Of Course, It’s Harris
Well, that happened. To the surprise of a very few, Joe Biden chose Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Our very own VodkaPundit called it back in May. I had been on the Harris veep wagon for a very long time but shifted in recent weeks to Susan Rice because I thought that would help Biden get the Obamas a little more enthusiastic about him.
All the while, however, I kept hoping aloud that it would be Harris because — for reasons I’ll go over in this column — I thought that would be the choice that most benefits President Trump.
Seriously, people, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about a VP pick for a ticket, and it’s not even my party’s ticket.
What Harris Brings to the Ticket
Baggage, for starters. Enough baggage to fill a fleet of 747s. Tyler goes over much of it here and here.
Harris has been a, shall we say, problematic candidate from the get-go. Her tenures as both the district attorney in San Francisco and the attorney general of California left a lot to be desired. I wrote in a post early last year speculating that she may be her own toughest obstacle because of this:
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is not only running against an ever-growing field of fellow Democrats for the 2020 presidential election, but also against what may prove to be a couple of far more formidable opponents: her own records as the district attorney of San Francisco and later the attorney general of California.
What’s problematic for Harris is that the people who have the most problems with her records are the very progressives she seeks to secure as her base.
A Capitol Hill friend of mine joked that Harris on the ticket might put California in play for the Republicans, which serves as a humorous segue to the next point here.
Conventional wisdom dictates that the out-of-power party’s nominee chooses a running mate that can deliver votes from a part of the country that the candidate needs.
Spoiler alert: California’s electoral votes were already Biden’s.
From a practical, electoral vote standpoint, Harris brings nothing to the ticket. The deep blue states that were already going to vote for der Bidengaffer are still going to vote for him. Does anyone really think that she is going win over hearts and minds in swing states?
Harris Is a Toxic Candidate
Let us not forget that Harris is available for this gig because she was the biggest flop of the “top-tier” (her words) candidates to have to leave the race (no, Beto was never top-tier). She may have lasted until December of 2019 but I was already doing a Kamala campaign deathwatch in September on the Morning Briefing after the big Dem donors fled her in droves.
It’s no secret that Joe Biden didn’t help himself when he publicly committed to having his VP pick be all about identity politics and not merit. This announcement was delayed a couple of times and rather than do it on the weekend when there would be time for even more fanfare, Biden was forced to blurt this one out on a Tuesday because his campaign was looking really bad.
Oh, and he had to make the announcement via text because basement and stuff.
Biden was in such an unenviable position that last week I was examining which one of his choices would be the least awful. Here’s what I said about Harris in that post, echoing a sentiment I’d shared many times before:
She’s one of those people and candidates who don’t really grow on people the more they get to know her. Like Hillary Clinton.
Aye, There’s the Rub
It’s no secret that Kamala Harris is going to have to be the public face of this campaign. They dare not let Biden off-leash and unscripted for any length of time.
Harris can be so off-putting that she made Democrats sour on her in a matter of weeks once she hit that top tier she was so proud of.
As I have explained many times in the past, present-day California Democrats don’t have to be good campaigners to be successful. They merely need to meet the right money people along the way. Once accepted into the inner circle, they are going to get elected because the Golden State is shocking blue.
Kamala Harris has all the charm of Katie in Paranormal Activity after the demon got complete control of her. If she is going to be getting more camera time than Biden, they better hope that she’s learned some lessons from last year. Realistically though, one only has to re-watch this to be reminded of her oozing smugness and realize that she probably hasn’t changed:
Kamala Harris on Tulsi Gabbard’s comments regarding her record as a prosecutor: “I’m obviously a top tier candidate and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight. … I'm prepared to move on” #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/kPNYfBs2rB
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 1, 2019
I’m still thinking that anything can happen during this plague year and I’ve been rather pessimistic about Trump’s chances ever since shutdown fever deliberately succeeded in tanking the economy. I do, however, truly believe that, of all the players on the board who were available to Biden, Kamala Harris helps the president the most.
Kamala Harris Abandoned Church Abuse Victims While San Francisco’s DA, Report Finds
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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.
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