August 3, 2019

"Ms. Gabbard comes across as shy or maybe tense. She is not the jovial politician cracking jokes with her staff or buttering people up."

"Doom is her main talking point. The only personal topics she speaks about easily are veganism and fitness. She says she is a big fan of mixed martial arts and drops in on classes while on the trail. As a child, she could not afford taekwondo classes, so she started doing capoeira, which was taught in the park for free, she said. Her husband is more chatty. At a snack break, Mr. Williams grabs a Capri Sun and sticks the straw in the opposite way, which he says is better. 'When we were first dating, one of my best friends said, "Dude, you’re gonna be in the White House one day,"' and I was just like, "Yeahhh."'"

From "Tulsi Gabbard Thinks We’re Doomed/Or we will be if America doesn’t leave the rest of the world alone. That’s why the 38-year-old congresswoman from Hawaii is running for president," a weird little article in the NYT.

I don't know what "sticks the straw in the opposite way" means!

The article doesn't have the word "doom" in a quote from Gabbard. It does have her saying, "There are thousands of nuclear missiles pointing right at us, and if we were to get an attack, we would have 30 minutes, 30 minutes, before we were hit," but that's a fact that's a component of any serious thinking about national security, so I don't see how citing it makes "Doom... her main talking point."

I'm going to warily give this post my "NYT pushes Kamala" tag. That's where I keep track of my suspicion that the Times (and MSM generally) predetermined that Kamala's the one. Here's the mention of Kamala Harris in the article:
After Ms. Gabbard tore into presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her prosecutorial record during the second Democratic debates on Wednesday, the California senator on CNN called Ms. Gabbard an “apologist for an individual, Assad, who has murdered the people of his country like cockroaches.”
The article doesn't have Gabbard responding specifically on Assad, but quotes her saying, "We should be coming to other leaders in other countries with respect, building a relationship based on cooperation rather than with, you know, a police baton."

Gabbard is also connected to some people Democrats will be wary of: Ron Paul ("Tulsi Gabbard by far is the very, very best"), Ann Coulter ("Go Tulsi!"), and Joe Rogan ("Tulsi Gabbard’s my girl, I’m voting for her I decided, I like her"), Twitter's Jack Dorsey (who's contributed), and David Duke (who "has tweeted approvingly").

I think what's going on is that Gabbard is dangerous to Democratic Party interests. The doom sensed is defeat in the presidential election.

91 comments:

mccullough said...

Still time for Tulsi to have a child. Her husband just needs to put his straw in the correct way.

Too late for Kamala. She’s doomed. Tulsi broke her glass jaw.

gilbar said...

i 'think' that the right end of a capri sun straw is slashed, so it's pointy (goes through foil better)

Seriously, HOW could Anyone take this 'candidate' seriously?
She's a Straight, Ciswoman, who is barely of Color.
She is NOT openly Socialist
She is NOT clearly Crazy
She is NOT a serious candidate

gilbar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birches said...

Putting the straw the wrong way on a Capri sun is sticking it in the wide bottom, not up at the narrow top where the straw hole is.

gilbar said...

thanx birches, that seems Way more safer!

Laslo Spatula said...

"sticking it in the wide bottom"

Are we still talking Tulsi?

I am Laslo.

Phil 314 said...

We’ve become enthralled with the unique or iconoclast politician. Obama wasn’t what we thought of as a President (though he was “articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking”) and 2012 was a stark contrast between different and traditional. Trump was less about appearance and more about words (i.e. “You can’t say that!”).

So who will be the a Trump for the Dems?

Francisco D said...

There is a likable quality to Tulsi that seems to transcend politics.

She is a woman of the Left without being an arrogant shrew.

gilbar said...

Wrong Hole! you're sticking it in the wrong hole!

Birches said...

I knew I was throwing one right over the plate, Laslo. Good work.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J Melcher said...

Speaking on behalf of the Cis-Het-Adult-Monogamous-Parent (C.H.A.M.P.) community, I quite like Tulsi.

Seeing Red said...

It seems very naive to think the US would be left alone.

Cali and NY can’t leave the rest of US alone, why does she think the world would?

That violates the presidential oath of office.

stevew said...

Tulsi seems to me the type of candidate who can say Trump has done some good things and some good stuff has happened during his term, but here are the things that need doing that he either disagrees with or isn't able to address. Aka: she's a mature adult not suffering from TDS. She also is steering clear of the compulsion to pander for votes.

Probably means her candidacy is doomed.

Michael K said...

Tulsi grew up in a weird cult in Hawaii. I agree she is a threat to the anointed one, Kamala.

Krumhorn said...

If the clip Ann posted between Tulsi and Kamala is any indication, Tulsi speaks fluidly and well without sounding like a harridan. Just her tone of voice is a respite from the usual glass-shattering screech of harpy lefties.

Good ‘un, Laslo! I laughed out loud and woke up my wife.

- Krumhorn.

Sebastian said...

"we would have 30 minutes, 30 minutes, before we were hit," but that's a fact that's a component of any serious thinking about national security"

So, will you vote for any Dems who seriously oppose development of new missile defenses, as many Congress Dems now do?

Mr. D said...

I think what's going on is that Gabbard is dangerous to Democratic Party interests. The doom sensed is defeat in the presidential election.

It's all about the rice bowls.

AllenS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AllenS said...

I'm thinking flexible drinking straws, where the flexible part should be outside the can/glass.

LINK TEXT

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Kamala is a prime example of a D-Government whore.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

NYT will cover this? No way.

Fact Check: Yes, Kamala Harris Blocked DNA Evidence Proving Death Row Inmate Innocent

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Francisco D said...
"There is a likable quality to Tulsi that seems to transcend politics.

She is a woman of the Left without being an arrogant shrew."

She could beat Trump.

Reposted because I typoed she could bear Trump.

Sebastian said...

Judging by the early stories, it looks as if Gabbard was a follower in a cult worse than Williamson's posse.

traditionalguy said...

The debates are for us to learn their personalities. And we learned that Tulsi has that controlled and intelligent Aggression quality which we look for in a President. She could be our first female Presidentesse.

And, like DJT, her strength is in her telling us the truth. All the Demo-Media people think that is cheating. Their motto is " The Narrative, the Narrative , always the Narrative."

mockturtle said...

“It doesn’t matter what I — slash, what our country — thinks or believes,” Ms. Gabbard says. “This is a decision and a choice and a process that people in other countries have to make for themselves.” [when asked about enforcing human rights abroad]

For this reason alone, I like her. When she first announced her candidacy I emailed her website to beg her to wait until 2024. I will not vote against Trump in 2020 but could support her up the road. That said, there is no way the DNC would allow her nomination.

JaimeRoberto said...

Did Williams use a plastic straw? Why were those allowed at a Democrat debate? That's probably going to sink her like a turtle with a straw in its nose.

Heartless Aztec said...

Record number of "comments removed" on this thread.

Bob Boyd said...

sticks the straw in the opposite way

Most people stick the straw into the pouch first, then put the straw in their mouth.
This guy puts the straw in his mouth first then jabs it into the pouch like a mosquito probing for blood.

Big Mike said...

@Michael K., your daughter might enjoy reading this article about moving from LA to a small town in Idaho. Did she have her baby yet?

Hubert the Infant said...

She is simply another type of crazy, but still crazy. Wouldn't the fact that the U.S. can be destroyed by a nuclear missile attack lead a rational person to want to prevent a regime bent on our destruction -- say, Iran -- from getting nuclear weapons? Yet Tulsi seems strangely pro-Assad, Iran's most important ally. Yes, she's a vet. So is Mayor Pete. Why should that impress me? If all of our military involvement since Korea (or is it WW II?) has been misguided at best, how is participating in it good?

Bay Area Guy said...

The refreshing thing about Tulsi is that although she's a Democrat, she's obviously not shackled by the Democrat party. Most of the stooges on the stage are shackled by their Democrat leaders, so they can't say what they'd lke to say.

Tulsi may vote wrong on many items but she's got sufficient independence to oppose impeachment and hammer Kammy on National TV, when most were afraid to.

"Tulsi in 2020!"
"Less Crazy than the Rest"

pacwest said...

One sane Democrat, and she sticks out like a sore thumb. Sad.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"we would have 30 minutes, 30 minutes, before we were hit,"

Something I’ve known since I was eight. Does she think this gives an impression of some kind of profound thinking on foreign policy? She’s every bit as big a fraud as her stablemates.

Mary Beth said...

Joe Rogan can say, "Tulsi Gabbard’s my girl" but imagine the uproar if he had called one of the male candidates "my boy".

Michael K said...

Did she have her baby yet?

Hopefully this weekend. Thanks for the link.

mockturtle said...

She’s every bit as big a fraud as her stablemates.

The real fraud is our being told it was necessary to invade Iraq and topple Hussein and to enmesh ourselves in Afghanistan just as Russia had done and with equally dismal results. That's the fraud, TCER.

rcocean said...

The MSM is pulling for Harris and/or Biden. Everyone else is getting attacked - subtly and not so subtlety.

rcocean said...

Saying Gabbard is better than the rest, is like saying Khrushchev was better than Stalin or Lenin. True but irrelevant.

Francisco D said...

She could beat Trump. Reposted because I typoed she could bear Trump.

Maybe she can bear him as well. The rest of the Democrats find Trump unbearable.

Michael said...

To the Democratic strategist Joe Trippi....her foreign policy is not surprising for a veteran. “It’s not an unusual trait to see in someone who served in those wars, Iraq or Afghanistan. They all have deep qualms about the way we’ve made decisions to go to war....

Mirrors my discussions with Iraq/Afghan vets. As one quipped "Eighteen years in Afghanistan and the brass still can't find its ass with both hands"

Bob Boyd said...

Remember the billboard of W saying, "Miss me yet?"
I wonder if President W's sleep was ever disturbed by a dream of Saddam saying, "Miss me yet?"

Lewis Wetzel said...

I live in Gabbard's district. Hawaii is controlled by a Democrat political machine. You run for office when the party tells you to run for office. You wait your turn. If you do what you are told and you play the game, you parlay a second or third rate intellect into a lucrative, lifetime political career. Your relatives and your friends get good jobs with the state or with state contractors. Your kids get into UH's law school, and became political players themselves.
In that environment, Gabbard has a reputation as a party crasher. But she is still a doctrinaire Leftist.

Yancey Ward said...

Tom Luongo discussed this. The Empire is Coming for Tulsi Gabbard.

It has been fascinating the last two days to watch the media go full out to try to repair the damage done to Harris by Gabbard in that debate. They have even gone so far as to try to tie Gabbard to the Russia Hoax. I am sensing some real desperation on the part of the Harris and her media supporters- Gabbard definitely struck an artery on Wednesday night, and Harris is still bleeding.

mccullough said...

Tulsi did the Dems a favor in clipping Kamala. They should thank her. Kamala is Rubio. A lightweight propped up by media backers.

Yancey Ward said...

Gabbard shows you how you have to do it in a primary- you have to stand out, and she did that by going after the anointed one. She could have done what everyone else did that night and gone after Biden, but she took a shot at the queen instead.

I think she could quite possibly qualify for the September round of debate, but she will be denied a seat at the table by any means necessary by the DNC and the media.

rcocean said...

Per Miss Lindsey its too early to withdraw from Afghanistan.

rcocean said...

We're still in Afghanistan because if Trump withdraws AGAINST the advice of the Generals, AND someone from Afghanistan launches a terror attack on the USA, Trump will be blamed. Plus, average 'muricans don't care about foreign policy unless its a war, or someone gets killed. So he gains little, politically, by getting OUT of Afghanistan.

Michael K said...

So he gains little, politically, by getting OUT of Afghanistan.

I'm not so sure although I agree with your scenario. That might be a reason Mattis left.

Getting out will not be easy. All our logistics depend on the Pakis.

Ann Althouse said...

"Yes, Kamala Harris Blocked DNA Evidence Proving Death Row Inmate Innocent"

I doubt if that is an accurately written headline. If DNA that wasn't handled properly was used to convict someone and there was a violation of constitutional rights in not excluding it at trial, that doesn't prove that the person was innocent. I suspect the question is whether without that evidence a reasonable juror could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Comanche Voter said...

Well I do hope that Gabbard makes the third round of debate. Hawaii just isn't big enough to be a support platform for a national campaign. But Ms. Gabbard is willing to punch out at sacred cows (unusual for a Hindu such as herself). And we have a couple of sacred cows in Mesdames Warren and Harris. Also a silly old bull in Sanders.

Despite the common Democrat trope "We are the reality based party", reality has danged little to do with today's Democrats.

285exp said...

Sticking the straw in the wrong way means you’re trying to puncture the pouch with the rounded end instead of the pointy end and you’re putting the pointy end in you’re mouth, i.e. you’re an idiot.

Anonymous said...

gilbar said...
i 'think' that the right end of a capri sun straw is slashed, so it's pointy (goes through foil better)

Seriously, HOW could Anyone take this 'candidate' seriously?
She's a Straight, Ciswoman, who is barely of Color.
She is NOT openly Socialist
She is NOT clearly Crazy
She is NOT a serious candidate


Meine Gott!!

She does not Hate the Country!
She is a Vet!
She is a Policewoman (MP)
She is Asian, they are no longer POC

Leslie Graves said...

My fondest wish is that Gabbard and Williamson both make it onto at least the next two-three debate stages.

Narr said...

My mouth? Makes sense-- that pointy end hurts my nostrils.

Narr
I want TG to stay in just cause she's purty

buwaya said...

She's not Asian-asian. She is only 1/4 not-white.
And that part is Samoan. Note also that her weirdness comes from the hippie-white part, not from the stolid Samoan, and as far as I can tell she isnt connected to Samoan communities.

Samoans are not the high-performance tiger-mother Asians that strive to get into Harvard.

In the US they are quite modest performers, economically.
They are mellow, not really ethnic activist types. In Bay Area politics they get thrown into "brown" coalitions as make-weight - and this is often literally so, as Samoans tend to be very chunky. There is no chip on their shoulders, unlike most others.

Somewhat like Filipinos, though Filipinos have a quiet way of becoming much richer than anyone expects.

Allison said...

sticking the straw on the wrong way means turning the juice bag upside down. instead of trying to put the straw through the stupid narrow vertical portion of the bag, you puncture the wide flat bottom.

buwaya said...

Its interesting how many Indians (from India) have gotten really big in SJW circles. The leadership and noise-making in radical forums has attracted a lot of Indians. The most high profile Indians in the US now are thoroughly "left".

These people are most definitely into "brown" resentment, though they personally have nothing to resent, being as nearly all of the current breed being thoroughly bourgeois in their origins. It comes from so many of them coming out of non-STEM programs in US universities. Its a career move, an adaptation to the environment.

Interestingly the first generation of Indians in the US tended to be conservatives and Republicans. This is where you got Bobby Jindal, Nikki Haley, Dinesh D'Souza. But the academic-corporate world was different when they were young.

Michael K said...

Its interesting how many Indians (from India) have gotten really big in SJW circles. <

Interesting to see how many are behind marketing disasters like Gillette.

ken in tx said...

A number of people are making comments here about juice box straws who have never actually seen or used one. Some other people corrected them, but it is interesting that so many feel justified in commenting here on something they know nothing about.

buwaya said...

They take over at companies like Google and P&G (Gilette) because they are excellent at bureaucratic maneuver.

The US is importing a very large slice of India's leadership castes, and thus their bureaucratic pinnacle. These people are bred for this.

bagoh20 said...

" Joe Rogan ("Tulsi Gabbard’s my girl, I’m voting for her I decided, I like her")"

I like you, Joe, but don't be an airhead. MMA is not a what you need in the White House, and you need to be an intern to get in a Democrat President's pants. What she would do there would hurt us all including you and a lot of Americans who can't afford a bad economy, even if you can.

mockturtle said...

Also a silly old steer in Sanders.

FIFY, Comanche Voter.

bagoh20 said...

Kamala is the one who most reminds me of Hillary. Corrupt, careerist, selfish, and likely to break the law with similar ease and immunity. She gets to use the excuses and identity protections of both Obama and Hillary. An extremely bad option for any pubic office. Another graft queen.

Narr said...

Paul Theroux says a lot about the Indianization (South Asian) of the small motel business in "Deep South." Like so many educated strivers before, they have found a niche and become dominant. Their kids become corporate leaders and doctors; the grandkids of course are as susceptible to the allure of modern inanities as anyone, and have incentive to identify as POC.

Narr
buwaya knows brain-drain when he sees it

Narr said...

bagoh20@201! I was just telling my wife the other night that Harris was Hillary with more melanin.

Narr
Great minds, same gutter

rehajm said...

...or we will be if America doesn't leave the rest of the world alone.

'...but America's gonna keep sending the money though. Right?', asked the rest of the world.

Joe said...

One of the intriguing things about the Democrat presidential candidates since 1996 is that they are blank slates--they allow Democrat voters to project onto them whatever they want. Obama was a master at this. What did Obama stand for besides himself? Nothing. Yet, you have Democrat voters of all types claiming he represented them. He didn't. He believed in nothing other than his own divinity.

Warren was the next anointed one. She appeared to have the bona-fides--a narcissistic empty vessel--but when the attacks came, for some reason the establishment decided to dodge and ended up with Kamala. Despite being a far more flawed candidate, they aren't going to dodge again and will take down anyone who threatens their anointed.

For all of Gabbard's faults, which are legion, she isn't a blank slate narcissistic whore. As such, she has no place in the Democratic party.

bagoh20 said...

Whether or not you like the President on a personal level, want to have a beer with him, or even whether they are a good role model is entirely irrelevant, yet seems to influence the most votes. If given the choice of a surgeon to operate on you, I wonder how many would choose an attractive vegan actor playing a doctor on General Hospital over a great, although unattractive and humorless big game hunting surgeon with impeccable experience. The number is far from zero.

bagoh20 said...

"bagoh20@201! I was just telling my wife the other night that Harris was Hillary with more melanin."

I know. I hacked your Alexa, and she was right about the toilet seat.

narciso said...

yes, that's a nonsequitor, now north korea has what 60 nuclear weapons, that we know of, that's a much smaller cohort than say the soviet union in the 60s, when the missile gap had been conjured up, of course there is the matter of emp that a successful suborbital launch could provoke,

she stares daggers at the sauds and Israel by proxy, but she doesn't seem very concerned with iran or a certain other gulf emirate,

madAsHell said...

Someone should ask Kamala “How many people of color did you send to prison for marijuana?”

SweatBee said...

Why would an adult want to drink Capri Sun?

rehajm said...

With the leave the rest of the world alone part, does that include American lefties nagging them to death?

Anonymous said...

SweatBee said...
Why would an adult want to drink Capri Sun?


How could a Dem be seen in public using a plastic straw?

rehajm said...

No more sending John Kerry or Hillary out to nag them.

traditionalguy said...

The Indian population grows up speaking English in schools. The ones who start businesses here and grow wealth then bring in poor fellows from their home towns /Temples. They are continually starting up on the first generation's loans and their hard work. But to climb politically they have to go to the Democrats who accept them. But they are smarter than most people. They will support Trump after they have made their fortunes.

CWJ said...

"The Narrative, the Narrative , always the Narrative."

Traditionalguy,

Le récit, le récit, toujours le récit.

It's always better in the original French.

Beasts of England said...

'...small motel business in "Deep South."'

Hotel, Motel, Patel.

An in-tribe snark told to me by 'Vic' Patel. His wife is an MD and her parents own several Hampton Inns in the area. I share the same stockbroker as the family and have been told that Vic was given a Nothing But Noodles franchise so he wouldn't screw up something important... 😂

M Jordan said...

Gabbard stuck a shiv in Harris much better than Harris shivved Biden in the earlier debate. She was cool, calm, articulate and then came the shiv: “... she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”

Laughed about it. That was the shiv. Devastating. Dirty Harris had her day unmade.

PluralThumb said...

“ Why would adults drink Capri Sun ?”

To attract kids with liquid candy to vote. Why else ?
Some people are not sure how to properly recycle a paper and plastic coffee cup.
Aluminum and plastic go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The pointy end of the straw towards the face says;
I’m a politician & I’m dangerous, don't fuck with me !
Pardon my English.

Narr said...

bagoh20@312--

Not you too!

Narr
No secrets left

Narr said...

Classic immigrant advancement. About 1910 my Opa, when he chose to stay here (rather than accept the train ticket to NYC [interesting story for another time*]) found some other Germans to work with (including the woman he married, my Oma); when he decided to start his own business in the 1920s, he got a loan from an older, but Italian, immigrant (a jeweler).

Narr
*Italian touring opera company

Jason said...

My hometown rep!

She's got guts.

She's also nutty as a loon. Not as nutty as her family, though. But she might be fronting.

Yes, her weird cult past needs to be exposed, because her Hawaii network of support makes Marianne look sane.

It'll take some digging, but start by looking up Chris Butler.

mockturtle said...

It'll take some digging, but start by looking up Chris Butler.

A pro hockey player?

Achilles said...

Tulsi is/was a Krishna it seems.

That is going to be awkward.

She would have to come out and say they were a nutball cult she followed when young but completely disavows now.

Even then they are right up there with Scientology.

She probably maxes out the crazy in the hot/crazy matrix too.

Achilles said...

mockturtle said...
It'll take some digging, but start by looking up Chris Butler.

A pro hockey player?

Add "Hawaii" and "Cult" to your search.

Nichevo said...

I have tasted a Capri Sun, once, because I didn't know any better. Human adults were not meant to drink Capri Sun. There's something wrong with this individual that he's drunk enough of them that he's developed an idiosyncratic Capri Sun Style.

tim maguire said...

When I first came across Tulsi Gabbard, I liked her. Then, I listened to the Joe Rogan podcast in which he announced he’s voting for her and...no way. She’d be a disaster. A less charming Marianne Williamson.

I do get a laugh, though, from the fact that I was repulsed by the same presentation that Rogan, who I generally like, found totally attractive.

PluralThumb said...


The Capri Sun package is easier to puncture without any splash by having the straw reversed and lowered vertically into the specified area that is diagonal if the package itself is in the upright position.
That may have been a run on sentence and I do apologize.
The pointy end of the straw may be used as a toothpick after any tasting of delicious horderves.
Not the best practice for nervous people like me.

“ Sometimes reason, sometimes rhyme.
Organized chaos is better with all you guys and gals. “

- Oui

Saint Croix said...

I think what's going on is that Gabbard is dangerous to Democratic Party interests.

You nail it, AA.

Here is Tulsi jumping all over the DNC.

And here she is criticizing both parties.