Establishing a political and personal identity in the public’s mind early on is crucial to effective campaigning and to developing a campaign that can withstand both personal and political attacks.
Really important piece today! We do need to know what she has accomplished, and it hasn’t been in the news. I watch MSNBC regularly, and have not noted much attention there. Let’s get to it while there’s still time!
Thank you for exploring this very important matter. I did not know anything substantial about her accomplishments since becoming VP. I hope that someone reads this article to Joe Biden. I continue to wish that Elizabeth Warren were VP (or P), especially because she speaks up, knows what she's talking about, and continues to educate us along the way. [eg, Jerome Powell is harming those who are most vulnerable in our economy; price goudging is causing much of our inflation; climate change and ecological imbalance are of primary concern to everyone.] I fear that no one cares about Kamala Harris, so this report can help us wake up.
It would help if Biden publicly explained and praised her contributions. Often, in the next year. That would help her, but more important: it would help him by diminishing the effect of a smear campaign that this article rightly predicts.
At Least 3 Tornados Confirmed on Wednesday in Chicago Area
The National Weather Service confirmed the tornadoes on Thursday after issuing warnings. Suburbs were damaged but there were no reported injuries.
0:00/0:47
Tornado Touches Down in Chicago
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, according to authorities.
“Holy [expletive] Funnel cloud. Huge rotation. Huge rotation.” “Tornado on the ground in Barrington. It just crossed over the highway. Man.” “Oh my God. I’ve never seen such a violent motion here. That looks like a – that looks like a funnel. That looks like a stovepipe.”
0:48
Tornado Touches Down in Chicago
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, according to authorities.CreditCredit...Charles ree tornadoes touched down in the Chicago area late on Wednesday, damaging homes and uprooting trees, the National Weather Service and city officials confirmed on Thursday.
The Weather Service had advised people in the area to seek shelter on Wednesday night at about 7 p.m., after a tornado was confirmed to be on the ground near O’Hare International Airport and moving east toward downtown. It led hundreds of flights to be canceled.
On Thursday, it said its teams, working in Kane County, in Northern Illinois, had confirmed one tornado touched down in Elgin, which has a population of about 113,000, with a maximum wind speed of 100 miles per hour. A second tornado tracked south of the first one, wielding a wind speed of about 85 miles per hour. No injuries were reported.
A third was confirmed in the villages of Burr Ridge in Cook and DuPage counties and Stickney, just north of Chicago Midway International Airport. Businesses were damaged and trees uprooted in 110 mile-per-hour winds, the Weather Service said.
I read through all of these comment's and no one, including you, talked about what I say, that I can't stand the sound of Kamala's voice. It's a sort of whine that gets me to mute her when I'm near a remote. Am I the only one? The thought of years that she'd be listened to as the leader of the the free world, omg.
metoometoometoometoometoo. Here Thom is worried about her not having enough exposure and I am in terrible foreboding about a wider audience "discovering" her. We're supposed to be all politically correct about not making any negative comment about any personal characteristic of ESPECIALLY a female in politics, but to the core of my old jury trial lawyer being I know Kamala is an audience turn-off: needless to say, a handicap not needed in this era of a few thousand votes here and there determining the fate of the world.
The voice of a leader is very important. I haven't heard enough of Kamala to recognize it yet. I hope you are wrong, but I suspect you are right, there are certain voices I can't listen to also. I have not been able to listen to about the last eight presidents, for content, not for audio though. Hopefully a Democrat will run against Biden in the primary and we won't have to worry about that!
I've got a name for y'all: Amy Klobuchar. In the collection of worries about Harris; from vulnerabilities to criticisms; Klobuchar has a strength in place of virtually every potential weakness of Harris. Flyover Country roots and that inimitable speech pattern. Natural smiling enthusiasm and energy. Ivy league and prosecutor chops. Solid liberal values with legislative evidence to show for it.
Let's not forget how John Kerry was pounded on as a "Flip-Flopper" - with video taped "proof" that was aired repeatedly, with him saying something like 'I voted for it, before I voted against it'.
The Dems are again poised to let the Repubs define them and the issues for an election.
Several people here have noted VP Harris' speaking patterns, which at times have been disjointed and confusing. There seems to be sufficient videotape of the VP's meandering extemporaneous talks to make people uncomfortable with her. She's already been roasted as a "Selina Meyer" from the sitcom "Veep", and I've heard other cringe worthy parodies that are painfully "spot on". This could make the election a referendum on her speech and thoughts not being presidential.
I'm hoping she'll be giving some videotaped Great Speeches that can be integrated in the campaign that will negate whatever the mudslingers will dredge up and throw at her.
It is possible Harris was given the nomination to show liberals that yes, there is someone younger and much more open to change who is part of the ticket. But then she was kept down to avoid scaring those on the fence who are worried about a liberal woman being too outspoken in national politics. If that was the thinking it was very shortsighted of two counts. First, consider how Teddy Roosevelt unexpectedly became president. For reasons of health Biden could still die in office. Second, it was terribly cynical by the DNC who dangled a promise they have no intention of keeping, not that this is new. After all, Obama looked far better as a candidate than he was as a president. And they will continue to mute her! If Harris remains on the ticket, if Biden is reelected and if he survives his full second term it is hard to image today's Democratic Party nominating her. They will “play it safe” and maybe lose on that account. If they don’t this time.
For the past year or so I've been saying to my wife, "I bet Biden retires before the next election so that Harris can become the incumbant." Has anyone heard talk of this possibility?
P.S. She gives me that look, like I'm from another planet.
He won't, The DNC only cares about winning the horse race, and as they see it, Biden is the only bet, after all he beat Trump once. I don't think the DNC has any principles, values or ideology, only self service, maintaining the status quo, and taking care of the mega donors, the plutocrats, and have proven to not give a ?"@# aoub the base, which they have and will throw under the bus to service the megadonors. The criticisms of minority communities about the Democratic party are valid, they court them during election season, then forget them after the season is over.
Women will understand the analogy of the Democratic party and a Lothario.
I've got plenty of bones to pick with the DNC, the MassDems, and several other Democratic groups, but this isn't one of them. "Winning the horse race" in 2024 is crucial. In retrospect it's pretty damn clear that winning the horse race in 2016 was crucial too, but we blew it. So who of the current standout Democrats -- governors, senators, representatives, et al. -- has the national name recognition (or could build it in the next few months) to take on Trump? Nearly all the ones I can think of have the same low-recognition problem that VP Harris does, and for the ones who don't (Warren, Sanders), the recognition is a mixed blessing.
Good question, good response. I do not disagree. You have a point about national name recognition, but face it Dubya did not have national name recognition, before the corporate media gave him a public face. Yes he was Governor of Texas, and owned the Texas Rangers, but that was local not national.
It is the media that gives people national name recognition. Governors have a job to govern, and that makes them ideal candidates. Senators have a job that depends on compromise,bi partisan ship, and in the present environment, that makes them unfit to govern. They have to have no real principles, to be bipartisan and an ameliorator. That was America past, not America today and the DNC is like most old folk and lives in he past. I said most, I'm 84 and don't live in the past. I had one hell of a past , but that is not who I am today and I live in the now, not the past.My past resides in a bunch of cardboard boxes and I know not which.
I know of one Governor who is aggressive, but thoughtful, makes friends, not enemies and who is very progressive. Jay Inslee of Washington State, but he has taken his name out of the race, because he doesn't want to interfere with Biden and the DNC. If Biden stepped aside, and there is another Governor who I would vote for in heartbeat, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, but I fear that Biden running for re election will go down like Trump, because too many of his base are disappointed in him, for his "bipartisanship" his caving and not using the interregnum of a Democratic Congress to push through a bill that protects women's rights, on the plus side he signed a bill protecting same sex marriage, but here is what I think was behind it.
Same sex marriage was no longer a hot button issue, but women's health rights were, even among some Democrats, and the DNC is scared sh...less of the Maggots in and out of congress.
And the last thing the DNC wants is a progressive President, Senator or Representative as the DNC is corrupted by mega donors. Ignoring the fact that Bernie proved that you don't need them. People like me were motivated to fiance Bernie, but most DNC approved candidates are underwhelming and even proving that they don't walk the talk, which is very important.. the old adage of fool me once......
The problem is that Kamala does not fuel enthusiasm, partly because of the media, mostly because of the DNC who doesn't want to steal Biden's thunder'
My beef with him is that he delayed supporting Ukraine with timely delivery of needed weapons and munitions, until it was almost (or actually) too late. He is easily bluffed by Putin.
If you are a company commander and under siege by an enemy who is fighting you from a protected area, and running short on mean and material, and you are told by your battalion commander, to hold your ground at all costs, that we have ammo and weapons that might offend the enemy, and that those we do have are in short supply. What would you do?
Those are the conditions that the Wehrmacht faced at Stalingrad, Even Vietnam. There are places in Vietnam that were defended at great loss of life by Americans, only to be abandoned today or converted like in Cu Chi which cost so many lives, into a Vietnamese German university.
By the way, as much as I like Warren and Sanders, I don't have confidence in their ability to govern, because they lacked experience in Governing, and there only experience is in dancing with the devil, and when you dance with the devil he steps on your toes as he tries to seduce you.
"Dubya did not have national name recognition"? Maybe not as an individual, but how many potential Democratic contenders had a father who was president of the U.S.? The Bush name had national name recognition. Not unlike the Kennedy name -- though that didn't help Joe Kennedy III in his attempt to primary Ed Markey, but that's probably because stupid trumped name recognition.
Do you think Biden has a "base" the way Trump has a base? I'm not at all sure about that. For me and most of the liberal and progressive political junkies I know, Biden was a 5th or 6th choice in the 2020 primaries. We were all thinking in terms of policy proposals and "where's his money coming from?" Most voters seem to have been thinking more along the lines of "who can get us out of this crazy?" Biden won hands-down on that one.
I'd love to have a credible presidential candidate who's a generation younger and can still come across as "Uncle Walter" (Cronkite), but at the moment I'm not seeing any possibilities. I wouldn't mind Biden replacing Kamala Harris in the VP slot with, say, a Gretchen Whitmer or a Stacey Abrams but that would be an exceedingly delicate task and I don't see it happening. Even if Harris agreed to it, it would very likely blow up in the Democrats' face. And the country cannot afford that.
Thanks for your take. I agree with you, mostly. your perspective about Bush is correct, my error.
As regards Biden. It is my firm opinion that a head of cabbage could have beat Trump, and in a way it did, but 2024 is a different cookie. The Right Wingers, the fascists among us know that he is beatable, so this time they have had four years to rig the game in their favor, using the one tool, state legislatures, Democrats gave to them, by focusing all of their money and energy on Federal officials, and neglecting state legislatures and governors.
They in essence concentrated on Generals and colonels and neglected the NCO Corps,, which by the way is what Russia does. Ukraine has learned from the U.S. Military to concentrate on the NCO corps, but the DNC neglects the "NCO Corps" (state legislatures, in favor of throwing all resources into the Colonels and Generals (figuratively)
Ironic that the Pentagon gets it right, as did Ukraine which emphasized NCO leadership and initiative over traditional top down structure, whereas tg the DNC resists, modernization and prefers top down dictate. Apparently the Republican party has found it self pushed into a populist, bottom up reality and the DNC is a dinosaur.
The press has been marginalizing Vice President Harris, as they always do with Black Women. It is surprising they even give Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a notice. She is in a different position. She is in a position on her own, where as Vice President Harris is second to Joe Biden. As someone whose mom is 89, and living independently in a senior residence, and who has a grandmother who lived to be 99.5, and a great-grandmother on my father's side who lived to be 109, I don't see 82 as a death knock. I could be wrong. I think people should be looking at VP Harris, and President Biden, another strong woman is also at his side, Jill Biden. Unlike Trump, who I cannot see discussing policy with Melania, I assume Biden has an equal partner in life with whom he discusses things, which is part of why he comes across so much more balanced and reasonable than Trump. The others are personality, and politics. I do think it is harmful that VP Harris does not appear more often in the public eye. You are right that it always a problem to let the Republicans set the narrative. However, no matter what she does they are going to set the narrative. My narrative is that Trump is a liar and criminal who threatens our very national safety, much like Putin is doing in Russia. I think a goal is to wait him out and wait until his nukes fall apart. How long can he maintain them if his money increasingly dries up, and his sources for getting things do too. I still like the commercial made in the 1970s You are not getting older, you are getting better! President Biden needs to jump on that one. It is still the most convincing narrative for voting for Biden.
Thom, you might want to do more research on Wikipedia. I have a friend who is a Wikipedia editor. She tells me: "I assure you that it is pretty darn neutral politically and no way would bias exist on her page for more than seconds. Plus the page is locked - you can see it in the upper right corner of her Wikipedia page. This means that only serious Wikipedia editors that have a lot of experience can edit the page."
Shmamala is invisible as VP, but that's in keeping with most powerful democrats.
Was glad to see so many of them standing right next to Fran Drescher, and providing their support and solidarity with unions and workers, so that it could go viral and create an enormous media boost for the Democrats.
Ooooops, not.
If we're going to provide a Support to Schmiden, Shmamala or to any other democrat, we should at least ask her what she thinks of ISDS provisions - ya know, the kind that let Paul Singer rule the world and that were presumably in the "trade" agreements supported by Obama.
Or please, can we ask her what support she gives to ESG investing and the SEC's proposed rules? Or what her position is on recent state laws (in "crazy right wing" states like New Hampshire) that prohibit any firms that use ESG from doing any business with the state?
At the very least what we all can try to do is to make more substance by our choice and stop saying Democrats deserve support just because they're not Republicans.
Or is she not supposed to think about these things?
It seems the clear picture of the Biden Harris approach to climate is to spend money on certain things. But in spite of the money they've spent if you go to New Hampshire this summer you'll see that there aren't many electric vehicles and there aren't that many places to charge them and if you go up and talk to someone charging one they probably come from Canada.
So we're left with a Supreme Court they did nothing about, we r left with state laws that would prohibit anybody from dealing with the economics of climate , which they (the Schmidens) are not saying anything about, and we're left with the country being run by fossil fuel interests in a citizens United situation that actually could be directly addressed by ESG if done meaningfully.
Oh, and on that little issue of climate, how many of us think that there might be, maybe, one single question in the so-called "presidential debate" this time about this? Cant wait to see that!
I'm still ticked about what the Gop did to John Kerry! I'm glad you brought this up, but I want to point out that presidential campaigns seem to start much earlier than way back when.
Thom this is a critical topic. I have no idea who thought of throwing around about 4 billion dollars of government money to help employ the central Americans. The GOP would just wait until the so-called "free market" fixed the problem, hell would freeze over first! The churches would gladly fix the homeless crisis as well ,if the government would just give them trillions of dollars, I'm sure. The American taxpayer has been subsidizing low wages since Reaganomics in more ways than one. The earned income tax credit is another way to impoverish childless people who do the same jobs and get paid half as much. The union hating fascists want the taxpayers to pay for their slaves. And the Confederate voters say, OK, as long as we get socialism and the left gets capitalism, while saying "kill all the commies" even though there are few commies, just socialists?
Bob, I think you misunderstood the $4B. That funding was all money from private companies, pledged for investment in C. America to stabilize the region and reduce migratory outflows. None of that was government money.
Thank you for the correction. What? We have a bunch of fascists sitting around the White House now? Fascism is a government ran by the rich. More like organized crime to fleece the flock. Whose idea was it? The private companies aren't going to do it because they are humanitarians. There must be some money in it somewhere for them. Maybe it's for all the cheap labor they have acquired from all the illegals since the late '80s?
Bob, I cannot speak to the motive of the companies involved, only point to the results that Mr. Hartmann clearly illustrated above, which worked to significantly reduce border migration.
People generally flee conditions and situations with poor economic and safety prospects. VP Harris efforts helped to stabilize the situations in those countries. To the likely consternation of those on the right, who claim Democrats can only burn through public cash and cost American jobs, her strategy did neither. This looks like a win in my book but you're free to disagree. Any further response from you can serve as the last word. Have a good weekend.
Biden is a typical dirty old white guy who's afraid of Harris because ... well, the list is long. President Harry sound much better to me; she has the intellect to understand that the 'great migration' we are facing all over the World is driven by the Climate CRISIS.
Harris is red meat to the Maggots and their allies, the MSM. There will be gallons of ink used to defame her, and she herself has provided the ink.
What the party needs is a genuine progressive who can assuage the fears and fulfill the needs, besides bigotry, of a good portion of the base of the Republican party. Someone who is clean, no background that would support a scandal, some one with solid ideas and a plan that will benefit all Americans, regardless of....
JFK is not a model either, with the investigative resources available today, with digital dominance of information, he would not have been President. For one thing he was a known Lothario, besides bedding Marily Monroe he was at it as a congressman, and cheating on Jackie. The Republicans ignore those pecadillos, including criminal behavor, but Democrats don't. The forced Al Franken to resign as Senator, for engagin in a practical joke, and Wiener for taking selfies of his male member, while applauding Sen Vitter who was caught up in the DC Madam scandal, and elected Mark Sanford as Governor though he defrauded the state, the voters, cheated on his wife to visit a mistress in Argentina.
Agreed, Harris does not have such a big ego she will not listen to wise people. she is not much of a free thinker, I watched her on a Sunday morning news program once to get to know her, I never heard any new ideas or signs of intelligent life. She would be better than Trump or Biden though, in my opinion, with the right kind of advisors, like.....THOM and Robert Reich...
I don’t think she is allowed to think freely. I remember her during the Kavanaugh hearings; she was the best cross examiner on the panel. She is brilliant.
The problem is the DNC, the only people they vet, support, get behind are old tired race horses, that have been trotting around the paddock, paying their dues, earning creds, biding their time and waiting to be called to the starting gate, and there is one salient feature about them, they are conservatives, and not a threat to the establishment or the big donors.
The DNC is openly hostile towards real liberals, progressives, their liberals are faux liberals who give mouth service to mild liberal causes. An example is Hakeem Jefferies, a major recipient of AIPAC money and backing.
Terry McAuliffe a lack luster, insincere conservative that lost an election to a right wing demagogue.
Hillary Clinton, wife of the man who created the rust belt swing states, uncharismatic and insincere.
Joe Biden , the senator from Wall Steet who wound up as Obama’s VP, aged, over the hill, conservative (glossed over as bipartisan), who beat Trump only because a record breking 81 million people turned out to vote out a perverted, thieving, lying,misogynistic,grafter which could have been beat by a head of cabbage.
Now that he is President, he has contributed to the self destruction of our democratic Republic, by appointing right wingers, like Garland, to cabinets and keeping the Trump humpers embedded as protected civil servants by Trump (he has the tools to get rid of them, but he foolishly revoked the tool that Trump gave him
The result his favorability by the Democratic base has declined, out of disappointment (The media reports the decline, but not the demographics nor the reasons, lumping MAGGOTs, and disaffected and disappointed Democrats in the same cracker barrel.
Invisibility is not Kamala’s problem, she is lack luster, lacks charisma, boring, ineffectual when she does appear, as a result she does not spur emotions, nor inspires her audience . I suspect that she is easily handled.
She was elected California’s Attorney General and oversaw the largest state justice department in the United States
She had a mixed record on law enforcement and was hard to pin down ideologically, a meme developed that she was the cops best prosecutor. As attorney general of California, she defended the state's use of the death penalty. She essentially said: look, I'm doing my job. It's the largest attorney general's office, second to the U.S. attorney general. And after the Supreme Court ruled that California had basically put way too many people in prison, her office argued that they needed to have these folks in prison because they were essential to prison labor
However she supported gay marriage and co- sponsored a bill that outlawed the so-called "gay panic defense."
She does not inspire confidence, I do not believe that she is a a real progressive, but a self serving pragmatist in the mold of Hillary, but I am forced to vote for her, as I am forced to vote for Biden, by holding my nose. This democratic Republic will not survive the authoritarian, religious dictatorship of the White Christian Nationalist Republican party, but I sure want a fire breathing,, no quarters President and party, like FDR. Not a conservative, no values, establishment oriented party like the DNC and it’s handpicked representatives.
Harris is red meat to the Maggots and their allies, the MSM. There will be gallons of ink used to defame her, and she herself has provided the ink.
What the party needs is a genuine progressive who can assuage the fears and fulfill the needs, besides bigotry, of a good portion of the base of the Republican party. Someone who is clean, no background that would support a scandal, some one with solid ideas and a plan that will benefit all Americans, regardless of....
JFK is not a model either, with the investigative resources available today, with digital dominance of information, he would not have been President. For one thing he was a known Lothario, besides bedding Marily Monroe he was at it as a congressman, and cheating on Jackie. The Republicans ignore those pecadillos, including criminal behavor, but Democrats don't. The forced Al Franken to resign as Senator, for engagin in a practical joke, and Wiener for taking selfies of his male member, while applauding Sen Vitter who was caught up in the DC Madam scandal, and elected Mark Sanford as Governor though he defrauded the state, the voters, cheated on his wife to visit a mistress in Argentina.
Really important piece today! We do need to know what she has accomplished, and it hasn’t been in the news. I watch MSNBC regularly, and have not noted much attention there. Let’s get to it while there’s still time!
Yes Thom, agree with Judie - really important article. Great work. Thanks.
Thank you for exploring this very important matter. I did not know anything substantial about her accomplishments since becoming VP. I hope that someone reads this article to Joe Biden. I continue to wish that Elizabeth Warren were VP (or P), especially because she speaks up, knows what she's talking about, and continues to educate us along the way. [eg, Jerome Powell is harming those who are most vulnerable in our economy; price goudging is causing much of our inflation; climate change and ecological imbalance are of primary concern to everyone.] I fear that no one cares about Kamala Harris, so this report can help us wake up.
It would help if Biden publicly explained and praised her contributions. Often, in the next year. That would help her, but more important: it would help him by diminishing the effect of a smear campaign that this article rightly predicts.
THIS IS NOT NORMAL! From The NY Times:
At Least 3 Tornados Confirmed on Wednesday in Chicago Area
The National Weather Service confirmed the tornadoes on Thursday after issuing warnings. Suburbs were damaged but there were no reported injuries.
0:00/0:47
Tornado Touches Down in Chicago
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, according to authorities.
“Holy [expletive] Funnel cloud. Huge rotation. Huge rotation.” “Tornado on the ground in Barrington. It just crossed over the highway. Man.” “Oh my God. I’ve never seen such a violent motion here. That looks like a – that looks like a funnel. That looks like a stovepipe.”
0:48
Tornado Touches Down in Chicago
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, according to authorities.CreditCredit...Charles ree tornadoes touched down in the Chicago area late on Wednesday, damaging homes and uprooting trees, the National Weather Service and city officials confirmed on Thursday.
The Weather Service had advised people in the area to seek shelter on Wednesday night at about 7 p.m., after a tornado was confirmed to be on the ground near O’Hare International Airport and moving east toward downtown. It led hundreds of flights to be canceled.
On Thursday, it said its teams, working in Kane County, in Northern Illinois, had confirmed one tornado touched down in Elgin, which has a population of about 113,000, with a maximum wind speed of 100 miles per hour. A second tornado tracked south of the first one, wielding a wind speed of about 85 miles per hour. No injuries were reported.
A third was confirmed in the villages of Burr Ridge in Cook and DuPage counties and Stickney, just north of Chicago Midway International Airport. Businesses were damaged and trees uprooted in 110 mile-per-hour winds, the Weather Service said.
Dust off your copies of 'Day After Tomorrow'
I read through all of these comment's and no one, including you, talked about what I say, that I can't stand the sound of Kamala's voice. It's a sort of whine that gets me to mute her when I'm near a remote. Am I the only one? The thought of years that she'd be listened to as the leader of the the free world, omg.
metoometoometoometoometoo. Here Thom is worried about her not having enough exposure and I am in terrible foreboding about a wider audience "discovering" her. We're supposed to be all politically correct about not making any negative comment about any personal characteristic of ESPECIALLY a female in politics, but to the core of my old jury trial lawyer being I know Kamala is an audience turn-off: needless to say, a handicap not needed in this era of a few thousand votes here and there determining the fate of the world.
The voice of a leader is very important. I haven't heard enough of Kamala to recognize it yet. I hope you are wrong, but I suspect you are right, there are certain voices I can't listen to also. I have not been able to listen to about the last eight presidents, for content, not for audio though. Hopefully a Democrat will run against Biden in the primary and we won't have to worry about that!
I've got a name for y'all: Amy Klobuchar. In the collection of worries about Harris; from vulnerabilities to criticisms; Klobuchar has a strength in place of virtually every potential weakness of Harris. Flyover Country roots and that inimitable speech pattern. Natural smiling enthusiasm and energy. Ivy league and prosecutor chops. Solid liberal values with legislative evidence to show for it.
Awesome report about Kamala!
Everyone should know how smart, strong and hardworking she has to be to have accomplished so much.
Thank you Thom!!
Let's not forget how John Kerry was pounded on as a "Flip-Flopper" - with video taped "proof" that was aired repeatedly, with him saying something like 'I voted for it, before I voted against it'.
The Dems are again poised to let the Repubs define them and the issues for an election.
Several people here have noted VP Harris' speaking patterns, which at times have been disjointed and confusing. There seems to be sufficient videotape of the VP's meandering extemporaneous talks to make people uncomfortable with her. She's already been roasted as a "Selina Meyer" from the sitcom "Veep", and I've heard other cringe worthy parodies that are painfully "spot on". This could make the election a referendum on her speech and thoughts not being presidential.
I'm hoping she'll be giving some videotaped Great Speeches that can be integrated in the campaign that will negate whatever the mudslingers will dredge up and throw at her.
It is possible Harris was given the nomination to show liberals that yes, there is someone younger and much more open to change who is part of the ticket. But then she was kept down to avoid scaring those on the fence who are worried about a liberal woman being too outspoken in national politics. If that was the thinking it was very shortsighted of two counts. First, consider how Teddy Roosevelt unexpectedly became president. For reasons of health Biden could still die in office. Second, it was terribly cynical by the DNC who dangled a promise they have no intention of keeping, not that this is new. After all, Obama looked far better as a candidate than he was as a president. And they will continue to mute her! If Harris remains on the ticket, if Biden is reelected and if he survives his full second term it is hard to image today's Democratic Party nominating her. They will “play it safe” and maybe lose on that account. If they don’t this time.
For the past year or so I've been saying to my wife, "I bet Biden retires before the next election so that Harris can become the incumbant." Has anyone heard talk of this possibility?
P.S. She gives me that look, like I'm from another planet.
He won't, The DNC only cares about winning the horse race, and as they see it, Biden is the only bet, after all he beat Trump once. I don't think the DNC has any principles, values or ideology, only self service, maintaining the status quo, and taking care of the mega donors, the plutocrats, and have proven to not give a ?"@# aoub the base, which they have and will throw under the bus to service the megadonors. The criticisms of minority communities about the Democratic party are valid, they court them during election season, then forget them after the season is over.
Women will understand the analogy of the Democratic party and a Lothario.
I've got plenty of bones to pick with the DNC, the MassDems, and several other Democratic groups, but this isn't one of them. "Winning the horse race" in 2024 is crucial. In retrospect it's pretty damn clear that winning the horse race in 2016 was crucial too, but we blew it. So who of the current standout Democrats -- governors, senators, representatives, et al. -- has the national name recognition (or could build it in the next few months) to take on Trump? Nearly all the ones I can think of have the same low-recognition problem that VP Harris does, and for the ones who don't (Warren, Sanders), the recognition is a mixed blessing.
Good question, good response. I do not disagree. You have a point about national name recognition, but face it Dubya did not have national name recognition, before the corporate media gave him a public face. Yes he was Governor of Texas, and owned the Texas Rangers, but that was local not national.
It is the media that gives people national name recognition. Governors have a job to govern, and that makes them ideal candidates. Senators have a job that depends on compromise,bi partisan ship, and in the present environment, that makes them unfit to govern. They have to have no real principles, to be bipartisan and an ameliorator. That was America past, not America today and the DNC is like most old folk and lives in he past. I said most, I'm 84 and don't live in the past. I had one hell of a past , but that is not who I am today and I live in the now, not the past.My past resides in a bunch of cardboard boxes and I know not which.
I know of one Governor who is aggressive, but thoughtful, makes friends, not enemies and who is very progressive. Jay Inslee of Washington State, but he has taken his name out of the race, because he doesn't want to interfere with Biden and the DNC. If Biden stepped aside, and there is another Governor who I would vote for in heartbeat, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, but I fear that Biden running for re election will go down like Trump, because too many of his base are disappointed in him, for his "bipartisanship" his caving and not using the interregnum of a Democratic Congress to push through a bill that protects women's rights, on the plus side he signed a bill protecting same sex marriage, but here is what I think was behind it.
Same sex marriage was no longer a hot button issue, but women's health rights were, even among some Democrats, and the DNC is scared sh...less of the Maggots in and out of congress.
And the last thing the DNC wants is a progressive President, Senator or Representative as the DNC is corrupted by mega donors. Ignoring the fact that Bernie proved that you don't need them. People like me were motivated to fiance Bernie, but most DNC approved candidates are underwhelming and even proving that they don't walk the talk, which is very important.. the old adage of fool me once......
The problem is that Kamala does not fuel enthusiasm, partly because of the media, mostly because of the DNC who doesn't want to steal Biden's thunder'
My beef with him is that he delayed supporting Ukraine with timely delivery of needed weapons and munitions, until it was almost (or actually) too late. He is easily bluffed by Putin.
If you are a company commander and under siege by an enemy who is fighting you from a protected area, and running short on mean and material, and you are told by your battalion commander, to hold your ground at all costs, that we have ammo and weapons that might offend the enemy, and that those we do have are in short supply. What would you do?
Those are the conditions that the Wehrmacht faced at Stalingrad, Even Vietnam. There are places in Vietnam that were defended at great loss of life by Americans, only to be abandoned today or converted like in Cu Chi which cost so many lives, into a Vietnamese German university.
By the way, as much as I like Warren and Sanders, I don't have confidence in their ability to govern, because they lacked experience in Governing, and there only experience is in dancing with the devil, and when you dance with the devil he steps on your toes as he tries to seduce you.
"Dubya did not have national name recognition"? Maybe not as an individual, but how many potential Democratic contenders had a father who was president of the U.S.? The Bush name had national name recognition. Not unlike the Kennedy name -- though that didn't help Joe Kennedy III in his attempt to primary Ed Markey, but that's probably because stupid trumped name recognition.
Do you think Biden has a "base" the way Trump has a base? I'm not at all sure about that. For me and most of the liberal and progressive political junkies I know, Biden was a 5th or 6th choice in the 2020 primaries. We were all thinking in terms of policy proposals and "where's his money coming from?" Most voters seem to have been thinking more along the lines of "who can get us out of this crazy?" Biden won hands-down on that one.
I'd love to have a credible presidential candidate who's a generation younger and can still come across as "Uncle Walter" (Cronkite), but at the moment I'm not seeing any possibilities. I wouldn't mind Biden replacing Kamala Harris in the VP slot with, say, a Gretchen Whitmer or a Stacey Abrams but that would be an exceedingly delicate task and I don't see it happening. Even if Harris agreed to it, it would very likely blow up in the Democrats' face. And the country cannot afford that.
Thanks for your take. I agree with you, mostly. your perspective about Bush is correct, my error.
As regards Biden. It is my firm opinion that a head of cabbage could have beat Trump, and in a way it did, but 2024 is a different cookie. The Right Wingers, the fascists among us know that he is beatable, so this time they have had four years to rig the game in their favor, using the one tool, state legislatures, Democrats gave to them, by focusing all of their money and energy on Federal officials, and neglecting state legislatures and governors.
They in essence concentrated on Generals and colonels and neglected the NCO Corps,, which by the way is what Russia does. Ukraine has learned from the U.S. Military to concentrate on the NCO corps, but the DNC neglects the "NCO Corps" (state legislatures, in favor of throwing all resources into the Colonels and Generals (figuratively)
Ironic that the Pentagon gets it right, as did Ukraine which emphasized NCO leadership and initiative over traditional top down structure, whereas tg the DNC resists, modernization and prefers top down dictate. Apparently the Republican party has found it self pushed into a populist, bottom up reality and the DNC is a dinosaur.
Darlin', that look means "wash out your mouth and quit cursin'!"
The press has been marginalizing Vice President Harris, as they always do with Black Women. It is surprising they even give Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a notice. She is in a different position. She is in a position on her own, where as Vice President Harris is second to Joe Biden. As someone whose mom is 89, and living independently in a senior residence, and who has a grandmother who lived to be 99.5, and a great-grandmother on my father's side who lived to be 109, I don't see 82 as a death knock. I could be wrong. I think people should be looking at VP Harris, and President Biden, another strong woman is also at his side, Jill Biden. Unlike Trump, who I cannot see discussing policy with Melania, I assume Biden has an equal partner in life with whom he discusses things, which is part of why he comes across so much more balanced and reasonable than Trump. The others are personality, and politics. I do think it is harmful that VP Harris does not appear more often in the public eye. You are right that it always a problem to let the Republicans set the narrative. However, no matter what she does they are going to set the narrative. My narrative is that Trump is a liar and criminal who threatens our very national safety, much like Putin is doing in Russia. I think a goal is to wait him out and wait until his nukes fall apart. How long can he maintain them if his money increasingly dries up, and his sources for getting things do too. I still like the commercial made in the 1970s You are not getting older, you are getting better! President Biden needs to jump on that one. It is still the most convincing narrative for voting for Biden.
Thom, you might want to do more research on Wikipedia. I have a friend who is a Wikipedia editor. She tells me: "I assure you that it is pretty darn neutral politically and no way would bias exist on her page for more than seconds. Plus the page is locked - you can see it in the upper right corner of her Wikipedia page. This means that only serious Wikipedia editors that have a lot of experience can edit the page."
Shmamala is invisible as VP, but that's in keeping with most powerful democrats.
Was glad to see so many of them standing right next to Fran Drescher, and providing their support and solidarity with unions and workers, so that it could go viral and create an enormous media boost for the Democrats.
Ooooops, not.
If we're going to provide a Support to Schmiden, Shmamala or to any other democrat, we should at least ask her what she thinks of ISDS provisions - ya know, the kind that let Paul Singer rule the world and that were presumably in the "trade" agreements supported by Obama.
Or please, can we ask her what support she gives to ESG investing and the SEC's proposed rules? Or what her position is on recent state laws (in "crazy right wing" states like New Hampshire) that prohibit any firms that use ESG from doing any business with the state?
At the very least what we all can try to do is to make more substance by our choice and stop saying Democrats deserve support just because they're not Republicans.
Or is she not supposed to think about these things?
It seems the clear picture of the Biden Harris approach to climate is to spend money on certain things. But in spite of the money they've spent if you go to New Hampshire this summer you'll see that there aren't many electric vehicles and there aren't that many places to charge them and if you go up and talk to someone charging one they probably come from Canada.
So we're left with a Supreme Court they did nothing about, we r left with state laws that would prohibit anybody from dealing with the economics of climate , which they (the Schmidens) are not saying anything about, and we're left with the country being run by fossil fuel interests in a citizens United situation that actually could be directly addressed by ESG if done meaningfully.
Oh, and on that little issue of climate, how many of us think that there might be, maybe, one single question in the so-called "presidential debate" this time about this? Cant wait to see that!
I'm still ticked about what the Gop did to John Kerry! I'm glad you brought this up, but I want to point out that presidential campaigns seem to start much earlier than way back when.
Thom this is a critical topic. I have no idea who thought of throwing around about 4 billion dollars of government money to help employ the central Americans. The GOP would just wait until the so-called "free market" fixed the problem, hell would freeze over first! The churches would gladly fix the homeless crisis as well ,if the government would just give them trillions of dollars, I'm sure. The American taxpayer has been subsidizing low wages since Reaganomics in more ways than one. The earned income tax credit is another way to impoverish childless people who do the same jobs and get paid half as much. The union hating fascists want the taxpayers to pay for their slaves. And the Confederate voters say, OK, as long as we get socialism and the left gets capitalism, while saying "kill all the commies" even though there are few commies, just socialists?
Bob, I think you misunderstood the $4B. That funding was all money from private companies, pledged for investment in C. America to stabilize the region and reduce migratory outflows. None of that was government money.
Thank you for the correction. What? We have a bunch of fascists sitting around the White House now? Fascism is a government ran by the rich. More like organized crime to fleece the flock. Whose idea was it? The private companies aren't going to do it because they are humanitarians. There must be some money in it somewhere for them. Maybe it's for all the cheap labor they have acquired from all the illegals since the late '80s?
Bob, I cannot speak to the motive of the companies involved, only point to the results that Mr. Hartmann clearly illustrated above, which worked to significantly reduce border migration.
People generally flee conditions and situations with poor economic and safety prospects. VP Harris efforts helped to stabilize the situations in those countries. To the likely consternation of those on the right, who claim Democrats can only burn through public cash and cost American jobs, her strategy did neither. This looks like a win in my book but you're free to disagree. Any further response from you can serve as the last word. Have a good weekend.
Biden is a typical dirty old white guy who's afraid of Harris because ... well, the list is long. President Harry sound much better to me; she has the intellect to understand that the 'great migration' we are facing all over the World is driven by the Climate CRISIS.
Harris is red meat to the Maggots and their allies, the MSM. There will be gallons of ink used to defame her, and she herself has provided the ink.
What the party needs is a genuine progressive who can assuage the fears and fulfill the needs, besides bigotry, of a good portion of the base of the Republican party. Someone who is clean, no background that would support a scandal, some one with solid ideas and a plan that will benefit all Americans, regardless of....
JFK is not a model either, with the investigative resources available today, with digital dominance of information, he would not have been President. For one thing he was a known Lothario, besides bedding Marily Monroe he was at it as a congressman, and cheating on Jackie. The Republicans ignore those pecadillos, including criminal behavor, but Democrats don't. The forced Al Franken to resign as Senator, for engagin in a practical joke, and Wiener for taking selfies of his male member, while applauding Sen Vitter who was caught up in the DC Madam scandal, and elected Mark Sanford as Governor though he defrauded the state, the voters, cheated on his wife to visit a mistress in Argentina.
Agreed, Harris does not have such a big ego she will not listen to wise people. she is not much of a free thinker, I watched her on a Sunday morning news program once to get to know her, I never heard any new ideas or signs of intelligent life. She would be better than Trump or Biden though, in my opinion, with the right kind of advisors, like.....THOM and Robert Reich...
I don’t think she is allowed to think freely. I remember her during the Kavanaugh hearings; she was the best cross examiner on the panel. She is brilliant.
The problem is the DNC, the only people they vet, support, get behind are old tired race horses, that have been trotting around the paddock, paying their dues, earning creds, biding their time and waiting to be called to the starting gate, and there is one salient feature about them, they are conservatives, and not a threat to the establishment or the big donors.
The DNC is openly hostile towards real liberals, progressives, their liberals are faux liberals who give mouth service to mild liberal causes. An example is Hakeem Jefferies, a major recipient of AIPAC money and backing.
Terry McAuliffe a lack luster, insincere conservative that lost an election to a right wing demagogue.
Hillary Clinton, wife of the man who created the rust belt swing states, uncharismatic and insincere.
Joe Biden , the senator from Wall Steet who wound up as Obama’s VP, aged, over the hill, conservative (glossed over as bipartisan), who beat Trump only because a record breking 81 million people turned out to vote out a perverted, thieving, lying,misogynistic,grafter which could have been beat by a head of cabbage.
Now that he is President, he has contributed to the self destruction of our democratic Republic, by appointing right wingers, like Garland, to cabinets and keeping the Trump humpers embedded as protected civil servants by Trump (he has the tools to get rid of them, but he foolishly revoked the tool that Trump gave him
The result his favorability by the Democratic base has declined, out of disappointment (The media reports the decline, but not the demographics nor the reasons, lumping MAGGOTs, and disaffected and disappointed Democrats in the same cracker barrel.
Invisibility is not Kamala’s problem, she is lack luster, lacks charisma, boring, ineffectual when she does appear, as a result she does not spur emotions, nor inspires her audience . I suspect that she is easily handled.
She was elected California’s Attorney General and oversaw the largest state justice department in the United States
She had a mixed record on law enforcement and was hard to pin down ideologically, a meme developed that she was the cops best prosecutor. As attorney general of California, she defended the state's use of the death penalty. She essentially said: look, I'm doing my job. It's the largest attorney general's office, second to the U.S. attorney general. And after the Supreme Court ruled that California had basically put way too many people in prison, her office argued that they needed to have these folks in prison because they were essential to prison labor
However she supported gay marriage and co- sponsored a bill that outlawed the so-called "gay panic defense."
She does not inspire confidence, I do not believe that she is a a real progressive, but a self serving pragmatist in the mold of Hillary, but I am forced to vote for her, as I am forced to vote for Biden, by holding my nose. This democratic Republic will not survive the authoritarian, religious dictatorship of the White Christian Nationalist Republican party, but I sure want a fire breathing,, no quarters President and party, like FDR. Not a conservative, no values, establishment oriented party like the DNC and it’s handpicked representatives.
Harris is red meat to the Maggots and their allies, the MSM. There will be gallons of ink used to defame her, and she herself has provided the ink.
What the party needs is a genuine progressive who can assuage the fears and fulfill the needs, besides bigotry, of a good portion of the base of the Republican party. Someone who is clean, no background that would support a scandal, some one with solid ideas and a plan that will benefit all Americans, regardless of....
JFK is not a model either, with the investigative resources available today, with digital dominance of information, he would not have been President. For one thing he was a known Lothario, besides bedding Marily Monroe he was at it as a congressman, and cheating on Jackie. The Republicans ignore those pecadillos, including criminal behavor, but Democrats don't. The forced Al Franken to resign as Senator, for engagin in a practical joke, and Wiener for taking selfies of his male member, while applauding Sen Vitter who was caught up in the DC Madam scandal, and elected Mark Sanford as Governor though he defrauded the state, the voters, cheated on his wife to visit a mistress in Argentina.