4 ms·
Chelsea Manning files to run for U.S. Senate in Maryland
- twblalock 9y agoShe's running in a primary challenge against an established Democrat who has been active in Maryland politics since the 1960s and has never lost an election. On top of that, polling suggests that a majority of Americans, including just under 50% of Democrats, opposed clemency for Manning. This is not going to end well. If she's serious about a career as an elected official, this is not the right way to go about it. I suspect she does not expect to win and this is really an attempt to gain national recognition as an activist.
- zitterbewegung 9y agoI think that she is running and knows that she will lose but use the opportunity to push ideas that her opponent will adopt. Sort of like a sacrifice fly but in politics. The Green party I think has done this in the past.
- numbsafari 9y agoFor the duration of the campaign, maybe, and then only if Manning is an actual electoral threat and people agree with the positions she has on important issues.
- dogma1138 9y agoWhat ideas? With no offense to Manning but her entire situation is effectively an exploitation of a vulnerable individual with clear mental issue which was groomed as a source then sold out to the US government. I haven’t seen anything that would indicate that Manning would be a good politician, in fact based on how Wikileaks managed to groom her into committing treason I wouldn’t want her in any position which could affect public policy.
- mcknz 9y agoProbably not, but one should never discount the power of name recognition, combined with symbolism, acting in lieu of traditional qualifications (see "Donald Trump").
- awinder 9y agoCardin has name recognition in Maryland, people have seen his name on the ballot for decades
- ecspike 9y agoTwo of the largest counties in Maryland touch DC: Montgomery and PG (Prince George's) County with lots of people with 3-letter gov't agency ties. The other major population area, Baltimore (City) and Baltimore County, are difficult to see going for her currently thin resume/positions on the issues affecting them.
- jhbadger 9y agoMost three letter agencies aren't spy agencies but science ones -- and those do tend to skew left.
- Anon1096 9y agoShe's not running against a republican in the primaries.
- ExactoKnight 9y agoThin resume? She's literally got a Nelson Mandela-style resume for the position now...
- hux_ 9y agoThere is no right way to go about it unless your family is in politics. Every single character who has entered political life for the first time has to fight establised power centers.
- pmiller2 9y agoThe right way is to aim lower initially.
- jfaat 9y agopresident? :p * ducks * sorry, could not resist
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- twblalock 9y agoThat's not true for (in reverse order) Obama, Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, LBJ, Eisenhower, Truman, Hoover, Harding, Wilson, etc. I could go on. That's most of the 21st- and 20th-century presidents. Their families were not part of the political establishment.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- pera 9y ago> This is not going to end well. What do you mean? > If she's serious about a career as an elected official, this is not the right way to go about it. Why not?
- itronitron 9y agoShe's off to a good start, and this is not going to end anytime soon. Contrast that with Arapaio who is running in Arizona and is very old.
- cornyNetHandle 9y agoI dunno, it seems fairly sane to stand first in places you are guaranteed not to win, if you want to get started in politics. Lowest risk method of getting experience and people are impressed if you poll anything at all.
- rayiner 9y agoAs a Marylander whose election district is gerrymandered to hell, a symbolic vote that doesn’t matter seems better than a “real” vote that doesn’t matter: https://anthonybrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/MD-4-District-Map.jpg https://anthonybrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/MD-4-Dis....
- DrScump 9y agoWhat does gerrymandering have to do with a statewide, popular-vote race?
- rayiner 9y agoOP implied that voting for Chelsea Manning would be pointless since she has no chance of winning. My point is that my vote for Congressman doesn't matter anyway, so a purely symbolic vote for Chelsea Manning is at least as valuable.
- 1000units 9y agoHas a convicted felon ever been elected as a U.S. senator before?
- exabrial 9y agoTons of congressman have DUI and assault charges, so I assume yes. I'm more curious do you have to pass a background check to be a representative?
- kavok 9y agoI’ve never heard of a background check for an elected representative. It is a bit strange that someone who can’t vote (a felon) could be elected and then vote on our behalf.
- craftyguy 9y agoIs someone with a presidential pardon still considered a felon? I know the pardon does not erase the conviction, but since a pardon seems to erase the most significant consequences, does it erase all consequences?
- SEJeff 9y agoA pardon erases prison time, it does not erase any fines resulting from said crime, and also is admitting guilt to the crime[1]. One of the biggest things a pardon does as a result of that (like a guilty plea does as well) is open you up to civil suits. Also, accepting a pardon prevents you from pleading the 5th on any further or follow up charges related to said crime. It is a pretty slippery slope actually. Your question is an interesting one, but one better suited for a Constitutional law scholar such as Professor Lawrence Tribe (runs the constitutional law program at Harvard). [1] Burdick vs United States: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3928528117882105076 https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=392852811788210...
- paulddraper 9y ago
- cagenut 9y agoPersonal/political opinions about this aside (helllll yeaaa!) its odd that she'd file and then just be silent on social media all day. Did she/her-team not expect this public record to get noticed till next week? Where is the website? Was this a very last minute decision?
- SteveGregory 9y agoThis is awesome. Whether or not you believe her actions were good for the country (I believe they were), this is a good example for all counties about how committed we are as a nation to democracy. The framers designed our government to overthrow itself every few years, and I believe it was intentional that we could elect somebody who has been tried and convicted of crimes to represent us as citizens, if we wish to do so. I'm not a resident of Maryland, and will not be in a position to evaluate and vote on the candidates, but I do think the fact that this race is possible is something we can take real pride in.
- potluckyears 9y agoShe has no experience, a felony conviction for violating the Espionage Act, and a dishonorable discharge. Maryland is home to a huge number of defense and intelligence workers. According to Wikipedia, Fort Meade (which is the headquarters of the NSA) is the state's biggest employer. I'm not hopeful.
- iamdave 9y agoMaryland is home to a huge number of defense and intelligence workers. This was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the headline, it's like that common line thrown at stand-up comedians (note: This is not me calling Chelsea Manning a 'joke' or making light of her situation and what she went through): know your room. That constituency does NOT seem like one that will vote for this particular candidate. Nonetheless, I commend her willingness to step up to the plate, I can see a lot of valuable conversations coming out of the race.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- black_puppydog 9y agoWith her conviction she's gonna fit right in there. :) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicians_convicted_of_crimes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_pol...
- lurker78 9y agoI'm surprised that he is not only aiming to oust a long sitting democrat senator, but that he is also aiming to run as a democrat himself. Wouldn't he stand more of a chance if he ran as an independent?
- empath75 9y agoI think she’s a good person and the way she was treated by pretty much everyone from Wikileaks to Adrian lamo to the media and the military and court system was horrific. But none of that qualifies her for public office and I think it’s a mistake for her to run. If she even comes close to winning, she’s going to be raked over the coals again by her opponents and the media.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ig_foobar 9y agoSomehow I can't imagine his/her/its campaign being anything other than "look at meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
- vfulco 9y agoDelusional.
- bitoneill 9y agoWouldn't she have trouble getting a security clearance? I'm under the impression that many Senators receive secure briefings.
- olympus 9y agoShe would have trouble getting one, but she doesn't need one. Only a few senators are given access to every classified program. Most senators can request specific accesses if their work/committee requires it, but aren't given access to everything by default- the DoD would need a good reason to deny the clearance, and Manning's case probably counts as a good reason. Even if Manning won she would be a junior senator and not put on any important defense related committees so she wouldn't have a need for a clearance most of the time.
- dogma1138 9y agoSecurity clearance doesn’t work that way you still need to be given specific access to compartmentalized information, pretty much anything that is codeword or higher has to be individually read into. Basically you can have 2 people with the same base clearance but they would have completely different access to information. The security clearance doesn’t even give you access to information by having it, it simply means that you have passed the risk assessment which means you can be cleared to handle classified information and you would handle it in a legal and responsible manner, which regardless what you think about Manning that is clearly not the case.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]