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[–] 130 points 2 years ago* (15 children)

I'm Canadian so I don't really get a say in this, but he seems like a decent guy. Most astronauts are hard working, smart, and know to rely on other smart people to get tasks accomplished. His wife ain't no pushover either, nobody can question that couple's commitment to America.

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  • [–] 68 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    It’s funny. Literally every astronaut I’ve met is exactly like this - quietly competent, affable, team player. As is the astronaut candidate I’ve met.

    And yet…

    Every person I’ve met who has been keen on becoming an astronaut or astronaut candidate has been an insufferable self-aggrandizing jerk face. Like, just awful people who suck all the air out of any room they’re in, expounding on how they (or the idea they’re selling) are the most amazing thing ever.

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  • [–] 46 points 2 years ago (7 children)
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago* (6 children)

    What does this have to do with anything? Edit: figured it out, he is married to Gabby Giffords.

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  • [–] 35 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    One of the people who was shot at this event is then-US representative Gabby Giffords. She was shot in the head and survived, but six people were killed. She is Mark Kelly's wife. I would presume they're going to have very strong opinions on gun control laws because of this.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    And he would def have something to say about the nature of political violence. A madman with a gun is no basis for doling out governmental powers.

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  • [–] 108 points 2 years ago (17 children)

    He does not support Medicare for all, and also does not support the green new deal, according to his wiki. He also supported increased oil drilling.

    So he's pretty moderate right IMO, which sucks. I hope he's not her choice.

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  • [–] 39 points 2 years ago* (6 children)

    Yeah, see this is why I was so attached to Biden. The average Democrat isn’t really all that left. All this stuff with climate change and unions under Biden was very much an anomaly, and we’re probably returning to a certain amount of status quo with Harris.

    Idk, I could be wrong; maybe she’s super left and this guy’s being floated as a gift to the New York Timeses of the world so the ticket will be acceptable to the six figure Manhattan shitheads that their editors are friends with, so they won’t print bullshit about her to try to lose her the election. And she still doesn’t want to destroy American democracy and all climate change remediation since Obama, which makes her worth voting for. But yeah we can expect a certain amount of corporate bullshit to come back into the equation now, I think. 😕

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    From what I've heard, it sounds like her senator policy stances were left of Joe? But chances are, her vp will prolly be more center, and who knows what her policies look like when she has to take stances that aren't representing just California.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    Joe did a pretty good job as president courting progressives though. It was all much further left than his time in the senate. Still not far enough left for me, but better. I hope Harris follows that. The population generally is moving in that direction, so they need to.

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    [–] 70 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    From wikipedia:

    Kelly ran as a moderate in 2020 and voiced support for bipartisanship.[79][80][81] Since joining the Senate, he supported abolishing the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation[82] and a federal minimum wage increase to $15 per hour. He has criticized Joe Biden's approach to border security.[83][84] As of October 2022, Kelly has voted in line with Biden's stated position 94.5% of the time.[85]

    Abortion

    As a candidate in 2020, Kelly said he was "pro-choice" and was endorsed by Planned Parenthood.[86] He supports codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law.[87] He has said that late-stage abortions should be legally protected.[88]

    Climate and environment

    Kelly has voiced support for climate action, but said he "does not favor" the Green New Deal.[89] The League of Conservation Voters gave him a 97% score in 2021.[90] In 2022, Kelly also advocated for an expansion of oil drilling in the wake of rising gas prices.[91][92]

    Guns

    Kelly became an outspoken advocate for gun control following the attempted assassination of his wife, former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, at the 2011 Tucson shooting.[93]

    Kelly voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.[94][95]

    Health care

    Kelly supports building on the Affordable Care Act to include a public health insurance option.[93][96] He opposes Medicare for All.[97]

    Immigration

    Of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Kelly has said, "Dreamers are as American as anyone", and has expressed support for it.[98][86]

    Trump administration

    In February 2021, Kelly voted to convict Trump for incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial,[66] and has been outspoken in his disdain for him.[99]

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    This is interesting. People are calling him a mixed bag, yet looking into this he clearly supports expanding on existing solutions and has supported potential solutions that offer real-world results, such as expanded drilling. A realistic solution that makes sense in a swing state. The only outlier is Medicare for All and he'd probably say behind closed doors that he needed the votes and compromised with reinforcement of the ACA.

    From what I remember and have seen recently, he strikes me as someone who is quietly playing the game. Becoming VP may allow him to step out and take more progressive stances. Or less progressive, of course. I'll have to look into him more, though it's my opinion he's a good pick, both for more favorable (for us) policies and for the larger election strategy.

    I'll make an early call that he's more progressive than he seems at face value. Shame we don't have that bot which messages us X time later. I'd like to come back to this in the future, see if I was right.

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    [–] 64 points 2 years ago (17 children)

    Sure. He's white, straight, and male, to balance out the ticket for racists/sexists/homophobes. Package him, ship him out, and let's defeat Trump and Project 2025!

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  • [–] 73 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    Also astronaut, veteran, and fairly progressive.

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    [–] 40 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Not a fan of him teaming up with Manchin to promote more oil drilling.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    I'm just not a fan of Manchin.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (3 children)
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Manchin got us to 50 in a deep red state. There are so many red states in middle America that, in the current political spectrum, it is nigh impossible to get to 50 dems in the senate.

    I hear you, Manchin wasn’t my guy, but we would have got bunk from the Biden administration without him.

    Something something, it’s easy to hate, harder to love.

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  • [–] 37 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Anecdote time: last week a 30 year old woman I work with stated with confidence she wouldn't be voting this year. Earlier today she told me she would be voting for Harris and asked who the vp would be. I said Shapiro, beshear, or Kelly. She looked up each of them on Wikipedia and immediately said something to the effect of, "why have I never heard of Kelly? I'd vote for this guy at the top of the ticket. I hope she picks him."

    The guy's bio speaks for itself. Plus we'd get fun twins hijinks at the naval observatory and I think we as a nation need that.

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    [–] 36 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    I like him, but PLEASE don't vacate a Senate seat right now..! The balance is too tenuous at the moment. The Rs just lost a seat with Vance that could be filled with someone that isn't batshit crazy; let's not pull the same stunt in AZ.

    E: I'm hearing that the way it works in AZ is that the person leaving their seat gets to assign the new member. If that's the case, then i withdraw my complaint.

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    [–] 32 points 2 years ago (15 children)

    I'm still shocked no one is taking seriously the "Democrats should pick Romney as Presidential choice because reasons" that has seriously been floated.

    I wonder: how many times has someone given a big platform to someone so they can suggest that the Republicans should select a Democrat as their choice? Probably never? Why is it that people always say - with a straight face and very, very seriously - that it is Democrats that should run Republicans on their tickets, because something something unity and tone.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    I don't like that option, but I do think it would be effective to disrupt the Republican party. It'd really force a lot of modern "Republicans" to face what the party has become.

    I think it'd be better to out him as VP under Harris than president though. To have a traditionally popular Republican candidate on the ticket would give them a huge platform to point out that the MAGA party is not the Republican party many supported before. It's just Fascists who stole it because people were too dumb to pay attention.

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    [–] 26 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I would love to see Mark Kelly as VP and then campaign for president.

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    [–] 14 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Not a fan, and I don’t like his relative lack of political experience. However, his status as a white male veteran who is the husband of Gabby Gifford could win some points.

    Hate that it comes to that, but this is what we get. Fuck, I just want out of this shithole.

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    [–] 13 points 2 years ago

    Unexpected

    HuffPo be huffing something hard.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    I'd like it to be mayor Pete. Young, smart, well spoken, Rhodes scholar, veteran. Plus it would set him up for a serious run at the presidency in the future.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I don't hate him, but he's already 60. That means that if Harris goes 1 term and loses, or goes 2 terms and can't run again, Kelly is 68 before he can run himself, which he will inevitably do. If he's 68 when he starts, then he is running the country in his 70s and we have made 0 progress on this age problem that seems to plague presidential candidates. Beshear is 46, which keeps him in his 50s for most of his terms.

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    [–] 10 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    It's pretty odd to me that people feel like they really need to shore up the "moderate" lane. Boosting the AZ chances makes perfectly fine sense, but Harris isn't expected to be particularly progressive. She's a middle of the road Democrat, so unless she's going to come out fighting for big progressive change, just run her as a solidly competent Democrat. No need to find a new Joe Lieberman.

    Plus, for the love of god, don't give up an iffy senate seat.

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    [–] [S] 9 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Let's see what you folks missed...

    Navy combat pilot. Would be the first of those in the administration since HW.

    Arizona would be a nice get electoral wise.

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