Cantored.

America will not elect a 39-year-old Hindu woman in 2020. She's less appealing than Hillary to the Obama voters who either switched to Trump or seriously considered it.

Could America elect a 59-year-old Hindu woman in 2040? Maybe, but let's table this Gabbard talk for at least a decade.

-No; she may well be more appealing than Obama. Romney wasn't a Christian, and still won 90% of Trump voters.

Mormons are Christians, unless you're a moron

-Tell any Christian the doctrines of Joseph Smith, and they will find them as foreign as the doctrines of Muhammad. Mormons are definitely not Christians, they just find political coalition with them.

Meh; Joseph Smith's teachings aren't any farther from the rest of Christianity than Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's teachings are from the rest of Islam. However much controversy it causes within the religious supergroup, pretty much everyone outside of Christianity sees Mormons as Christians, and pretty much everyone outside of Islam sees the Ahmadiyya Jama'at as Muslims; they're just particularly divergent sects.