Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/01/14/manning-vs-cardin.html
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I wish her luck and will be rooting for her. Politics and the people in it are just awful and they will not be kind to Miss Manning but i would love for her to take some fools to task.
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I have no idea how well she’d do in the Senate (and, not being a citizen of Delaware, have limited standing to opine) but at the very least we owe her for the disgusting way we have treated her.
Best wishes, Chelsea, wherever life takes you.
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It’s Maryland. Running against Ben Cardin-- who’s sort of a foreign policy establishment type. His name came up in a recent article in the Nation…
https://www.thenation.com/article/secrets-of-the-trump-russia-dossier/
And, in the second, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrat Benjamin Cardin, they released a 200-page report on Russian efforts worldwide to undermine democracy, charging that “Vladimir Putin’s government has engaged in a relentless assault to undermine democracy and the rule of law in Europe and the United States.”
I think Manning would be a weak candidate in the general, and could possibly help install a republican in the Senate. I also think that third parties are likely to use her candidacy as a opportunity for mischief.
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Agreed that we owe Manning a great collective debt, but I hope that the outcome of the election is decided on “which candidate would do a better job in the Senate” instead of “who do we owe more to.”
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Totally agree.
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I’ll be voting in this primary. Ben Cardin is hardly my ideal progressive candidate, but I don’t think Manning is a good alternative. I’ll likely be voting for Cardin, a bit grudgingly.
Now, I do support Ben Jealous for Governor! Whoop whoop!
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I thought convicts lose active and passive voting rights in the USA …
… or is this different because of the pardon?
It’s a state by state thing - but in general they get rights back : Voting Rights for People with a Felony Conviction - Nonprofit Vote
That said not being able to vote doesn’t mean you can’t run. Oddly enough. I have no idea the specifics of the pardon she got - if it was a full pardon then she’s pretty much cleared of the past - many pardons though don’t really clear your history but just give you a future back. I’m unsure what she actually received.
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She was not pardoned. Obama commuted (shortened) her sentence, so she still has the guilty verdict and the criminal record.
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See also: Joe Arpaio
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Maryland is not exactly the land of progressives, de facto anyways.
Lots of kids with schools that lack proper heat or insulation.
Coincidence V Correlation
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Ms Manning wasn’t pardoned- she had her sentence commuted. People convicted of crimes can run for the House & Senate. The body could choose not to seat them if they win. Or to seat them.
Maryland doesn’t revoke voting rights for people convicted of felonies.
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I can forgive her for her, ahem, “whistleblowing.” She was at an inherently stupid age of life, under incredible psychological strain, being consciously manipulated by people with anything but her best interests at heart, and put in a situation so mind-bogglingly conducive to this sort of thing it’s a wonder it hadn’t happened a hundred times already. (“Oh, hello, 20-year-old E-4. You say you want to camp out all alone in the room with the computer that has all the secrets on it, and you want to bring recordable media in with you? I don’t see why not–after all, you do have an insanely high security clearance.” Jesus.)
But setting aside what’s good for the citizens of Maryland, or the trans community that has her as a symbol whether it wants it or not, or the Maryland Democratic Party, I don’t see this going well for her. I’d like her to lead the best life she can going forward. Absolutely nothing about her life so far suggests that getting a great deal of attention and public scrutiny will help her do that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pretending that I care a great deal about her well being, relative to the other hundred or so reasons she absolutely should not be a senator. I think the world would be marginally better off without her candidacy, although I also think today is the last we’ll ever hear of it. But I’m quite certain she’d be better off without her candidacy.
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Thanks - as I said I wasn’t sure. I wish she’d run against a Republican 
After enduring several years of torture by the government I doubt there’s much transphobic mouth breathing morons can say that will phase her.
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Umm by running as a Democrat isn’t she running against a republican in a Defacto manner?
What she’s running against:
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Yeah, because it’s the third parties who are the real mischief makers in the US.
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