Neera Tanden: Cancelled
[guest post by JVW]
Sorry, I could help but play upon the title of Patterico’s earlier post.
Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination to become director of the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday after she struggled to receive the support needed for a Senate confirmation in light of old tweets in which she insulted lawmakers.
“Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities,” Tanden wrote in a letter to President Biden.
Biden said in a statement he has “utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel” and vowed to find her another position within his administration.
Thoughts:
1. This nomination always struck me as a favor done for Hillary Clinton, and hopefully the President now feels like he has met that obligation and it isn’t his fault that Ms. Tanden’s nomination failed. Clearly it’s the Obamabots and not the Clintonites who are ascendent in the Biden White House. Sic transit gloria Clintonorum.
2. The attempt by certain House Democrats to cast Republican opposition to Ms. Tanden as being anti-Asian is as predictable as it is fatuous, especially since it would appear that woke progressives are dumping all over an Asian female reporter for the Washington Post who showed Senator Lisa Murkowski some pointed tweets directed at her and written by Ms. Tanden.
3. Does Twitter have a function that automatically restores 1,000 deleted Tweets?
4. Finally, I know that many people are questioning how Republicans who put up with Donald Trump’s Twitter escapades the last half-decade can now take to their fainting couches when a Democrat operative turns the fire on them. Fair enough as far as it goes, but I would remind those people that Donald Trump never made a grandstanding promise to require that his staff “treat with dignity. . . all of the folks you deal with.” Yes, it could be argued that Ms. Tanden deserved a fresh start and the opportunity to live up to the King of Blarney’s edict, but it could just as easily be argued that nothing in Ms. Tanden’s history suggested she would be up to the challenge.
Plenty of conservative commentators have worried that by squelching the Tanden nomination, Republican Senators (and Joe Manchin) might be inclined to let an even worse nominee — potential Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra — skate by on a narrow vote. I would agree that I would sooner accept an OMB Director Tanden than I would suffer an HHS Secretary Becerra, but I guess we’ll soon see how Sens. Collins, Murkowski, Portman (who served in the House with Mr. Becerra), Manchin, and Tester feel about it.
– JVW
Short burst copy: live by the Tweet; die by the Tweet.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/2/2021 @ 7:42 pmYeah, if Ms. Tanden’s escapade has a bunch of Washington operatives suddenly worrying about what they are Tweeting out in order to harvest Likes from their fellow partisans, then that’s actually a healthy outcome of all of this.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/2/2021 @ 7:49 pmI think you are right that it was a favor to the Clintons. She doesn’t seem to have made many friends on either side of the aisle and doesn’t seem to have any unique expertise to bring to the position. In the long run, unless the office of management and budget is someplace where you need a bull-dog, Manchin, Collins, Romney, the Rs in general, may have done Biden a favor.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/2/2021 @ 7:58 pmTanden is the first cancel victim to keep her lucrative gigs. She’s still chief political hack at CAP. She’s lost nothing.
JF (9f1a8f) — 3/2/2021 @ 8:10 pmIt sounds like the world’s most tedious job, honestly.
nk (1d9030) — 3/2/2021 @ 8:24 pmShe’s still chief political hack at CAP.
Aw, that’s just a Clintonian think-tank. It’s like saying that Donald Trump losing the election doesn’t matter because he still owns Mar-a-Lago. The key in both cases is that each of them received some major comeuppance which was frankly well-deserved.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/2/2021 @ 8:25 pmIt sounds like the world’s most tedious job, honestly.
Doesn’t almost every government job? The only person who ever had a government job that I envied was James Bond.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/2/2021 @ 8:26 pmBut frankly, all work to me is kind of tedious. I was born for leisure.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/2/2021 @ 8:26 pmDoesn’t almost every government job? The only person who ever had a government job that I envied was James Bond.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/2/2021 @ 8:26 pm
When I worked as an immigration inspector at the San Francisco airport in the 90s, one of my co-workers related a story about his inspection of a British man (who, I believe, was traveling with a diplomatic passport). My co-worker asked the gentleman what kind of work he did. He responded, “I work for the British government.” My co-worker then said something to the effect of, “Yes, but in what capacity?. The gentleman again said, “I work for the British government.”
My co-worker then said, “Who are you, James F*cking Bond? Have a nice day.”
No blowback. No complaints. Those were the days.
Fast forward to circa 2015. I’m no longer at the airport, but am still with the immigration service. I see in a newsletter that one of my previous supervisors (not the co-worker at the airport–that would be too incredible) personally administered the oath of U.S. citizenship to Daniel Craig. He made James F*cking Bond a U.S. citizen!
norcal (01e272) — 3/2/2021 @ 9:43 pmNo blowback. No complaints.
One doesn’t with menials, it’s unbecoming. Infra indignitatem, don’t you know?
nk (1d9030) — 3/2/2021 @ 10:04 pmI see in a newsletter that one of my previous supervisors (not the co-worker at the airport–that would be too incredible) personally administered the oath of U.S. citizenship to Daniel Craig. He made James F*cking Bond a U.S. citizen!
Huh. I note that Mr. Craig is married to the very lovely English actress Rachel Weitz, who apparently became a U.S. citizen ten years ago. She must have shepherded her husband through the process.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/2/2021 @ 10:55 pmI never found Rachel Weisz all that lovely. Rosamund Pike, whom I actually asked a question of at a movie premiere, and who is also English? Now you’re talking!
norcal (01e272) — 3/2/2021 @ 11:10 pmRachel Weisz is lovely, but she’s no Eva Green.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/2/2021 @ 11:28 pmGood riddance now she can go back to tweeting.
asset (ed5519) — 3/2/2021 @ 11:39 pmExactly the way the uniparty planned it. Beccera it will be, in an easy approval vote. Uniparty forever.
mg (8cbc69) — 3/3/2021 @ 4:06 amIf this is what it takes to defeat someone who doesn’t have a shred of experience to hold the job for which she was nominated, I’m fine with that.
Social media never forgets. Don’t forget that when tweeting out instagram stuff…
Hoi Polloi (15cfac) — 3/3/2021 @ 5:36 amThey (read Manchin) should’ve nixed Becerra (not Beccera) for his trampling the First Amendment, not Tanden for mean tweets, but they got their scalp. I hope they feel better.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/3/2021 @ 8:57 amAnd of course I didn’t notice Patterico’s latest before commenting here on Becerra.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 3/3/2021 @ 9:02 am@12. Rosamund Pike.
A Brit.
And a knockout.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/3/2021 @ 10:12 am@9. Craig is done w/Bond. Personally, found him the best in the role since Connery. But then, for the times we live in, his scripts have been much better for the role he played. More story, less gadgetry.
Will miss him as Bond.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/3/2021 @ 10:17 amRosamund Pike, whom I actually asked a question of at a movie premiere, and who is also English? Now you’re talking!
I’ve had the hugest crush on Rosamund Pike ever since I saw her in World’s End. She is awesome.
Rachel Weisz is lovely, but she’s no Eva Green.
Well yeah. Kind of like lobster thermidor is better than lobster tacos, but lobster tacos are still awfully damn good.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/3/2021 @ 10:58 amThe only person who ever had a government job that I envied was James Bond.
Can think of several others from my POV: the Apollo moonwalkers.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/3/2021 @ 11:07 amShe was tweeting as a Hillary Clinton bot (and by the way, how many people were involved in selecting what tweets to delete – or did she have a master list of malicious politically motivated tweets?)
As OMB she would have been working for Joe Biden, so that wouldn’t repeat itself. And she’d probably be as partisan on the job as Joe Biden wanted her top be – no more ad no less.
Sammy Finkelman (6c2cdd) — 3/3/2021 @ 11:08 amAs OMB she would have been working for Joe Biden, so that wouldn’t repeat itself. And she’d probably be as partisan on the job as Joe Biden wanted her top be – no more ad no less.
Once you work for Clinton, Inc., you work there until you retire or until they arrange your untimely death.
JVW (ee64e4) — 3/3/2021 @ 11:15 amHe will find her another job (presumably one that does not require Senate confirmation. Most jobs in the White House do not. Director of OMB is an exception. And deputy too.)
Sammy Finkelman (6c2cdd) — 3/3/2021 @ 1:29 pmSo, they’ve got their one bloody scalp. It would be far, far better if the Senate could torpedo the nomination of Richard Levine to be an assistant secretary of health.
The Dana in Kentucky (60eb7f) — 3/3/2021 @ 2:17 pmI’ve had the hugest crush on Rosamund Pike ever since I saw her in World’s End. She is awesome.
For me, it started with Gone Girl. Those eyes. OMG, those eyes!
norcal (01e272) — 3/3/2021 @ 2:26 pmThis is the essence of Rosamund Pike.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 3/3/2021 @ 2:52 pmKlink,
That was awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Has a woman ever been so magnetic in a long-sleeved, below the knee dress?
norcal (01e272) — 3/3/2021 @ 3:07 pm