General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVal Demings is being pushed as VP candidate.
She is from the all important I-4 corridor of the all important swing state of FL.
African American, female, and sharp as a tack. Would make FL even more competitive for the Democratic presidential nominee.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/316198-val-demings-for-vice-president-idea-being-pushed
Congresswoman Val Demmings has a high profile stage right now in Congress, a great personal back story, an impressive professional background, preacher-esque oratory skills, a reputation for a sharp, no-nonsense, strategic and tactical intellect, a lifelong commitment to law and order and enormous popularity back home.
Oh. And shes black. And a woman.
And shes from a critical swing state worth 29 electoral votes in an area considered one of the states most crucial voting blocs.
NewJeffCT
(56,834 posts)definitely a good option for Sanders or Biden, and even Warren.
spanone
(137,463 posts)Bleacher Creature
(11,396 posts)But from what I've seen so far, my first reaction to this news is a very firm "hell yeah"!!!!
She looks like a star in the making.
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)jaysunb
(11,856 posts)NCLefty
(3,678 posts)And a lot of Americans want to see a woman president (or VP if we have to) finally.
You're swimming upstream. :p
brush
(57,052 posts)underthematrix
(5,811 posts)CURRENT landscape and it doesn't work for this cycle. Voters who are using reasoning realize that what we MUST first save our democracy. The Russian coup has already happened even though many are in denial about it.
brush
(57,052 posts)underthematrix
(5,811 posts)Reportedly 9 million voters who voted for PBO twice voted for Trump in 2016.
Why do you think that happened?
Sanders' primary voters seem similar to Trump voters.
How do you explain that?
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)I don't have any reason to believe they are telling the truth. I do have reason to believe that many of them lied about it.
brush
(57,052 posts)with Demings?
Turin_C3PO
(15,421 posts)would help us, not hurt us. Our base is women and minorities. People who wont vote for either are part of Trumps deplorable base and would never vote Democratic anyway.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)The only value it has is to remind any doubters that white male privilege truly is a thing and institutional racism is just as alive and well in this current landscape and cycle as it ever was.
So, thank you for this, kinda.
And, FYI - I'm not accusing YOU of institutional racism. But you are allowing institutional racism to impact our political choices, which then perpetuates the institutional problem further, giving it more steam to impact our political choices, and so on and so on ... We don't overcome institutional racism by feeding into it and hoping that one day, it will right itself. We must defy and disrupt it.
evertonfc
(1,713 posts)she is perfect..Florida is in play and with turnout, we win it.
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)are not mad or resentful or bitter. We're practical. White women still think their power is derived from patriarchy. As a transitional election from the 2016 Russian coup back to democracy, we need a white male and black women are cool with that. But we're not gonna support just any white man. We're gonna use the SAME standards we used to evaluate Barack Obama. Just like we went for Black excellence in 2008 and 2012, we're gonna go for White excellence in 2020. That's why Joe Biden has overwhelming support among African American voters. If Biden starts to struggle, I think the next choice will be Mike Bloomberg. Why? Because like Biden, Mike Bloomberg has surrounded himself with Black excellence. Neither one of them is afraid of Black excellence.
And I absolutely love Val Demings. She reminds me of Michelle Obama.
sprinkleeninow
(20,533 posts)Response to underthematrix (Reply #10)
sprinkleeninow This message was self-deleted by its author.
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)greyl
(22,993 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,847 posts)Me.
(35,454 posts)smart, smart, smart and strong, strong strong
kentuck
(112,539 posts)But, from what I have seen, she has been very impressive. She was very good in the House impeachment hearings.
superpatriotman
(6,511 posts)Mark it
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)Baitball Blogger
(47,695 posts)I like Val, but what happened to Kamala Harris?
I have every confidence that Val Demmings has a promising future, no matter how you shuffle the deck.
DavidDvorkin
(19,842 posts)Last edited Fri Jan 17, 2020, 10:26 PM - Edit history (1)
It's conceivable that the electorate will be very opposed to old/older candidate then.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)Last edited Sat Jan 18, 2020, 03:14 AM - Edit history (1)
male candidates and is also younger than most of the other candidates running.
That said, I have little patience for the "she's too old" argument used against women in politics. it represents a hidden penalty that women are forced to bear that isn't imposed on men.
Until very recently, women didn't have nearly the options to go into politics at an early age. For example, in the early 70s, women couldn't do what men like Biden did: they couldn't come out of law school, consider the vast array of opportunities available to them, get a job somewhere as a prosecutor or law associate and then get themselves elected to the U.S. Senate at 29. This was especially true if they wanted marriage and family - something men could do at the same time as they launched their careers without missing a beat while women had to forego careers in order to raise their children (who were often fathered by the men who were able to focus on their careers because their wives took care of everything at home).
So while the men were climbing the career ladder, women spent their 20s, 30s and often their 40s doing other things. Many women spent those years raising their families - and if they did have careers, they had to juggle their jobs and family obligations because, you know, it's not impossible to "have it all," but it's damned hard.
Finally, when times started to change, women had raised their families, and opportunities slowly opened up for them to go into politics in larger numbers, they stepped into the political arena, often finding themselves decades older than their male freshmen counterparts. And then they spent the next decade or two building up their credentials - something their male colleagues were able to start doing in their 20s.
Val Demings was one of those women. When she graduated college in the early 80s, she couldn't just start a political career. Instead, she joined the police department - one of the first women in her city to do so - and then spent the next 24 years rising up the ranks to become the police chief (something not available to black women when she first started her career). After 10 years gaining experience as chief, she ran for Congress, something that would have been difficult for her to do prior to that. And she did this while also raising a family.
But when Demings and other women finally got enough experience under their belts to be taken seriously as political leaders, they now have to put up with people telling them "Get out of the way, Geezer Lady. You're too old!!! Make way for some fresh faces!" Meanwhile geriatric men who've been around decades longer than the women are lionized as elder statesmen whose years and experience have given the wisdom to lead us to the Promised Land.
So, no. I don't have any patience for that. Women of a certain age have just as much right as - if not more than - men of the same age to be taken seriously as political leaders and, like the men, to aspire for higher office well into their 60s and 70s.
If Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden can run for president in their late 70s, Val Demings can be a VP nominee in her early 60s.
And if anyone is worried about an old/older candidate ticket, maybe we should put HER at the top of the ticket and find a much younger man to be her running mate.
pnwmom
(109,445 posts)StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)I've worked with her and she's all that AND a bag of chips.
greyl
(22,993 posts)Is Claire's quote the sole basis for their "being pushed" headline?
A Kamala VP spot makes more sense.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)I like her.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,493 posts)And yeah, I have a huge problem with the age of the two white men who are currently front runners.
Jesus H Christ. What part of "Passing the torch to a new generation" is breaking news?
LovingA2andMI
(7,006 posts)Will keep fingers crossed for Val.