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PaperclipPerfector  8d ago (text post)   24241 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026

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Nah, she rejected Kelly first time round because she was afraid he'd be too popular (ex-astronaut!) and divert attention away from her on the campaign trail:

By the time I sat down with Kelly, Shapiro and Walz had both impressed me in completely different ways. There was very little weight on the scale favoring one over the other. The choice between them was tough enough. Now, an American hero had entered the room, a Navy baseball cap paired handsomely with his business suit.

...I admired Mark Kelly. He would be magnetic.

As I sat across from him, what I saw was our American ideal of selfless service. Untarnished. He also hadn’t yet had an “oh shit” moment in his relatively short political career. I wasn’t sure how he would cope with the kind of garbage Trump would throw at him. Could a captain, used to deference and respect, adapt to an opponent’s national campaign specifically designed to disrespect him, to cut a hero down to something small? John Kerry, a war hero, had been swiftboated—defamed in an untrue campaign about his military record that had unfairly damaged his reputation. The guy who led that effort, Chris LaCivita, was now one of Trump’s top campaign aides. I realized that I couldn’t afford to test Mark Kelly in that ugly grinder.

So instead she picked Timbo, who would be waaaaay tougher and able to stand up to the "ugly grinder" of Trump's campaigning 🤣 Yeah, sure, Kamala!

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