Little Aloha Sweetie Struggles to Make Debate Cut
[guest post by JVW]
Presidential candidate, Hawaii Congresswoman, National Guardswoman (currently on deployment), and wahine nani loa Tulsi Gabbard finds herself on the bubble in qualifying for next month’s Democrat debate. The DNC has upped the qualification, requiring 130,000 unique donors (up from 60,000 for the first rounds), and a showing of at least two percent in a minimum four qualifying polls. The list of the DNC’s qualifying polls consists of the following: Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Des Moines Register, Fox News, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times, National Public Radio, Quinnipiac University, University of New Hampshire, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and Winthrop University. Currently, the Congresswoman only reaches the 2% threshold in the CNN and Fox polls.
But wait, the Gabbard Campaign insists: the Congresswoman is above the two percent mark in The Boston Globe poll, which serves the entire New England region including the key primary state of New Hampshire, and in The Post and Courier, the major newspaper in the largest city in South Carolina, which happens to be the first primary state not dominated by insufferably twee white progressives and university faculty. Furthermore, they point out that many of the qualified polls have not been updated since the second debate where My Little Aloha Sweetie memorably eviscerated the odious Kamala Harris, and that only four of the DNC’s qualified polls have come out since that beautiful night.
NRO’s Jim Geraghty isn’t particularly sympathetic. While stipulating that the Gabbard Campaign makes some salient points about the DNC’s polling practices, he finds a huge limit to their argument:
That having been said . . . the threshold is 2 percent, people. If consistently getting 2 percent or more of members of your party to make you their first choice is too difficult . . . well, the presidency doesn’t have many easy days. You can picture some of the asterisk candidates muttering that the DNC rules have reduced the debate qualification process to a popularity contest. Well, yeah. A presidential primary is a competition to see who can get the most people to make a candidate their first choice. If Democrats really feel like Gabbard is getting screwed by an unfairly high threshold, they can inundate the DNC with messages of objection. But as is, when YouGov, or CNN, or Gravis, or Morning Consult or Fox News come calling, not enough Democrats are saying that their first choice is Tulsi Gabbard.
Point taken, though I still hope our gal (ok, ok: my gal) makes it to the Houston stage. I would assume that the Labor Day weekend will be a big time for pollsters and those organizations who haven’t released info since the second debate will soon update their results. Hopefully at that point, the Congresswoman will score in the magical four polls and thus secure her debating spot. Perhaps she will once again unleash her ihe ‘ō ‘ia nalohia pua and bury it in some other candidate’s deserving backside (looking at you, Fauxcahontas!). All hail (and fear) our warrior princess!
– JVW
My most sincere (and abject) apologies if I have butchered the beautiful Hawaiian language. The online translation services are kind of screwy with Hawaiian, so I started by looking words up in my Hawaiian Pocket Dictionary and then feeding them into the translator to see how the phrases come out. It is a weird experience indeed.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:03 pmGreat picture of the Little Aloha Sweetie at the NRO link, by the way.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:04 pmOh, and in case you’re wondering, here are the jamokes who have already qualified for the Dems’ little soirée:
Joe Biden (no surprise)
Cory Booker (geeze)
Pete Buttigieg (whatever)
Julián Castro (seriously?)
Kamala Harris (ugh)
Amy Klobuchar (you’ve gotta be kidding me)
Beto O’Rourke (not sinking fast enough, apparently)
Bernie Sanders (what would you expect)
Elizabeth Warren (a sucker born every minute)
Andrew Yang (very interesting, and kind of welcome)
If My Little Aloha Sweetie doesn’t make it, I think that will be evidence of a deep animus to Pacific Islander-Americans among Democrats.
And I would love to see Crazy Hippie Crystals Chick make it too. The rest of them can go home — you especially Kirsten Gillibrand.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:08 pmI hate to say it, JVW, but I think Geraghty has it right. It’s not a perfect system, and there are questions about how the DNC is running the game, she simply isn’t at the 2% threshold. Yet. I do think there is a push for Kamala over Gabbard from the inside.
Anyway, it’s a nice picture of her. She’s really lovely. If I were a Dem, I’d vote for her because of her military service and because she isn’t an embarrassing pandering putz like the other candidates. I want to like her but she’s still defending her trip to Syria and letting Assad off the hook…
Dana (fdf131) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:21 pmShe may only have 1% of the Democratic voters’ interest, but she has 100% of JVW’s…
BTW, mostly off-topic, but HotAir posted an amusing video of a (gay) African-American Republican from Turning Point USA asking all the Democratic Candidates at the Iowa State Fair if they would please give him his slavery reparations, um, now.
A few of them get the joke and are cool with the guy – Tulsi is a rather humorless b*tch, kind of like she seems to be most of the time…
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:25 pmI want to like her but she’s still defending her trip to Syria and letting Assad off the hook…
I know, I know. But the Bushes were close to China and Saudi Arabia. Clinton played footsie with Arafat. Obama snuggled up to Chavez, Castro, and Khamenei, and Trump is best bros with Kim. I’m beginning to think I will never live to see a President who hates every other world leader, like Calvin Coolidge would have, may his memory be ever sacred in our hearts and on our lips.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:26 pmShe may only have 1% of the Democratic voters’ interest, but she has 100% of JVW’s…
I’m on her email list (naturally, after I gave her $1) and she’s now asking me to register as a Democrat so that I could potentially be called by a polling firm and register my vote for her. As much as I worship the very sand she tans on, that’s a bridge too far for me.
Tulsi is a rather humorless b*tch, kind of like she seems to be most of the time…
She just knows that time is too short for her to mess around with stuff like this, what with her National Guard commitment and her epic slaying of Kamala Harris.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:29 pm“Tulsi is a rather humorless b*tch, kind of like she seems to be most of the time…”
Absolutely shocking! A Democrat without a sense of humor!?!? Who woulda thunk it!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:33 pmShe has shown occasional flashes of common sense, among much foolishness, steyers just buying his way in,
Narciso (942c04) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:43 pmThere’s no debate about it, Tulci:
“Be there. Aloha.” – Steve McGarrett [Jack Lord] ‘Hawaii Five-O’ CBS TV, 1968-1980
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:44 pmI’m on her email list (naturally, after I gave her $1)
I didn’t know you could give that little. I have three or four cash cards with money on them, from around $1.50 to $15.00. The next time you see her, or at breakfast the morning after, tell her that if she starts a “Lock him up!” chant at one of her rallies, I’ll empty them all to her campaign.
nk (dbc370) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:45 pmYeah, I’ve thought about making token donations to the marginally sane Dems, but I don’t want to end up on their mailing lists. I still get crap in my mailbox from Trump and half the Republican party, despite telling off his drones every time they call.
Just think if she had whipped out her checkbook and paid the guy $1K or so – assuring him that it was only a down-payment in good faith on the much larger sum he was truly owed (and would receive under President Gabbard) – it could have gone viral with a certain demographic and catapulted her into the driver seat for the nomination.
As she would have learned if she’d read her George S. Patton strategy manuals in the Army, “A good pander executed cynically today is better than a perfect pander executed next week.”
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 6:46 pmApologies that all, especially Donnie Iris
Ah!
Leah!Tulsi!Tulsi
It’s been a long, long time
You’re such a sight
You’re looking better than a body has a right to
Don’t they know they’re playing with the fire
But they can’t stop your burning desire
Tulsi
Ah! Tulsi!
There they go again
Ah! Tulsi!
Is it ever gonna end?
Ah! Tulsi!
There they go again
Ah! Tulsi!
They got Hirono
wonder what were they thinking
She’s never said one word that wasn’t stinking
Now we both know you’re never going to make it
You can’t laugh
So you never have to fake it
Tulsi!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:10 pmAh! Tulsi!
There they go again
Ah! Tulsi!
Is it ever gonna end?
Ah! Tulsi!
There they go again
Ah! Tulsi!
They ain’t learned their lesson yet
to All!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:11 pmLove it, Colonel.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:16 pmQuestion… does Joe Biden even have the Joe Biden vote locked down?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:24 pmYeah, I’ve thought about making token donations to the marginally sane Dems, but I don’t want to end up on their mailing lists.
So far it hasn’t been so bad. I gave $1 each to My Little Aloha Sweetie and Crazy Hippie Crystals Chick, and I get a message from each of their campaigns maybe every other day. Tulsi’s messages are mostly about pressuring the DNC to consider other polls, and Marianne’s are often a stream-of-consciousness missives, one of which began “I believe it was Werner Erhard who said that we can live our lives one of two ways. . .” I am not making that up.
ActBlue, who processes these donations, also occasionally requests some money for other left-wing issues, but no more than maybe twice a week. I can live with that. When all of this is done for, I’ll just unsubscribe from these mailing lists.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:24 pmHeh coronello.
Thats yet to be determined,
Narciso (942c04) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:25 pmNothin from nothin, but Ah Leah! was – and is – a great rock song…
https://youtu.be/YH5Arbm47IQ
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:30 pmOMG she’s into “est”
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:32 pm“I believe it was Werner Erhard who said that we can live our lives one of two ways. . .”
AAAAAHHHHHhhhhhhh ! The white cisnormative privilege!!!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:38 pmOMG she’s into “est”
Don’t tell me that comes as a surprise.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:47 pm“the
odiousodoriferous Kamala Harris”Minor quibble… back in the mid-90s, a few co-workers and I jumped in my Saturn for an Indian lunch. One of the sods ate a little too much Pork Vindaloo and yogurt and threw up all over the back seat and floor of my car and, by the Mighty Hammer of Thor, the smell was almost disabling. I had the car professionally detailed and even they couldn’t get the smell out. Had to trade the car in and had to be a little devious doing it.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:56 pmDoes she have any kind of affirmative argument why she would be the best nominee?
I can’t recall her making any effort to offer such an argument during either debate. She started the first debate by ignoring the first question she was asked and reciting her autobiography. Other than that she doesn’t seem to have much to say on her own behalf.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 7:57 pmWell, in geek terms, finding out she owned a computer wouldn’t be a surprise, but being into est is like being the original owner of an Apple I hand-built by Steve Wozniak.
It’s old-school New Age, if that makes any sense 🙂
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 8:03 pmIt’s old-school New Age, if that makes any sense.
Cute Hippie Crystal Chick was born in 1952. She was around for the original est craze.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 8:26 pmSo to summarize: when she needed you most, you weren’t there for her.
I’ll bet she curls up in a little ball on the vermin-infested dirt of that jungle and cries herself to sleep wondering what she did to displease you.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 8:55 pmDoesnt matter they cull the favorable polls, they delude themselves into the notion their preferred camdidate is sliced bread
Narciso (942c04) — 8/24/2019 @ 9:00 pmI wouldn’t register Democrat even for Kate Upton.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/24/2019 @ 9:30 pmI’ve heard of partisan, but you go too far with that!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/24/2019 @ 9:41 pmThis is a perfect example of the unhinged tribalism that’s destroying America.
(Where do I sign?)
Dave (1bb933) — 8/24/2019 @ 9:55 pm@28 Everyone should’ve learned from what happened with the Republican cast of thousands last time. There has to be some kind of standard to whittle things down.
Nic (896fdf) — 8/24/2019 @ 11:02 pmMissed this:
From what I read, August 28 is the last day a poll will count for qualification. This FAKENEWSCNN article confirms what I remember:
If that’s right, she needs two more good polls in the next four days.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/25/2019 @ 12:36 amOf the ten currently qualified for the next debate(s), Yang is the only surprise. Why anybody takes this clown seriously is a total mystery to me. Yes, to one degree or another they all say crazy things, but come on – a $1000/month bribe for everybody? That’s even loopier than promising that Mexico will buy us a 2000 mile wall.
Also unfortunate that the borderline sane or at least occasionally lucid candidates Bennet, Ryan and Delaney are effectively out. Klobuchar and Biden are the last two with any pretension of moderation and Klobuchar will be in the next group voted off the island for sure.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/25/2019 @ 1:25 amI think JVW prefers the tune, Livin on Tulsi Time. Don’t worry, she will be getting a spanking from me when she returns from maneuvers. I’ll dedicate it to you JVW.
yoda jr. (7e7f21) — 8/25/2019 @ 3:00 amHawaiians need to buy a few consonants.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/25/2019 @ 3:29 am23, the whole everything marigolds things does give everything and everybody a certain waft
urbanleftbehind (50a0a4) — 8/25/2019 @ 4:35 am16, on that note, look where goomba P. Keaton showed up at…
http://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/anthony-scaramucci-jose-biden-southampton-charity-fundraiser-070223427.html
P.s. look at the link, Joe still thinks the Beto thing worked for RFO.
urbanleftbehind (50a0a4) — 8/25/2019 @ 4:38 am29,30, 31. Don’t pay any attention to those henpecked (not to use another word) gigolos (again not to use another word), JVW. Register Democrat for a woman! A woman! They must be insane.
nk (dbc370) — 8/25/2019 @ 4:46 amIt was 65,000, not 60,000 in the first two rounds. Both criteria (number of unique individual donors, and percentage reached in specified polls) were preciely doubled, with the the percentage needed in 4 polls (number of polls not doubled) going from 1% to 2%
The cutoff date (for when the poll was completed, I think) is August 28, the Wednesday before Labor Day.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 7:15 amHe is sinking fast enough, but he’s got some earlier polls that qualify him.
Even thogh the criteris will not change between the 3rd and the 4th debate, he could be in the 3rd debate and out of the 4th debate (because the one change between them will be the dates of those polls.)
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 7:20 amHe is the potential dark horse, at least to get to 10 or 15 percent. If he doesn’t make the ticket, or even of he doesm maybe he might consider running for mayor of New York. But who knows, at this point, what kind of a person he is and what he really thinks about much of anything?
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 7:24 amDave (1bb933) — 8/25/2019 @ 1:25 am
Biden is surprisingly close to Tulsi Gabbard in foreign policy, which is no good.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 7:26 amHaole wen steal om.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/25/2019 @ 8:08 amOf course they do not want Tulsi Gabbard Williams in the debates: she’s the least bad of the Democratic candidates.
The Dana whose father's family came from Hawai'i (e4d0c6) — 8/25/2019 @ 8:10 am44 – Dave, Good one.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/25/2019 @ 8:15 amAre you Mauna Kea?
34. Dave (1bb933) — 8/25/2019 @ 1:25 am
It works in Macau.
https://basicincome.org/news/2017/10/macau-543000-receive-unconditional-cash-grants-2017-wealth-partaking-scheme
But that’s because of the casinos.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 2:31 pmIt’s on;y once a year, though, like in Alaska, so it’s not $1,000 a month.
I have a much better idea:
Make interest on student loans fully deductible in income taxes.
In fact make principle payments deductible as well. (Why not? Expensive college education It’s supposed to be a capital expense.)
Not only that but give a 20% rebate (could be reduced in future years) for all payments of principle. (Why not? It’s estimated now that the federal government will wind up paying off about that percent anyway, but if loans are paid off sooner interest, and the total amount paid will be less. Finance that with 50 to 100 year Treasury bonds.)
And allow people to get similar rebates for paying down other peopls’s student loans (that will take care of the unfairness argument, that this only applies to people who have not yet paid off their loans, and what about them?)
We can imagine a lot of business transactions will take place, and even short term loans to get the 20% rebate.
Maybe keep the 30% for on;y the first three years.
Change loan terms so that reducing the debt reduces the minimum monthly payment, so it worls like acredit card and not like a mortgage or acar loan.)
Meanwhile stop this kind of debt from being run up again. One idea: Colleges don’t collect any money for any course in which the student does not get a passing grade.
Of course teaching will need to be separated fom grading, but that should happen anyway.
Also students can also decline the credit, and not have to pay, but if they do they cannot get credit for any similar course..
That will tend both to liquidate the debt and reform things pretty quickly.
Of course the most likely reform is just to make student loan debt dischargable in bankruptcy again. And let people under 21 get credit cards (it;s absolutely crazxy to let them get student loans, whch can be used for any purpose, and not credit cards>)
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 2:49 pm* Should beL
Maybe keep the 20% for only the first three years. Eitehr of the program, or for each person with aloan. Once peole have collected 20% cash back, they’ll do it even for 5% or 1% cash back. Remember the interest and principle are dedctible from income. The income of whoever pays it.
And Medicare for people with pre-exisitng conditions, maybe with a buy in price..Although theres lots of other things that make sense.
And get housing prices to drop.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/25/2019 @ 2:53 pmIt makes no sense to talk about principle payments.
Principal payments are another thing.
Words matter, unless you are president of the United States.
John B Boddie (11ac33) — 8/25/2019 @ 8:23 pm50. This is one place my understading of what’s spelled what os not too good.
But I understand the difference bewteen it’s and its.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/26/2019 @ 10:16 amIt’s not the principle, it’s the money of the thing, principally.
nk (dbc370) — 8/26/2019 @ 10:20 amI thought a principal was a person (head of a school, or actual person who owns or negotiates things) and principle was an idea.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/26/2019 @ 3:18 pmWell this post’s comments have veered into some interesting subcategories.
Think of it this way, Sammy: principal is always a concrete noun and principle is an abstract noun. So a sum of money upon which interest may be collected is indeed principal.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/26/2019 @ 3:25 pmMaybe a long time ago, (no more than 150 years ago) a sum of money lent out was actually something tangible.
Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a) — 8/26/2019 @ 4:06 pm