Commentary
The flurry of appearances by Vice President Harris this week, putting the spotlight on her, not President Biden, are intended to grease the skids for her so to speak leading up to the DNC convention, where she will become the official candidate.
While these appearances have been orchestrated to give her more exposure beyond the previous short news clips showing her as an unserious candidate making silly remarks followed by laughter, they have given Republicans an opening to reveal the real Kamala.
“They’re going to try to overproduce and micromanage her into the presidency. Get ready.” – Ben Domenech
We can suspect a surge in the polls for her – a sugar high – but it will be short-lived.
For example … Dianne Schwartz, an 80-year-old Chicagoan, who listens to political podcasts while she exercises, told Jess Bidgood of the New York Times that she has been worrying and is depressed, resigned that Trump would win in November, but with Biden bowing out and Harris in she found her herself “feeling strangely, impossibly good about politics.”
I recognize that if you are reading my commentary, you are a conservative with no plan to vote for her, and while I am sure you’ve already heard enough, I wouldn’t be fulfilling my promise of “keeping progressives honest” if I didn’t provide you with my commentary on her.
With the wide array of publications and online reporting I read, I believe I can give you facts and views you may not have heard.
Since most of you now know of her past as California’s attorney general, and her legislative positions that have ranked her as the most liberal of senators, even more so than Bernie Sanders. Interestingly, the ranking has since been scrubbed from the Internet.
Rather than review her past failures, I will be looking into the proposition, can she win?
Can Kamala Win?
Among the early headlines on articles in my stack of stuff are “Can Kamala Harris Win?” “Can Kamala Beat Trump?” and “Absolutely Not: Kamala Harris Isn’t Ready for Prime Time on the Global Stage, Experts Say.”
“It is likely that Kamala will see her best few weeks of polling leading up to and immediately after the upcoming Democrat convention … and it will be interesting to see what both national battleground states polling shows after the dust settles,” writes Matt Margolis, The Margolis Manifesto
“So, as for the answer to the question, ‘Can Kamala Harris Win?’ I have to say while it’s possible, she’ll have her work cut out for her.”
“She’d need to unify her party; gain voters trust; prove she didn’t cover-up Biden’s health status; show she can compete in Pennsylvania; and overcome her record on the border.” – Eli Lake, The Free Press
“After all that, Harris still has a very steep hill to climb.
“Harris’ inexperience and policy stances make her unqualified to conduct serious national security and foreign policy, raising the risk that she will be comparably poor or worse than Biden on such critical issues former U.S. officials and defense experts told the Daily Caller. – Jake Smith, The Daily Caller
“Things will only get more perilous for the U.S. and our allies with Harris in the Oval Office.
You may recall Harris’ grade school explanation of the war between Ukraine and Russia in a March 2022 radio interview:
“Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade the smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong, and it goes against everything we stand for.”
With that, “Harris does not present as a serious person, and I cannot imagine her handling a difficult negotiation with a hostile foreign head of state such as Xi,” said Victoria Coates, senior defense executive, Heritage Foundation
Unfortunately, the big names in the left-leaning media – New York Times, Newsweek, TIME, U.S. News, Economist, the Nation and the television networks – are currently basing their opinions on the polls, which are still wildly undependable at this point.
Let’s see what columnists are writing
“I had long thought Kamala Harris couldn’t beat Donald Trump,” writes Peggy Noonan. “That’s wrong. She can,” added Noonan, the east coast liberal of the west coast liberal. “We’re a 50/50 country, each side gets 40 going in, you fight for the rest but it can easily go either way.”
Recognizing that Harris has not, in five years on the national stage shown competence, Noonan believes she is “showing it now,” claiming that Harris “this week, demonstrated talent and hinted that she may be a real political athlete.” What! With a few teleprompter appearances?
Noonan makes the point that “everything is about to get meaner, more vicious and primal,” suggesting that “Mr. Trump and his forces can’t not be mean. It is their essence when threatened.”
Perhaps Noonan didn’t see the TIME headline with Harris’ quote – “I Know Donald Trump’s Type’: Harris Launches New Attack as She Takes Over Campaign – referencing recent indictments, still under appeal, dismissed or delayed.
Boasting her record as a prosecutor and attorney general, she’s telling audiences how she “took on perpetrators of all kinds; perpetrators who abuse women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
You really didn’t expect they would tone down the rhetoric did you?
In Wall Street Journal columnist Barton Swaim’s piece “Can Trump Beat Harris With Common Sense,” he writes of an encounter with a man at the Trump rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Seeing my pen and notepad, he stopped and asked, “watcha writing?” A piece about this event, I answered.
“Here’s what you write,” he said, glassy-eyed and leaning in close, “Donald Trump is the greatest president this country has ever had.” I told him I would write that. “Good man,” he said, giving me a fist bump.
In an effort to reach the middle-class that is looking more to the Republican party for solutions, Trump has been talking about common sense policies, drilling and deportations that will improve the lives of average Americans; more than the Biden-Harris fruitless taxpayer spending on climate change, and aiding migrants with food, lodging, education and healthcare.
Finally, in Kimberly A. Strassel’s Wall Street Journal column, she noted how the party is energized behind Harris, while devoting considerable space to Harris’ choice as a running mate who will attract working class voters, noting the intraparty fight over who it should be. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jew, is being opposed by the far left.
While “leftists are still the minority of Democrat voters, they are the squeakiest wheel and make up voter groups that continue to obsess the Democrat elite,” and “may throw a tantrum in Chicago next month.”
Again, stay tuned.
May God continue to bless the United States of America
