I’m not surprised that we’re in the mess that we’re in in this country. We have progressively become a more and more unserious people, given to bread and circus, with most of what we know about the outside world fed to us through television and the characters that it puts on the airwaves. We live in a TV dominated culture. So it’s really not surprising that one day, a complete moron (as journalist H.L. Mencken predicted in the early 20th Century would be voted into the White House) would come to us via the glass teat that we all suckle from. And so it came to pass.
Fox News appeared on the scene in 1996 and couching itself in the trappings of a news set proceeded to do an imitation of news. It is entertainment and infotainment, for the most part. Yes, there is some actual reporting of facts about events that take place but the opinion shows are sheer propaganda and circus. But apparently even Fox News has an issue with Aaron Rodgers becoming Vice President of the United States.
A RFK Jr/Rodgers ticket would only really siphon off GOP voters or conservative independents.
Jets signaled that they are open to dealing an Aaron fav, which have NYers wondering if owner Johnson, who happens to be an Trump ally, has finally had it with Rodgers.— FreeUkraine🇺🇦🇹🇼🇺🇸 (@ThereseTravel) March 15, 2024
The only thing crazier than an Kennedy/Rodgers ticket would be a Trump/Rodgers ticket and hey, why not? We already see Kristi Noem cutting infomercials right and left, first for a dentist in Texas and now for insoles. I guess she wants to use her celebrity status as a possible VP pick by Trump to fatten her coffers. Again, we see a trend in the GOP to where selling things is far more important than governing. Forget governing, public office for a Republican is about grifting.
Only right now the grifters are in some trouble.
Yeah, Putin & his oligarchs are having trouble funding RUSSIA’s Republicans (who they’ve owned since Reagan), as the war in Ukraine has been infinitely more costly than anticipated.
— Jane (@ladyoldandgray) March 15, 2024
I don’t see the RNC raising $40M in 60 days and if they do, Lara Trump will siphon it off and pay Trump’s $454M judgment in New York. Or, another judgment. Or give it to Melania to make appearances. No down ballot race will see a nickel of that. I think you can pretty much carve that one in stone.
But RFK, Jr. winnowing down his VP pick puts pressure on Trump to pick someone fairly soon. Trump is predicted to pick a woman, not because he wants to but because his numbers with suburban women have continued to tank. That’s purportedly what Katie Britt was going to fix with her SOTU rebuttal and you know how far south that went and fast.
So Britt is out and that leaves Kristi Noem, Elise Stefanik, Tulsi Gabbard, some say Nancy Mace and Marge Greene. A few say Kari Lake. Nobody says Lauren Boebert although that would allow Bobo to go out with a real bang, rather than basically being put out to pasture in January and then sitting in the seat doing nothing until January, 2025.
Only Trump and The Shadow know.
A former NFL player as VP? The dumb-fuckery keeps getting worse. Tulsi Gabbard has baggage (selling out to fake populist MAGA). But one could argue she has government experience. Rodgers has bigger bame ID and stardom, so he most likely will be more favored. And don’t get me started with No Labels. Christ.
Gerald Ford was a helluva football player at Michigan (at top program) and could have played professional football. Plenty of teams would have loved to have had him. Jack Kemp did play pro football and was a force in the House and in GOP politics. Current TX Representative Colin Alred who might well become a Senator (and more) played pro football for the Tennessee Titans. Jim Bunning was a great pro-baseball pitcher (no-hitters in both the AL and NL) and served as a Senator. How about Bill Bradley who won an Olympic Gold Medal, played on two NY Knicks championship teams and is a Hall of Famer? He was a damned good Senator and I for one was disappointed his Presidential run fizzled out. And what about Justice Byron White who played pro football for the Lions and the Steelers?
That’s just some of an impressive list of top athletes who’ve served in public office and even been credible Presidential and VP candidates. You can check out more here ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_sportsperson-politicians ) but might I respectfully suggest you get past thoughts of say Herschel Walker and the “dumb jock” thinking? I wasn’t quick enough to be a Division I point guard but still good enough to play beyond high school back in the day. I was also 92% percentile on my college boards (top eight percent in the country) and frankly I resent the hell out of the dumb jock attitude. Yes, i played with guys who outside the sport(s) were dumb as a box of rocks. Same thing when I served as a grunt in the Marines. But I also knew my share of highly intellectual people in both areas.
I’ve never been much of a fan of Aaron Rodgers. Admittedly part of my dislike is because as a Bears fan since I was a kid (my dream Super Bowl would be the Chiefs vs. the Bears) and Rodgers being the successful quarterback he was while in Green Bay he kept beating us. I never understood why State Farm, and Illinois (my home state) based company used HIM as a freaking spokesman in commercials for so long! I thought they surely could have come up with someone else. In recent years he’s proven himself to be a real piece of shit. However, if RFK does pick him Rodger’s anti-vax nonsense will wind up taking more votes that would have gone to Trump than from Biden in states where a Kennedy/Rodgers ticket makes it onto the ballot.
Well, Denis, you’re right about those former football players but there’s a BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG difference between the likes of Ford and Kemp and Rogers is that both Ford and Kemp spent DECADES working in the political field after their playing days were done.
Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935, opting to go to law school (Yale) rather than a pro ball career (and not long after graduating law school and passing the bar in Michigan and opening a law practice, he then enlisted in the Navy following Pearl Harbor). After an honorable discharge in 1946, he then returned to Michigan and, in 1948, began his quarter century as one of Michigan’s members in the US House of Representatives (from there, of course, he would be selected as Agnew’s replacement as VP and then would replace Nixon as President just 10 months later).
As for Kemp, it’s true that he played ball in college (not a major university but a smaller college–Occidental–which used professional formations and plays, so he was keeping an eye on playing professionally) and then spent the 1960s playing pro football. While he was playing pro, he kept up with the political scene so that when he decided to run for Congress in 1970, he wasn’t a complete novice (he also volunteered for Goldwater’s 1964 campaign and Reagan’s 1966 gubernatorial campaign–even working for Reagan in the off-season). And, of course, he won that race and began nearly 2 decades in Congress before choosing to run for President in 1988. Then, after losing the nomination, he wound up as Bush’s Secretary of HUD and, despite some, uh, “issues” with Bush and the rest of the Cabinet, Kemp stayed on through 1992 but made it known that if the GOP remained in the White House in 1992, Kemp would be gone. He stayed fairly high-profile for an “inactive politician” (there had been calls for Kemp to replace Quayle as VP in 1992 and, though he didn’t really express interest in running for President in 1996, his endorsement was sought by several candidates in 1996, mainly by Steve Forbes before ultimately being picked as Dole’s VP candidate in 1996).
Aaron Rodgers, on the other hand, may be a great football player but, his political skills aren’t even at the “Pee-Wee” level (hell, he barely qualifies as a “toddler” when it comes to politics).
Bobo has perfected her Sarah Palin look.
Only, for as stupid as Palin is, she never got caught giving a “handie” in a theater.
AND SHARED WITH THIS HEADER:
YES YES VoteVets Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) MoveOn Indivisible Guide Occupy Democrats The Rachel Maddow Show The Guardian
FROM PIECE BELOW: Only right now the grifters are in some trouble.
YEAH, PUTIN & HIS OLIGARCHS ARE HAVING TROUBLE FUNDING RUSSIA’S REPUBLICANS (WHO THEY’VE OWNED SINCE REAGAN), AS THE WAR IN UKRAINE HAS BEEN INFINITELY MORE COSTLY THAN ANTICIPATED.
— JANE (@LADYOLDANDGRAY) MARCH 15, 2024
AND SEE https://x.com/mlauriat/status/1769045831368266053?s=20