Former Astronaut Wins US Senate Seat Once Held By Republican John McCain (yahoo.com) 82
"Mark Kelly will soon be the fourth NASA astronaut to serve in the U.S. Congress," writes People magazine.
DevNull127 shares their report: In a tweet posted Wednesday, he said he was "deeply honored" to have been elected and to serve in the seat once held by the late Sen. John McCain. A retired U.S. Navy captain and astronaut, Kelly has flown in four space missions, including the final mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011. He is married to former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, [who] was shot and nearly killed in 2011.
His identical twin Scott Kelly is also a retired astronaut. The two participated in NASA's landmark "twins study," in which Scott spent a year aboard the space station while scientists collected Mark's physiological data back home for comparison...
When he is sworn in, Kelly will be the only active member of Congress to have flown in space. He is preceded by three former NASA astronauts: former Sens. John Glenn and Jack Schmitt and Rep. Jack Swigert. Two other former members of Congress — Sen. Jake Garn and Rep. Bill Nelson — have flown in space as payload specialists. Apollo 13 astronaut John "Jack" Swigert was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, but died of cancer before he could take office.
Saturday Kelly tweeted, "Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We've got some challenges ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to working together to tackle them."
And the same day his brother Scott Kelly tweeted a memory about the moment he left the International Space Station after 500 days, "looked out the window of our space capsule at the truss, and was struck with awe at how we came together & accomplished this great feat.
"And that if we can do this, we can do anything if we commit ourselves and work together."
DevNull127 shares their report: In a tweet posted Wednesday, he said he was "deeply honored" to have been elected and to serve in the seat once held by the late Sen. John McCain. A retired U.S. Navy captain and astronaut, Kelly has flown in four space missions, including the final mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011. He is married to former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, [who] was shot and nearly killed in 2011.
His identical twin Scott Kelly is also a retired astronaut. The two participated in NASA's landmark "twins study," in which Scott spent a year aboard the space station while scientists collected Mark's physiological data back home for comparison...
When he is sworn in, Kelly will be the only active member of Congress to have flown in space. He is preceded by three former NASA astronauts: former Sens. John Glenn and Jack Schmitt and Rep. Jack Swigert. Two other former members of Congress — Sen. Jake Garn and Rep. Bill Nelson — have flown in space as payload specialists. Apollo 13 astronaut John "Jack" Swigert was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, but died of cancer before he could take office.
Saturday Kelly tweeted, "Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We've got some challenges ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to working together to tackle them."
And the same day his brother Scott Kelly tweeted a memory about the moment he left the International Space Station after 500 days, "looked out the window of our space capsule at the truss, and was struck with awe at how we came together & accomplished this great feat.
"And that if we can do this, we can do anything if we commit ourselves and work together."
Re:Nowonder (Score:5, Insightful)
He's an engineer and naval aviator. I wish half the politicians out there had his training and expertise
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No wonder us politics is up to shit, instead of focus ing on policies this is a celebrity announcement.
He's an engineer and naval aviator. I wish half the politicians out there had his training and expertise
Yup, I'll pick him over a standard issue Republican Q-Anon conspiracy nut any day.
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Re:Nowonder (Score:5, Insightful)
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Plus, flying advanced aircraft and being an astrona
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Most politicians are lawyers, which also requires a good amount of motivation, problem solving skills, attention to detail, etc. And we all know how that's working out.
And in general, being good at one thing doesn't mean that you'll be good at another. Plenty of "smart" people, including engineers, doctors, and lawyers, are absolute morons when it comes to anything outside of their own discipline (and sometimes even in it).
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Problem solving skills? Lawyers? Seriously? Other than "How can I hoodwink the jury or find a technicality to get my client off?" there doesn't seem to be much problem-solving going on in the legal industry. More often I see lawyers declaring, "If we make a law addressing this issue then it will magically go away!"
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Im confused what part of running a country and addressing issues like the environment, healthcare, education requires skills such as flying a naval plane or engineering ? Government is about people management and direction, not betting ones hands dirty with engineering tasks.
I'm concerned about your belief that people who get their hands dirty are automatically no good at people management. Maybe you should reflect on that assumption.
OTOH it's a safe bet that no astronauts are clinical narcissists. That's a good start right there.
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It's good that you point that out, to debunk the idea that 'all Republicans are evil.'
But I'm sure you have a good tedious retort.
Re:Nowonder (Score:5, Insightful)
Astronauts don't become astronauts unless they are brilliant and work damn hard. Excellent qualifications for public office.
That may be true, but the number one quality that astronauts have is that they are team players.
It would be nice if this were required for public office...
(Second is that they are problem solvers.).
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Theoretically that would be 'nice' but sometimes it's important to toss some sand in the gears of a government that oversteps it's bounds.
If more government is the problem, yes, a problem solver can be useful.
Yes, sometimes more government is the solution, but often it's the precipitate.
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Re:Nowonder (Score:5, Insightful)
They're certainly not collaborating with 99 other people.
I hold this to be categorically incorrect unless you constrain the claim to the several meters of space around them and their craft. Don't forget about all of the folks working "downstairs".
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The folks downstairs are the team players, the guy alone in the tin can not so much. But that's just my opinion.
Test pilots have to be thoroughgoing team players nearly all of the time. When the aircraft is performing reasonably well, their whole job is monitoring instruments and reporting data. Of course, when something goes wrong they have to know how long to continue relying on their team and when to switch into solo problem solving to keep the plane in the air and themselves alive.
The same is true of astronauts, but more so, because even when the shit is hitting the fan they almost always have to rely very heav
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The fact is though, astronaut skills are not likely to translate into senatorial skills. I hope Kelly all the best, but if he thinks 500 days in ISS was rough, he has no idea what he's in for with Mitch McConnell as senate majority leader for the next 700+.
Peace out, bitches.
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There is a bit of a spectrum to teamwork. Focusing on (popular business buzzwords) coordination, cooper
Not part of the team [Re:Nowonder] (Score:2)
I'm not saying they can't follow instructions from the ground team. I'm not saying anything disparaging at all. Just that they mostly get their work done alone as opposed to in a big room with 99 other people.
This is one of the little-known facts about football: while the quarterback is well known to be a team player, the wide receivers are not. In fact, rather than work with the team, they typically run as fast as they can AWAY from the quarterback during the play.
In football terminology, receivers are not considered part of the team for that reason.
Not.
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The folks downstairs are the team players, the guy alone in the tin can not so much. But that's just my opinion.
The car is a "team" of parts but it's only as good as the part where the rubber meets the road. But I'm getting tired of analogies.
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I think people do make the mistake of confusing having transferable skills with being qualified. Does being an experienced real estate developer give you skills you can use as president? Absolutely. But you'd better have the humility to see how your inexperience in other areas limits you.
That's true of any high constitutional office, including being senator. You want someone with transferable skills and life experience, but who understands his limitations. You certainly don't want to go too far the oth
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How does familiarity with real estate help you deal with pandemics?
(not very well, apparently... Trump still thinks the cure might be bleach up the ass)
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Horray for Mark Kelly (Score:3)
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John McCain will be happy that his senate seat us occupied by a Navy flier. Pity that Marine gal running in KY didn't get in.
Not enough (Score:3, Insightful)
So much for the Biden Presidency! He will do to Biden what the Republicans did to Obama from 1/2009-1/2017!
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And then there's the curious fact of US Senators flying to Moscow on July 4th 22018 - THE FOURTH OF FUCKING JULY, of all days. No, it's not conspiracy bullshit, this is exactly what it looks like to be blackmailed as a US Senator.
> You already look dumb, but I'd like to see your face when you actually get a
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Re:Not enough (Score:4, Interesting)
Only for 12 months. In January 2010, Scott Brown won the special election to replace the recently deceased Ted Kennedy. That ended the 60 seat super-majority in the Senate.
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They did no such thing. They gave lip service to Republicans while trying to convince the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress to accept their more extreme ideas (like single-payer). They literally passed the most extreme thing they could get by their own party.
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There's a famous republican saying, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." - so when you say that Democrats didn't "fix" America, please also be aware of the menace of the GOP they are up against.
Less than that (Score:2, Insightful)
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All told they held a majority for about 2 months.
Are you on drugs again? Even if you mean "Supermajority" you are way way wrong. Listen to ShanghaiBill. He is one of your betters.
They only held the Senate for 2 months (Score:3, Insightful)
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And that only happened because Romneycare (its original name) was exactly what the Republicans were going to insist on anyway. Otherwise they wouldn't have accomplished anything at all (Nancy Pelosi's normal plan of action).
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>Didn't the dems have the Presidency, the Senate (a 60 vote filibuster proof margin)
The trouble is that Democrats don't vote in a block like Republicans do; a super-majority in seats doesn't translate in a super-majority number of votes. That's why even the worst Republican president can be more effective in passing his policies than the best Democrat one. At least, that's balanced by the fact that Republican policies are generally badly thought out and therefore ineffective (though I believe that's int
Re:Not enough (Score:5, Insightful)
Joe Biden is all for working together, up to a point. He absolutely has a lot less patience for obstructionism than Obama. Of course, that's because he can shout "Malarkey!" and "Will you shut up, man?!" without being cast as the Angry Black Man.
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everyone is screaming at each other about ALL the rampant crimes the other side is committing.
No one has any plans to work together now that the Right side has full control.
Both side are 110% positive they are the moral and righteous side that never does anything wrong.
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He's not going to do much except appoint his cabinet and take the oath of office.
The real question coming early next year is how the Progressives will handle the succession to President Harris(president in name Harris).
America is just another banana republic now.
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Can we just stop with the name calling? I don't like McConnell either, but we don't need to stoop to Trump's low of childish nicknames. I was disappointed in Biden referring to Trump as a crazy uncle (although it was a good comparison).
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Your mama did.
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The Trumpers made their bed, now they can lie in it. After four years of unrelenting shit, you have the gall to complain about a bit of nicknaming?
To quote Trump voters: "Fuck your feelings"
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And the deck is stacked against the republicans for the 2022 Senate races. The Democrats are very likely to retake the Senate in 2022. Then all the gloves are off. You're seriously going to be butt-hurt when that happens, and it will happen, just like Democrats retook the house in 2018.
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The run-off in January is going to be an epic battle. I see Democrats already starting to get 17 year olds registered to vote in it (they can register now if they will be 18 on the day) and I expect spending on those campaigns will be astronomical.
John McCain sends his regards (Score:2)
Not only is his seat now occupied by a Democrat, Arizona has gone for Biden (as far as we know at this point).
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Not only is his seat now occupied by a Democrat, Arizona has gone for Biden (as far as we know at this point).
It is fitting that Trump loses in AZ after his complete disrespect for John McCain, and I would not be surprised if that played a part in voters minds. I'm not American and if I was I would not be a Republican, but even from far away it is safe to say McCain had more decency and integrity than Trump could ever comprehend even if he lived to be 1000.
Re:John McCain sends his regards (Score:4, Insightful)
The leadership of both parties wield way too much power. If you cross them too often, they withhold party campaign financing funds from your re-election campaign, which will usually sink any candidate without enough name recognition to survive on their own. IMHO this is a bigger problem than PACs.
A little insight (Score:5, Informative)
Though Arizona is commonly refereed to as a "Red State," it doesn't fit neatly in any mold.
For example: The current Republican administration has made it clear that it sides "against" Hispanics in most ways that count. Even if you ignore illegal border crossings, Trump has revoked emergency authorizations for Hispanics to stay legally in the United States, and has said many things to get his base fired up against them.
Arizona has a massive Hispanic population, many of which are from families that have been here much longer than mine. Because of that, there is a sense of outrage among many Arizonians that their friends and colleagues are being treated so badly. That simple fact doesn't fit in neatly with the canned Republican dogma so common today.
Arizona is the home of Barry Goldwater, a republican senator who believed that government had no tuck in personal matters like sexuality. It's the home of John McCain, who voted with the Republican party most of the time, but when it counted, he voted against them.
Because of that, and many more things, it's not a surprise that Arizona would elect not one, but two right-leaning Democrats to the senate.
McSally was appointed to her position to fill the seat left open my McCain after she lost the previous senatorial race to Kristen Sinema, a Democrat. She also ran a poor and extremely negative campaign this time too, and positioned herself *far* too close to Trump to win. Because of that, she lost this election the same way she lost the last one.
Many Arizonans are like McCain, they will vote their hearts above party.
It's as Democracy should be.
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Well said.
And in my experience, Arizonans are not alone. There are still plenty of Americans who don't put party above all else, we've just been drowned out by the rabid partisan idiots that do.
Re:A little insight (Score:4, Informative)
Also a 5th-6th year Arizonan. Agree with what you said. While Kelly's campaign took the same tone throughout (striking a reconciliatory tone while hitting her on her pre-existing conditions votes), some of McSally's early ads were pretty bad - straight outta 1980's politics. (The dancing astronaut ad was bad, and the used car salesman ad was worse.) Whoever approved those ads should've been fired on the spot. OR someone in a super PAC was a Kelly plant. They were that bad.
She eventually pivoted in tone to match Mark's campaign and made up some ground, but the damage was done.
Being an astronaut aside, the bad part about having Kelly voted in is that having two Democrat senators doesn't fit the general populace at all. We really need one senator from each party here to make sure the growing Dem crowd is covered while the rural counties are still represented.
And Kelly's views on gun control are the exact opposite of Arizona's gun culture. Arizona is widely known as the gun friendliest state in the union. Unless he moderates quickly on that issue, he's gonna be a one term senator.
I meant a 5th/6th generation Arizonan (Score:2)
Family's been here on both sides since the late 1800s. Proud of that... though the summers do suck down in the valley.
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AZ has blue heart :)
Arizona likes this kind of candidate (Score:2)
Right now, his being a Democrat is given less weight than his military/technical chops. He has the same career image as Goldwater and McCain did in their times. So long as his votes in the Senate are in line with state sensibilities, this is what will count.
Another factor in Kelly's favor is that he was just elected to a fillout of the last two years of McCain's term, rather than a full six. We will have an early opportunity to rate his performance.
I smell a sitcom in the making... (Score:2)
Identical twins, one's now a congressman? Come on, the hijinx practically writes itself!
Being an astronaut doesn't guarantee goodness (Score:2)
Do a little digging into just who Mark Kelly is and you'll find he's not so good.