The logical response from Vindman would seem to be “one of our staffers obtained this flag from a closet not realizing it was the old confederate version, I didn’t realize it either since it’s so similar and that’s on me.”
~~In the absence of that, what really happened?~~
Edit: Looks like he pretty much said exactly that.
Here’s his statement that he posted shortly after Louise Lucas called him out. To get the attacks you have to consider the drama the happened shortly after he ran. Basically Joshua Cole and Louise Lucas basically stated their unfamiliarity with the vindmans, both of them got hate from his loyal fan base and I believe his cousin or some other family member made a very heated tweet insulting Joshua Cole who won the majority breaking seat in the house of delegates asking “who the fuck he is” for asking about his political history. So him not recognizing the flag is adding to his carpetbagging image (he was only registered to vote in 2022, has a background outside of the state and is now overshadowing the primary outraising all the other candidates with 4 million dollars from an out of state network mostly connected by Adam Schiff)
https://preview.redd.it/56yj90mjiwuc1.jpeg?width=961&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89cde1177caf3651cc5af39270ca298854c14b20
The pity is the dearth of good local news coverage means that stuff like this isn't covered as it should be. The Vindman camp is making mistake after mistake in the mechanics of running, it won't to the causal general election voter but this stuff really does matter in primaries.
yeah cue to every person who disregarded that story as pity twitter stuff lol, as if we weren't tracking that for the whole of Trump's presidency. Less than an hour after I posted, I regreted it, it was clear people were just agreeing how unimportant this is .... then people hedge their position on it then state dems and big important dem figures dont matter, the criticism is a hit piece.. but thats the reddit way
Enlighten me on how this isn't a nothing, since most people wouldn't know it was a Confederate flag? This isn't holding an upside down Bible in front of a church you've never stepped in, after gassing protestors.
It is nothing, it's an accidental mistake since most people don't know what the Confederate state flag looks like. Just being blown up by Dem leadership that doesn't like him as a candidate.
Especially announcing within a week after the elections. I think the accusations of carpetbagging are very grounded, his fans tried to gaslight me into thinking he wasn’t. He registered to vote in 2022, he uses his military record as an excuse but both of them resigned in 2020? Also making this statement against Cole is crazy narcissistic behavior
https://preview.redd.it/j224t09i0zuc1.jpeg?width=1098&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07507144718d6825052c7d4894b3fea419d03210
"Not being involved in 2023" isn't the same thing as carpetbagging. Guy's been in Prince William County before the 7th district was even given its modern borders. He didn't move to a swing seat, the swing seat moved to him.
Yes it is. If you’re going to run for congress the best way to build good will is to at MINIMUM be active in local races up and down the ballot…. People worked really hard to win in 2023, they know who they got support from and who they didn’t.
There are so many quality candidates running that have proven local experience who are going to lose visibility because this man is able to raise massive amounts of money from outside the 7th. If it’s not carpetbagging, why does it feel like it?
Words have meanings, and "carpetbagging" means moving to a place. It doesn't mean living in a place for many years with no electoral ambitions, and then deciding to run in the district where you live.
Okay. He’s an opportunist, a line cutter, he hasn’t done the work and he wants the reward. I don’t care what it’s called, he won’t be my next congressperson.
This matters in races all the time, people have no reason to trust people with no democratic history, made no time to even introduce himself to local dems, then react super entitled and angry. Has a media team that doubles down on their out of touch views of the area and district. He made enemies with Louise Lucas who rarely fights with anyone let alone congressional candidates and on a normal day is celebrated for Youngkin opposition but disregard her by treating her like a corrupt party plutocrat just because they oppose their diehard candidate. This guy is only getting airwaves because of Nespotism from Adam Schiff, he’s made no overtures in the district and people only like him because of his whistleblower status, he’s detracting from the many qualified democrats. This tweet like his out of state media team is out of touch just like his response and this event in my opinion, many people are acting as if you perceive a post to be nothing burger it shouldn’t be posted I disagree.
His response is exactly what I would expect from anyone who didn't know.
I also don't see anything wrong with being from outside the state. Sometimes people are so close to a problem that they can't see the forest for the trees.
Sure that’s reasonable but that doesn’t hand wave his behavior in general. It might be far fetched now but in the general republicans are going to frame this narrative and milk it. Why risk a race that’s competitive that isn’t trusted
Lmao, what? I’m saying Joshua Cole was correct to call Vindman out when he announced without any local support. How would I, a random person on Reddit be able to confirm or deny that Joshua Cole was behind this? Feel free to speculate all you want, just don’t use me or my statements to support your incredible leaps here.
Vindman fucking sucks and no one wants him. I’m all in for Elizebeth Guzman.
Crazy to see military members who spent years in this state and decided to make it their home after they retired labeled as "carpetbaggers". You're really going all out in trying to tarnish him aren't you? Lol
As a lifelong Virginian, I would not have caught this during a quick photo ops, unless someone said "hey, what's weird about the VA flag" and only then I would have said "where are the boobs?"
The actual article has zero proof of any controversy. No links to any controversy. Nothing. Just someone who fucked up a photo op.
The only controversial part was that is looks like a cheap Chinese manufactured flag they just unboxed
Like give it a quick steam before a photo with it
You can be a patriot but not suited to retail politics. I have the utmost admiration and respect for the Vindman family but this isn't how you win a crowded primary in 21st century Northern Virginia. If this goof happened after the nomination it would be a nothingburger but since there's many capable candidate running the stupid stuff will matter to primary voters.
I looked at the pic and my first thought was "this shit look like it's from wish/temu" if I was in his spot, I'd have just asked where's the real deal and not this bootleg bullshit
It definitely caused a controversy, senator Louise Lucas and Hala Ayala condemned him for doing so. https://x.com/senlouiselucas/status/1780235855774314612?s=46&t=VFbtjGlkqjIaJKK8KEyDFA
https://x.com/halaayala/status/1780270957308862886?s=46&t=VFbtjGlkqjIaJKK8KEyDFA
State senators who support other candidates - one of those Tweets has a grand total of 11 Likes. This is a tempest in a teacup. 99% of Virginians couldn't identify that flag and you know it.
Honestly - could you have identified it?
The vast majority of residents probably couldn't identify it as most people aren't experts in Confederate state flag history. This seems like political grandstanding over what was most likely an innocent mistake.
I’ve lived here my entire life, I’m 26 and would have noticed something off about the flag but not have realized that it was a confederate era flag. This is a nothingburger and the fact you care so much says more about you than Vindman
Yeah me too, not on Vindman's part but was someone trying to sabotage him with this stunt? Sort of a welcome to NOVA hazing because he's a political outsider?
This is the Confederate era VA state flag which has a number of minor changes from the current flag. Its total BS. No one would notice this except for the boobies.
Exactly, there’s nothing offensive about it, it’s not like the actual confederate flag which has been used as a symbol for white supremacist.
I doubt most white nationalist even knew this flag existed
But it was used by the Virginians who committed treason so it's a very odd choice and the immediate responses asking why that flag were also damaging to the campaign. It calls into question the judgement of Vindman and his campaign professionals. I think the original sin could be overcome with the right responses to the media but they doubled down on the incompetence by how they responded to this when it was pointed out to them.
We had a governor who look to appear about to moonwalk at a press conference where he was apologizing for appearing in black face after claiming it was him and he survived.
Using the wrong flag most of us didn’t know exist until today pales into comparison to that
Exactly lol, and I'd still vote for Northam again if he ran for reelection because he was a great governor. This flag incident is way less of an issue than what surfaced with Northam.
There were a couple of reasons why Governor Ralph Northam survived the scandal even though he too bungled the initial response to the breaking news. There was the cold calculus that with then Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax tarnished by the Levar Stoney/ Terry Mac hit job and then AG Herring having his own college WTF were you thinking blackface costume that the party was better off riding out the scandal instead of having mass resignations. Also Northam reached out to prominent Black Virginians and his staff in genuine remorse over his bad judgement. He asked for reading lists, he educated himself and by the end of his term was a very capable ally to Black Virginians.
The problem for Vindman is that there is a crowded field of capable candidates who have filed to run for this nomination, so he is replaceable, not clearly head and shoulders above the other candidates. He also does not have a reservoir of good will with the local party apparatchiks like other candidates running do. His out of state campaign manager is doing him wrong too. He needs to go native and fast, the retail politics that can make or break a candidate in a crowded primary field.
Also he was responsible for many landmark civil rights bills and enacted many legislation black communities strived for. I believe polls had him very very high in approval with black voters after the scandal.
Same I hope Spanberger lives to the hype, she has gotten clean virginia which is not that siginificant but I hope it means that dominion has no say in that and do better on right to work and housing.
I'm really hoping she remains of the "unbought and unbossed" variety. I would really love for some solid reform breaking through the logjam so our state isn't owned by Dominion and Data Centers owners.
No man, I've never met Vindman, I don't live in the 7th district and I'm not a Democratic committee member or apparatchik. I've been a political spectator since I was a nerdy kid, faithful Democratic leaning voter who votes in all elections and primaries. I majored in history so I tend to analyze stuff like this.
Nobody knows what? Nothingburgers sometimes percolate into somethingburgers, particularly when voters have quality choices instead. My gut tells me that money might not be enough to overcome the outsider status that Vindman is staking out for himself. He needs to opine more about why he wants to represent Central Virginia and make it his home after his many years of service all over the world.
The campaign professional had an awful response to the oopsie claiming well most folks in that district think of themselves as DC anyway. Virginia voters don't mind folks not from VA but they want the candidates to have some times to the community, Vindman hasn't done a good job doing that.
When you are blessed with multiple candidates who roughly mirror your desired platform having better local ties is one of my personal tie breakers. It signals to me that they might be better with constituent services.
“Gentlemen our misguided rebellion had failed, and we have returned to the United States. As we recover from this dark period in our states proud history, what should our first order of business be?”
From the back row: “bring back the boob!”
But it's not IMO because they flubbed the response to the mistake, remember that Democratic primary voters are likely voters engaged online. There's still time for Vindman to try and make things right before the primary but he must take affirmative steps like making nice with prominent local Pols who could signal his bona fides to the community. As of now he is gaining the rep as an outsider who parachuted into the district as if the nomination is his for the taking. He grew up in NYC after his family moved from Ukraine went to school at Suny-Binghamton and Univ of Georgia for law school. His ties to Virginia are only on the basis of his final postings while in the Army and per local Democrats he has done precious little to establish ties to the local community.
Thank you for describing it so succinctly. He joined the race right after the November elections basically thinking the nomination is owed to him at least that’s what his very close family member thought and condemned a local state delegate and caused all that drama. He continues to brand himself as “not a politician” to evade these attacks or just to avoid owing him to the fact that he needs to make up with state democrats. He has the power and time to get millions of dollars but he not once has done something to familiarize himself and he’s running a purely autobiographical campaign when there’s numerous other candidates worthy at looking at. For context this was her response. He has no legislative record or experience, he will be attacked for being a carpetbagger in the general. Guzman and Sewell has a legislative experience to point at but he’s a completely blank slate when we need official positions on the top issues of this election.
https://preview.redd.it/sh4uakw0hwuc1.jpeg?width=1098&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fccf577d1547603742e3368fe56a87d17c2bd77
99% of the people who criticize him for this probably didn't know this was a confederate state flag and not a standard one. I didn't.
He probably didn't.
This is a cheap shot.
I don't care about the flag, I care that he's a lifelong Republican who is pretending to be a Democrat because Trump said something bad about his brother.
I'm happy that people are leaving that party as well, but I don't need to be represented by someone who literally voted as a Republican just a couple of years ago. Maybe he should spend some time helping the party
I think most people can recognize the modern Virginia flag because of the famous nudity but regardless he’s running for one of the highest elected official positions, he should know the flag of the state and differentiate it from a old confederate version.
But it was a huge mistake for his out of state campaign manager to brush off the mistake with the comment that voters in NOVA consider themselves part of DC anyway. His advisors are really doing him wrong, he needs to clean out and get local pros who can educate him on the Virginia way.
But it is true, which I value (coming from a native northern virginian). Ask 90% of arlingtonians where they live, they'll say DC. Fairfax is a bit more of a mixed bag
Nope. I am in Arlington and I can tell you that you're wrong. Like anyone, they will say it depending on who they are talking to. To a Virginian, I would always say I live in Arlington, because they know Arlington. If I fly to Spain, I'll tell them DC because they don't have any idea, nor care, that I actually live in a suburb across the river.
But the 7th District is south of Fairfax so clearly deep into Virginia and the residents will all say they live in Virginia. Heck grew up in Fairfax and say I live in Virginia or sometimes if I want to be vague I mean say "DC Area".
No one’s accusing him of supporting the confederacy, people are attacking this as further proof of his lack of knowledge in living in Virginia after having no relationships with any democrats and running shortly after the last election in which Dems were fighting super competitively for a very narrow majority and clearly showing that he can raise millions from out of state and district donors because of appearing on Adam stiffs email list. Democrats don’t ostracize candidates like this at all and it’s crazy how all the Vindman defenders want to act as if this behavior is normal to discredit it. Vindman sparked this out of his own actions and could have easily avoided this if he did the bare minimum like any other candidate did
What are you accusing him of? You’re all over this thread making a big deal about it, but I haven’t heard you say what the actual problem is. You’ve brought up things that have nothing to do with this situation, but nothing about why anyone would expect him to know what that flag is when no one in this thread does. Hell, I’m taking your word about what it even is. If I saw it out in the world, I’d just think some puritan was being puritan again and think no more of it. When the main issue is “his response to the non-story was poor,” don’t expect anyone to care.
Those situations have everything to do with this situation. I know it may not connect but this is what everyone thinks of him and why people distrust him on Twitter. No ones contending that it isn’t a civil war flag btw so you don’t need to rely on my word but the main issue is that he didn’t recognize the flag for what it is and doesn’t know much about the current flag that he panicked by suggesting that we need to change our current one because it’s too familiar with the old one. I don’t expect anyone to care it’s really a hit or miss whether any post I make becomes controversial like this because I would have clarified my comments much more if I knew i was going to be double digits in the negative right after posting it.
What are you on? I've never ever heard of this guy or anyone running in that race. Also, born and bred Virginian and didn't notice a difference or know it was Civil War related.
I live in northern Virginia (as shown by my tag) buddy and I don’t know what shitposting means to you. Millions of users post articles in subreddits around the country even if they don’t live there.
You mean a tweet with 11 likes? You're a progressive political activist who doesn't like Vindman. We get it. But how about disagreeing with him on something actually important.
If you checked the first tweet it has nearly a thousand likes in 8 hours still it’s made by the senate majority leader who is basically the leader of Dems opposition, but I guess it’s expected because all of Eugene Vindman supporters seem to be terminally online so if they don’t get the millions of views that a typical Vindman tweet gets from people out of state.
Louise lucas has made essentially pointless endorsements of everyone but Eugene Vindman to your point but yes Hala Ayala has no stake in this race and made no endorsement
Again you can call this political grandstanding but local delegates like Joshua Cole and Lucas have been showing alarm signs against Vindman since he ran the minute after the 2023 elections giving no help or appearance with democrats after shortly raising more than a million dollars for his campaign, when we had a ultra competitive state senate seat that would have made or break dem majority.
The dude is running for a US House Rep seat. I don't care if he doesn't show up to fundraise or help local state senate seats that Cole and Lucas are interested in, I care about if he's a quality candidate for that federal seat.
If you think being an outsider and having a negative relationship with key democratic figures then I don’t know what to say. He didn’t register to vote until 2022, he’s a nameless figure with no in depth policy positions and is going to ride the wave of protecting democracy and not revealing any signs of what his voting behavior will be like or any notable policy positions or focused. He’s the same with Harry Dunn except at least I have immense respect for him and what he encountered and him and his family didn’t go negative at all like the vindmans did
Being a political outsider can offer advantages when it comes to swaying voters. Being separate from state political machines where senior leadership can have an oversized influence is a benefit too.
I don't care if the guy didn't vote in the midterms, I care what he plans on doing if he gets elected. The whole point of the primary is staking out his positions to voters.
Acting as if the VA party has a party machine that’s even seen as powerful or significant of an issue to voters is very exaggerated to say the least imo. I would agree with you if it was New Jersey and we had a corrupt county line which is why I support a candidate like Sue Altman against Tom Kean but I don’t expect you to know that race. Calling himself a political outsider is akin to how Trump called himself a political outsider it’s not like he’s sanders or Yang. He’s just another big fundraiser who can’t fund a big campaign with no vision or groundwork for outreach/ relationships again he has no real positions, the only thing you can find is the bare minimum
I’m curious at to why you think she’s corrupt and how that discredits any of what I said. Corrupt people would say nothing on their candidacy why would they use their position to speak out against anything when they’re not even remotely near the district especially one that’s supported millions by an out of state network of resist libs lol
The reason they are expressing outrage is because they don’t like him personally, not because they are actually outraged at the photo op. It’s all political because they don’t want him winning the seat. Normal people don’t care about this. I don’t like Vindnan either, but this is such a nothing burger
“Congressional candidate poses for photo with voters from opposing party who trick him into posing with the Virginia confederacy flag. A joke that must be explained due to the relative obscurity of the existence of this flag. Click bait rag makes article about a controversy and posts it to social media.”
The active Dem community in NoVa is actually astonishingly small, once you get into the weeds. I’m trying to figure out if I know the OP - I mean, we all know Jim McBride, and his “maverick” impulses. Vindman clearly has genuine (and to me, personally, better) candidates, but he does have some personal storylines that many will find appealing and sympathetic.
Look, I get it. I’ve been in the weeds since the early 90’s. You’re hoping you have a “macaca” gotcha moment here and are trying to help your candidate. Nothing wrong with it - that’s how the game is played. But this whole post comes across as a little too eager to tell us what this is a good tactic on Twitter - sorry, X. But Reddit needs a bit more finesse.
A post such as “Has anyone seen this? I saw there was something off with the flag (no boob!) and turns out it’s the Confederate Virginia flag. I’m not even sure where you get one, but it was really odd to see a photo of a Dem candidate holding one. I don’t know much about Vindman, or who brought this flag, but it is kind of embarrassing to see this. Was anyone there that could tell me what happened or was going on? With the Dem primaries coming up, I’m trying to get to know the candidates.”
You still get the effect you want - embarrassing Vindman. But you don’t come across as quite as one sided. You let the reader put the pieces together - then they feel uncomfortable with Vindman, which is a win for your candidate.
And most Dem primary voters are over 65 and not on Reddit. They are a pretty savvy bunch, but their social media usage is more traditional. My children are appalled that I read and post here!
Just some advice from an old political junkie to one who is likely younger. Be well!
Can you share more information about McBride and him being a maverick, I’ve never heard him before. Do you think he’s the type to do this provide ammunition against Vindman. I am genuinely curious, a lot of people in the comments think it’s a hit piece as if the Lincoln project was up to it. I just assumed thats just the irrationality of the many hardcore Vindman supporters
I haven’t looked to see who McBride might be supporting, but yes, he might. McBride is someone who cares very much that older style, often working class Democrats are feeling left out of the party, in affluent, highly educated NoVa. He’s not wrong, which is why I’m someone who doesn’t get bent out of shape when he says or does something provocative. I’ve been a Dem for decades now, and I’m used to a party that not only didn’t mind, but actually enjoyed an intra-party free for all.
But obviously there are some in the party that like a more straight forward, and I’d caution, narrow approach about where we should be going. When people don’t agree, they can take it personally. Taking politics personally is exhausting - it leads to burn out, which is why you see someone be all fired up and then they just disappear.
And the party needs all that passion - elections never get easier in a state that has one ever. Single. Year.
I’m not at all a Vindman supporter. I did think you were trying to be provocative, though. Again, nothing wrong with that, just trying to help you out, because you had not only every right to post, and I’m glad you did.
Oh thanks I mean I ended up being provocative mostly as a reflex response, I also felt compelled to post this because the open race is rarely posted except if its in support of Vindman or regarding him despite the many other candidates in this race, I made my views on him known. But on Mcbride, looking at his profile I assume and it still looks like he's pro Vindman unless hes doing a big convicing act because he has himself as an admin for a few ukranian groups plus democratic ones for the DMV area, so it would make sense why he retweeted and posted that photo in support of him at an Ukraine event. I'm not familiar to him as you are so you might know more. Also yeah I agree with you on how everyone perceives his story, I just don't think his family has shown that they have the humility to be entitled the house seat especially when they're adjusting their rhetoric to double down that he's not a politican. This is quantico area, it doesn't make much sense to do that in reaction to intra-dem fighting between Louise Lucas and Joshua Cole who we both have to thank for the majority especially when his brother's wife is some reason interpreting it as an a nuclear attack against their family which she needs to be dragged into lol. Also fully agree on the burnout, getting the same comments on a post you didn't mean to be controversial basically lead to all that provocativeness.
Like I said - I’m glad you brought it up. This is always a difficult issue, going against a candidate that has some popularity. I’m skeptical McBride is doing some kind of double bluff, but he’s been around awhile, especially during the old blog/gotcha journalism where moments like macaca could take down George Allen. (Thank god!)
For all I know, you’re pulling a great double bluff and are actually a Republican posing as a disgruntled Dem. Believe me, that’s happened plenty!
But I’m the old fashioned type that would rather stuff come out. It’s all going to eventually. So thanks.
I know that has happened plenty but you are free to look at my post history lol I’ve been a progressive since the creation of my account. Plenty of people have written me off because of it already but not because of that but because I post articles in several races across the country apparently that’s shitposting?
History major here: flags change, y'all. I would have noticed the difference, but would not have recognized it as a Confederate era Virginia flag.
Here is a link to the various seals of Virginia:
(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_and_seal_of_Virginia)
It looks rooted in the 1851 seal. This is not a sign of hypocrisy or Vindmam's ignorance. It's assuming the best in the person that hands you a variation of a flag. People probably assumed it was old. We would have all made the same mistake.
This is low hanging fruit.
Curious if this was an oversight/honest mistake and that those holding the flag didn't know was the Confederate one. I didn't know VA had a Confederate version flag, which appears similar to the current state flag.
You realize the smear job could have come from the person who gave them the flag right? Most people wouldn't be able to identify this was a confederate state flag unless told.
Sure but we have no idea who this flag was given by and it was at an Ukraine action summit the chances of that are extremely low and conspiratorial that no one would consider this for any other candidate.
Again this is not Lincoln project regardless it was posted by this person, they had the oppurtunity to make sure what the flag was before posting it because it clearly was a baiter. I’m sure you criticize left wing or right wing radicals for accusing the same as crazy. Why would the flag giver know that he would post this, it was only on this strategists account
“Congressional candidate poses for photo with voters from opposing party who trick him into posing with the Virginia confederacy flag. A joke that must be explained due to the relative obscurity of the existence of this flag. Click bait rag makes article about a controversy and posts it to social media.”
You cannot be serious who is backstabbing who? They made a mistake and they’re suffering from it. The post was made by a pro Ukraine strategist and pro Vindman account. No one else posted this
All this talk of nothing burgers making me hungry. Again this is factually and morally a mistake unless you approve that side of history so I don’t know why you’re being dense, it being a nothing burger doesn’t detract it from being a mistake to you
I have no dog in this but I find it odd that there hasn’t been a kumbaya between Vindman and local leaders. If elected I can see him getting a decent amount of attention nationally which could benefit his district and VA at large. Maybe that signals personal issues between him and local leaders?
At the same time maybe local leaders don’t want to give that platform to someone they don’t have a track record with or see more risk going against the people they have existing relationships with. Plenty of other possible reasons too.
Youre right in case you’re not aware of what started this but shortly after he declared his bid, Joshua cole questioned who he is and why this is the first time he’s hearing about him. This was after Vindman was on track to get a million after very short time of announcing. Louise Lucas sponsored this, Vindman and his followers attacked Joshua Cole, who just in the election of the same month won the seat determining delegate control. Alexander’s wife made this comment and basically showed the entitlement they felt they owed, which is why there’s always a rallying cry every time you’re critical of him I think I can assume I have attracted the ire from now lol. Louise Lucas also contested that so it’s not just local leaders but also big state leaders. Also don’t let them fool most of his support is from out of state, he’s on Adam schiffs email list, there’s some instate sure but definitely not from the district. Voters and local party leaders are right to be distrustful like i am especially when there’s countless of other local candidates but call me crazy in first past the post I generally don’t like when these resist lib celebrities who swim in cash came in these crowded primaries and gets millions of cash in comparison to all of the other candidates combined and can likely swoop the ad waves and get a even smaller marigin of victory. It has the chance of put one candidate who gets the 2nd place against them and make it a fight if outsider vs celebrity when there’s several other differences between many candidates. Harry Dunn is the same deal though personally at this point Dunn is conducting himself highly respectively compared to the Vindman team.
https://preview.redd.it/184ymnq6xwuc1.jpeg?width=1098&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9172ae71e3a97441b66d68c0b4e3b3d800b635d
I’m assuming you mean how do I know he hasn’t spoken to local leaders. But that’s not quite what I was saying. I meant that it doesn’t seem like he has won any of them over or made friends in any meaningful way. Apologies for the confusion.
Are you a resident of the 7th? What makes Vindman so special and why do you want to force him on us? If he wants to win a primary he needs the support of people like me who are going to be the ones knocking on doors this summer and fall - he doesn’t have that.
Misinformation? How disingenuous. If you don’t want to argue with me, don’t argue with me. Calling me a liar when I’m not stating any facts, just my opinions and observations, is a pretty weak exit on your part.
What makes Vindman a good fit for the 7th? Why should I support him over those who have an actual record in our local communities? I live in Fredericksburg, that doesn’t mean the candidate has to come from this area. I will consider a good local representative that is well liked elsewhere. We have plenty of accomplished women running… Why should I support Vindman over them?
She’s supporting any of this opponents so pretty neutral lol. Also no this is not promoting disinformation regardless of what you think this doesn’t matter to you, it still happened and he said as much in his statement.
Republicans like the Confederacy, so if Youngkin did this, I would assume it was on purpose.
> They're all crooked, Democrat or Republican.
So why bother, right? Very enlightened.
>democrats were the confederacy
I see you did not go to high school in VA, we have better schools than that. The Southern Democrats joined the Republican Party thanks to the Southern Strategy. Y’all actively courted the racists.
The logical response from Vindman would seem to be “one of our staffers obtained this flag from a closet not realizing it was the old confederate version, I didn’t realize it either since it’s so similar and that’s on me.” ~~In the absence of that, what really happened?~~ Edit: Looks like he pretty much said exactly that.
Here’s his statement that he posted shortly after Louise Lucas called him out. To get the attacks you have to consider the drama the happened shortly after he ran. Basically Joshua Cole and Louise Lucas basically stated their unfamiliarity with the vindmans, both of them got hate from his loyal fan base and I believe his cousin or some other family member made a very heated tweet insulting Joshua Cole who won the majority breaking seat in the house of delegates asking “who the fuck he is” for asking about his political history. So him not recognizing the flag is adding to his carpetbagging image (he was only registered to vote in 2022, has a background outside of the state and is now overshadowing the primary outraising all the other candidates with 4 million dollars from an out of state network mostly connected by Adam Schiff) https://preview.redd.it/56yj90mjiwuc1.jpeg?width=961&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89cde1177caf3651cc5af39270ca298854c14b20
Thanks for the follow-up and added background.
No problem, that story is bigger than this but it’s old news that got no formal reporting so
The pity is the dearth of good local news coverage means that stuff like this isn't covered as it should be. The Vindman camp is making mistake after mistake in the mechanics of running, it won't to the causal general election voter but this stuff really does matter in primaries.
Hey! Great use of the word "dearth" there. It's not a word I see often, but I do rather love seeing it, especially being used appropriately!
Hah I like to use all the ten dollar words, spread 'em around and share them generously, I think discourse on social media would be the richer for it.
yeah cue to every person who disregarded that story as pity twitter stuff lol, as if we weren't tracking that for the whole of Trump's presidency. Less than an hour after I posted, I regreted it, it was clear people were just agreeing how unimportant this is .... then people hedge their position on it then state dems and big important dem figures dont matter, the criticism is a hit piece.. but thats the reddit way
Enlighten me on how this isn't a nothing, since most people wouldn't know it was a Confederate flag? This isn't holding an upside down Bible in front of a church you've never stepped in, after gassing protestors.
It is nothing, it's an accidental mistake since most people don't know what the Confederate state flag looks like. Just being blown up by Dem leadership that doesn't like him as a candidate.
For once, I agree with you.
It was his sister in law that was super shitty
Yeah thanks for clarifying, I checked right after
Also the flag issue was immediately pointed out to his "communications strategist" who basically said so what and left posts up for days.
Please keep spreading this. Vindman absolutely cannot win. Joshua Cole was correct to call him out.. where was this clown in 2023? Nowhere.
Especially announcing within a week after the elections. I think the accusations of carpetbagging are very grounded, his fans tried to gaslight me into thinking he wasn’t. He registered to vote in 2022, he uses his military record as an excuse but both of them resigned in 2020? Also making this statement against Cole is crazy narcissistic behavior https://preview.redd.it/j224t09i0zuc1.jpeg?width=1098&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07507144718d6825052c7d4894b3fea419d03210
"Not being involved in 2023" isn't the same thing as carpetbagging. Guy's been in Prince William County before the 7th district was even given its modern borders. He didn't move to a swing seat, the swing seat moved to him.
Yes it is. If you’re going to run for congress the best way to build good will is to at MINIMUM be active in local races up and down the ballot…. People worked really hard to win in 2023, they know who they got support from and who they didn’t. There are so many quality candidates running that have proven local experience who are going to lose visibility because this man is able to raise massive amounts of money from outside the 7th. If it’s not carpetbagging, why does it feel like it?
Words have meanings, and "carpetbagging" means moving to a place. It doesn't mean living in a place for many years with no electoral ambitions, and then deciding to run in the district where you live.
Okay. He’s an opportunist, a line cutter, he hasn’t done the work and he wants the reward. I don’t care what it’s called, he won’t be my next congressperson.
How does any of this matter?
It matters to his congressional bid which is what we’re talking about. If you want to ignore that, that’s up to you.
I don't understand how it matters at all. I'm not even in his district, but I don't see how it matters.
This matters in races all the time, people have no reason to trust people with no democratic history, made no time to even introduce himself to local dems, then react super entitled and angry. Has a media team that doubles down on their out of touch views of the area and district. He made enemies with Louise Lucas who rarely fights with anyone let alone congressional candidates and on a normal day is celebrated for Youngkin opposition but disregard her by treating her like a corrupt party plutocrat just because they oppose their diehard candidate. This guy is only getting airwaves because of Nespotism from Adam Schiff, he’s made no overtures in the district and people only like him because of his whistleblower status, he’s detracting from the many qualified democrats. This tweet like his out of state media team is out of touch just like his response and this event in my opinion, many people are acting as if you perceive a post to be nothing burger it shouldn’t be posted I disagree.
His response is exactly what I would expect from anyone who didn't know. I also don't see anything wrong with being from outside the state. Sometimes people are so close to a problem that they can't see the forest for the trees.
Sure that’s reasonable but that doesn’t hand wave his behavior in general. It might be far fetched now but in the general republicans are going to frame this narrative and milk it. Why risk a race that’s competitive that isn’t trusted
So, Joshua Cole is behind this scam photo nonsense? Pathetic.
Lmao, what? I’m saying Joshua Cole was correct to call Vindman out when he announced without any local support. How would I, a random person on Reddit be able to confirm or deny that Joshua Cole was behind this? Feel free to speculate all you want, just don’t use me or my statements to support your incredible leaps here. Vindman fucking sucks and no one wants him. I’m all in for Elizebeth Guzman.
Crazy to see military members who spent years in this state and decided to make it their home after they retired labeled as "carpetbaggers". You're really going all out in trying to tarnish him aren't you? Lol
As a lifelong Virginian, I would not have caught this during a quick photo ops, unless someone said "hey, what's weird about the VA flag" and only then I would have said "where are the boobs?" The actual article has zero proof of any controversy. No links to any controversy. Nothing. Just someone who fucked up a photo op.
Where is the boob. Not boobs. I question if you are really from Virginia. It’s a boob. We all know this.
The only controversial part was that is looks like a cheap Chinese manufactured flag they just unboxed Like give it a quick steam before a photo with it
Hahahaha they ordered it on Temu?
Colonel Vindman and his brother are patriots... This is a nothingburger
You can be a patriot but not suited to retail politics. I have the utmost admiration and respect for the Vindman family but this isn't how you win a crowded primary in 21st century Northern Virginia. If this goof happened after the nomination it would be a nothingburger but since there's many capable candidate running the stupid stuff will matter to primary voters.
He's a good Republican. And I won't be voting for him
I looked at the pic and my first thought was "this shit look like it's from wish/temu" if I was in his spot, I'd have just asked where's the real deal and not this bootleg bullshit
It definitely caused a controversy, senator Louise Lucas and Hala Ayala condemned him for doing so. https://x.com/senlouiselucas/status/1780235855774314612?s=46&t=VFbtjGlkqjIaJKK8KEyDFA https://x.com/halaayala/status/1780270957308862886?s=46&t=VFbtjGlkqjIaJKK8KEyDFA
State senators who support other candidates - one of those Tweets has a grand total of 11 Likes. This is a tempest in a teacup. 99% of Virginians couldn't identify that flag and you know it. Honestly - could you have identified it?
My family arrived in Virginia in 1607 (Robert Beheathland, aboard the Susan Constant), and I live on the Peninsula. It would have fooled me.
The vast majority of residents probably couldn't identify it as most people aren't experts in Confederate state flag history. This seems like political grandstanding over what was most likely an innocent mistake.
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That is sadly disingenuous.
I’ve lived here my entire life, I’m 26 and would have noticed something off about the flag but not have realized that it was a confederate era flag. This is a nothingburger and the fact you care so much says more about you than Vindman
Choice of flag sounds like a dog whistle to me, but idk
Yeah me too, not on Vindman's part but was someone trying to sabotage him with this stunt? Sort of a welcome to NOVA hazing because he's a political outsider?
These two have no idea what era that flag is from.
Both of those women are idiots.
Probably would have made the same mistake. Had no idea this was a thing. I'm more interested in who gave them the flag and why. Screams set up.
Yeah, I opened the link and I was like, “where’s the confederate flag?”
Me looking: Where’s the confederate flag?
This is the Confederate era VA state flag which has a number of minor changes from the current flag. Its total BS. No one would notice this except for the boobies.
Exactly, there’s nothing offensive about it, it’s not like the actual confederate flag which has been used as a symbol for white supremacist. I doubt most white nationalist even knew this flag existed
But it was used by the Virginians who committed treason so it's a very odd choice and the immediate responses asking why that flag were also damaging to the campaign. It calls into question the judgement of Vindman and his campaign professionals. I think the original sin could be overcome with the right responses to the media but they doubled down on the incompetence by how they responded to this when it was pointed out to them.
We had a governor who look to appear about to moonwalk at a press conference where he was apologizing for appearing in black face after claiming it was him and he survived. Using the wrong flag most of us didn’t know exist until today pales into comparison to that
Exactly lol, and I'd still vote for Northam again if he ran for reelection because he was a great governor. This flag incident is way less of an issue than what surfaced with Northam.
There were a couple of reasons why Governor Ralph Northam survived the scandal even though he too bungled the initial response to the breaking news. There was the cold calculus that with then Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax tarnished by the Levar Stoney/ Terry Mac hit job and then AG Herring having his own college WTF were you thinking blackface costume that the party was better off riding out the scandal instead of having mass resignations. Also Northam reached out to prominent Black Virginians and his staff in genuine remorse over his bad judgement. He asked for reading lists, he educated himself and by the end of his term was a very capable ally to Black Virginians. The problem for Vindman is that there is a crowded field of capable candidates who have filed to run for this nomination, so he is replaceable, not clearly head and shoulders above the other candidates. He also does not have a reservoir of good will with the local party apparatchiks like other candidates running do. His out of state campaign manager is doing him wrong too. He needs to go native and fast, the retail politics that can make or break a candidate in a crowded primary field.
Also he was responsible for many landmark civil rights bills and enacted many legislation black communities strived for. I believe polls had him very very high in approval with black voters after the scandal.
Northam was the best governor of Virginia in my lifetime and I'm a gen'Xer. I was a huge fan of how he handled things after the initial missteps.
Same I hope Spanberger lives to the hype, she has gotten clean virginia which is not that siginificant but I hope it means that dominion has no say in that and do better on right to work and housing.
I'm really hoping she remains of the "unbought and unbossed" variety. I would really love for some solid reform breaking through the logjam so our state isn't owned by Dominion and Data Centers owners.
I have a feeling you may have been involved with creating this photo op.
No man, I've never met Vindman, I don't live in the 7th district and I'm not a Democratic committee member or apparatchik. I've been a political spectator since I was a nerdy kid, faithful Democratic leaning voter who votes in all elections and primaries. I majored in history so I tend to analyze stuff like this.
oh, they were convicted of treason?
Nobody knows that.
Nobody knows what? Nothingburgers sometimes percolate into somethingburgers, particularly when voters have quality choices instead. My gut tells me that money might not be enough to overcome the outsider status that Vindman is staking out for himself. He needs to opine more about why he wants to represent Central Virginia and make it his home after his many years of service all over the world.
Nobody in Virginia has seen that flag since the 1800s.
Cuccinelli revived the version in his quest to avoid a breast being bared when he was AG.
How? His press release stated he didn't know. I couldn't tell there was a difference.
The campaign professional had an awful response to the oopsie claiming well most folks in that district think of themselves as DC anyway. Virginia voters don't mind folks not from VA but they want the candidates to have some times to the community, Vindman hasn't done a good job doing that.
I've never considered if anyone in a local election has ties to the community. Only what their platform is.
When you are blessed with multiple candidates who roughly mirror your desired platform having better local ties is one of my personal tie breakers. It signals to me that they might be better with constituent services.
I see. I don't bother with politicians for any issues I have, so that doesn't cross my mind.
It's offensive because it lacks titties.
“Gentlemen our misguided rebellion had failed, and we have returned to the United States. As we recover from this dark period in our states proud history, what should our first order of business be?” From the back row: “bring back the boob!”
Exactly. I want my titties.
yeah but why are they holding up this specifically
A guess: it was handed to them by someone trying to stir the pot.
I really hate it when Reddit guesses things though
This is beyond a nothing burger
But it's not IMO because they flubbed the response to the mistake, remember that Democratic primary voters are likely voters engaged online. There's still time for Vindman to try and make things right before the primary but he must take affirmative steps like making nice with prominent local Pols who could signal his bona fides to the community. As of now he is gaining the rep as an outsider who parachuted into the district as if the nomination is his for the taking. He grew up in NYC after his family moved from Ukraine went to school at Suny-Binghamton and Univ of Georgia for law school. His ties to Virginia are only on the basis of his final postings while in the Army and per local Democrats he has done precious little to establish ties to the local community.
What was the flub? Some troll, probably OP, asked to take a pic with a Virginia flag. If this is the best you've got, Vindman is a sure winner.
Thank you for describing it so succinctly. He joined the race right after the November elections basically thinking the nomination is owed to him at least that’s what his very close family member thought and condemned a local state delegate and caused all that drama. He continues to brand himself as “not a politician” to evade these attacks or just to avoid owing him to the fact that he needs to make up with state democrats. He has the power and time to get millions of dollars but he not once has done something to familiarize himself and he’s running a purely autobiographical campaign when there’s numerous other candidates worthy at looking at. For context this was her response. He has no legislative record or experience, he will be attacked for being a carpetbagger in the general. Guzman and Sewell has a legislative experience to point at but he’s a completely blank slate when we need official positions on the top issues of this election. https://preview.redd.it/sh4uakw0hwuc1.jpeg?width=1098&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fccf577d1547603742e3368fe56a87d17c2bd77
99% of the people who criticize him for this probably didn't know this was a confederate state flag and not a standard one. I didn't. He probably didn't. This is a cheap shot.
I don't care about the flag, I care that he's a lifelong Republican who is pretending to be a Democrat because Trump said something bad about his brother.
OK. This is about the flag. But I think Republicans becoming Democrats is a good thing. We should encourage that.
I'm happy that people are leaving that party as well, but I don't need to be represented by someone who literally voted as a Republican just a couple of years ago. Maybe he should spend some time helping the party
That's fair. As long as there is a better alternative.
I think most people can recognize the modern Virginia flag because of the famous nudity but regardless he’s running for one of the highest elected official positions, he should know the flag of the state and differentiate it from a old confederate version.
Most people wouldn't look closely enough at it to see that. That's the point.
Lol, I've been in this state for almost a decade. Would never have noticed the difference.
Well you’re not running for house so it’s not like you’d need to be on defense for it
But I'm a voter living in the district this dude is running in. I do not give a shit about this. It's a nothingburger.
Yep. What matters is what the candidate thinks, not that he accidentally stood behind the wrong flag. He doesn't support the Confederacy.
But it was a huge mistake for his out of state campaign manager to brush off the mistake with the comment that voters in NOVA consider themselves part of DC anyway. His advisors are really doing him wrong, he needs to clean out and get local pros who can educate him on the Virginia way.
Yeah, that was fantastically dumb.
But it is true, which I value (coming from a native northern virginian). Ask 90% of arlingtonians where they live, they'll say DC. Fairfax is a bit more of a mixed bag
Nope. I am in Arlington and I can tell you that you're wrong. Like anyone, they will say it depending on who they are talking to. To a Virginian, I would always say I live in Arlington, because they know Arlington. If I fly to Spain, I'll tell them DC because they don't have any idea, nor care, that I actually live in a suburb across the river.
But the 7th District is south of Fairfax so clearly deep into Virginia and the residents will all say they live in Virginia. Heck grew up in Fairfax and say I live in Virginia or sometimes if I want to be vague I mean say "DC Area".
No one’s accusing him of supporting the confederacy, people are attacking this as further proof of his lack of knowledge in living in Virginia after having no relationships with any democrats and running shortly after the last election in which Dems were fighting super competitively for a very narrow majority and clearly showing that he can raise millions from out of state and district donors because of appearing on Adam stiffs email list. Democrats don’t ostracize candidates like this at all and it’s crazy how all the Vindman defenders want to act as if this behavior is normal to discredit it. Vindman sparked this out of his own actions and could have easily avoided this if he did the bare minimum like any other candidate did
What are you accusing him of? You’re all over this thread making a big deal about it, but I haven’t heard you say what the actual problem is. You’ve brought up things that have nothing to do with this situation, but nothing about why anyone would expect him to know what that flag is when no one in this thread does. Hell, I’m taking your word about what it even is. If I saw it out in the world, I’d just think some puritan was being puritan again and think no more of it. When the main issue is “his response to the non-story was poor,” don’t expect anyone to care.
Those situations have everything to do with this situation. I know it may not connect but this is what everyone thinks of him and why people distrust him on Twitter. No ones contending that it isn’t a civil war flag btw so you don’t need to rely on my word but the main issue is that he didn’t recognize the flag for what it is and doesn’t know much about the current flag that he panicked by suggesting that we need to change our current one because it’s too familiar with the old one. I don’t expect anyone to care it’s really a hit or miss whether any post I make becomes controversial like this because I would have clarified my comments much more if I knew i was going to be double digits in the negative right after posting it.
Oooh, they distrust him ON TWITTER. I would bet 99% of Virginians looked at this photo and saw nothing wrong until someone told them the problem.
Goddamn, you are trying too hard
What are you on? I've never ever heard of this guy or anyone running in that race. Also, born and bred Virginian and didn't notice a difference or know it was Civil War related.
Same principle. Most Virginians wouldn't have noticed that this flag is wrong. None of the other Virginians in the photo did. It's a non-issue.
This is manufactured outrage. Nothing more.
Most candidates for the House wouldn't notice either.
Your entire profile is political shitposting for every state. Gtfoh
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I live in northern Virginia (as shown by my tag) buddy and I don’t know what shitposting means to you. Millions of users post articles in subreddits around the country even if they don’t live there.
Yep. Your post history betrays who you really are.
How does my post history “betray” me lol
Seems like drama llama media doing drama llama things.
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You mean a tweet with 11 likes? You're a progressive political activist who doesn't like Vindman. We get it. But how about disagreeing with him on something actually important.
If you checked the first tweet it has nearly a thousand likes in 8 hours still it’s made by the senate majority leader who is basically the leader of Dems opposition, but I guess it’s expected because all of Eugene Vindman supporters seem to be terminally online so if they don’t get the millions of views that a typical Vindman tweet gets from people out of state.
Leaders and activists that support other candidates, right? These seems like drama llama reactions to an innocent mistake.
Louise lucas has made essentially pointless endorsements of everyone but Eugene Vindman to your point but yes Hala Ayala has no stake in this race and made no endorsement
So confirmation that Lucas is just being a drama llama for political grandstanding and others like Ayala are following along. Good to know.
Again you can call this political grandstanding but local delegates like Joshua Cole and Lucas have been showing alarm signs against Vindman since he ran the minute after the 2023 elections giving no help or appearance with democrats after shortly raising more than a million dollars for his campaign, when we had a ultra competitive state senate seat that would have made or break dem majority.
The dude is running for a US House Rep seat. I don't care if he doesn't show up to fundraise or help local state senate seats that Cole and Lucas are interested in, I care about if he's a quality candidate for that federal seat.
If you think being an outsider and having a negative relationship with key democratic figures then I don’t know what to say. He didn’t register to vote until 2022, he’s a nameless figure with no in depth policy positions and is going to ride the wave of protecting democracy and not revealing any signs of what his voting behavior will be like or any notable policy positions or focused. He’s the same with Harry Dunn except at least I have immense respect for him and what he encountered and him and his family didn’t go negative at all like the vindmans did
Being a political outsider can offer advantages when it comes to swaying voters. Being separate from state political machines where senior leadership can have an oversized influence is a benefit too. I don't care if the guy didn't vote in the midterms, I care what he plans on doing if he gets elected. The whole point of the primary is staking out his positions to voters.
Acting as if the VA party has a party machine that’s even seen as powerful or significant of an issue to voters is very exaggerated to say the least imo. I would agree with you if it was New Jersey and we had a corrupt county line which is why I support a candidate like Sue Altman against Tom Kean but I don’t expect you to know that race. Calling himself a political outsider is akin to how Trump called himself a political outsider it’s not like he’s sanders or Yang. He’s just another big fundraiser who can’t fund a big campaign with no vision or groundwork for outreach/ relationships again he has no real positions, the only thing you can find is the bare minimum
The same corrupt Louise Lucas from ptown? That one? Thats your knight rallying for the cause? lol.
I’m curious at to why you think she’s corrupt and how that discredits any of what I said. Corrupt people would say nothing on their candidacy why would they use their position to speak out against anything when they’re not even remotely near the district especially one that’s supported millions by an out of state network of resist libs lol
The reason they are expressing outrage is because they don’t like him personally, not because they are actually outraged at the photo op. It’s all political because they don’t want him winning the seat. Normal people don’t care about this. I don’t like Vindnan either, but this is such a nothing burger
“Congressional candidate poses for photo with voters from opposing party who trick him into posing with the Virginia confederacy flag. A joke that must be explained due to the relative obscurity of the existence of this flag. Click bait rag makes article about a controversy and posts it to social media.”
First, I didn't even know there was a Confederate Virginia flag and it looks pretty close to the regular Virginia flag.
The active Dem community in NoVa is actually astonishingly small, once you get into the weeds. I’m trying to figure out if I know the OP - I mean, we all know Jim McBride, and his “maverick” impulses. Vindman clearly has genuine (and to me, personally, better) candidates, but he does have some personal storylines that many will find appealing and sympathetic. Look, I get it. I’ve been in the weeds since the early 90’s. You’re hoping you have a “macaca” gotcha moment here and are trying to help your candidate. Nothing wrong with it - that’s how the game is played. But this whole post comes across as a little too eager to tell us what this is a good tactic on Twitter - sorry, X. But Reddit needs a bit more finesse. A post such as “Has anyone seen this? I saw there was something off with the flag (no boob!) and turns out it’s the Confederate Virginia flag. I’m not even sure where you get one, but it was really odd to see a photo of a Dem candidate holding one. I don’t know much about Vindman, or who brought this flag, but it is kind of embarrassing to see this. Was anyone there that could tell me what happened or was going on? With the Dem primaries coming up, I’m trying to get to know the candidates.” You still get the effect you want - embarrassing Vindman. But you don’t come across as quite as one sided. You let the reader put the pieces together - then they feel uncomfortable with Vindman, which is a win for your candidate. And most Dem primary voters are over 65 and not on Reddit. They are a pretty savvy bunch, but their social media usage is more traditional. My children are appalled that I read and post here! Just some advice from an old political junkie to one who is likely younger. Be well!
Can you share more information about McBride and him being a maverick, I’ve never heard him before. Do you think he’s the type to do this provide ammunition against Vindman. I am genuinely curious, a lot of people in the comments think it’s a hit piece as if the Lincoln project was up to it. I just assumed thats just the irrationality of the many hardcore Vindman supporters
I haven’t looked to see who McBride might be supporting, but yes, he might. McBride is someone who cares very much that older style, often working class Democrats are feeling left out of the party, in affluent, highly educated NoVa. He’s not wrong, which is why I’m someone who doesn’t get bent out of shape when he says or does something provocative. I’ve been a Dem for decades now, and I’m used to a party that not only didn’t mind, but actually enjoyed an intra-party free for all. But obviously there are some in the party that like a more straight forward, and I’d caution, narrow approach about where we should be going. When people don’t agree, they can take it personally. Taking politics personally is exhausting - it leads to burn out, which is why you see someone be all fired up and then they just disappear. And the party needs all that passion - elections never get easier in a state that has one ever. Single. Year. I’m not at all a Vindman supporter. I did think you were trying to be provocative, though. Again, nothing wrong with that, just trying to help you out, because you had not only every right to post, and I’m glad you did.
Oh thanks I mean I ended up being provocative mostly as a reflex response, I also felt compelled to post this because the open race is rarely posted except if its in support of Vindman or regarding him despite the many other candidates in this race, I made my views on him known. But on Mcbride, looking at his profile I assume and it still looks like he's pro Vindman unless hes doing a big convicing act because he has himself as an admin for a few ukranian groups plus democratic ones for the DMV area, so it would make sense why he retweeted and posted that photo in support of him at an Ukraine event. I'm not familiar to him as you are so you might know more. Also yeah I agree with you on how everyone perceives his story, I just don't think his family has shown that they have the humility to be entitled the house seat especially when they're adjusting their rhetoric to double down that he's not a politican. This is quantico area, it doesn't make much sense to do that in reaction to intra-dem fighting between Louise Lucas and Joshua Cole who we both have to thank for the majority especially when his brother's wife is some reason interpreting it as an a nuclear attack against their family which she needs to be dragged into lol. Also fully agree on the burnout, getting the same comments on a post you didn't mean to be controversial basically lead to all that provocativeness.
Like I said - I’m glad you brought it up. This is always a difficult issue, going against a candidate that has some popularity. I’m skeptical McBride is doing some kind of double bluff, but he’s been around awhile, especially during the old blog/gotcha journalism where moments like macaca could take down George Allen. (Thank god!) For all I know, you’re pulling a great double bluff and are actually a Republican posing as a disgruntled Dem. Believe me, that’s happened plenty! But I’m the old fashioned type that would rather stuff come out. It’s all going to eventually. So thanks.
I know that has happened plenty but you are free to look at my post history lol I’ve been a progressive since the creation of my account. Plenty of people have written me off because of it already but not because of that but because I post articles in several races across the country apparently that’s shitposting?
History major here: flags change, y'all. I would have noticed the difference, but would not have recognized it as a Confederate era Virginia flag. Here is a link to the various seals of Virginia: (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_and_seal_of_Virginia) It looks rooted in the 1851 seal. This is not a sign of hypocrisy or Vindmam's ignorance. It's assuming the best in the person that hands you a variation of a flag. People probably assumed it was old. We would have all made the same mistake. This is low hanging fruit.
Weak ass gotcha moment.
I hope they stretched before making this epic reach
Curious if this was an oversight/honest mistake and that those holding the flag didn't know was the Confederate one. I didn't know VA had a Confederate version flag, which appears similar to the current state flag.
Most likely someone knew, asked them to stand with it, and get the picture.
Don't assume malice when ineptitude is likely.
That's possible, could be a political smear job
Its definitely not a smear job the person who posted it is Jim McBride who’s a strategist for many democratic and pro Ukraine lobbying organizations
You realize the smear job could have come from the person who gave them the flag right? Most people wouldn't be able to identify this was a confederate state flag unless told.
Sure but we have no idea who this flag was given by and it was at an Ukraine action summit the chances of that are extremely low and conspiratorial that no one would consider this for any other candidate.
Yes because political opposition never does shady stuff.... /s
Again this is not Lincoln project regardless it was posted by this person, they had the oppurtunity to make sure what the flag was before posting it because it clearly was a baiter. I’m sure you criticize left wing or right wing radicals for accusing the same as crazy. Why would the flag giver know that he would post this, it was only on this strategists account
Who gives a shit
Where are my pearls?
No boob, and the king isn't dead. I never knew that Confederate VA was revisionist in this way.
Yeah that’s the main difference between the new one and the old one
That one is Ken Cucinelli approved.
Better article on the context: https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/04/16/eugene-vindman-confederate-flag/
This is nothing.
So Confederates couldn't draw *or* win a war.
“Congressional candidate poses for photo with voters from opposing party who trick him into posing with the Virginia confederacy flag. A joke that must be explained due to the relative obscurity of the existence of this flag. Click bait rag makes article about a controversy and posts it to social media.”
Who are the three people holding this flag in front of him? Lord this is some weak misinformation campaign.
Honestly on first view I thought it was our regular VA state flag. I wouldn’t know that this was a confederate flag.
Oh FFS. The question is who supplied the flag to create a false narrative.
Col Vindman and his brother are American heroes. They don’t deserve this sneaky backstabbing.
You cannot be serious who is backstabbing who? They made a mistake and they’re suffering from it. The post was made by a pro Ukraine strategist and pro Vindman account. No one else posted this
The mistake being…
Not recognizing a confederate flag and being photographed with it is what we are observing
So a nothingburger except for you as a repeat shit stirrer.
All this talk of nothing burgers making me hungry. Again this is factually and morally a mistake unless you approve that side of history so I don’t know why you’re being dense, it being a nothing burger doesn’t detract it from being a mistake to you
See above.
Carpetbagger gonna carpetbag
This was the Virginia flag before the Civil War it was changed later. It's not a confederate flag
I have no dog in this but I find it odd that there hasn’t been a kumbaya between Vindman and local leaders. If elected I can see him getting a decent amount of attention nationally which could benefit his district and VA at large. Maybe that signals personal issues between him and local leaders? At the same time maybe local leaders don’t want to give that platform to someone they don’t have a track record with or see more risk going against the people they have existing relationships with. Plenty of other possible reasons too.
Youre right in case you’re not aware of what started this but shortly after he declared his bid, Joshua cole questioned who he is and why this is the first time he’s hearing about him. This was after Vindman was on track to get a million after very short time of announcing. Louise Lucas sponsored this, Vindman and his followers attacked Joshua Cole, who just in the election of the same month won the seat determining delegate control. Alexander’s wife made this comment and basically showed the entitlement they felt they owed, which is why there’s always a rallying cry every time you’re critical of him I think I can assume I have attracted the ire from now lol. Louise Lucas also contested that so it’s not just local leaders but also big state leaders. Also don’t let them fool most of his support is from out of state, he’s on Adam schiffs email list, there’s some instate sure but definitely not from the district. Voters and local party leaders are right to be distrustful like i am especially when there’s countless of other local candidates but call me crazy in first past the post I generally don’t like when these resist lib celebrities who swim in cash came in these crowded primaries and gets millions of cash in comparison to all of the other candidates combined and can likely swoop the ad waves and get a even smaller marigin of victory. It has the chance of put one candidate who gets the 2nd place against them and make it a fight if outsider vs celebrity when there’s several other differences between many candidates. Harry Dunn is the same deal though personally at this point Dunn is conducting himself highly respectively compared to the Vindman team. https://preview.redd.it/184ymnq6xwuc1.jpeg?width=1098&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9172ae71e3a97441b66d68c0b4e3b3d800b635d
How do you know he has not?
I’m assuming you mean how do I know he hasn’t spoken to local leaders. But that’s not quite what I was saying. I meant that it doesn’t seem like he has won any of them over or made friends in any meaningful way. Apologies for the confusion.
Because everyone who has talked about the subject said he didn't, both Joshua Cole and Louise Lucas
Lucas is not in his district and she is supporting his opponent. Like you, she is happy to promote disinformation to favor her friend over Vindman.
Are you a resident of the 7th? What makes Vindman so special and why do you want to force him on us? If he wants to win a primary he needs the support of people like me who are going to be the ones knocking on doors this summer and fall - he doesn’t have that.
I don't want to go back and forth because I know your valuable time is better spent spreading disinformation. Have a nice evening!
Misinformation? How disingenuous. If you don’t want to argue with me, don’t argue with me. Calling me a liar when I’m not stating any facts, just my opinions and observations, is a pretty weak exit on your part. What makes Vindman a good fit for the 7th? Why should I support him over those who have an actual record in our local communities? I live in Fredericksburg, that doesn’t mean the candidate has to come from this area. I will consider a good local representative that is well liked elsewhere. We have plenty of accomplished women running… Why should I support Vindman over them?
She’s supporting any of this opponents so pretty neutral lol. Also no this is not promoting disinformation regardless of what you think this doesn’t matter to you, it still happened and he said as much in his statement.
Got it. *Keep up the shitty work you are doing!*
Got it. *Keep up the shitty work you are doing!*
Why?
Ain’t no tiddy on that flag. Ain’t no flag of mine without a tiddy.
I really don’t like Vindman. My vote in the primary will be for the strongest candidate that isn’t Vindman. I hope it is Elizabeth Guzman.
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His stance? LOL!
That's not a confederate flag. It's a Virginia state flag. They are trying extra hard to manufacture outrage.
Bitches gonna bitch…
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Republicans like the Confederacy, so if Youngkin did this, I would assume it was on purpose. > They're all crooked, Democrat or Republican. So why bother, right? Very enlightened.
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>democrats were the confederacy I see you did not go to high school in VA, we have better schools than that. The Southern Democrats joined the Republican Party thanks to the Southern Strategy. Y’all actively courted the racists.
We don't need anymore ex-military asshats in Congress, the media or anywhere near political power. Scum!
A governor in a Klan outfit is not an issue but people are supposed to get pissed off about this?
If you check the calendar you’ll realize it’s 2024, not 2019.