Shapiro is an attorney. Yawn.
Kelly is an engineer at heart, and a highly praised, disciplined, and decorated one at that.Consider me biased as an engineer myself, but considering Harris is already an attorney, having a greater diversity of specialization at the top will go a long ways towards the functionality of their administration.
And, honestly, we’re in an optics war at this point. Kelly is the pick for optics. They don’t let just anyone become astronauts, he has a PR presence nationally that predates this election, and he can lean a lot on his honorable Air Force career to boot.
Also, when I hear the last name “Shapiro” the only cunt I can think of is Ben…
I don’t know anything about US politics, but I like the engineer guy too
Politics aside, building a ticket with these two is like minmaxxing a RimWorld squad
If this was intended to make Shapiro look good, this proves the point on Kelly in a way.
For my low-info battleground state uncle, all I need to say is, “Kelly is an astronaut and navy fighter pilot. He’s a moderate” that’s it.
Shapiro brings charisma but my uncle won’t actually see that charisma ever anyway. I have no one-sentence bite-sized argument for him.
Yeah this is the real problem. Anyone who is somehow undecided after 4 years of Trump is gonna need to be convinced in a single sentence with small words or it’s gonna go right over their head.
Kelly would be cool as fuck.
Shapiro would make me feel better about this election.
I think Kamala will choose one of these two and have a pretty good chance of winning either way, so I don’t really care.
I am not against Kelly at all so let me preface with that before I say the following: it is so bizarre to me how there was such an insane purity test/demonization of any moderate stance for any potential Democrat candidate on lemmy yet a moderate such as Kelly is handwaved away with “but astronaut” lol
“But Astronaut” is a pretty damned high bar in many people’s views, in large part because of the stringent qualifications. They’re also the very few that actually get to experience the Overview Effect.
I get all that but like…being an astronaut doesn’t just overwhelm all other considerations lol
Anyway I like the dude. It’s just wild watching all the cheerleading for a very moderate, totally not-progressive VP pick “because astronaut.” I’m sure there are/were astronauts who are/were shitty people lol
I get all that but like…being an astronaut doesn’t just overwhelm all other considerations lol
Gabby Giffords as Second Lady would be a great addition that comes included with a Kelly pick.
You’re right, but it’s also not the only non-traditional qualifier though. For many people the fact that the Second Lady would be Gabby Giffords is also a consideration. Between the two of them, they’ve been on a national stage for a long time.
For many people, this Is one of the first times they’re really hearing about Shapiro, and the fact there’s a dipshit on the MAGA side with the same last name, well that just complicates average voter perception. Name recognition and differentiation is massive for the voters that don’t follow politics constantly.
Maybe I’m out of touch but I don’t think 99%+ of the country could name a single Second Lady besides those who became First Ladies later and I imagine most people can’t name any First Ladies other than Jill Biden, and/or Hillary Clinton, and/or Michelle Obama, and/or Nancy Reagan. Hillary Clinton for obvious reasons deserves an asterisks on that list.
I’m sure they’re great campaigners sometimes but I really don’t see a Second Lady having a meaningful impact on an election unless they’re already a household name and even then I’m skeptical.
That’s kind of my point though. Gabby Giffords was a US Representative that was thrust into the national spotlight when she survived an assassination attempt in 2013 at a public Town Hall.
Unlike most political spouses, she was actually the politician of the couple before Mark Kelly ran in 2020. He’s actually very new to politics directly.
That’s a good point and I feel bad for forgetting about that
“But Astronaut” is a pretty damned high bar in many people’s views, in large part because of the stringent qualifications.
Beshear: “hold my bourbon balls”
What about Beshear?
Shapiro.
Nothing against Kelly, and nothing against the state of Pennsylvania, but I’d rather free up a Democrat-held governorship of a single state than a Democrat-held senator seat in congress, which is already at razor thin margins.
Both Arizona and Pennsylvania are swing states, so I can only consider which option I’d be least thrilled to see a Republican fill the vacancy since there would be a good chance of that happening in either situation.
The Arizona Senate seat would be filled by the Governor for the remainder of the current session. The current governor is a Democrat, but even if she was not, AZ law requires the appointment to be from the same party.
The seat has no chance of changing hands until the next regular election either way.
Kelly being VP would actually trigger a special election in 2026.
Kelly’s seat is up for reelection in 2026 regardless. He was elected in 2020 and Senate seats are 6 year terms.
With Kelly you get Giffords 👍🏼
Kelly > Shapiro 🤘🏼🗳️
Wary*
That is indeed part of the calculations!
Well, they have 39,000 dead Palestinians to assuage their bloodlust, with a few tens of thousands more to come from starvation. Forgive me if I don’t immediately cast my thoughts to the plight of poor, downtrodden AIPAC. The last thing the Israeli lobby needs is more influence in the Executive branch.
Theyre both pretty awful
I know it’s not anything remotely realistic, but I’d love a VP Fetterman
