The Enduring Mystery of Tulsi Gabbard: The 38-year-old presidential contender does not fit any “conventional” political profile. Edward-Isaac Dovere

The politicians and media don't know what to make of a real person, a person with strong conviction, a combat veteran and a person of honor. 

There aren't many of those around at the upper echelons of TPTB in America, where only money talks and the name of the game is power. "Sell, grandma?" "How much are you willing to pay?"

Disclosure: As a Vietnam era vet — naval officer serving on a ship in the Western Pacific 1964-1967, I support her non-interventionist position. She is the only candidate that puts foreign policy realism first, and the office of the presidency is chiefly about foreign policy formulation and execution. She is neither a Wilsonian internationalist nor a Jacksonian nationalist. She strikes a happy balance at the center of the spectrum, focusing realistically on national interest than than either isolationism or empire. She is for peace without being a "peacenik." Having seen war up close, I am all for that. While I would rather see her mission extended to opposing the apartheid Israeli regime, I also understand that opposition to or criticism of Israeli policy has replaced Social Security as the third rail of US politics.

The Atlantic
The Enduring Mystery of Tulsi Gabbard: The 38-year-old presidential contender does not fit any “conventional” political profile.

Edward-Isaac Dovere

Maj. Tulsi Gabbard receives surprise deployment orders to Antarctica [satire] — Yossarian

Pretty funny, and very apt. Tulsi is the only foreign policy realist that is running against endless, so far at least.

Duffel Blog
Maj. Tulsi Gabbard receives surprise deployment orders to Antarctica [satire]

Yossarian

Caitlin Johnstone — Tulsi Gabbard Is Driving The MSM Bat Shit Crazy

If you haven't seen the Morning Joe interview with Tulsi Gabbard, you should. It's even worse than Caitlin Johnstone makes it out to be. Pictures are more powerful than words. This is supposed to be professional journalism and expert opinion?

Caitlin Johnstone — Rogue Journalist
Tulsi Gabbard Is Driving The MSM Bat Shit Crazy
Caitlin Johnstone

David Nir — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has turned into a stooge for Syria's dictator. Who will primary her?

Here's the Democrats' view of Tulsi Gabbard as a prospective leader. Oh, and she met with not only Bashir Al-Assad but also Donald Trump.

Daily Kos
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has turned into a stooge for Syria's dictator. Who will primary her?
David Nir

Also

The Hill
Gabbard meeting with Assad draws disgust from fellow lawmakers
Mike Lillis

Jonathan Swan — Bannon set up Trump-Gabbard meeting

Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon contacted Tulsi Gabbard to arrange Monday’s meeting with the president-elect, according to a source close to Bannon.

“He reached out to her, not vice versa,” the source told The Hill on Monday.Many in the media raised their eyebrows when the news broke that Trump was meeting at Trump Tower Monday morning with Hawaii’s Democratic congresswoman.

But for those who know Bannon best, there was no surprise at all.

Bannon, who hates the entrenched two-party system, has long admired Gabbard. She’s an Iraq War veteran with an independent streak. Bannon, a navy veteran, was drawn to her when she began publicly excoriating the Obama administration over its plan to defeat ISIS.

“He loves Tulsi Gabbard. Loves her,” a second source familiar with Bannon’s thinking told The Hill. “Wants to work with her on everything.”...

The Hill
Bannon set up Trump-Gabbard meeting

Jonathan Swan

Before anyone gets all excited about "bipartisanship"….

As we go into the long Thanksgiving weekend, shell-shocked by events surrounding the presidential transition getting more surreal by the day, it’s almost comforting to read a piece of news that sounds even slightly like familiar political activity. It’s the kind of thing that would have made for screaming headlines and much gnashing of teeth on the left just a few months ago, but now seems almost quaintly normal. I’m speaking of the news that Donald Trump’s transition team has outsourced much of the lower level government staffing to the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, which is in the hands of right wing extremist Jim DeMint. According to Politico:

Heritage is “absolutely the fulcrum, and essential to staffing the administration with people who reflect Trump’s commitments across the board,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony List, a prominent group that opposes abortion rights. “I can say it’s been a source of great confidence during the election to know that principled people were planning for a Trump administration.”

Salon
Is Donald Trump’s transition being outsourced to the Heritage Foundation? That’s not good news

Heather Digby Parton

Robert Parry — Trump’s Tulsi Gabbard Factor

By inviting in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat hostile to “regime change” wars, President-elect Trump may be signaling a major break with Republican neocon orthodoxy and a big shake-up of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, writes Robert Parry.

Consortium News
Trump’s Tulsi Gabbard Factor
Robert Parry

Reuters — Trump to meet with Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

Trump is expected to make some bipartisan appointments. That would obviously be from the Bernie faction rather than the Clintonistas.

Selecting Tulsi Gabbard would be a coup if she would agree. She also has appeal to conservatives. She is a combat vet and somewhat socially conservative. See, for example, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: The Democrat that Republicans love and the DNC can’t control by Amber Phillips.

Raw Story
Trump to meet with Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
Reuters

Ben Norton — DNC vice chair resigns, endorses Sanders, blasts Clinton’s “interventionist, regime change policies”

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, resigned on Sunday in order to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Gabbard — who was the first Hindu and first American Samoan to be elected to Congress, as well as the youngest person ever elected to the Hawaii legislature, at age 21 — commended the leftist Vermont senator for his foreign policy, and his opposition to the hawkish policies of fellow presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 

"After much thought and consideration, I've decided I cannot remain neutral and sit on the sidelines any longer," she wrote in an email to fellow DNC officers obtained by Politico. "There is a clear contrast between our two candidates with regard to my strong belief that we must end the interventionist, regime change policies that have cost us so much," Gabbard said. "This is not just another 'issue.' This is THE issue, and it's deeply personal to me," Gabbard continued. "This is why I’ve decided to resign as Vice Chair of the DNC so that I can support Bernie Sanders in his efforts to earn the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential race."

About those super-delegates:

Sanders’ campaign accused the DNC and Wasserman Schultz of “actively attempting to undermine” his bid for president.

In a Feb. 11 interview, Wasserman Schultz openly admitted that the Democratic Party’s superdelegate system, which consists of unelected party elites who have a large influence on the primary election, exists in order to ensure establishment candidates don’t have to run “against grassroots activists.”

CNN host Jake Tapper asked the DNC chair, “What do you tell voters who are new to the process who say this makes them feel like it’s all rigged?”

“Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists,” Wasserman Schultz explained.

“I’m not sure that that answer would satisfy an anxious young voter,” Tapper replied.

Salon
DNC vice chair resigns, endorses Sanders, blasts Clinton’s “interventionist, regime change policies”

Ben Norton | Politico