Washington 2017: The U.S. Political RP: IC [CLOSED]

[Alozia]

Alexandria, Virginia
Katharine Hobbes

The past few weeks have been quite chaotic for Katharine. With her recent trips to and from Colorado as well as planning her move to D.C. she didn't have much time to actually think about her new show.
She woke up exhausted - she'd been looking through potential assistants' applications through the night. She had a couple of them in the past, but someone with experience was needed to fulfill her vision.
Before leaving the house with her newly bought laptop she made sure that all things in her house are where they're supposed to be. She then headed out to town.

***

Washington, D.C.

After getting through D.C. traffic Katharine arrived at her new workplace. She greeted the older lady at the reception before entering the elevator and arriving at the floor dedicated to her show and it's staff.

"Good morning. The staff is waiting for you in the conference room, ma'm."

Katharine was surprised to see anyone right after steping out of the elevator. She did, however, reply to the greeting before making her way to the conference room.

Inside she was faced with other warm greetings. Hobbes did not expect to see much, if any, enthusiasm among the ANN-selected staff. But they there were, prepared more than ever, to work with her on a show under her name.

When she finished getting to know the basic details about everyone present at the meeting they started discussing the format her show should take.

"I know this is an ambitious idea..." Katharine started with humility greater than her usual self would express "... but what if we were to have a talk show here?"

"It's not really a talk show without an audience. Or a good time slot for that." One of the older men at the meeting stated.

He quickly picked up on Katharine's confusion painted on her face.

"We have a 7 p.m. time slot - it's not really ideal for a talk show of a usual format, format which we cannot follow even if we wanted to. Our studio space is too small to make space for a decent sized audience space."

Katharine was dissapointed, although not that surprised - Chase did mention that office space in D.C. would be smaller.

"Well then." she replied "I guess we'll have to be more traditional."

They then went over the details of how the show would be run. When the "Gathering", as the group of main people in the show have just been dubbed, agreed on the details they moved on to the design of the new set where they agreed on a modernistic light blue and white setting with a subtle, yet noticable, trace of lively red in it's color scheme.

As the night was getting closer the group was reaching the end of their workday. Kathrine, despite her enthusiasm, was getting tired after a day of brainstorming. "Is there anything else to talk about?"

"Yes, there is." the older man from before said "It's the name. We would like to change it."

Hobbes did not like the sound of that. She stuck with what seemed certain name a second ago for years of her career.

"It better be good." she replied with dissatisfaction clearly visible in her entire presence.

"I think you're going to like it. We didn't start from the scratch. We are all aware that the name you suggested is the name you have been associated for a long time. This is why we decided to keep both 'Talks' and 'Hobbes' in it. The new name would be--"

"Talks Hobbes? Did Master Yoda come up with this?" she interrupted the man.

"No. We would like to suggest 'Hobbes Talks'. I know it's not the most original or creative name, but I think it would be easier to memorise and recognize..."

"... that and the fact that it's not as much of a tongue twister." he added seeing the shift in Hobbes approach to the change.

"Well, I wouldn't call it a tounge twister, but it is a mouthful." she replied somewhat convinced to the idea. "Hobbes Talks it is, gentelmen. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"No, that's it." her employee replied.

"Best for last, huh? It's getting late, anyway. I guess I'll have to postpone the office tour for tommorow." That little remark was met with a good number of smiles from her staff. She was glad to see that they were as happy to be here as she was.

[Prolieum]

Harrington's Office, Longsworth House Office Building, Washington D.C.

"Of course." Amaras replied, taking another sheet from his briefcase and handing it over.

[Dentali]

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Congressman Jason Samara
@JSam8

Finally finished the Stansky/Amaras debate, sorry i'm a bit late to the commentary. Their is a different between legitimate criticism of Israel's Government and antisemitic opposition to its existence, Mayor Stanksy crossed that line. #TusselinTrenton#TwoStateSolution


[floatleft][table][tr][td][blocktext]
Congressman Jason Samara
@JSam8

Also happy to announce I will be speaking at an NAACP event in East Orange New Jersey, I am eager to spend some time in the Garden State!#EastOrange#BLM

[Prolieum]

Abelard Bell
@AdmiralBell

---

I apologize deeply for any offense caused through the raising of this matter to the public attention, but feeling obligated to action by the continuing spread of this error, I regret to inform you, Sirs and Ma'am @AndersonPA17 @CaliConservative @TroyWilson @JSam8, that the correct spelling is, in fact, "Tussle."

---

[Dentali]

(Image)
Abelard Bell
@AdmiralBell

---

I apologize deeply for any offense caused through the raising of this matter to the public attention, but feeling obligated to action by the continuing spread of this error, I regret to inform you, Sirs and Ma'am @AndersonPA17 @CaliConservative @TroyWilson @JSam8, that the correct spelling is, in fact, "Tussle."

---

Congressman Jason Samara
@JSam8

@AdmiralBell Thank you Secretary, I shall correct the error.

[Bruke]

(Image)
Abelard Bell
@AdmiralBell

---

I apologize deeply for any offense caused through the raising of this matter to the public attention, but feeling obligated to action by the continuing spread of this error, I regret to inform you, Sirs and Ma'am @AndersonPA17 @CaliConservative @TroyWilson @JSam8, that the correct spelling is, in fact, "Tussle."

---

Sydney Cao
@CaliConservative

Thank you for the correction, I will fix that tweet.

[Velahor]

James Miles Jr. @JimmyMilesAKAG I’ve been a Second Amendment guy since I was young. #2A #ThrowbackThursday RETWEETSFAVORITE 130800

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

De Nieto's Office, Washington DC

It was just another day in the office of the Minority Leader party discipline in the House has for the most part been restored barring a few outliers the House Democrats were a far more cohesive and united entity than their Senate counterparts. To make that sausage however required numerous backroom deals and shady business, De Nieto was smart enough to keep all of that away from the prying eyes of the media, as he always works through intermediaries, so he could always maintain reasonable deniability. That also meant that everyday in the office was a chaotic and confused melee with little room to do anything. Today however De Nieto put some time aside to see a very special guest.

[Tallahassee News Station]

Most of Jared O'Leary's actions recently had all been in the public eye from legislation to rallies, and even if they hadn't been successful at passing anything, he was now the proud face of gun control in America, something he was very happy with. He had another bill coming soon even but that was not what he was here to talk to the Minority Leader about. Jared had been out front, but now had some back room business to deal with.

"Morning." He said yawning slightly. It had been a late night last night and his head was still throbbing a little, and his ears ringing. "Let's get into this, we both know what we need to talk about."

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Most of Jared O'Leary's actions recently had all been in the public eye from legislation to rallies, and even if they hadn't been successful at passing anything, he was now the proud face of gun control in America, something he was very happy with. He had another bill coming soon even but that was not what he was here to talk to the Minority Leader about. Jared had been out front, but now had some back room business to deal with.

"Morning." He said yawning slightly. It had been a late night last night and his head was still throbbing a little, and his ears ringing. "Let's get into this, we both know what we need to talk about."

'I understand you wish disciplinary action taken on our Head of the Progressive Caucus?" De Nieto inquired

[Alozia]

Caldwell's Office, Washington D.C.

Ever since his meeting with Mrs. West Caldwell was thinking about the proposal she made. But he meant what he thought and said - he didn't want to abandon his progressive colleagues.

After much deliberation he decided to contact Congresswoman Smith by e-mail.

Subject: Meeting

---

From: Henry Caldwell
To: Nicole T. Smith

---

Dear Representative,

I would like to have a meeting with you at an earliest possible date.
There is something very important I need to talk with you about.
Please respond as soon as you can.

Regards,
Henry Caldwell

[Tallahassee News Station]

Most of Jared O'Leary's actions recently had all been in the public eye from legislation to rallies, and even if they hadn't been successful at passing anything, he was now the proud face of gun control in America, something he was very happy with. He had another bill coming soon even but that was not what he was here to talk to the Minority Leader about. Jared had been out front, but now had some back room business to deal with.

"Morning." He said yawning slightly. It had been a late night last night and his head was still throbbing a little, and his ears ringing. "Let's get into this, we both know what we need to talk about."

'I understand you wish disciplinary action taken on our Head of the Progressive Caucus?" De Nieto inquired

"Not disciplining, replacing. It's obvious by now that there's no Progressive heading the Progressive caucus."

[Tallahassee News Station]

TNS Live Debate Recap

Welcome, everybody, to TNS Politics.

The nationally televised debate between Peter Amaras and Joh Stansky was a two person independent debate with neither running for the same office but with one of the Tea Party's biggest icons and former businessman and investor taking on one of the Democrats's most vocal left wingers and former union head for many the debate became a proxy fight for the edges of the right and left wings in American politics. Stay tuned with us as we give you the full rundown and analysis of everything that went down, and tell you how it is.

The debate started from a challenge from Stansky to Amaras after Twitter feuding and was hosted by Pennsylvania station WCAU with representatives from the Heritage Foundation and the Center for American Progress with organization from Representative Glen Anderson and all proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital which Amaras would add a $100,000 donation to after the debate.

The debate was set up in a unique format in which the debaters answered a question from the moderator and then asked their opponent in a question providing a different kind of atmosphere to the debate, which rolled its way through eleven different policy categories.

That's the background, but now its time to take our look at the action. We have a four person panel right here, with Doug Pouherty, host of the Rat Race, Hank Shem from Battlegrounds, Sheila Li from TNS-C and Monica Destaphano from TNS-L, and of course, I'm Mike Baxton.

Now the first question for everyone here of course: Who won?

Shem: Amaras

Li: Amaras, obviously.

Pouherty: It's hard to argue against the Senator.

Destaphano: Stansky.

Baxton: You're the odd one out Monica. Can you explain?

Destaphano: Amaras had the better flash, and the better showmanship, I will admit that. He blatantly played to the crowd, and that worked for him, and it will fool some people, but it does not mean anything in the long run, when you see that beyond the surface level that it's just a mix of bluster, lies, and snake oil. Joh wasn't the showman, but what he said will resonate because it actually has depth to it.

Li: Or Joh just didn't get anywhere because he had nothing, and Amaras did because he exposed that. You have even crowds politically at these things, and the crowd absolutely loved Amaras. That's proof of a win right there.

Shem: I don't think you should judge a win just from crowd noise. I don't necessarily agree with Monica either, I think both of them were trying to be showman in one way or another, but there's more to it than what it did with the people there. But I don't disagree with Lee's conclusion really, I think Amaras definitely got the better of the fight.

Baxton: And Doug?

Pouherty: Content is important, but only part of the debate. Flow and controlling it is underrated but crucial. It gives off impressions to the audience that can especially swing someone in the middle when it looks like one of the two is in command and the other is not. I think that Amaras had that. He was slower early on but he took advantage of the format in a way that Joh did not, making his questions into rebuttals and hanging rhetorical questions in his answers. Even when he was answering first Stansky seemed to be on the defensive far too often and either playing catch up or just trying to beat on Amaras without much effect. Amaras did a better job of controlling the debate and it showed. The one time when Stansky played well was catching Amaras off guard with that placard but he didn't get the chance to follow up and that was not enough to recover from what came just before it.

Li: (Snorts) What came before it, understatement of the year.

Shem: Yeah, that was not great, on Israel. Stansky needs to develop some self awareness about his message. Even someone like Jared O'Leary was self aware enough to refocus himself on gun control and make that a primary issue after his early fights on incest. Stansky is in an even worse situation because he is talking about something with no relation to the job that he is running for, Governor. I think Belle commented on that in the interview that he is going on about foreign policy, and even if it is not the majority of what he says he puts so much into it and it is so controversial that it becomes one of the main things people think about when they think of him.

Li: And it's certifiably crazy.

Shem: It's not the most mainstream view we'll say.

Baxton: Monica, do you want to defend the Mayor?

Destaphano: I'll admit that Stansky could have done a better job of the way that he talked about the issue, but that doesn't mean that the underlying point is not accurate. So many people are using the way he talked about the issue as an easy target to attack and an excuse not to talk about the underlying issue itself. Israel is an internationally recognized and condemned occupying power that is constantly killing Palestinian civilians....

Li: Civilians? You mean terrorists. Don't try to cover up for...

Baxton: Easy now, we're not recreating the debate. Monica, continue?

Destaphano: The short of it is that Stansky was doing something important in bringing the public attention to some of these issues even if he went off course into areas he shouldn't have and had trouble making sure all his facts were on point.

Baxton: Sheila, lets turn to you. We mostly agree that Israel was the weak point for Stansky in the debate, but where do you think Amaras struggled?

Li: I don't think Amaras struggled at all, and it's too kind to Joh to say that Israel was his "weak point", half of his performance was a massive weak point. His socialist appeals fell completely flat even worse than that did, you could hear it in the crowd. His Israel talking points were nowhere near reality but when his entire economic message collapsed like it did, that's even worse.

Shem: I think I actually want to say that I don't think the Israel segment was Stansky's weakest part. He had already made openly controversial comments and reinforced them in his interview with Belle and he did go to another level then but I think most people already had that baked into their opinion of him. It is more nationalized now but in New Jersey, and I think we need to talk about what this means for Stansky's election I don't think he surprised many people. I think that the land seizures and union part was worse not because that idea was new but because Amaras really hit him hard on it and brought it up front for people to think about it but he also caught him badly in a lie that I don't know how Joh really thought he could get away with when he had said it on a nationally televised interview. I think Amaras was just playing to the crowd when he asked for the clip instead of actually thinking that he would get it but it got the idea in people's heads.

Li: It's the most watched clip on our website right now.

Baxton: We actually have that clip. Could you roll that, Jim?

Stansky: Even if business does leave, we will replace it. There will be no jobs loss in New Jersey, if a CEO spits the dummy, we will replace him.”

Reve: "Replace him with who exactly?"

Stansky: “The Unions, I would be happy in co-operating with the manufacturing or other unions to buy back their businesses. Perhaps if that can’t be achieved, we’ll just take the land.”

Reve: "To clarify, are you saying that if a business threatens to leave the state, you'll seize their land?"

Stansky: “Once they leave, but yes. We’re putting workers first.”

Shem: So I definitely think that was the weak point for the Mayor.

Destaphano: Anyone watching this in twenty years won't be wondering where Amaras struggled, they'll be wondering how his whole debate wasn't see as a failure from the start. Nothing Amaras said will age well. If you can even call it a win it's completely for the short term and not in the history books.

Baxton: You're pretty quiet Doug. What are you thinking about?

Pouherty: Something that you could see in the debate at large and especially with Stansky was that the policy details rarely had details. You saw promises for universal healthcare and tax raises on the rich and free college, but always without percentages or numbers. I wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing for him. You expect Amaras to speak like that because he is already elected and none of the legislation his drafted, he already has his bills with specifics in them in other topic areas. For Joh on the one hand he is giving nothing concrete to the voters, and that made Amaras's claims that Stansky's plans were pie in the sky hurt more. On the other hand, Stansky has been very, very bad with details. His tax plan in the first debate with Schlang, his healthcare plan talking to Reve. It may have been better that he steered clear.

Shem: Quoting figures definitely went badly for him later in the debate. I don't know if he actually did make up that student to teacher ratio, or he was trying to say it in a very certain context that didn't come across or if he just had a really bad briefing.

Destaphano: But when you're electing a Governor you don't have to be electing someone who is a mathematician or an administrator themselves. Voters expect the Governor to form a team with his cabinet and advisers to make the details work. Republicans have always tried to run candidates who say that because they're a businessman that they can run the business of government. That's not how it works, but it's how so many of them have gotten elected even when they're not qualified, and Amaras is a perfect example.

Li: Yeah, better to vote for "Vote for me, I'm an idiot, but who cares?"

Baxton: What about the more specific areas with Amaras's bills?

Pouherty: What Amaras did, and it's something that he's shown that he's very good at doing, is framing politically unpopular legislation into a publicly popular package, and we saw some of that tonight, especially with the discussion on EEFETNA. Legislation on evolution and ID almost never gets anywhere above the state level, and it does not get very far there either. The courts are usually enough to bleed in influence on legislators to make a contentious issue not worth pursuing. Amaras did two things, though, in that he avoided getting tied up in the Creationist/Evolution debate by pushing the focus back onto basically a religious questions about the origins of the universe instead of life, and when he did that, he was setting it up so that you have the two biggest blocs, of creationism and theistic evolution, put on the same side against what he would always call "naturalistic evolution", and then push on the atheist line. Stansky played right into what he wanted with the Founding Fathers line, and gave him a setup where he was taking advantage of broad just general belief in some kind of creating God and the general popularity of "Equal treatment" and he leveraged it to make something very politically out there into something very publicly popular."

Destephano: That's the snake oil, every party of it. Amaras is far outside the reasonable spectrum on this issue, and he is outside of public opinion when he is not twisting it. Stansky was right to say that religion doesn't have a place in public schools and that is what Amaras is doing no matter how he tries to cover it. It's yet another thing that will be unthinkable in twenty years.

Shem: That might not actually be true. This has been one rare social issue where the polling has been very consistent all the way back to the 80s. You have support growing for the "naturalistic evolution" that Amaras is talking about, but the broader trends are very small if they are there at all. It's not like gay marriage, where you can see the clear rising tide of support steadily rising and rising.

Baxton: That's a great lead in Hank, let's switch to that. POMA, the big question. Thoughts?

Shem: He didn't do as well. No dramatic reading of the Declaration, nothing new or special.

Pouherty: The "slippery slope" argument has been one of the basic right wing ones for years. Amaras only adds recent events to it for what he calls evidence, and then plays off of whatever responses he gets. Rebuttals play to his strength, but there's nothing special about his play here, no great defense of POMA.

Shem: Amaras mostly just benefited from Stansky not being able to put anything together. He started with an awkward attack, looked like he was getting somewhere trying to target Amaras's slippery slope, but his rhetoric started to clash once the cakeshop got involved and he ended up talking in circles when Amaras went back to the incest part, his verbal stumbles didn't help either. I think Amaras could have been hit a lot harder here with a more skilled opponent or even if Stansky was in the better form that he was later in the debate.

Pouherty: Neither seemed at their best in that segment.

Destaphano: The incest line will always be ridiculous.

Li: You're all underestimating how effective the slippery slope argument is now, that the cakeshop is even a question is proof of that, and after the beating of the Majority Whip it's more potent than ever, because the evidence is supporting it. You also haven't talked about what he said on democracy and marriage rights. He said correctly that New Jersey never got to vote on its marriage laws, and Stansky looks like he's anti-democratic by supporting that judicial overreach.

Shem: Once the public opinion swung I don't think that it was a judicial order matters too much to the voters. But I was surprised that Amaras didn't bring up de Pena. It's a major hot button issue that's hot as can be right now and it almost seems like he was holding himself back from using it.

Destaphano: Maybe he realized how it is completely dishonest and actually picked up some integrity. He even got called out by a fellow Republican when he made that stunt.

Li: Locklear was shilling for the left, that was a total embarrassment for her. It's ridiculous to use kid gloves when literal fists were used in an assault.

Shem: The moderators also steered clear of the NME completely, which was probably deliberate.

Baxton: On that note, are there any topics you were surprised were left out or thought were underdeveloped?

Pouherty: Outside of the assault, the balanced budget was the biggest item that was not addressed. It is mostly limited to Amaras, with Stansky running for Governor, but since they did foreign policy, which is also limited to Amaras I was surprised that they did not address it.

Shem: The President was left out of it almost completely. No question on approval, no question on Presidential actions, and he never came up once.

Pouherty: Stansky named him in a list in his opening and a throwaway line in his closing. His name was never said in between.

Shem: It was all about the two of them. Normally I'd say that would be an advantage for Stansky with Reed's popularity but it didn't seem to help.

Li: The First Lady seems to be getting very little media coverage, even with her WNN interview. Nothing came up on her.

Destaphano: When you're a radical gun nut and your father-in-law gets murdered by the NRA, maybe it's not a bad idea to shut up.

Li: I don't know why we even listen to you anymore. Anyway, I would have wanted to see a question about Kramer. He and Stansky have the same opinions on universal healthcare, trade, gay marriage, they should have asked on that.

Baxton: Monica, anything you thought should have been there or were surprised that it wasn't?

Destephano: Reed is getting away with a lot on his executive orders because of all the focus on his antidiscrimination repeal. That is a good focus to have, but his UN rejection, sabotaging the federal workforce, ridiculous calendar rulings, that needs to see more of the light of day.

Baxton: We're near the end, so let's wrap up. Final impressions?

Destephano: Amaras fooled the gullible and kept his regressives, Stansky won the ones who were paying attention, and the longer we go from this the more regretful the gullible will be.

Li: (scoffs) Or Amaras wins everyone with a third grade understanding of math and a first grade understanding of gender, and Stansky keeps the free stuff crowd that is the only thing keeping him alive.

Shem: (coughs awkwardly) Ahem, well, I think Stansky's not at the "stick a fork in him" stage but, maybe more like when you're hunting and the animal is shot, but not dead? It thrashes around a lot but it's already a goner and you just have to get in to slit the throat?

Destaphano: That's disgusting.

Shem: Well, it's a metaphor, but the knife is the election, and Stansky's the animal. He's going to make a lot of noise and movement, he won't just fade away or go down quietly but he's not going to get back up. Amaras winning wouldn't have done it by itself for sure, like Monica here shows, I'm sure a lot of his supporters will call it a win for him, and this is the primary, so the hit is lessened, still there, but less, but it's Israel and the seizures that I think will do it. Israel, there's not much room to try to make explanations for what he's said now or justify it, but what he said doesn't matter as much as what it meant. When Norris Vilseck can't manage to defend you on the left wing, you've lost your last lifeline, and I think that even with Schlang as the other option the establishment and establishment donors will start to flow away more quickly. The seizures, that's just terrible press caught in the lie on something that's not good for him in the first place, and it's going to drive people away. It's Schlang's race to lose.

Li: If Schlang survives the rape problem.

Shem: That's the one thing that could get him, but it looks like that's faded, it's a land mine, but I don't think it's live anymore.

Pouherty: I generally agree with Hank, but I would not cut it off that abruptly. I think a Singh gambit is still available for Stansky. Soberman has done almost nothing as a candidate except for appear for a moment to call for Reed's impeachment, and then disappear again except occasionally on Twitter. Stansky's brand is much, much bigger than hers and he has been a much more active and commanding force, and the increasing trends of sympathy towards Palestine will only help him.

Shem: I can't agree with you, Doug. He's done way too much against Walton for that to work. Singh had history with the Green Party, his conversion was more smooth because of that. Walton is held way too highly for Progressives to go for Stansky over her even with a nonviable other candidate.

Pouherty: Even if that is true, I think he has potential as an independent candidate, especially with the threat of sexual scandals breaking late for Schlang.

Li: A split vote just means an easy win for Hotchkiss.

Shem: I think Hotchkiss is unpopular enough that she could still lose even with a three-way split with Soberman not doing much and if Stansky keeps pushing left, especially if she can't get any traction on the new health law.

Baxton: And for Amaras?

Destaphano: He'd be a hater if he was the last straight man on earth.

Li: If he was the last straight man on earth, he'd be the only one who could actually pass his views on.

Shem: This is definitely a very enlightening and productive path for our conversation...

Pouherty: Amaras gains some stock and stature in the party, and likely some momentum towards future legislation. It don't see it being anything transformative, but it was a serious surprise Troy Wilson come back around and back Amaras lining up against Stansky, after how intense their feud has been. That kind of reunification might be an indication that this debate could be more important than I would have guessed.

Shem: The Republicans have been so fragmented that any kind of "unite the right" actually working is a scary thought for the left going into 2018, but I don't think we'll see it happen.

Li: With the Majority Whip gone for the moment, the right needed a leader,and its obvious that Amaras is that leader now. There's a lot of resentment all across the country after that attack, and he'll take advantage.

Destaphano: Amaras isn't Villanueva de Pena. She was backwards but clever, he's just backwards and a buffoon. Even if he gets any momentum, it won't last, but watch for Stansky when the Senate election rolls around. We haven't seen the last of him yet.

Baxton: That's all our time, everyone, thank you all.

How It Is with Chen Jacobs is coming on right after this commercial break, so don't turn away.

[Velahor]

Caldwell's Office, Washington D.C.

Ever since his meeting with Mrs. West Caldwell was thinking about the proposal she made. But he meant what he thought and said - he didn't want to abandon his progressive colleagues.

After much deliberation he decided to contact Congresswoman Smith by e-mail.

Subject: Meeting

---

From: Henry Caldwell
To: Nicole T. Smith

---

Dear Representative,

I would like to have a meeting with you at an earliest possible date.
There is something very important I need to talk with you about.
Please respond as soon as you can.

Regards,
Henry Caldwell

Dear Representative,

Please come to my office today, I’m deep in the middle of responding to constituent letters so I’m gonna be tethered to my desk but please stop by and let me hear what you have to say.

Regards,
Nicole Smith

[Alozia]

Washington, D.C.

Shortly after recieving Rep. Smith's e-mail Henry headed to her office where he was greeted by a staffer who led him to the Congresswoman herself.

"Good morning." he greeted Nicole as he walked in to her office.

[Velahor]

Washington, D.C.

Shortly after recieving Rep. Smith's e-mail Henry headed to her office where he was greeted by a staffer who led him to the Congresswoman herself.

"Good morning." he greeted Nicole as he walked in to her office.

“Good morning Mr. Representative, I’m so glad to see you!” says Nicole, with a newfound enthusiasm in her voice that she had likely never shown around the elderly congressman.

[Alozia]

Washington, D.C.

"I'm glad to see you too!" he replied with equal enthusiasm

"Although I must say, from personal experience, that I am somewhat surprised. I'm guessing you have recieved a lot of positive letters today?" Caldwell added with a friendly smile on his face.

[Velahor]

Washington, D.C.

"I'm glad to see you too!" he replied with equal enthusiasm

"Although I must say, from personal experience, that I am somewhat surprised. I'm guessing you have recieved a lot of positive letters today?" Caldwell added with a friendly smile on his face.

“Well yes, but I’m mostly glad someone took the time to stop by. I’ve been cooped up in here all day, my...boy...uh...my...uh...friend has been really busy too, so it’s nice to have a familiar face in the room. So, I’ll be straightforward, what did you want to talk about? Oh, and please take a seat.”

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

'I understand you wish disciplinary action taken on our Head of the Progressive Caucus?" De Nieto inquired

"Not disciplining, replacing. It's obvious by now that there's no Progressive heading the Progressive caucus."

"I see do you have a replacement in mind though?"

[Alozia]

Washington, D.C.

"I'm glad to see you too!" he replied with equal enthusiasm

"Although I must say, from personal experience, that I am somewhat surprised. I'm guessing you have recieved a lot of positive letters today?" Caldwell added with a friendly smile on his face.

“Well yes, but I’m mostly glad someone took the time to stop by. I’ve been cooped up in here all day, my...boy...uh...my...uh...friend has been really busy too, so it’s nice to have a familiar face in the room. So, I’ll be straightforward, what did you want to talk about? Oh, and please take a seat.”

Washington, D.C.

"Oh, thank you." Caldwell said before taking a seat as suggested. "Although I'm afraid that this will not be the most pleasant conversation."

Unsure how to start talking about the elephant in the room Caldwell simply asked: "Do you remember Sarah West? The young Progressive involved in the March for Equality?"

[Velahor]

“Well yes, but I’m mostly glad someone took the time to stop by. I’ve been cooped up in here all day, my...boy...uh...my...uh...friend has been really busy too, so it’s nice to have a familiar face in the room. So, I’ll be straightforward, what did you want to talk about? Oh, and please take a seat.”

Washington, D.C.

"Oh, thank you." Caldwell said before taking a seat as suggested. "Although I'm afraid that this will not be the most pleasant conversation."

Unsure how to start talking about the elephant in the room Caldwell simply asked: "Do you remember Sarah West? The young Progressive involved in the March for Equality?"

“Yeah, I know Sarah. Nice girl. Are you going to suggest that we recruit her talents to the party?” asked Nicole.

[Alozia]

Washington, D.C.

Henry cleared his throat.

"That's not the reason I'm here." he replied "It's actually her who wants to recruit me into their ranks."

[Velahor]

Washington, D.C.

Henry cleared his throat.

"That's not the reason I'm here." he replied "It's actually her who wants to recruit me into their ranks."

“I assume you told her no,” replied Nicole, with a hint of wishful thinking apparent in her tone.

[Alozia]

Washington, D.C.

"I told her that I will consider her offer, but I haven't made any other binding promises. And I don't hide the fact that I wouldn't want to abandon progressive Democrats such as you."

[Velahor]

Washington, D.C.

"I told her that I will consider her offer, but I haven't made any other binding promises. And I don't hide the fact that I wouldn't want to abandon progressive Democrats such as you."

“Henry, first off I want to say I respect your choice either way. If I were in your shoes, which I have been, I would stick with the Democratic Party,” replied Nicole, trying to keep calm. “And from my own perspective, it would be a shame to lose you to what I perceive as a cult of personality masquerading as what appears at best to be a fad party designed for media elites who are distant from the demands of the common populace. Look at the Progressive roster, the big names are all journalists and movie stars. People who approach politics as showmanship and sensationalism, neither of which benefit the disenfranchised people both you and I desire to serve.”