There could be the nightmare scenario where Biden gets seriously ill or dies close to the election.
Not only allowing Trump the Presidency but effecting loads of downballot races .
If Biden remains illness free then I still think he has a decent chance of winning. But that’s a big if at his age .
Always look on the bright side, I think him dying would work great for the Dems. I know everybody thinks Kamala Harris is kind of meh but she's a perfectly capable politician, she can deliver the lines they give her and she doesn't screw it up. Her team wasn't great in the primaries, but she'd inherit Joe Biden's team.
She'd be the first woman president, she'd get a massive honeymoon, there would be the funeral which would be a huge media event. Then she'd have her first few months as president, where she could take the initiative, ignore her base and do whatever she needed to define herself in a way that appealed to floating voters.
On the Tories the BBC are setting the bar low for labelling someone a “Senior Tory MP” this morning. He is not senior in longevity, senior in age or senior in position but I guess it makes the story more exciting to report.
On the Republicans if Haley has the money behind her she should keep running to the end. Firstly if something happens to Trump legally or due to health before the end then by staying in she would likely be the Nominee.
Secondly if she is making Trump campaign it means he is spending money from his PACs and the more he has to spend on the Nomination race the less there is for the GE but also less to find its way to cover his legal costs and bolster his accounts.
In journalist world, all politicians who criticise their party's leadership are "senior" by definition.
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 37m I thought last week’s Rwanda abortive rebellion was a shambles. But Simon Clarke’s apparent suicide run is even more farcical. I can’t even begin to understand what he and rest of the rebels think they’re doing.
Wednesday morning, the Clarke household. Simon sits at the dining room table with his head against the ceiling, reading the newspaper. He does this to avoid his phone, which instead of being filled with updates of colleagues joining the Truss-push is mostly silent. With the occasional 4-letter expletive messages to him by colleagues.
"It was worth it" Simon mutters, "Liz WILL lead us to victory. I WILL win my seat"
Simon Clarke wrote very uncomplimentary things about me, when I applied to become a candidate, 22 years ago.
There could be the nightmare scenario where Biden gets seriously ill or dies close to the election.
Not only allowing Trump the Presidency but effecting loads of downballot races .
If Biden remains illness free then I still think he has a decent chance of winning. But that’s a big if at his age .
Always look on the bright side, I think him dying would work great for the Dems. I know everybody thinks Kamala Harris is kind of meh but she's a perfectly capable politician, she can deliver the lines they give her and she doesn't screw it up. Her team wasn't great in the primaries, but she'd inherit Joe Biden's team.
She'd be the first woman president, she'd get a massive honeymoon, there would be the funeral which would be a huge media event. Then she'd have her first few months as president, where she could take the initiative, ignore her base and do whatever she needed to define herself in a way that appealed to floating voters.
I agree that Harris is widely underrated. I do think she is incredibly unsuited to the role of Vice President, and the way that role has been defined for her. You need to be the jovial, personable sidekick or the foil for the President, depending on their character. She is bad at playing either of those with Biden.
I could see her (gulp) surprising on the upside if it actually came to assuming a leadership role.
She needs to fire her speechwriters though, because all that weird esoteric nonsense she spouts really isn’t a good look. It’s the number 1 thing that holds her back and I’m really not sure why she hasn’t had coaching and more support to try and dial it down.
Way off topic - Seattle Times ($) - Boeing, not Spirit, mis-installed piece that blew off Alaska MAX 9 jet, industry source says
By Dominic Gates Seattle Times aerospace reporter
The fuselage panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month was removed for repair then reinstalled improperly by Boeing mechanics on the Renton final assembly line, a person familiar with the details of the work told The Seattle Times.
If verified by the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, this would leave Boeing primarily at fault for the accident, rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally installed the panel into the 737 MAX 9 fuselage in Wichita, Kan.
That panel, a door plug used to seal a hole in the fuselage sometimes used to accommodate an emergency exit, blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 as it climbed out of Portland on Jan. 5. The hair-raising incident drew fresh and sharp criticism of Boeing’s quality control systems and safety culture, which has been under the microscope since two fatal 737 MAX crashes five years ago.
Last week, an anonymous whistleblower — who appears to have access to Boeing’s manufacturing records of the work done assembling the specific Alaska Airlines jet that suffered the blowout — on an aviation website separately provided many additional details about how the door plug came to be removed and then mis-installed.
“The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing’s own records,” the whistleblower wrote. “It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.”
The self-described Boeing insider said company records show four bolts that prevent the door plug from sliding up off the door frame stop pads that take the pressurization loads in flight, “were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane.” the whistleblower stated. “Our own records reflect this.” . . .
The account goes on to describe shocking lapses in Boeing’s quality control process in Renton.
The work of the mechanics on the door plug should have been formally inspected and signed off by a Boeing quality inspector.
It wasn’t, the whistleblower wrote, because of a process failure and the use of two separate systems to record what work was accomplished.
Boeing’s 737 production system is described as “a rambling, shambling, disaster waiting to happen.” . . .
The Seattle Times offered Boeing the opportunity to dispute the details in this story. Citing the ongoing investigation, Boeing declined to comment. Likewise, so did Spirit, the FAA, the Machinists union and the NTSB. . . .
The anonymous whistleblower posted his account online, in the comments appended to an article about the door plug incident on the Leeham.net aviation website. . . .
Comments
She'd be the first woman president, she'd get a massive honeymoon, there would be the funeral which would be a huge media event. Then she'd have her first few months as president, where she could take the initiative, ignore her base and do whatever she needed to define herself in a way that appealed to floating voters.
@DPJHodges
·
37m
I thought last week’s Rwanda abortive rebellion was a shambles. But Simon Clarke’s apparent suicide run is even more farcical. I can’t even begin to understand what he and rest of the rebels think they’re doing.
Eleni Courea, Guardian
I could see her (gulp) surprising on the upside if it actually came to assuming a leadership role.
She needs to fire her speechwriters though, because all that weird esoteric nonsense she spouts really isn’t a good look. It’s the number 1 thing that holds her back and I’m really not sure why she hasn’t had coaching and more support to try and dial it down.
By Dominic Gates Seattle Times aerospace reporter
The fuselage panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month was removed for repair then reinstalled improperly by Boeing mechanics on the Renton final assembly line, a person familiar with the details of the work told The Seattle Times.
If verified by the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, this would leave Boeing primarily at fault for the accident, rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally installed the panel into the 737 MAX 9 fuselage in Wichita, Kan.
That panel, a door plug used to seal a hole in the fuselage sometimes used to accommodate an emergency exit, blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 as it climbed out of Portland on Jan. 5. The hair-raising incident drew fresh and sharp criticism of Boeing’s quality control systems and safety culture, which has been under the microscope since two fatal 737 MAX crashes five years ago.
Last week, an anonymous whistleblower — who appears to have access to Boeing’s manufacturing records of the work done assembling the specific Alaska Airlines jet that suffered the blowout — on an aviation website separately provided many additional details about how the door plug came to be removed and then mis-installed.
“The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing’s own records,” the whistleblower wrote. “It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.”
The self-described Boeing insider said company records show four bolts that prevent the door plug from sliding up off the door frame stop pads that take the pressurization loads in flight, “were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane.” the whistleblower stated. “Our own records reflect this.” . . .
The account goes on to describe shocking lapses in Boeing’s quality control process in Renton.
The work of the mechanics on the door plug should have been formally inspected and signed off by a Boeing quality inspector.
It wasn’t, the whistleblower wrote, because of a process failure and the use of two separate systems to record what work was accomplished.
Boeing’s 737 production system is described as “a rambling, shambling, disaster waiting to happen.” . . .
The Seattle Times offered Boeing the opportunity to dispute the details in this story. Citing the ongoing investigation, Boeing declined to comment. Likewise, so did Spirit, the FAA, the Machinists union and the NTSB. . . .
The anonymous whistleblower posted his account online, in the comments appended to an article about the door plug incident on the Leeham.net aviation website. . . .