Todd Webster

Dad. Hill staffer emeritus. Public affairs professional. Dog enthusiast.

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Legend. Simply the best.

[Tim Kaine @timkaine]

Deep gratitude and congratulations to Mike Henry—Senate Chief of Staff of the Year!  Just putting up with me for 16 years is reason enough. But the real reason is . . . team builder extraordinaire! Plus he knows Virginia like the back of his hand.

[Tim Kaine @timkaine]

Deep gratitude and congratulations to Mike Henry—Senate Chief of Staff of the Year!  Just putting up with me for 16 years is reason enough. But the real reason is . . . team builder extraordinaire! Plus he knows Virginia like the back of his hand.

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

A day into vacation, with my brain healing from being (mostly) offline, I’ve been meditating on one thought: In many controversies, multiple things can be true at the same time. In the Platner situation, all of these things seem true:

- Platner represents a unique threat to elite power and therefore the elite and its media machine are subjecting him to the kind of scrutiny that the elite do not subject themselves or their political puppets to, in order to try to get him to drop out/lose.

- Some of the accusations being hurled at Platner are uncorroborated and come from politically motivated sources, and others with similar political motivations are trying to amplify the accusations not because they are genuinely morally outraged but because they have political/ideological goals.

- The same political and media class that ignored/buried the Epstein scandal is now pretending to be genuinely mad about the substance of the Platner allegations/revelations — and their pretend outrage is patently ridiculous and inauthentic.

- Some of the corroborated revelations and uncorroborated allegations about Platner are serious and should be taken seriously — and should be weighed against his explanations, contrition and denials.

- Voters being exposed to new revelations/accusations can have legit concerns about them and about Platner, and having those concerns does not make those voters corrupt or dupes.

- Elections are leaps of faith. We don’t know what people will do once in office. We do know that those who control the political system do not like letting anyone near power who didn’t climb the traditional political latter.

- Platner volunteered to risk his life in combat for his country — multiple times. He then volunteered to run for Senate when no other major challenger was willing or able to step up and give Maine voters a serious choice in competitive primary. These decisions reflect a form of character and courage.

- Who is given grace and who is ostracized from politics remains selective. America extended grace to John McCain and allowed him into politics despite his — ahem — quite messy post-combat lifestyle and behavior. The Senate that threw out Al Franken also extended grace to Brett Kavanaugh and confirmed him despite allegations of sexual assault. Voters extended grace to Donald Trump for all of his horrors and elected him president. The fiery debate over whether voters should extend Platner — a combat veteran — grace or ostracize him proves that we still have no collective set of mores about forgiveness.

All of these things are true, and there’s one more thing that’s true: saying these things does not make one a Platner shill, a misogynist, etc. People hurling those insults and insinuations aren’t operating in good faith. They are trying to halt any conversation and shut down the democratic discourse — likely because they are politically motivated.

I am now going to (try to) log back off.

[NYTPitchbot @DougJBalloon]

Black American should not be given reparations for hundreds of years of slavery. Here’s why the January 6 rioters should be given reparations for a couple months in jail for committing treason

[𝕊𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕻𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤 @SprinterPress]

A good photographer is worth his weight in gold

[Reggie Jackson @mroctober]

What’s happening with our Sec of Defense. How do we get rid of all that experience at this time? Help me I don’t get it. Getting rid of The Chaplin leader?
What ? We’ve got a war going on and we’re getting rid of most of our experience and knowledge built with uniform time.

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Establishmentarian view.
In a revolutionary era.

[Ronald Brownstein @RonBrownstein]

Both choices present risks. But in ME, what @grahamformaine may do well-inspire younger irregular voters especially men-is not as relevant to beating @SenatorCollins as what @JanetMillsforME has shown she can do well-reassure older reliable voters, espec women. That's the essence

[Brit Hume @brithume]

This is the kind of stuff Trump does that makes people not just oppose him but hate him. There was no need to say anything.

[Dan Shaughnessy @Dan_Shaughnessy]

Simply one of the greatest paragraphs ever written

[Guy Cecil @guycecil]

A good example of why I am all in for @jamestalarico

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Corporate leadership.
https://t.co/mVmEDctDDq

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Un-listenable. Love Hader in SNL, but this doesn't work. Bring back Ryan and Fennessey et al and do the Rewatchables.

[The Rewatchables @TheRewatchables]

'The Naked Gun' is Bill Hader's funniest movie theater experience

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Show the actual video!

[Seattle Reign FC @reignfc]

11' GOOOOAL BY #8 @bethanybalcer! 🎯

SEA 1 | LOU 0

#HerefortheCrown #SEAvLOU #BB8

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

You’re wrong. Leave the purity tests and extremism to the Freedom Caucus. He’s a thoughtful and principled leader.

[Collins Watch @CollinsWatch]

Six months before Election Day, putting my cards on the table: I think it'd be better for the US and Dem/left priorities if Jared Golden lost his reelection bid.

Not a conclusion I come to lightly and reasonable folks may disagree. But I think the case is strong. #mepolitics 1/X

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Is she registered under FARA…?

[John Bresnahan @bresreports]

@dlippman Conway isn’t registered as a TikTok lobbyist

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Preach

[Jo @JoJoFromJerz]

No, it’s a fucking terrible idea which will fracture the entire coalition we’ve had in place and are desperately trying to hold together at the moment not to mention the Fucking glaringly obvious suggestion of just bypassing the first Black, first South Asian Vice President in our nation’s history.

How exactly are folks gonna square putting Kamala, former state AG, former Senator, in the back of the bus for a white woman like Whitmer? You can throw polling at people all day long — you’ll never make that look like anything better than what it is. And that’s nothing against Gretchen. It’s just not right, it’s a reaffirmation of systemic racism in this country, it will do tremendous harm and shouldn’t even be entertained.
Look…
People need to fucking chill.
No one is having Joe Biden’s baby.
No one is marrying him.
He doesn’t have to be your dream date.
He has to be a guy who is going to steward this country well. Safely and competently. And he wants good things for us. He’s gotten MASSIVELY good things done for us.
And he is not interested in taking this democracy over the side of a cliff.
We’ve had 4 years of him keeping us on solid ground. And we’d get 4 more years of him making sure the foundation is sound, the cracks repaired. The immediate threat to democracy, vanquished, if only for now.
So that he can pass the torch that’s still lit to the next generation. And in that race, we can duke it out over who we think is best. The people decided on Joe, and they will choose someone new in 28.
But we gotta get to 28 intact, or what we’re gonna get is “day one dictator” and an autocratic future of “Supreme Commander” Trumps in line of succession for generations.

This whole hand ringing over how Joe can’t win is how Joe doesn’t win. Jon has been down this road before. And he should revisit the lessons he learned about the disconnect between polling and actual on the ground support.
The keys to victory here are not rocket science — we need people to vote. We need them to be compelled to vote even if they’re not pumped up to vote. And we need to make the case over and over and over again, that what they stand to gain with Joe Vs all that they will LOSE with Trump, means that in this moment, they have to use their power to keep this whole damn thing from being taken down around us.

There is one person who can and will do that. And it’s Joe Biden. You don’t need a fancy degree in politics or the pedigree of a White House admin job to know that.
But boy, do I wish more people who did would make the case nearly as passionately as I just did.

Then maybe, just maybe they could focus on how we win again with what we’ve got. That would be a truly fruitful use of their skills and experience. Not this pointless pontification on “what if.”

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Preach

[L. Louise Lucas @SenLouiseLucas]

Anyone who thinks I am going to approve an arena in Northern Virginia using state tax dollars before we deliver on toll relief and for public schools in Hampton Roads must think I have dumbass written on my forehead.

[L. Louise Lucas @SenLouiseLucas]

Anyone who thinks I am going to approve an arena in Northern Virginia using state tax dollars before we deliver on toll relief and for public schools in Hampton Roads must think I have dumbass written on my forehead.

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Congrats on the move, John. Look forward to reading you at Puck.

[John Ourand @Ourand_Puck]

It's scary to leave a place you love after nearly 18 years. SBJ is a great place to work.

But I'm a fan of Puck's and excited to get started.

You can sign up for my soon-to-launch newsletter here:
https://t.co/k7draC5aql

[Todd Webster @TWeb]

Craig - want you to know that your feed is one of the few things still worth reading on X. Thank you.

[Craig Caplan @CraigCaplan]

House will also complete work today on its 8th 2024 spending bill, funding Transportation & Housing Depts for next year with cuts to Amtrak. Members later in the day will begin debate on 9th 2024 spending bill, funding Treasury Dept, WH, SEC, Judiciary & DC w/cuts to IRS. @cspan