It doesn’t really take much courage to stand against the mainstream. Just principles.
And military service alone does not mean you’re one of the “good guys”. General Milley for example.
The rest of your comment just made me giggle.
Please elucidate more on my gnat like IQ level.
It amuses me.
I would have to inquire if you simply move through life blindly accepting the truth as it is presented to you? Never considering the motivations, and political angles in this case, of those doing the presenting. When behavior just “doesn’t make sense” that’s when you start digging. Because EVERYTHING makes sense to someone at any given time.
Tulsi could have quietly retired and lived the good life in Hawaii of all places. Suddenly she decides to throw rocks into a hornets nest. To what end? I seriously find it hard to believe she suddenly had an attack of conscience. And why now? I’d like to see some more collateral spilled please. And name names. Otherwise I call grift.

This question ultimately comes down this: do you believe that people can change? It really is that simple. Can people be persuaded to put mind over feelings - logic over lust?

I believe that people can change. Now that doesn't mean that Gabbard has earned my trust. Changing and trusting those who change are completely different things. She's still at best a moderate. But I'll take a moderate over the far-leftists which constitute 90%+ of the Democratic Party right now. I'd much rather have someone who is willing to have a conversation about making a better future for everyone rather than just power-hungry elitists who threaten the economy, my children, and freedom in general.

I say give her a chance.

Oh, I'm well aware of the damage--my stepson's meth use messed up his life and cost his mom and me thousands of dollars. Meth being illegal made it worse, not better.

Alcohol use causes quite a bit of damage--would you make that illegal? Seems to me that was tried once; didn't work out so well.

words are cheap
she was a democrat, may still be

all democrats are liars and traitors
ALL OF THEM

to vote democrat you have to be
insane or a parasite or a traitor
or some combo

legal drugs?
you are clearly insane

if you cannot see the damage that drug use does to people or families, nothing we can will change your small mind

Nope don’t pay any attention to Fake news. Your insults are troll like , glad you had “the work thing”.

First off, going on an objectivist web forum and insulting people's intelligence because they disagree with you is a pretty glaring nonstarter.

Secondly, mere military service is not a guarantee of anything beyond a strategic career-enhancement choice. She has taken an unusual stand against her Democrat-Socialist comrades in adopting a hard line against Islamic terrorism, but given the bulk of her clearly-stated ideological positions (including a bizarre affinity for Syria's Assad,) that "hawkish" stand has to be taken as an isolated divergence from the whole.

So in answer to the lead post's question: If we want to take the term "patriotism" beyond a shallow jingoism and consider it in the context of its full meaning:
A politician with a brain that's 10% apparent commitment to military service and 90% adherence to policies which - whether she grasps the fact or not - represent a full-on assault on human rights, cannot be labeled as a "patriot."
.

No, I wouldn't trust her any farther than I can spit either, and that's just the baseline of trust. As anything approaching a standard-bearer for anything positive in politics I consider her null-to-negative.

Memories of her statements in the 2019 Democrat debates are hazy, but something I do remember clearly is her cultist's commitment to the "green" religion. The Infogalactic page on her (always, always look there first, not Hoaxipedia, though the results are often a carbon-copy anyway,) shows her ideology to be predominantly Regressive, with some weird forays into semi-Republican positions tossed into the mix (as a member of the Honolulu City Council she worked to defend food-truck operators against city regulations; she broke with hard-Left Democrats on radical Islam, etc.)

At the bottom line we are talking about someone who campaigned for Bernard Sanders because she thinks Hillary Clinton is not hardcore-collectivist enough.

There's a good overview of her - additionally useful because its writer is from the collectivist camp at Vox, so it can't be considered a Republican polemic - here:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politi...

As long as she does not run for any office as a "Republican," her defection from the Democrat-Socialist Party is a net gain for Republicans as a surface, press-release-level propaganda victory. But the absolute last thing either the Republican Party or the cause of reason, individualism, capitalism and human rights needs is yet another mixed-premises hard-Left-leaning politician weaseling her way into elected office as a "Republican." So... "as long as she does not run for office as a 'Republican,'" we can enjoy the momentary egg on the face of Democrats. But that's about as far as her defection goes, from where I sit.
.

That is a rational argument, M_K.
The GOP is just a slightly more moderate wing controlled by the WEF/Deep State.
It's time for the GOP to betray the People again, to remove that last bit of unwarranted hope.
Then when the only choice offered is serfdom or starvation they believe the state will prevail.
The WEF and Deep State deserve to be impaled on the national mall for treason, and, ironically, to have their remains eaten by looting parasitical vultures.

The meaning of the word "patriot" here is a supporter of Free America as opposed to a socialist serfdom style government. No one here is questioning her military service. Her RECENT words and her voting record as an elected representative of the Neo Communist (Democrat) party are contradictory. This is what this discussion is about. Is she actually going conservative or is she simply putting on a mask? If she returns to office will she wear a conservative hat and vote Democrat anyway, like RINOs do? Only time will tell who the New TG really is.

Edit add: FYI it takes a decent IQ to recognize contradictions and question them, so you can keep the condescending insults to yourself.

I honestly can't figure where your heads are at if you question Tulsi Gabbards patriotism.
You are obviously not paying much attention to the interviews she's been giving on Fox lately let alone the fact that she actually served in the military, s
unlike you Couch potatoes who collectively possess the IQ of a gnat, her views are well reasoned and certainly take a great deal of courage to stand against the mainstream .
I'd really love to hang out and chat but I've gotta do the work thing in the morning.

I'll check it out.

I don’t listen to And We Know too much any more.
I will say that I am certain he didn’t come up with that theory. He probably saw it posted and repeated it which is fine. A new media hub called Badlands media rumble has my attention. I highly recommend.

Yes, "Don't get burned again!"

She collaborated with one of the most vile filthy child abuser’s Jon Podesta who I suspect made Epstien seem tame.

It’s possible , but for now I am deep in the skeptical camp.

Jon Podesta is a pee doh file. His emails that were supposedly hacked by …. Wait for it….. Russians.
The disgusting shit in those emails were so bad that it cost the evil Hag The election.Seems to me the finger has bee n pointed at the Russians about this but what about investigating the abhorant behavior that the emails exposed.

Calling out the Democrats is one thing; but she is an acolyte of Klaus and the WEF, and that's a big problem.
I will remain skeptical, of Tulsi.

She seems very sincere to me much like any lady who finally gets a gut full. I hope i;m right.

AndWeKnow suggests she was a plant in the demo party and the WEF to see how they operate and now comes out because they have all the info that is needed.
Maybe?...as I stated, only the hair dresser knows for sure.

Me too - "Recreational "cannabis" is ruining Colorado" . . . I also ask, can you explain how it doing that? As a long time opponent of drug legalization, I'm skeptical too.

It's not about what they say but it is about what they do! My jury is still out on this possible Trojan Horse.

Me dino was thinking (with some ongoing doubts) I maybe had Tulsi figured out for perhaps having deep family Democrat family roots but was nevertheless trying to change the Marxist Jackass Party from the inside until throwing in the towel.
But seeing her smiling face and a raised thumb posing with Antifa thugs in that photograph just does not compute.
That's the same criminal scum who tried to murder Rittenhouse for the fanatical partisan crime of carrying a fire extinguisher.

If she has called out the Dems as ruled by a deep state cabal , and she has left out the RINOs who are also controlled. Nonetheless if that renunciation
Q ualifies her as worthy to lead in Con_gress than I should be Q ualified as master of the world.