Choosing Kamala
A lot of people on the right are salivating about Joe Biden’s naming of Kamala Harris for VP, because she’s so loaded with baggage. Roger Kimball, for example, has this to say:
She’s the one who, as California’s Attorney General, held back exculpatory evidence about a chap on death row in order to burnish her ‘tough on crime’ image. That was before her leadership role in savaging Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court — the single most disgusting attempted political assassination I have ever witnessed. And it was also before her vicious attack on — why, it was on the puppet himself, on Joe Biden for being against forced busing back in the day.
We’ll be seeing those clips and many others like them early and often for the next 90-odd days…
Experts disagree about who is the nastiest and most disagreeable woman in politics. Some say it is Elizabeth Warren, and there is a lot to be said for her candidacy. Some say it is Hillary Clinton or Amy Klobuchar. I admit there is quite a lot to said for both of them as well. But for my money, the single most repellent woman in politics today is Kamala Harris. She is also, as this devastating video clip tweeted out today by President Trump reminds us, one of the most extreme leftists in what we used to be able to call, without irony, mainstream politics.
I can’t say I disagree with Kimball, although I’d make the case that Ilhan Omar – who handily won her primary yesterday in the great metropolis of Minneapolis – is actually most repellent. But let’s not quibble; Harris is “repellent enough.”
But I’m not sure how much that matters. In the end, what will matter is how many people hate Donald Trump and how much they hate him, as well as how many people have been propagandized into thinking that far leftism is just hunky-dory, and that a “person of color” and in particular a female POC has a special moral glow no matter what that person actually does.
Another thing about Kamala as the VP pick: what better choice did Biden, or his handlers, actually have? Boxed in by the assumption that they needed to make the choice a woman and probably a minority woman at that, Harris may have been the best of the lot as far as the Democrats are concerned.
Despite the fact that a lot of people are well aware that, if they vote for Biden, then his VP may become president sooner rather than later, many just don’t care. They would vote for the proverbial yellow dog or worse in order to get rid of Trump. That’s how deep their hatred goes.
[NOTE: I also think that voters need to be reminded of Kamala Harris’ busing stand.
I want to add that another possibly decisive factor in the 2020 election will be the extent to which voter fraud is committed, particularly in light of the push for mail-in voting.]
[ADDENDUM: Also, the fact that Biden will be a mere figurehead, controlled by returnees from the Obama administration as well as others to the left of them, is considered a plus and not a minus to many Democrats, who wish that Obama could have run for a third and fourth term like FDR.]
The loathsome former mayor of SF, whose relationship with Kamala when she was very young (Willie Brown, of course, being much older) was very important in her rise to power, is now claiming to be pleased that she has been chosen, contradicting other statements which he has recently made. It is also undeniable that any criticism of KH will be deemed illegitimate by the MSM, since only bigotry against a “woman of color” could possibly inspire any negative assessments of her character or of her ideology.
I’m convinced that if Trump loses, the US as we knew it, is over. With that predicate, I’d note that if Susan Rice had been chosen as President-in-waiting, every crime committed by the Obama administration, especially the attempted coup, would be “disappeared.”
Cap’n Rusty, they will be disappeared anyway if Biden wins.
neo – agreed that though I think Harris brings little to the ticket she may have been the least bad choice. The only other one I can think of is Duckworth because she is Midwestern and a disabled vet, and that may be a stretch.
Harris’s far-left agenda as a primary candidate and her savaging of Kavanaugh will be viewed as positives by committed leftist voters. The question is whether she brings anything to assist the ticket with independents. I doubt it.
The same way the media polished up Obama and made him glisten they will polish Kamala until she becomes a sparkling diamond that outshines any faults she might have. I was disappointed to see the sisters of doom were not kicked out by their constituents and now we have Kamala who is smart and savvy, she will be prepared and step in front of Biden to lead the Dem ticket all the way to November.
Another thing about Kamala as the VP pick: what better choice did Biden, or his handlers, actually have?
neo: That’s what I don’t get, regarding conservative joy of Kamala as Veep. I don’t see her as an obviously terrible choice. Certainly she is vulnerable to Trump attacks, but so were all the others.
I think most Democrats will be fine enough with Harris, given the paramount objective of driving the Beast Trump from the White House.
Whether Harris can pick up independent voters, as Kate asks, or Dems who voted Trump in 2016 is a good question, but other than Tulsi Gabbard — a non-black, non-starter by current Dem rules — I don’t see Rice or Bass or Abrams would do any better.
As I said in the post from yesterday, despite her 2% primary showing the FB dems I see are all in for her. Not much more to be said beyond what Neo has written. TDS is so strong with these people nothing will move them. Joe could grab Harris’ boobs at a campaign event and she could eat baby parts and they will still vote for the two of them.
Quite a ticket.
A doddering, verbally incontinent chap joined with an honors graduate of Hillary Clinton’s Charm School.
I’m still curious how Rice lost to Harris for Veep.
Did Harris look like a stronger asset for the campaign? Or did the choice reflect intraparty factional struggles?
Rice is closest to Obama, so does this mean Obama has lost influence?
Harris is closest to Willie Brown, but I’ve never been clear on Brown’s place outside California politics. Brown didn’t drink the Obama koolaid. Nor does he drink what BLM offers. Brown is a political animal and Harris is too.
It’s interesting to speculate what it means that Harris is Veep and could easily become POTUS with a Dem win in November.
huxley:
I think it may have been Rice’s lack of elective office. No one really knew if she had any ability to campaign or to appeal to voters. Harris has done both, although her appeal was only in California. The press likes her, too – she was the early favorite.
And Rice’s entire experience is in foreign policy.
Obama may have lost some clout, but not much , IMHO. A lot of his people would be a big part of a supposed Biden/Harris administration, plus some people even further left.
physicsguy: “the FB dems I see are all in for her.”
FWIW I’m seeing the same. The only person I know on the left who seems to be an exception is a truly radical leftist who thinks we need a revolution and despises the “neoliberal” Dems (which of course doesn’t mean he has any sympathy for the right).
I suspect Dr. Jill wanted to keep the odious and disloyal Obamas as far away as possible. Kamala now owes Joe. I also don’t think she moves the needle at all. Everyone for Joe would vote for Joe no matter who the VP is. Same for everyone for Trump. It does not matter. It is Trump vs. Not-Trump.
huxley (5:54 pm) said: “I’m still curious how Rice lost to Harris for Veep.”
Let me throw the following into the stew.
We all remember how Susan Rice went on those five Sunday morning tee vee shows and lied through her teeth (“took one for the team”) about the Benghazi attack being the result of activists watching a you tube video.
It was a very highly visible lie, far more visible, it seems to me, than anything Kamala Harris has ever done, good or bad. That lie (those five lies) could be blanketed all over the place to any outlet that would screen them [I know, I know, that eliminates the entire mainstream media and probably them some].
But word would nonetheless seep around that *she*’s the dame who said the Benghazi attack was all started by dudes watching a you tube video. That’s the sort of thing that could stick, and stick like little else ever did — a very major disqualifying feature.
M J R: That’s a reasonable scenario. It did occur to me.
However, it seemed Democrats successfully beat back Benghazi criticism as a silly, Republican talking point, so maybe Democrats don’t worry about it or maybe they do. I just can’t tell anymore.
In the meantime what are the odds Barr/Durham will get off the dime and release a report and make some indictments?
neo: Sounds reasonable, too.
It’s like watching a dogfight under a blanket.
huxley (6:51 pm) asked, “what are the odds Barr/Durham will get off the dime and release a report and make some indictments?”
If a tree falls in the forest . . . [and all that] . . .
Before she was anointed Harris was continuously slammed by the far left.
She was a self-proclaimed “top cop”.
She used the unapproved term “mentally retarded” to refer to ‘orange man bad’.
She prevented transgender inmates from getting gender reassignment surgeries.
She stopped backing ‘Medicare’ for all.
She isn’t ‘progressive’ enough.
She is too pro-Israel.
Today, however, the left offers nothing but praise for the ‘historic choice’.
My opinion of KH was pretty much solidified by the Kavanaugh hearings. She was so unerringly nasty and aggressive toward him that I cannot see her as anything but a dangerous, evil person.
I think what tipped the balance for Harris was the riots. The narrative about Harris is that she must be a “pragmatic moderate” because she was once a DA. Of course the narrative is 100% fraudulent but that’s all they’ve got. I will admit though that her relationship with Willie Brown was very pragmatic, look where it got her.
The Biden-Harris ticket will get every hard core white democrat vote. 36% of blacks and 51% of non-whites have overall a positive view of Trump’s job performance. Independents favor Trump.
GOP PAC ads can repeatedly eviscerate both Biden and Harris and on multiple issues.
That’s game over for Biden-Harris unless the dems committ MASSIVE voter fraud. Say the 15 states, comprising 70+ % of the electoral college… vote for Biden despite their state’s voters actually voting in the majority for Trump?
If they get their way, say the S.C. rules in favor, the rule of law is history and we are now a one party state, in which case the Constitution is a dead letter. The left will then have made peaceful resolution of differences impossible.
Our choice will then be binary; reeducation camps for the deplorables, nationalization of private property, hate speech laws and for those proclaimed to be “irredeemable”… secret killing fields. Which will include many, perhaps even most of us because facts, reason and logic are kryptonite to totalitarian ideologies.
It will be that or fight a hot war.
I don’t want that, you don’t want that, most don’t want that but there may well be enough who force that choice upon us.
It’s access to tech money and big tech was behind her, and they’re pulling the strings.
https://www.city-journal.org/kamala-harris-silicon-valley
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8365477/amp/Tech-billionaires-line-Biden-help-2020-election-Trump-goes-war-Twitter.html
Josh: Great pointer to the City Journal article. CJ is so good, so often!
From that article I just learned that Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, owns “The Atlantic.” Well, a majority stake anyway in 2017.
“The Atlantic” has been running downhill for a long time now.
Big California tech money is indeed a serious force in today’s troubles. Extraordinarily arrogant people.
Ed Morrisey has a reasonable article up, but to my mind misses the point:
“Sanders’ Former Press Secretary: Let’s Face It, The Harris Pick Is A Disaster For Progressives”
https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/08/12/sanders-former-press-secretary-lets-face-harris-pick-disaster-progressives/
Read it, if you like, but it’s the sort of thing neo already described in her post. I agree that Harris’s presence on the ticket is a questionable contribution to Biden’s campaign overall, but it is not a disaster for progressives. They understand that Harris is a political animal on the left, like her mentor Willie Brown, and she will sing what the choir is singing.
It’s like Obama’s opposition to gay marriage. No progressive cared, not even the LGBTQ whatevers. They understood it was a stand he took for political reasons and it wouldn’t be a problem.
They were right.
It will be that or fight a hot war.
I don’t want that, you don’t want that, most don’t want that but there may well be enough who force that choice upon us.
Geoffrey Britain: I’m generally more optimistic, though I admit my optimism has been shaken. I did not see things getting this wacky and dangerous this soon. However, though the situation is dire, I still believe we have a few more twists and turns before facing that binary choice.
Who saw Trump winning in 2016? (Well, Cornhead for one.) I’d like to think we’ve got some good surprises coming.
I’ll plant my tiny flag here that Trump will win in 2020 and probably win big.
His additional votes will come from Republicans who didn’t vote for him before, from Democrats who don’t want to ride the hard left/BLM/SJW/trans rollercoaster anymore, and from minorities who don’t see a better life with Democrats in charge.
And yes, I think this margin will be sufficient to overcome cheating.
It’s racist sexist to disparage Harris. As someone noted on Ace… never vote for anyone who knows what Willie Brown tastes like
A conservative friend, who knew California politics longer and better than I did, claimed Willie Brown started his legal career defending pimps and prostitutes (true) and on that basis built Hoover-like files on local pols and blackmailed them to get into power (speculative).
Hard to say whether Harris has more baggage as viewed from the Right or from the Progressive/Black perspective.
We don’t need to belabor the view from the Right.
I should think BLM will have some problems–
—- Her father is on record as saying that his ancestors in Jamaica were plantation and slave owners.
— Harris is married to a white, Jewish entertainment lawyer.
Ordinary Progressives may have trouble digesting–
—Her maternal grand father was a Civil servant in British Colonial Office during the last 15 years or British rule. (Has ANTIFA noticed yet?) Her Mother left India and came to the United States for graduate school at Berkeley. (PHD in nutrition and epidemiology ) Her father left Jamaica for the same reason, and earned a PHD in Economics at Berkeley. Neither returned to their impoverished countries to give back. Both enjoyed the good life as college Professors at prestigious American universities.
—Clearly, Harris was a child of privilege. For some reason she attended historic Black Howard University for undergraduate, but did law school at the private and exclusive Stanford where her father was on the faculty.
—Harris’ record as a hard nosed, vicious prosecutor is well documented. The Left hated her then. The staffs that reported to her also had several episodes of prosecutorial misconduct–and she defended them vigorously. She routinely defended the police and prison officials against brutality charges.
—Harris bragged that she was California’s “Top Cop” back when that was politically popular. She may have some trouble digesting those words now that her Base hates the police.
A few issues off the top of my head. I am sure there will be much more. The next few months should be very interesting.
“His additional votes will come from Republicans who didn’t vote for him before, from Democrats who don’t want to ride the hard left/BLM/SJW/trans rollercoaster anymore, and from minorities who don’t see a better life with Democrats in charge.”
All of the above, likely in spades, if Durham makes major heads roll.
If not, some of the above will vote 3rd party, or stay home.
“It is also undeniable that any criticism of KH will be deemed illegitimate by the MSM, since only bigotry against a “woman of color” could possibly inspire any negative assessments of her character or of her ideology.” – j e
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/08/what-the-media-can-and-cant-say-about-bidens-running-mate.php
“A group called “We Have Her Back” ”
Is that the group headed by Willie Brown … oh that’s the group “We Have Her On Her Back”, never mind.
On a more serious note, not that my last post wasn’t serious, I believe that if Biden wins he will last a lot longer as President than people think. As long as they can prop him up it actually may be convenient to have a barely-sentient nonentity as the front man.
“I’ll plant my tiny flag here that Trump will win in 2020 and probably win big.” – huxley
You appear to be in good company, and for the same reasons you presented.
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/07/37-states.html
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/trump_haters_realize_that_there_are_things_worse_than_trump.html
Deeper ramifications of the choice of Harris for VP – Doc Zero.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1293519753777209345.html
“…MASSIVE voter fraud…”
If it comes to that…and I think that’s the game plan. (It would be foolish to believe otherwise.)
Thus, one should expect the violence to ramp up ever more precipitously the closer we get to election day (but also, the closer we get to the Durham revelations) so as to give the Democrats their war cry: that regular voting (i.e., by polling booth) is impossible because the violence, rioting and mayhem in America (caused, of course, by Trump) prevents it. Therefore, for this election cycle (and perhaps for all future elections), mail-in-balloting is THE ONLY WAY to enable DEMOCRACY to proceed in America.
But it is to be expected that Trump and his supporters will attempt to prevent this (since there can be no doubt that it will be used to perpetrate the “MASSIVE voter fraud” mentioned above).
The Democrats will then attempt to tie up Trump by accusing him of TYRANNY and of—criminally—violating his oath to uphold the Constitution—no doubt Obama(!) will take the lead here—and, as night follows day, will try fast and furiously to void his candidacy on the grounds of such criminal activity, thus unleashing in their full fury, hatred and insanity the pitbulls of war….
I believe that this must be the end game.
“…in which case the Constitution is a dead letter.”
Already, the Democrats have demonstrated—since 2009, but ESPECIALLY since 2016—that the Constitution is a tool that is ONLY useful to justify their own lawlessness and criminal ambition, and/or as a truncheon with which to bash Trump and threaten his supporters (though instead of “truncheon” some may prefer “jackboot”.)
“The left will then have made peaceful resolution of differences impossible.”
Hillary Clinton, the Obama gang and the MSCM have pretty much already done that. But yes, they can—and will—certainly do more to TRY TO make peaceful transition TOTALLY impossible. (“YES WE CAN!!”)
And they will label such attempts “VIRTUE” and “SAVING THE REPUBLIC” (and further try to tar Trump and his supporters as ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, ENEMIES OF THE REPUBLIC”).
This will require calm nerves and resolute will, as well as the need to view anything and everything emanating from the MSCM as false. This last has been true for some time, unfortunately; but it is absolutely essential to do so to maintain as even a keel as possible.
Josh on August 12, 2020 at 9:08 pm said:
It’s access to tech money and big tech was behind her, and they’re pulling the strings.
* * *
The City Journal post from 2019, during the primaries, was very interesting – but makes me wonder why she did so badly, since there seemed to be Big Interests in her corner of the ring.
Here is a speculation that is definitely in the conspiracy theory class, which means (these days) it has a high probability of being true.
It is possible the two stories are nodes in the same network.
https://www.redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/08/11/kamala-harris-primary-campaign-suggests-biden-candidacy-going-down-in-flames/
https://babylonbee.com/news/kamala-harris-humbled-to-have-been-chosen-exclusively-for-her-race-gender
“Kamala Harris has a reputation for indiscriminately rounding up people and throwing them in jail for some reason. America’s minority population have reported looking forward to seeing what it might be like to be prosecuted and imprisoned by a woman of color.”
https://babylonbee.com/news/report-kamala-harris-already-vetting-vp-picks
“The VP search has stalled since it has proven difficult to find a woman of color who survived both Kamala Harris’ pro-abortion policies as well as her aggressive imprisonment of minorities. In a statement, the campaign also promised to announce a pick while all The Babylon Bee writers are sleeping so they won’t have a chance to write a funny headline about it. “
Going full Orwell:
“America is crying out for leadership!”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-harris-set-first-joint-event-running-mates-n1236505
If, under Obama, America was “leading from behind” then clearly if Biden is elected, America will be “leading from below”.
The only question will be, does the WH have a big enough basement.
One of the huge advantages of being the Democratic nominee for POTUS (and VPOTUS for that matter) is that you DON’T HAVE TO MAKE ANY SENSE at all, given that the MSCM is totally in your corner, skewing and filtering the news in your favor.
Let’s see now:
https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/08/12/biden-accuses-trump-of-coddling-terrorists-and-thugs-overseas/
https://pjmedia.com/election/matt-margolis/2020/08/11/flashback-kamala-harris-said-she-believes-women-who-accuse-joe-biden-of-sexual-misconduct-n777092
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/jim-treacher/2020/08/12/biden-accuser-tara-reade-the-democratic-party-has-become-an-enabler-to-sexual-predators-n782329
This should make for phenomenally entertaining theater. The downside is that we may all be ROTFL until the tears flow long and hard…
Biden Lies Matter?
https://twitter.com/LeeSmithDC/status/1293698794408812544
Not so much.
He’s the Democratic nominee.
Therefore, he’s allowed to lie. (That is, his lies are NOT lies. Because that’s how it is….)
“All things are permitted…”, etc…
What other choice did he have?
A friend asked me this question (he doesn’t know I’m not a Dem), and I realized I had forgotten about Tulsi Gabbard again. She was my favorite of the Dem candidates… in also a slightly terrifying way because it was quickly clear she is very good, and would actually be competition to Trump.
She’s a woman, of color, and she’s brilliant. I’m still not sure why she was ignored by the media in the main race, in favor of talking about 1-issue Andrew Yang. Perhaps as VP pick she could have overshadowed Biden?
I hope she doesn’t go anywhere– she could be a formidable candidate, and what I’ve seen of her I like and respect, even though I wouldn’t want her to win over my guy.
The election I fear is going to turn out badly. Too many “Orange Man Bad” people out there who will neglect the Far Left take over of the U.S. Government when Joe Plugs wins. Biden will be Marshal Petain to Harris’ Pierre Laval.
Tulsi Gabbard is a Lefty who for some reason many on the Right fell in love with. She is a Bashar Assad lackey.
As I was saying, “all things are permitted”….
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1293885855677976577
(As long as the MSCM is able to squelch whatever it determines must NOT be read, heard or otherwise found out.)
And so: Biden-Harris (Joke-Amala?) in 2020!
She has a great smile (almost as good as Biden’s)…
…but we all know about (or do we?) Harris’s disgusting behavior in the Kavanaugh hearings
https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1293632282159468545
Just a sec!—here’s a “golden-oldie” from 2015 written by (of all people) Sidney Powell:
https://observer.com/2015/03/california-prosecutor-falsifies-transcript-of-confession/
H/T Sidney Powell’s twitter feed.
(No doubt just another reason for Biden to be super proud of “his” VP pick….)
Moral of the story: Watch out for “No Malarkey” types with terrific smiles?
Given Biden’s treatment of Clarence Thomas at the latter’s confirmation hearings and Harris’s treatment of Kavanaugh at his, the 2020 Democratic ticket could well be characterized as “Nasty and Nastier 2020”.
Now there are those who may opine that Kamala’s Kavanaugh cameo was in fact inspired by Biden’s bullying bastinado, but such a characterization would, I’m afraid, be both sexist and racist, Harris being perfectly capable of such appalling pyrotechnics all by herself, i.e., without any external assistance.
She is, after all, a self-made woman (give or take).
I disagree with many of you — I don’t think Kamala Harris is a committed leftist. She is a committed Kamala-ist. Although she is a Democrat, that is only because she felt she would fare better under the Dems. When it was the old Democrat Party and being “Tough-on-Crime” was important, she was “California’s Top Cop.” Now it’s the new Woke Democrat Party and she’s a Wokety-Woke-Woke Democrat. If it changes back, overnight she would be an old school Democrat again. Her only political conviction is that Kamala Harris should move up the political ladder as far as she can go, up to and including President.
As we say in California, “she went horizontal to go vertical.” She will say anything and do anything, or anyone, to get ahead. I think that makes her more, not less, dangerous than a real lefty like AOC or Stacey Abrams.
I’m still not sure why she was ignored by the media in the main race, in favor of talking about 1-issue Andrew Yang. Perhaps as VP pick she could have overshadowed Biden?
The Cabal doesn’t like Demoncrat leaders that have an actual conscience and refuses to sacrifice children.