I'm rethinking Pete Buttigieg as Kamala's VP choice. By Hal Brown, MSW

 

Above: Chasten and Pete Buttigieg with adopted twins.

Of all Cabinet members it is usually the Secretary of State who is most well known. Consider Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who won the popular vote and should have become president. I doubt too many people could name many other Obama Cabinet members. 

While Biden's Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin was globe trotting, here at home Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg might as well have been designated Secretary of Everything and Everywhere. He was ubiquitous. One might think he was considering running for president in 2030. 

This is quite amazing for someone who went from being the two term mayor of South Bend to seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 to being appointed to President Biden's Cabinet and then, as we just learned, being seriously considered to be Kamala Harris' running mate.

Now it turns out that he may very well end up as president if Kamala Harris serves two terms and he is her vice president.

From Mayor Pete to Vice President Pete to eventually become President Pete would be a career leap never achieved by a mayor.  The only mayors to come close to being elected presdient were John Lindsay and Rudy Guiliani of New York.

An NPR/PBS News/Marist National Poll taken Monday asked Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, “who would you most like to see selected as the Democratic nominee for Vice President?” Tied for first place at 21% were Gretchen Whitmer and Pete Buttigieg.

This is from RawStory:

New poll reveals Democrats' top choice for Kamala Harris' running mate

Excerpt:

Across all candidates and demographics, the highest percent is 28%, which is owned by Buttigieg under the “Region” category: 28% of Democrats in the West support Buttigieg to be Harris’s vice presidential running mate.

Whitmer has the strongest polling in several categories, but removing her from the equation, assuming she refuses to join the ticket, Buttigieg is the clear top choice among those polled.

This is from Newsweek:

Pete Buttigieg's Chances of Being Kamala Harris' Running Mate Skyrocket

On the face of it Pete Buttigieg would seem to be a daring choice. While I was favoring Mark Kelly because of the optics, an astronaut married to Gabby Giffords who survived a bullet to the brain, I'd kind of dismissed Pete Buttigieg because of his being gay. 

Then on rethinking this, I figure why not? Indeed, why yes ought to be the question. They are lots of yeses to tick off.

He's well known nationally and well liked and he comes across great on TV. Add to that the fact that Kamala Harris has been working with him for four years.

Perhaps the Democrats should go all in on woke and run a Black woman married to a White Jewish man and a happily married gay man with two beautiful brown-skinned twin children, Gus and Penelope. I don't know if it was an accident but People published "Pete Buttigieg's 2 Children: All About Twins Gus and Penelope" yesterday.

Let Trump and Vance try to restrain their bigotry. Let them try to attack Pete with even the slightest wiff of the stink of anti-gay prejudice.

Maybe Pete Buttigieg would be a daring choice  because choosing a gay man would actually be daring Trump, Vance, and their surrogates to reveal their deep homophobic bigotry.

All we need next is for Kamala Harris to tease her announcement that Buttigieg will be her choice by announcing an endorsement by America's number one drag queen, Ru Paul. Hold on, this has already happened:

 Is there a message in this (read story)?

Watch video

I can envision how Harris will announce her selection of Buttigieg. It would go something like this:

"My opponent has called me Lyn' Kamala and he had to spell it out lest someone mistake my nickname for the noble female beast, the cat lady, that brings food home for her lazy husband. Well, you are welcome to call me Lion Kamala, that's L-I-O-N without an apostrophe, and you can hear me roar today." 

Of course this would be a reference to Helen Reddy's chart breaking 1971 anthem to feminism  "I Am Woman." 

She would go on to say "I am about to introduce the name of the next vice president of the United States. Fellow Americans, please welcome to the podium someone I have worked closely with for almost four years and come to know, admire, and respect. He is someone who is more than qualified to hold the second highest position in our great country. He is tough, smart, and compassionate."

"When he first came to national attention we had something in common. Lots of people couldn't or wouldn't pronounce my first name properly, in fact one person still thinks it is funny to mispronounce it. Like with me, the country had to learn to pronounce his last name, thus when he first came on the national scene everyone just called him 'Mayor Pete.' Here he is, the next vice president of the United States Peter Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg."

Here's Buttigieg being interviewed today on Morning Joe.

Yesteday's blog, 

Lion Kamala Harris should say that a vote for Trump is a vote for razor wire and wire hangers, 

 here.

I made this illustration for that blog but is works here too:

If Trump backs out of debating her she can use this:

Read previous blogs here. 

Lion Kamala Harris should say that a vote for Trump is a vote for razor wire and wire hangers, by Hal Brown, MSW

 

I was originally was going to use "Trump has a final solution for dealing with the border crisis, Harris must offer a humane resolution" as my title but then decided not to "go there" with the term "final solution", at least not in my blog title. 

Then I thought that the sadistic malignant narcissist didn't just enjoy making brown skinned people trying to cross the border suffer to poltically exploit the fears of his base, he also wants to make women who wanted to control their bodies suffer.

If you've seen clips of Trump's rallies you know that he is still ranting about rapists coming across the border. It should be unnecessary to point out that coming from him this is a juicy one, just ask E. Jean Carroll. 

Harris has to counter this fear-mongering by continuing to remind voters that it was Trump who made sure that Biden and her tough immigration bill never saw the light of day. She can say he made sure it was buried like he is trying to bury all the criminal behavior he's been charged with.

The word "tough" should preface appropriate descriptions of Kamala Harris and her policies. She and those who campaign for her should use this word whenever possible using her career as a prosecutor to remind people that she put people who actually deserved to be behind bars in prison.

Harris has to explain how tough the immigration bill was and how when she's president she would make certain it is passed. She needs to call out Trump for his absurd lie about her being for open borders.

When talking about how she wants to deal with the border crisis she should emphasize the word "humane" and say that as Americans we are far better than the cruel heartless country Trump and Vance want to turn us into. She doesn't have to recycle the line that America was built on the hard work and sacrifices of immigrants. She can, however, remind voters that Trump himself married an immigrant and that J.D. Vance's wife's parents came form India.

Then she can switch gears with the finesse of the Indy drivers Trump thinks should run the military (really) and segue into talking about family planning.

She should address the plight of women who want to end their pregnancies. I think she should avoid the word abortion when possible, lest she be labeled pro-abortion. It should always be called pro-choice. Abortion an evocative word that brings to mind the procedure where a fetus is, as the anti-abortionists  like to say, murdered. This plays into the anti-abortionist's hands. 

She should emphasize the description "pro-choice" and save the word abortion to accuse Trump and Vance for wanting to go back to the days of women trying to terminate their pregnancies with wire hangers and sometimes dying or rendering them unable to have a baby in the future. 

Harris can say that Trump and Vance aren't anti-abortion, they are pro-back alley abortion. 

When possible she should link Turmp to his choice of running mate. The more people are reminded of this cat hating opportunistic poseur who just pissed off Taylor Swith fans and led to being condemned by Jennifier Aniston the better. Trump is a god to his fans who find him charismatic. They should be reminded that Trump chose this unpleasant man to be a heartbeat away from being president by an elderly obese man who has a lousy diet, poor sleep hygiene, and gets no exercise.

If Trump, who now says he wants to debate Harris more than once, thinks she'd be easy prey for him. He looks at her and see a vulnerable little woman who he can stomp into the dust. I'd bet the house that he hasn't read the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, but he surely knows the story of David and Goliath. 

Kamala is 5' 2" and Trump says he's 6' 3". Goliath was said to be 9' 9". If Trump didn't believe his own super-macho hype he should realize that there's another saying he should heed: the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Indeed, when Goliath fell it had to be ground shaking.

On another matter:

Perhap the nickname Laffin' Kamala wasn't working as Trump intended it to. Now he's trying out Lyn' Kamala Harris. However, he is now spelling Lyn' (L-Y-N-apostrophe) out loud when he calls her this. You can watch him doing this in this short clip from his rally speech the other day:

No doubt he spelled it out to make sure nobody jumps on the fact that she is like a lion, and that in nature it is the female lions that do most of the hunting while the male lions lay around. Well, Trump, I noticed it and made this:

I considered calling her Lioness Kamala but because Trump is using the word lyn' I decided to use this. He's lying and she's a lion.

Read previous blogs in one format here.

There are in a simple list format here.

Amazing! Trump just got some bigots pissed off. By Hal Brown, MSW

 

I had to read the RawStory article shown above three times to figure out what happened.

Trump was showing his supposed support for law enforcement with this Trump Social post:

He wrote:

23-year-old Melvindale Police Officer Mohamed Said, a true American hero, was gunned down by a suspect he was pursuing last Saturday. Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin described Officer Said as a “kind soul who proudly served the residents of Melvindale.” The men and women of law enforcement deserve our respect for the selfless job they do every day serving our communities. Pray for Officer Said, his family, and all law enforcement! 

Needless to say Trump wants to be seen as pro-police unless the police are among those speaking out against him for not stopping the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6th.

This post backfired to some extent because the officer who was slain was a Muslim. It led to bigoted responses from Truth Social members. These are from the RawStory article:

• "Michigan is mostly Muslims, infiltrated via CAIR by Obama," @AlJahn wrote. "Their main tactic is to eliminate police. That's all you need to know." (I had to look up CAIR, it's the Council on American-Islamic Relations.)
• @Mfnmkr said, "That's a no go zone. Sharia law runs that place. Wake up sheep it's spreading."
• "Sounds like Dearborn is infested with Muslims," another user, @Sicaj526, wrote on Trump's post.
• "Dearborn is a world class s---hole!" wrote @Patriot_Dad_67. "The middle easterners have taken over the town and made it just like home, riddled with crime and killing."
• @Magadonian wrote, "He looks like a terrorist to me. It's the name."
• @Marknunya99 said, "Sorry but Mohamad wants all Christians dead. No concern here."
• Ryan Deakins, @Ryandeakins, said simply, "U lost my vote.

Of course these people will vote for Trump anyway since without George Wallace or David Duke on the ballot they have no other choice.

ADDENDUM:

I so enjoy it when bigots dump dung on Donald.

Articles about the shooting.

Previous blogs.

"The Prosecutor vs. the Perpetrator" and "Former DA Harris vs. the fake tough guy" can frame the Harris campaign. By Hal Brown, MSW

Above: The expressions on the faces of Trump and Vince McMahon couldn't be more fake.

"Harris Says She Knows 'Trump's Type' From Her Years As A Prosecutor was the top story" was the top story on HUFFPOST yesterday (link). 

The front page title "The Prosecutor vs. the Perpetrator"can be part of framing the Harris campaign.

Kamala Harris has already made a major change in how she pressents herself. She has amped up her toughness level bigly, to use Trump's term.

Let's face it, much of politics is about the optics. Harris can remind voters about the things Biden did that benefited them and the country, but she has to talk about what she will do vs. what Trump plans to do.

Harris has to make sure the the Republicans don't cast her as a Biden clone. She has to be wary of spending too much time defending Biden's policies. She must make sure that she is seen as the new face of the Democratic Party. This is what she now is and she must own it!

There are many people who don't even know Harris was a senator. During her brief time there she didn't make headlines. They know her because she was the Attorney General of California. 

Before the cameras she is already focusing on having been a prosecutor. She quickly came up with effective attack lines about being familiar with taking down predators who abused women and that she knows Donald Trump's type and can take down criminals like him.

Biden was always a politician. He earned his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968 and then was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and to the U.S. Senate in 1972. Contrast that with Harris. 

After law school she began working as a  DA  in Alameda County, was recruited to the San Francisco DA's Office and later to the city attorney of San Francisco's office. In 2003, she was elected DA of San Francisco. She was elected attorney general of California in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Only in 2017 did she get elected as U.S. senator before becoming VP.  She is viewed as a tough former prosecutor. 

She doesn't have to play-act this the way Trump play-acts being tough. Trump has gifted her with some made for TV images like this:

I can see her using clips of him pretending to a superman with the word "delusional" superimposed over the image above.

Thanks to Trump there are numerous photos she can use. There are also some choice videos of Trump playing the pro-wrestling villain.  

For example a Harris ad can start with this:

Then add a "FAKE" stamp...

... and then another:

It would finally prove that Trump can't continue to avoid karma if his fake wrestling tough-guy persona came back to bite him here:

Trump's go-to word to discount everything negative that is reported about him is "fake" so, as befitting his juvenile personality, the saying  "I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you" is appropriate.

Read previous blogs here.

Now it's time for the Democrats to get their ducks in a row, story and a photo by Hal Brown, MSW

 

Click illustrations to enlarge

After we heard about President Biden dropping out my partner and I were relieved. Like many Democrats we believed he would lose to Trump in part because of his not reassuring enough voters following the debate that he could handle the rigors of the campaign and, if elected, of the presidency.

The Democrats have the next week or two to make sure that their convention does not descend into chaos and to begin a well-crafted campaign in earnest.

Kamala Harris is the likely candidate at present, but her running mate hasn't been decided. If she's at the top of the ticket it can't be Gavin Newsom because he's also from California.

It could be Gov. Andy Beshear from Kentucky, the son of former Governor Steve Beshear, or it could Josh Shapiro, the newly minted govenor of Pennsylvania who happens to be Jewish. If it was Shapiro I can see the pundits asking whether America is ready for a Black woman and a Jewish vice president. I say damn well it is.

Also being talked about for the VP slot: Arizona's Senator Mark Kelly was an astronaut  which gives him a certain star power. He was appointed to replace Senator John McCain defeatingb the incumbnet Martha McSally.  Roy Cooper is the governer of the important swing state of N. Carolina where he narrowly defeated the incumbent Republican Pat McCorry in 2016.

Conventional wisdom (pun not intended) is that Harris won't pick a woman so this would leave Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Amy Klobuchar out. 

If it isn't going to be Harris a floor fight should be avoided at all costs. I think the Democrats are united in this. Any decision should be made in the modern version of the smoke filled rooms of old times. The eventual nominee should be nominated by acclamation. Ideally there will be a consensus of who the best person to run as her VP would be.

Of course there would be no smoke and at least half of the politicos there would be women.

No matter what happens now Trump can't play the "Biden is a doddering old man card." He has to the rejiggering his Irish jig choreographed to go after Biden.

His attack line calling his likely opponent  "Laffin' Kamala Harris" and saying that her laugh proves she's insane is, well, insane. (Watch video)

You can see videos of her laughing here and judge for yourself. I think her laugh is unhibited, joyful, and spontaneous. According to Sean Hannity (here) it is her laugh that is causing voters to "detest" her.

I couldn't find a good videoTrump laughing. I did find this of his enjoying talking about shooting migrants.

It will be Trump who is open to the charge that he is too old, and as a bonus, too unhinged, to be president and there will be numerous examples that Democrats can use in their ads. They and ther allies in groups like The Lincoln Project can quickly run counter-ads showing clips of Trump ads juxtaposed with clips of Harris or whoever is the Democratic candidate with a tag line like this one from Rocky II (see video).

Being Jewish I like "If that's all you got you ain't got bupkis! (This is bad grammar either way but it is accepted usage.)

AI generated images

Continuing with the boxing analogy, Harris can rope-a-dope, or I should say rope-the-dope, Trump the way Muhammad Ali, who was the 4-1 underdog, did when he fought and beat George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle.

You can watch a video about how he did this here.

On being to old to be president:

I am 80 and healthy but I know that someone my age even without any other health issues has to accept that doing the job of the presidency is tempting fate. Even if Trump wasn't a wannabe dictator he is 78 - I can say he's no "Spring chicken" considering all the images that came out of the Trump chicken-like balloon being ubiquitous - he's too old to be president because the odds of a life-threatening illness is just too great.

In addition to being 78 Trump has several health factors which could lead to his not being able to continue his term or dying in office. Among those we know of he is obese and has the thick fatty neck associated with several diseases, he has a lousy diet, he has poor sleep hygiene, unless you count his spastic attempts to dance at rallies, he gets no heart healthy exercise, and in addition to this he's a ragaholic. He also has Alzheimer's in his family and could succumb to psychosis.

Trump is going to need all the Geritol and Prevagin he can get to offset his crap diet and life style.

Meanwhile a very human and relatable side of Kamala Harris that hasn't gotten much publicity, and it should, is described here.  Run against this Trump and J.D. Vance!

In this Hollywood celebrity culture where a so-called TV star got elected despite having had no political experience Americans respond to "the it factor" (definition) or star quality. Enough people thought Trump had it, although many didn't.

Kamala is more than ready for the wall-to-wall TV coverage she will be getting starting today.  

Check her out on Jimmy Kimmel here.

Harris, who says she's a big Star Wars fan, said she just met Mark Hamil in The Green Room and he told her that the Force was with her. How can she lose?

Read previous blogs here. Post them on social media. Share them with your friends. Torment Trumpers in your life with them.