2018 Presidential Election

[Marky Bunny]

Saturday April 10th, 2021

Campaigning suspended in UK local elections after Prince Phillip's death

The machinery of the British government spun into action to facilitate formal arrangements following the death of the Prince Philip, but a period of mourning will mean a major pause in politics at Westminster and beyond.

All political campaigning for the Scottish, Welsh and English local elections in May has been suspended while ministers will no longer be taking to the airwaves and government announcements will be pared back. On Friday, Richard Samuels chaired both a cabinet meeting and a separate operational meeting for secretaries of state with a role to play in the co-ordination of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral arrangements. Home secretary Michael Duggan and Defence Secretary Adam Jackson were expected to attend because of their roles overseeing security, as were operational policing leads and royal household representatives.

MPs and peers will get the chance to make public tributes to Philip on Monday. Parliament will be recalled from its Easter break a day early so respects can be paid from the Commons, while peers will also voice their condolences in the Lords. After learning of Philip’s death, Richard Samuels and Labour leader Jack Coll spoke to each other and agreed to suspend campaigning for the May 6th local elections. All main political parties across Britain have now agreed to pause their campaigns ahead of the votes covering council and gubernatorial positions in England, the Scottish parliament and Welsh parliament. The pause will effectively bring forward the pre-election “purdah” period during which time the activities of civil servants and ministers are curtailed from Thursday April 15th.

Both the Scottish and Welsh parliaments will also be recalled on Monday to allow MSPs and AMs to pay tribute to Philip. It is not year clear whether political campaigning for the elections which had been under way for the past two weeks will resume from Tuesday, or after the duke’s funeral.

 

[RRusso1982]

Newman is still alive, right?

 

[Tim Thomason]

Newman is still alive, right?

Yes

 

[Marky Bunny]

Newman is still alive, right?

Yes as Tim's says.
He turned 90, last October.

 

[Bad'Wolf]

Of course the Duke of Edinburgh got a mention in the series, in "The Wedding".

DEBBIE
Maybe. Is that the Swiss Ambassador or not?

BARTLET
How much you got riding on this?

DEBBIE
50 bucks.

BARTLET
It's the Duke of Edinburgh.

DEBBIE
Ah, Duke of Edinburgh.

Prince Philip arrives in the afterlife.

MRS. LANDINGHAM
Who's the new tenant?

BARTLET
Why do you want to know?

MRS. LANDINGHAM
A pool we have running. Who is that?

BARTLET
That's President Newman.

Leo joins them.

MRS. LANDINGHAM
Do you want to say hello to President Newman?

LEO
That's not President Newman.

BARTLET
Gotta go.

(Thanks for the Newman posts reminding me that James Cromwell had played both Newman and Prince Philip; it helped a lot to find a pausible fake identity for the duke. Mrs Landingham obviously fills in for Debbie in this conversation, even though I doubt that she actually was a gambler like her successor )

 

[RRusso1982]

So the ex presidents still alive are George P. Bush, Newman, Santos, and Walken.

 

[Marky Bunny]

So the ex presidents still alive are George P. Bush, Newman, Santos, and Walken.

Yes, but George P. Bush doesn't count as a "full" ex President because he was never sworn in as a Full President, he only became "Acting" President following the Reagan stroke in 1985. (We have established that George P. Bush refused to use the Oval Office as "Acting President").
Owen Lassister died in 2004 as per the show, and President Bartlet died in the first thread in December 2013.

 

[Tim Thomason]

bbc.co.uk

Some More Quotes About the late Duke of Edinburgh

During a State Visit, the Duke and I took a self-guided tour of the White House basement system and actually got lost for a good ten minutes. Both the Secret Service and the Royal Protective Service were very upset with us. - Former USA President D. Wire Newman​

​

I never physically met Prince Phillip, but he and I did correspond over several years when I was writing my history of the Greek royal family. His assistance was invaluable to my book Grecian Civility on the background of the Greek Civil War and its repercussions to this day with regards to the Turkish conflicts. If my publicist would have allowed it, I would have granted him co-author status. - New Jersey historian and novelist J. Robert Fowler, Sr.​

​

We trained together in the War, English and American side-by-side, both young Naval Lieutenants (or Left-tenants) doing things shoreside that I'm not about to tell you about. He was Phil and I was Herb. Even as late as my visit last year, that's how we addressed each other. - Retired Congressman and WWII Naval Aviator Herbert Walker of Connecticut​

​

His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, was a Brother and true Companion to all Englishmen and many more over the world. We as an organization are deeply saddened by his passing. - Pro Grand Master Robert Callaghan of the United Grand Lodge of England (English Freemasonry)​

 

[Marky Bunny]

Sunday April 11th, 2021

White House Deputy Communications Director and Senator Buchannan have bitter twitter exchange over the civil war

John Edwards, the White House Deputy Communications Director John Edwards and Virginian Senator Rob Buchannan have been engaged in a bitter twitter exchange over the end of the Civil War and Robert E. Lee. Buchannan who attacked back in December the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from the United States Capitol replied to a tweet on Friday from the "American Historical Association " regarding the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia under Lee's command at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9th 1865, the 156th anniversary.

"156 years ago today, Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered ending the Civil War" . Senator Buchannan responded a few minutes using his personal twitter account " In defeat Lee promoted reconciliation & opposed calls for guerrilla warfare against the Union", the Historical Association made no reply to the tweet, but a few hours later, John Edwards replied to Buchannan's tweet, using his personal account "Gentle, kindly old Gen. Lee let his troops get slaughtered that whole month, long after it was apparent the game was over" then adding "The last month of the Civil War was apocalyptic. It didn't have to be. They didn't have to burn Richmond, they didn't have to fight without adequate food or ammunition. It was over. Lee kept fighting".

The exchange between the two developed with Senator Buchannan replying " Lee was fighting for his state and his army and what he believed was right, he personally abhorred slavery" Edwards replied "It doesn't matter that Lee claimed to have "personally abhorred" slavery. He still fought to preserve it's existence" . The exchange continued with Buchannan praising Lee as a "great tactician" with Edwards saying in reply " "Lee was a brilliant tactician. So were Yamamoto, Rommel & Giap. Being tactically skilled does not absolve someone from the master's and the causes they served".
Buchannan let loose of flurry of further tweets defending Lee saying "he was a great man fighting for a detestable cause" with the final tweet coming from Edwards "The Civil War was about Slavery. That's it. That's the tweet."

The exchanges over the cause of 24 hours shown, even after over a 150 years since the end of the civil war it can still cause such a heated exchange between two high profile public figures, a sitting United States Senator and the White House's Deputy Communications Director.

 

[The Champion]

So all about the Royal Family its like OTL then ?.

 

[Marky Bunny]

So all about the Royal Family its like OTL then ?.

Broadly yes, but nothing regards Prince Andrew and his scandals.

 

[MountainDew17]

Atlantis Cable News

John Hoynes makes surprise appearance at "WrestleMania"

Tampa Bay, Florida- Appearing alongside fellow Texan and 6-time WWE Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, former Vice President John Hoynes made a surprise appearance at Night 2 of WWE's "WrestleMania 37", where he and Austin announced that next year's "WrestleMania 38" would take place at AT&T Stadium outside of Dallas, Texas. Hoynes, who has not appeared on WWE programming since the conclusion of the "Texas Rasslin" documentary series last year, is a life-long wrestling fan who is frequent crowd member at WWE events.
Social media quickly exploded with Hoynes appearance, with many speculating that Hoynes may be the host of next year's event.

 

[Tim Thomason]

So all about the Royal Family its like OTL then ?.

We kind of always followed the series lead, which referenced Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip saying they existed in this world. From that, we could just assume that Royalty, in broad strokes is the same, but politics is different (and the focus is on the political, not the royal). There are exceptions (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain) that existed in the show as well, but it's a nice nod, I feel (even if it robbed us of developing alternate family lines for royals).

I'm the guy who tossed in a picture of Helen Mirren in one of the last couple of decades, but I've always felt that casting is ancillary to the thread, and since Elizabeth and Philip never appeared in the show, they might not even "appear" in our 13-season continuation, just references to events or even archive footage (of the real people) that Walken or Lyman watch on TV in one "scene". I didn't mean to rob us of using Helen Mirren for a more substantial (to the thread) character at some point.

There may be royal scandals in the West Wing Universe, even on an equivalent level as the criminal drama surrounding Prince Andrew or the soap opera drama surrounding Prince Harry (and family), but they aren't the focus of "the show" or the thread. Short of Queen Elizabeth abdicating, I don't think we really need to acknowledge royal issues. And even then, maybe only with a brief side mention of "The Prime Minister met with King Charles today" and everyone could just assume everything happened the same in-universe.

There's never been a mandate to cover everything, just provide flavor text to tell us this world is still going strong.

 

[ajm8888]

View attachment 641707

Atlantis Cable News

John Hoynes makes surprise appearance at "WrestleMania"

Tampa Bay, Florida- Appearing alongside fellow Texan and 6-time WWE Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, former Vice President John Hoynes made a surprise appearance at Night 2 of WWE's "WrestleMania 37", where he and Austin announced that next year's "WrestleMania 38" would take place at AT&T Stadium outside of Dallas, Texas. Hoynes, who has not appeared on WWE programming since the conclusion of the "Texas Rasslin" documentary series last year, is a life-long wrestling fan who is frequent crowd member at WWE events.
Social media quickly exploded with Hoynes appearance, with many speculating that Hoynes may be the host of next year's event.

I think the Dems should not underestimate the wrestling fans as a potential voting bloc. I am not saying pour all the effort into it but it can't hurt for Sam to pre-record a message wishing the wrestlers good luck or something like that.

 

[lord caedus]

Monday, April 12th, 2021

White House stands behind Edwards after Twitter exchange

The Seaborn White House is standing behind staffer John Edwards after the deputy communications director got into a heated Twitter exchange with Senator Rob Buchanan (R-VA) last night over Confederate general Robert E. Lee and the Civil War. The exchange prompted calls for Edwards' firing from some Republicans and conservative pundits.

"Historians seem to think [Edwards] was more correct about the war and General Lee than the senator," White House Chief of Staff Will Bailey remarked when asked about the exchange by reporters. Bailey declined to answer questions directly about Edwards' continued employment, but emphasized that any changes in key White House personnel "has always been promptly announced when [such changes] occur", and then pointedly declined to announce any changes in top-level White House personnel.

Bailey said he had discussed the matter with Edwards and President Seaborn, but that neither he nor the president felt the incident was cause for dismissal.

Edwards himself is a Texas native with a distinguished combat record as a paratrooper, having been wounded in Equatorial Kundu and Syria. Since leaving the military in 2016, he has been an outspoken critic of the use of Confederate symbols or apologetics for the Confederacy. Reportedly, Edwards was one of the main voices within the administration that pressed Congress to include a provision in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that began the process of removing the names of Confederate soldiers from all Department of Defense property by 2024.

 

[Marky Bunny]

Is it me or does Robert E. Lee bare a passing resemblance to President Bartlet?

 

[PNWKing]

Is it me or does Robert E. Lee bare a passing resemblance to President Bartlet?
View attachment 641971

I knew since Lee came up in the thread that someone was going to make the joke about him baring a passing resemblance to President Bartlet. Hehehehehehehe.

 

[RRusso1982]

Who is the Junior Senator from Pennsylvania? I know Carlin Cassidy is the Senior Senator.

 

[lord caedus]

Who is the Junior Senator from Pennsylvania? I know Carlin Cassidy is the Senior Senator.

Matt Clausen

 

[KingCrawa]

BBC.CO.UK

Tuesday 13th April 2021

The Dean of Windsor

As the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth prepare for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, all eyes turn upon the chapel of St Georges Windsor where the funeral will take place, and its Dean who will along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, conduct the service.

St Georges is along with Westminster Abbey, a royal peculiar and comes under the direct control of the Monarch. It has been host to numerous royal weddings, baptisms and funerals. The Dean in addition to leading the college of canons, is a personal chaplain to the Queen and the head of St George’s College, a consultancy and debate organisation based out of Windsor Castle.

The Very Reverend Robert Mitchell, Dean of Windsor (Photo by Tim McMullen)

Born in 1953 into a clergy family, Mitchell attended his local grammar school before moving onto Trinity College Cambridge, where he studied theology. He trained for ordination at Westcott House Cambridge and was ordained by the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1978. Following a curacy in Bath and Wells and a short incumbency in the Diocese of Lichfield, he become Vicar of Sherborne Abbey in 1987 and then Canon Chancellor of Wells Cathedral ten years later. During his time at Sherborne, he become close friends with the former Archbishop of York Matthew Walsh, who during that period became Vicar of another abbey church in Tewkesbury.

In 2003 he was appointed to the position of Dean of Worcester. He became the Dean of Windsor in 2015 having it is believed been suggested by his friend the Archbishop of York. Dean Mitchell is an accomplished writer, has served as chair of the Deans Conference and has been a member of the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission for the last ten years.

(Posted with Marky's approval)