Pinball wizard
Judging by the number of times GOP US Senate wannabe Don Bolduc shifts the shapes of his campaign assertions — from his yes-no, maybe-noyes stance on the 2020 election fraud lies to his manly claims on abortion — it’s pretty clear the general with loose lips sure likes to shoot from the hip.
So it’s probably a valid question to ask: Is his new BFF Tulsi Gabbard going to retain that status once he feels the heat of very legitimate questions on the former congresswoman’s very own shape-shifting when it comes to her apparent fave world leader, Vlad Putin?
Consider: Gabbard — who publicly renounced her membership in the Dem Party earlier this month, charging it’s controlled by “an elitist cabal of warmongers” — was asked kinda slowball of a question by nunuther than Fox celebrity Sean Hannity’s program. The question was whether the US has a “moral obligation” to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
Instead, she tried spouting her pal Vlad’s line that US support for Ukraine “has been escalating” the war.
In fact, despite being given several chances to even say that the sovereign nation of Ukraine is the victim of an attack on its sovereignty, TG hemmed, hawed and hovered around an answer.
Bolduc and Gabbard: BFFs, at least for now
Suffice to say — even after being pursued for an answer about whether it would bother her if another country invaded Hawaii (where she lives) and claimed it as its own — she provided a rather clinical answer: “Well, Hawaii is part of the United States. So yes, that would be a problem for the United States.”
Wow. SH continued: “Once somebody invades a country and kills innocent men, women and children, does the world have an obligation to stop it early, or do you give in to nuclear blackmail? Somebody could say I’m going to nuke you if you dare support Ukraine or whatever country it happens to be.”
And TG once again tried saying it was the US’s fault, finally landing on this gem:
“If the moral obligation is to do what we can to end the suffering of the Ukrainian people, who are suffering death and destruction, it’s to bring about an end to this war as quickly as possible.” Which, for those paying attention, means that Ukraine and the nations that support it should just roll over and let Vlad finish impaling the country.
Have it my way
The thing about election deniers is that it’s always a one-way street with them. And it’s always about them, to boot.
If they lose, the election was rigged.
If they win, well … nevermind. Take the case of Karoline Leavitt, the GOP 1st CD wannabe.
At a post-primary event in Sept. after she finished off Matt Mowers and the others, KL — who consistently says the 2020 prez election was rigged — was asked by Steve Porter of Granite Memo “How are you confident tonight that you won? Can you share with voters why you’re confident that tonight’s vote was legitimate for your victory?”
Leavitt: Election education
Her initial response, as reported by SP, was a half-chuckle and then, “Yeah, I’m going to end the interview here.”
But while walking away, she did say, “The results prove it. The work that we’ve put in over the last year proves it. As I said in the speech tonight, and I hope you’ll quote me on it, we knocked over 70,000 doors over the last year. My team has made more phone calls, we’ve raised more money from the people of New Hampshire than any Republican candidate in this race by far. The numbers and the money prove our victory tonight, and we’re very confident we’ll be victorious on Nov. 8 as well.”
Here’s the thing: There are plenty of candidates on “the other side” who do the very same thing and follow the very same strategy. In fact, one of them is named 1st District Congressman Chris Pappas.
But if he wins on 11/8, ya know KL is gonna be screaming to high heaven about a rigged election.
“It’s only abstaining from anything that can get you pregnant. They are not saying you should abstain from oral sex, anal sex, girl on girl, or boy on boy.”
— Exec Councilor Dave Wheeler defends his continuing opposition to an after-school sexual health education program for at-risk adolescents that stresses abstinence.
MAKING THE ROUNDS
Don Bolduc, who called the guv a “Chinese Communist sympathizer” (before saying he didn’t mean it) has as his top political adviser Rick Wiley, who had lobbied for telecom giant ZTE Corp., a company partly owned by the Chinese gov. that’s in the crosshairs of the FCC, which wants to block the use of ZTE products over security concerns.
ICYMI: Deerfield GOPer John Reagan, who’s not running for another term in the NH Senate, came this close to endorsing ex-DHHS Deputy Commish Christine Tappan in the race for his seat.
Smoking hot issue?: Dem guv wannnabe Tom Sherman is continuing to glom on the pot legalization/amnesty bandwagon, fired up by the prez’s move to offer federal pardons. The guv, for his part, is kicking the taking-a-stand can down the road.
You know what they say about people who represent themselves in court: Jeff Woodburn, the former Senate Dem leader who’s been convicted of abusing his ex-fiancee, is representing himself at the of that conviction before the NH Supremes.
