VAL DEMINGS AND HER DRIVING AMBITION

[ancianita]

Val's motto: "Never tire."


Donation page: https://valdemings.com

... She emerged in the party as someone who can speak about systemic racism and police brutality while insulating Democrats from GOP charges that they are soft on crime or hold extreme progressive ideologies. Heading into the midterms, Demings provides Democrats a big-name candidate in their hopes to hold on to the Senate. The 65-year-old three-term moderate has appeared uninterested in upending the system, so there’s no worry of her being caricatured as a leftist or a “socialist” bearing “woke” ideals as she runs in a bastion of Republican conservatism. With her consistent track record in policy and tone, “you never have to wonder where she stands on an issue"...

As a member of the intelligence and judiciary committees—the bodies with jurisdiction over impeachment inquiries—Demings was part of the team responsible for gathering intel for the first Trump trial. While several colleagues submitted their names to Pelosi for an impeachment manager role, Demings didn’t. It wasn’t that she doubted herself or her abilities, far from it. Her “ego is healthy,” she told me. But she thought about the two previous impeachment trials—Bill Clinton’s and Andrew Johnson’s. Those managers were white men and all attorneys. “Sometimes we get caught up on what we’ve seen,” she said, telling on herself. “I’m a person who goes around and tell people, ‘Forget if you’ve never seen it before. Blaze a new trail.’ ”...

Once the curtains went up on Trump’s first impeachment and her national prominence rose, the trolls came out in droves. They phoned to threaten her. They emailed to call her ugly and comment on her hair. “Because that’s what you do with women, right?” she said. “ ‘Oh, she’s doing a really good job,’ so let me go to, ‘You better put that chicken down, Val, because that suit looking a little tight today!’ But I was so laser-focused, and I’m so used to it. I’ve been called the names, y’all better come with something else.”...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/val-demings-is-on-a-mission

[SunSeeker]

1. The title of the article is "VAL DEMINGS IS ON A MISSION."

Why did you change it?

[ancianita]

4. Because this isn't an Editorials & Other Articles or LBN thread.

The title is in the link. This isn't LBN, so the rule there doesn't apply elsewhere.

It's a General Discussion thread.

Most people post headings to grab eyes. That's why.

[Sanity Claws]

12. I remember in the 80s when men put women down for being ambitious

I worked in a law firm and around 1988 or so the male associates were talking smack about a female associate and said she is so ambitious or too ambitious. All the men agreed. I was too afraid to speak up and said everyone here is ambitious or they wouldn't be here. Somehow it was considered a slur to call a woman ambitious.
That is why your changed headline caught my attention. I couldn't imagine people, at least of a certain age, using that phrase and meaning it in a positive light.

[ancianita]

15. Yes. Just being in career made a woman a target of that microagression.

"Too much" is a typical criticism applied to women who do things.

I love all women's ambition; they're usually the ones with thick skins, both positive attributes.

Thank you for sharing your experience around that.

[SunSeeker]

14. Why is it when a woman runs for office she called unusually "ambitious"?

Men who run for office almost never are questioned about how ambitious they are. Men who run for office are considered normal, but not women. Hillary was particularly hit with that.

So you came up with this sexist title for the "grab eyes" clicks?

[ancianita]

16. I'm a woman who sees her ambition as normal, yet even she says she's driven.

"Driving ambition" isn't the slur you try to make it out to be. It's actually a positive attribute for anyone these days.

If you think the title is sexist, that's on you.

[SunSeeker]

18. It's sexist. People rarely describe men that way. "Driven" is different than "Ambitious."

"Ambitious" implies an unusual lust for power, or status. Driven implies wanting to accomplish a particular task, i.e. to do something for her constituents rather than just wanting that office. That is why the original title was more appropriate.

She isn't running for Senate because she wants to be a Senator. She's running to continue Senator John Lewis' work to restore voting rights. From the article:

"Since John Lewis died in July 2020, Demings has watched the right speak of the civil rights giant’s formidable legacy while dishonoring his lifelong fight for voting rights. Her Senate run—instead of the race she initially considered, to challenge Governor Ron DeSantis—owes to the man Lewis was. When the House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and it was sent to Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard in the Senate, where bills go “to die, that was the tipping point for me,” Demings said.
...
Records aside, this run is a most consequential assignment Demings has been ready to complete. “Oprah talks a lot about that aha moment,” she said, “when we think about that, we think it’s like really big and powerful, but it’s usually not. It’s just that quiet moment that tugs at the heart. And John Lewis, his legislation, now he’s gone, but now we are the guardians of what he died for, risked his life for. So, we got to continue to do that. If not us, then who?"

The word "ambitious" is not found anywhere in the article, and that is not how Demmings describes herself. You chose that word, and that is on you.

[gulliver]

2. Amazing how much cooler that pic is than the stupid GOP gun pics

She's cool. They're tools

[OrlandoDem2]

3. Rubio looks on in jealousy, wishing he could be such a badass.

[ancianita]

5. Agree. Although folks in Florida think he's a badass, also his press secretary, who

takes no prisoners before the press and makes him look tough.

Which is why Demings projects tough.

[In It to Win It]

6. I hope the universe sees fit to give me this woman as my Senator

She will be getting all 15 of my votes.

[ancianita]

7. Me, too!

I live in Florida, so I'm totally down with Val.

[BlueBloodedAmerican]

8. Floridian here. I love Val, too. Hope she whips Lil Marco, the Bible Verse King.

[onethatcares]

9. 2 more votes from this household

and she's just kicking butt with her ad about defunding the police....after she's been a police chieif.

I'm in west central coastal and wonder where that trillion dollars to enviromental radicals went the pukes talk about.

[FM123]

10. She is just amazing!

I can not wait for her to become my new senator!!!

[BlackSkimmer]

11. Huge fan here.

I no longer live in FL, but I wish her victory.

[cloudboy07]

13. the girl has brass ! the wimp Marco need's to go back to mommy !

[ancianita]

17. She does. Rubio's trying to blunt her with criticism of her first ad as hypocrisy

because he claims she was silent when 'defund the police' -- started by Republicans -- was used during the BLM protests in MN.

He got news coverage for that from pro-Repub local media. But then he's backed by billionaires down here who probably own a lot of local media.

[llmart]

19. +1

She must scare the beejeebers out of GOP men, especially Little Rubio. We need more badass women in Congress.

I'm not in Florida but I'm sure my son who lives there will vote for her.

Go Val!

[sop]

20. Her campaign ads have been showing here during MSNBC's evening shows (probably on many

other state outlets as well). She's all business in the ad; comes off strong and competent, touting her law enforcement resume and poking fun at the "defund the police" Republican bs. Demings is ready for the job, Rubio has a hard time taking a drink of water.

[Cozmo]

21. "Driving Ambition" refers to the fact that Val Demings is on a motorcycle, nothing more than that

This is not sexist it's a merely a reference to the photo. I'm sure Ms. Deming's team thought this was clever, that is all!

[SunSeeker]

22. You're not the person who wrote the OP title. The person who did said it was to "grab eyes."

Anyone seeing the title on the home page is not going to see the motorcycle, they'll just see that a woman is being described as having a "driving ambition." That’s how Hillary was described, and it wasn't a compliment. That's why it "grabbed" my eyes.

"Ambitious" implies an unusual lust for power, or status. It is rarely used to describe men who run for office, because men running for office are considered normal. But not women. Women who run for office always have their motives questioned. And here, ambitious is not even descriptive. It is found nowhere in the article and is not how Demmings describes herself.

Driven implies wanting to accomplish a particular task, i.e. to do something for her constituents rather than just wanting that office. That is why the original title was more appropriate.

She isn't running for Senate because she wants to be a Senator. She's running to continue Senator John Lewis' work to restore voting rights. From the article:

"Since John Lewis died in July 2020, Demings has watched the right speak of the civil rights giant’s formidable legacy while dishonoring his lifelong fight for voting rights. Her Senate run—instead of the race she initially considered, to challenge Governor Ron DeSantis—owes to the man Lewis was. When the House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and it was sent to Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard in the Senate, where bills go “to die, that was the tipping point for me,” Demings said.
...
Records aside, this run is a most consequential assignment Demings has been ready to complete. “Oprah talks a lot about that aha moment,” she said, “when we think about that, we think it’s like really big and powerful, but it’s usually not. It’s just that quiet moment that tugs at the heart. And John Lewis, his legislation, now he’s gone, but now we are the guardians of what he died for, risked his life for. So, we got to continue to do that. If not us, then who?"

[brooklynite]

23. Good for her, but I'm not seeing signs she's competitive against Rubio yet.

Crist vs DeSantis is also a stretch but is probably a better investment.

[DET]

24. One Caveat

I like Demings and I’d be thrilled if she won, but the relentless fundraising emails (at least one/day, sometimes more) are really turning me off. I know that they need to raise money, but less can be more when it comes to fundraising.

[DFW]

25. The constant flood IS annoying

Especially the ones that try to shame me, as well as the ones that call me “Deborah.”

[DET]

27. You, Too?

Hi “Deborah”, I’m “Kathy”. Turns out there is a real Kathy “X”; she’s in California, I’m in Virginia. It’s a nit, but it reflects an unfortunate sloppiness that people may find off putting in a fundraising email.

[ancianita]

26. Interesting

Last edited Sun Jul 3, 2022, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't see how less can be more with communicating. I mean, to me, communications are no big deal; I just delete them along with the countless other email and text deletions as part of my online life. I think notification rings are annoying so I just turn that off.

I can understand the train of thought (maybe an old christian one) that one doesn't get if they don't ask. To me, our candidates don't just ask for money, but ask that we not get complacent, get and stay involved in months ahead. Just my opinion.

Because I get none from Demings, but countless fundraising texts, but not emails, from Dems all over the country, like WI, NC, MT, GA, OH -- but not from her.

That said, this cycle I've contributed to her, O'Rourke, Flowers, Abrams, and Beasley.

[UTUSN]

28. K&R