All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Did you see me say "All we need is someone younger"? Do you not understand how elder statesmen groom successors? Or is it that you're not actually looking for honest discussion as usual.



Agreed, but I wish there was a more honest nomination process in general that didn't include us being handed a small plate of choices to choose from in general.

Again that’s a flawed concept. This is a job that is entirely decided by elections. An elder statesman would be wasting their time grooming someone who could lose and be irrelevant

[Dalak]

Again that’s a flawed concept. This is a job that is entirely decided by elections. An elder statesman would be wasting their time grooming someone who could lose and be irrelevant

Bernie lost, would you say he's irrelevant?

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Bernie lost, would you say he's irrelevant?

You missed the point entirely. Bernie still has a seat right now. He still is involved in policy making. He can groom a young guy who loses and doesn’t have staying power and is out of the game the next election cycle. This whole idea of preordaining people is getting the Democrats in trouble. Nobody groomed Obama, they did groom and try to coronate Hilary Clinton. If a younger politician can win, then fine do it. But if the older politician is the hotter hand, you go with that.

[Iron Maiden]

I hope everyone stays safe who is in the path of Hurricane Michael

[Dalak]

You missed the point entirely.

No, you did. If they have an enthusiastic following large enough (Unlike the Pauls) they can always run again like so many are asking Bernie to. One loss isn't the end-all-be-all of a political career if one is popular enough. If Bernie found someone that the people like (Ex: Beto assuming he beats Cruz) and then backed him and mentored him along with the 'establishment' so that he'd have the best of both worlds, could you imagine it? VP or a high cabinet position would be assured for Bernie in that hypothetical, and it would serve as a way to unite the left in this country. I'll admit it's fanciful, but it could happen even in today's crazy political landscape. We need a uniter.

[Mister Mets]

This new ageism thing regarding Presidents is going overboard. The whole point of a VP is the line of succession. It’s the reason you vote for a Presidential ticket. This is already accounted for

There are some problems with older candidates, beyond the prospect of death. There is the real possibility of declining mental faculties, which might allow those in their orbit to take advantage.

There may be times when the best person for the job is in their late 70s. At the moment, I'd be inclined to vote for Bloomberg or Biden over Trump. But, age is a disadvantage.

My view on older politicians: They're going to have to turn things over to successors eventually, and they shouldn't wait until they're about to die as a surprise health issue could take them out in a literal heartbeat. The experience and insights they've had would be lost, and any impact they'd hope to make on the future would be out of their hands/control completely. I also think that people too far removed from the reality of working life (By wealth and/or length of time) shouldn't be continually kept around to lead, as it leads to the disconnect we see in many congressmen compared to their constituents.

We need new leaders to bring us into a future that many older people just can't wrap their minds around, and that calls for those who are younger and/or more flexible of thought while not being steeped in the corrupting traditions rampant in politics.

One complicating factor is that people are living healthier lives, so they can run for office later. Sanders and Warren both got elected to the Senate in their 60s.

So it isn't just a matter of older politicians being steeped in corrupting traditions. Some of them have impressive careers elsewhere.

On the flipside, there are older politicians who have been in politics for a long time, and might avoid rash decisions made by those without an appropriate sense of history.

HARD PASS!

Stay safe. Your eccentricities are appreciated around here.

I'll friggin' ring door bells for her.

Speaking of Veeps, I wouldn't mind seem them on a separate ballot again.

Veeps on a separate ballot would probably be a bad idea.

If you have Veeps from different parties, it changes incentives in ugly ways if the impeachment of a President (or god forbid, an assassination) were to lead to a win for the opposing party.

I don't know if we'd want candidates to run national campaigns for Vice President, since that'll be an odd sorting process, if you're limited to people willing to do year-long campaigns but who made the decision not to run for President.

There is also the risk of unbalanced tickets (IE- two people from the same state/ demographic group winning the separate elections.)

If it wasn't for his age, I'd think he'd make a good President. I mean, he's 76. I already had decided that, unless the other choices were really bad, I probably wouldn't vote for anyone 70 and older. Even if that sounds ageist, I see it as more practical. I'd want to elect someone who could stay in office for 8 years, not a 4 year candidate.

An older candidate could help a party stick in office longer.

Historically, parties tend to stay in the White House for more than one term. So if we have an older President who sticks around for one term, his successor has a better chance of getting elected. And when the party is seeking a third term, it could be with the advantage of an incumbent running for reelection.

So, Democrats could have a better chance of holding the White House for three terms if it's one term of Biden, and two terms of his VP, than if it's a two term President followed by an open primary.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

No, you did. If they have an enthusiastic following large enough (Unlike the Pauls) they can always run again like so many are asking Bernie to. One loss isn't the end-all-be-all of a political career if one is popular enough. If Bernie found someone that the people like (Ex: Beto assuming he beats Cruz) and then backed him and mentored him along with the 'establishment' so that he'd have the best of both worlds, could you imagine it? VP or a high cabinet position would be assured for Bernie in that hypothetical, and it would serve as a way to unite the left in this country. I'll admit it's fanciful, but it could happen even in today's crazy political landscape. We need a uniter.

If they are young and lost early in their careers, it’s very doubtful they get a second shot. Someone like Romney who already was tenured can pull that off and it’s sketchy when they do. Same with Hillary who was a Senator, tenured in the arena and got a second crack at running for Presidentbwhile she held no office. If Beto loses he goes away, a vulnerable Cruz is safe for 6 years and he has an uphill battle in more personal house races where the candidates tend to be more popular within the community.

If you want a “uniter” you have that in Warren. She’s a candidate who appeals to the far left but the establishment has accepted as a party leader in a way they never embraced Bernie.

[numberthirty]

Being younger doesn’t make you better. Sometimes the people that are there for a long time are because they are really good at it

As this relates to Congress...

How are you going to address the likely wave of old timers bowing out because of age or being taken out of play when they die?

What looks like not having a plan to address that reality seems like it will leave having to build new leadership in the laps of younger folks who will be in a worse position when they eventually have to do so.

[Malvolio]

Older politicians groom successors all the time. When they're ready to retire, they hand over many of the advantages of the incumbent to their potential successor.

[numberthirty]

Older politicians groom successors all the time. When they're ready to retire, they hand over many of the advantages of the incumbent to their potential successor.

That someone has tried to prepare you is not the same thing as having actually had a leadership role for a given amount of time.

[Tami]

Older politicians groom successors all the time. When they're ready to retire, they hand over many of the advantages of the incumbent to their potential successor.

The problem is when they don't want to have a successor, when they don't groom the next generation and act as if they will live forever.

[Malvolio]

Sometimes it's not even for retirement. Sometimes, a congressman is running for a Senate seat or the Governor's mansion, so they support a local politician to run for their seat in the House. For instance, when Chuck Schumer ran for the Senate, he groomed a local politician for his seat in the House. That local politician was Anthony Weiner. Perhaps that's a bad example.

[Tami]

Chief Justice Roberts asks federal judges to handle Kavanaugh ethics complaints

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts is referring ethics complaints against new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to federal judges in Colorado and neighboring states.

The complaints deal with statements Kavanaugh made during his confirmation hearings. They were filed originally with Kavanaugh’s old court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Roberts took no action on them while Kavanaugh’s nomination was pending. He received the first three of 15 eventual complaints on Sept. 20, a week before Kavanaugh’s angry denial of a sexual assault allegation by Christine Blasey Ford.

It’s possible the complaints will never be investigated if the lower-court judges determine they have no jurisdiction over a Supreme Court justice under the judiciary’s ethics rules. The judges may be forced to conclude “that intervening events have rendered the allegations moot or make remedial action impossible,” said Arthur Hellman, an ethics professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Another ethicist, Stephen Gillers of New York University, disagreed that the complaints are moot. Kavanaugh remains a federal judge and the complaints “allege misconduct that occurred while Kavanaugh was on the D.C. Circuit and subject to the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges. Any violation of the Code does not disappear because he is now on another federal court,” Gillers said in an email.

But Gillers said the complaints “may be found not to be meritorious in the end.”

The judiciary’s rules allow members of the public to lodge complaints about federal judges. They typically are dealt with by experienced judges in the courthouse or region where a judge serves. Judges who receive complaints have a range of options that include dismissing them out of hand, having local judges investigate them or asking Roberts, in his capacity as head of the federal judiciary, to assign the complaints to judges in a different part of the country.

[Tami]

My Private Oval Office Press Conference With Donald Trump, Mike Pence, John Kelly, and Mike Pompeo

Around 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, I was on my way out of the White House after a series of meetings in the West Wing. I was reporting on a question that has hung over this administration for months: How has Chief of Staff John Kelly managed to keep his job in spite of convincing and persistent rumors and reports that the president is unhappy with him, and he is unhappy in his job? I stopped to talk to another reporter, and then I began to walk toward the North Gate. As I walked, I noticed I had a missed call from a Washington number I didn’t recognize. It was Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She sounded very serious. She asked me if I had left yet. When I said no, she asked me to come back inside, and when she greeted me, she looked very serious. She implied she wanted me to go with her behind a door. I didn’t understand, maybe didn’t quite hear her. Then, she told me Trump wanted to speak to me.

I walked to the Oval Office. I guessed that the president wanted to disabuse me of any notion that Kelly was about to be fired, or had almost been fired many times before. I was right, but my imagination was too limited. What ensued amounted to a private press conference — featuring a series of special guest stars from the highest echelon of the Trump administration — to try to get me to change my mind.

“I just heard that you were doing a story on … this stuff,” the president said as he came into the Oval Office and sat down at the Resolute Desk. I sat in a chair across from him. Next to me were Sanders and communications director Bill Shine.

“General Kelly’s doing a very good job,” Trump told me. “We have a very good relationship. The White House is running very, very smoothly. We’ve had a big week. We just got a Supreme Court justice on the bench. We have the USMCA, meaning the NAFTA replacement, and many other things. We had a great meeting with North Korea. It was a great meeting. The secretary of State’s coming just in ten minutes.”

He went on, “But I want to tell you a couple of things: the chief is doing a very good job. I’m very happy with him, we have a very good relationship, number one. Number two, I didn’t offer anybody else the job. I didn’t talk to anybody about the job. And I’m not, I’m not looking. Now, look, with time, do people leave? As an example, Nikki Haley told me six months ago, even a year ago — but six months ago, that, you know, she’s been governor, she’s done this, she’s helped us with the campaign, a lot of good things, and you probably saw the conference. It was a very, very positive thing. We have a very positive story going on at the White House. We have a very positive story for the country. We’re doing a great job. We have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have among the greatest job numbers. Among many groups, we have the greatest job numbers. We have things going on that are phenomenal on trade. China wants to make a deal — I said, you’re not ready yet. But they wanna make a deal, and at some point we might. Iran wants to make a deal. They all wanna make a deal. We have great things going. We have a very smooth-running organization even though it’s never reported that way. So the real story is that. It’s really the real story. When you walk in here, you don’t see chaos. There is no chaos. The media likes to portray chaos. There’s no chaos. I’m leaving for Iowa in a little while. We’re doing something that’s going to be very exciting tonight in Iowa. A big, a big announcement, actually. Doing four rallies this week. I think the rallies have, frankly, built up our poll numbers very greatly. What am I now in Rasmussen? 52?”

Closely behind Kelly was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was scheduled for a 12:30 lunch with the president.

“Olivia can write badly about you,” Trump told him. The men laughed at the president’s joke.

“Stay there for a second. I just wanted to see Olivia for two seconds,” Trump said. “Look, look who comes in, and we actually have lunch today,” Trump said.

I jokingly asked if I was invited to the lunch. “Anytime you want,” Trump said. Kelly, who was sitting down near me across from the president’s desk, remarked, “Best French fries in the world.”

Trump didn’t acknowledge him. “But Bannon,” he said, picking up the conversation where we’d left off, “if you’ve seen Bannon on shows over the last month …” He briefly went off the record.

“Look who you have here,” he said. He glanced toward the entryway again. “Look who you have here. We had a meeting scheduled!”

Vice-President Mike Pence walked into the room.

“This is Olivia. She’s a disruptive writer but that’s okay,” Trump told him. He laughed.

This was beginning to feel ridiculous, like this was the reunion episode of a sitcom, in which Bob Saget might come out next to an applause track.

[BeastieRunner]

I take back about 60% of the bad things I said about W.

Trump is a stooge.