Really? I don’t have a racist bone in my body and I don’t think at 52% absentee right on the floor vote during her senate tenure, sending people to prison for weed as an AG in California, having had a single specific proposal for a damn thing ailing this country is hardly qualified. Obviously I’m going to vote for her as a necessary dynamic. But holy fuck man this is pathetic. Everything about it!
Ticket, the coronation and the constituency consent.
There’s a special place in hell for a woman of color is willing to pack corrupt old white guy water.
I was young, but I remember watching that debate live. Adm. Stockdale was fairly unknown, and was the last of the VP candidates to make their opening statement. It was a self-deprecating joke, and it landed very well in the room, and for everyone that I spoke about it to over the next few days who watched it.
It was only years later that it became a meme for someone who was short a few marbles.
“Whenever white men make a big scene about selecting a woman or a person of color for a key position, it feels like they’re preparing America for an unconventional choice, so when a woman or a person of color joins them on stage, no one will ask for a sandwich or place a drink order.”
Oh shit; this is so real. Another excellent piece, Mr. Robinson. As an SF resident, I’ve admired VP Harris for many a year, and continue to do so. I look forward to voting for her (first term) as President in November 2028.
My contrarian opinion on the Clinton-Kaine ticket: Clinton chose a white former governor as insurance, a safe pair of hands should she be assassinated.
Living in the Midwest in a red state, just saying that misogyny and racism are alive and well out here. I'd vote for Harris in a heartbeat ( I voted for HRC.)But lots of Democrats and independents just won't. Maybe in another decade or two🤷 I hate it as much as you do but it's real as much as we wish it wasn't.
I have no doubts whatsoever about Harris's fitness for the job.
I have serious and sincere doubts about how much of the voting populace - regardless of party or alignment identity - would be willing to vote for her, even in opposition to TFG.
Yep--if we are going to take it as a given that being nonwhite or a woman are definite handicaps that cannot be overcome by other assets in a candidate, then it would be the height of irresponsibility to nominate anyone but white men. I mean, we do see that conclusion, don't we?
OTOH, it's possible to believe that yes, race and gender will motivate some swing voters, and race and gender can thus be handicaps, but they can also be assets as well (surely some black voters would be more likely to vote for Harris than Biden?) and there are other factors that can outweigh such handicaps (e.g., Obama's political skills helping overcome any hesitance swing voters may have for voting for a black candidate).
Vote for a republican woman over a democratic man. Albeit TERRIBLE women. The list is long enough that I need not reiterate. Looks like BOTH parties will vote for party over gender. The idea that Republicans would vote for a woman but Democrats wouldn't it's just ridiculous. It's a weird assumption that just needs to go the way of the dodo
My only quibble with Kamala Harris is that she—for whatever reason(s) we’ll never know—as California Attorney General refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin for his role in the mortgage fraud of the 2008 financial crisis. Because he certainly was guilty. But rearview politics aside, I think she is solidly qualified. I also don’t think succeeding Joe Biden at any time during a second term is a ‘back door’ for many of the examples Stephen has accurately outlined here. It is literally the system we have as constructed, and the literal definition of succession.
I’m sticking with Joe for now. I believe Kamala would (will) be an excellent President. While I agree that the “Black Woman”nominations for VP and SCOTUS were awkward and artless, I believe that choosing the best candidate from an underrepresented demographic because that demographic is underrepresented and doing it for diversity’s sake is reasonable and necessary, and that it does not besmirch the fact that they are, in fact, the best candidate, IMNSHF(wipo)O, it highlights it.
I also was more supportive of Stacey Abrams’ bid for VP than Kamala’s (although I was under the impression that Stacey removed herself from VP consideration as she intended to run for the governorship of GA), because I was more enamored of Stacey’s Southern Black American roots than Kamala’s Californian, multi-cultural ones (personal preference not a judgement of Kamala).
At any rate, thank you.
I am reading (listening to the audiobook) “James” by Percival Everett read by Dominic Hoffman and loving it.
I'm also not looking for Kamala Harris to get pushed off a glass cliff, which I think some of the bad-faith Dems are trying to do. And I hate that legitimate calls for diversity are easy to then spin into the DEI shibboleth.
Again Republicans appropriate either Black American vernacular or things intended to give us a seat at the table and turn it into weapons against us. And liberals buy right into it. What a way to run a railroad.
Oh yeah still pissed about the people measuring Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams' relative Blackness to put them in conflict, and then when it's time for Stacey Abrams to get the nod for Georgia governor all this support evaporates and they support the unreconstructed Brian Kemp. That will ALWAYS piss me off. She should be governor right now. There was some ugly bad faith with the ADOS bullshit and they even tried to invoke Stacey Abrams in that way.
We’ve been in need of MORE diversity forever! Gawd knows I would love a woman president just because I’m tired of old white men who don’t represent me. Sadly with all the ramping up of racism again I’m dubious that any woman could win. FWIW I voted for Warren in a primary and Hillary against Trump.
The reason we have a VP in the first place is for situations like this. I think Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris was of course demographically strategic, and it was a good one.
The use now of DEI as a racist/“Affirmative Action” slur implies the person couldn’t possibly have otherwise acquired an important position on their own merits. That’s the point of DEI — to finally transcend such prejudices by showing qualified people who would never have been recognized otherwise.
I listened to most of the 2020 primary debates. Kamala Harris challenged Joe Biden more than any other candidate. She was prepared, she was intelligent, she was fierce. She didn't relent on Biden, it was fascinating to hear. I remember during one debate, thinking to myself, when Biden wins the nomination, he will pick Kamala Harris as his VP. He picked her for all the right reasons, and she also happened to be a woman of color.
That actually really impressed me about Biden, it was a huge show of respect. (Just like the fact that he remained #2 to a Black man and didn't undercut him). That is massive personal growth in a person.
I’ll always remember the many ways Kamala Harris ripped Brett Kavanaugh new ones during his SCOTUS confirmation hearings. Also how she manhandled Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions so badly during his AG hearing he required a fainting couch. Ha ha good times, sort of.
I wish we saw more of Harris in venues that demonstrate her readiness for the presidency. My primary issue with Biden (whom I support as long as he’s our candidate) is that it’s not apparent that he’s been preparing her to succeed him. As a former VP, he should be well aware of his duty to her. He has given her big assignments but I haven’t heard him extol her accomplishments in them, and he’s a man who readily reels off his wins. It’s true that accomplishment won’t win over the racist crowd but the Democrats have to quit worrying about how MAGA will respond. They won’t like Harris but they also won’t like Newsom, much less Whitmer. Nor Buttigieg. Harris could be a tremendous candidate. Sadly we know too little about her and there’s no excuse for that.
That's probably one of the bigger mistakes the Biden team has taken since 2020. Harris is not a "normal" VP, because Biden is the oldest POTUS in history, so she is far likelier than a typical VP to get suddenly promoted. It should be absolutely essential to show from day one that she is fully on top of everything, even the public face of the administration in many respects. Maybe they thought it would be insulting to Biden, but a huge error to keep her in the "background toady" role that typical VPs are in.
Sinema was given a more prominent role with infrastructure that could have easily gone to Harris a former senator. It would’ve been a great bipartisan win for her. Instead, she is stuck with immigration
Yep--and if you're going to give her immigration, give her something to work with--pushing an immigration funding law, put her behind the administration's enforcement mechanisms, etc.--instead they sent her down there with nothing to say but "hey, migrants, stop coming here" which is what you'd do to a candidate you're trying to kneecap.
Take her to NATO summits, G-7 meetings, have her prominent in the campaign circuit both in the midterms and now--run her like she's a co-president rather than a VP. Get people used to the idea that "if Joe dies, she's got this".
Maybe someday, the default for white guys won't be that they are the best choice for any given position, and the default for any person of color or any woman, and they are at best, the second best choice, and picked only for diversity's sake. It won't be soon, but maybe, just maybe, my great grandchildren will see that day.
Really? I don’t have a racist bone in my body and I don’t think at 52% absentee right on the floor vote during her senate tenure, sending people to prison for weed as an AG in California, having had a single specific proposal for a damn thing ailing this country is hardly qualified. Obviously I’m going to vote for her as a necessary dynamic. But holy fuck man this is pathetic. Everything about it!
Ticket, the coronation and the constituency consent.
There’s a special place in hell for a woman of color is willing to pack corrupt old white guy water.
Hi Stephen, it was fun reading these today.
😁
I guess Kamala was more prepared than people thought.
And it certainly looks like Joe Biden and Harris had planned this out.
> ... or “Who am I? Why am I here?” moments.
I was young, but I remember watching that debate live. Adm. Stockdale was fairly unknown, and was the last of the VP candidates to make their opening statement. It was a self-deprecating joke, and it landed very well in the room, and for everyone that I spoke about it to over the next few days who watched it.
It was only years later that it became a meme for someone who was short a few marbles.
Yeah, I recall the SNL sketch with Phil Hartman as Stockdale
In fact, it may have been SNL's take on it which became the meme.
VP Harris has the background and the chops. Loved her in the Senate.
“Whenever white men make a big scene about selecting a woman or a person of color for a key position, it feels like they’re preparing America for an unconventional choice, so when a woman or a person of color joins them on stage, no one will ask for a sandwich or place a drink order.”
Oh shit; this is so real. Another excellent piece, Mr. Robinson. As an SF resident, I’ve admired VP Harris for many a year, and continue to do so. I look forward to voting for her (first term) as President in November 2028.
"liberals online" aka a St Petersburg basement with wifi...
My contrarian opinion on the Clinton-Kaine ticket: Clinton chose a white former governor as insurance, a safe pair of hands should she be assassinated.
Living in the Midwest in a red state, just saying that misogyny and racism are alive and well out here. I'd vote for Harris in a heartbeat ( I voted for HRC.)But lots of Democrats and independents just won't. Maybe in another decade or two🤷 I hate it as much as you do but it's real as much as we wish it wasn't.
Yup.
I have no doubts whatsoever about Harris's fitness for the job.
I have serious and sincere doubts about how much of the voting populace - regardless of party or alignment identity - would be willing to vote for her, even in opposition to TFG.
If Dems genuinely believe that, then Klobuchar was a more responsible choice
I would be genuinely delighted to be proven wrong.
Yep--if we are going to take it as a given that being nonwhite or a woman are definite handicaps that cannot be overcome by other assets in a candidate, then it would be the height of irresponsibility to nominate anyone but white men. I mean, we do see that conclusion, don't we?
OTOH, it's possible to believe that yes, race and gender will motivate some swing voters, and race and gender can thus be handicaps, but they can also be assets as well (surely some black voters would be more likely to vote for Harris than Biden?) and there are other factors that can outweigh such handicaps (e.g., Obama's political skills helping overcome any hesitance swing voters may have for voting for a black candidate).
In my lifetime, white male Dem nominees have lost in 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000, 2004. The *one* Black male Dem nominee won twice in 2008 and 2012.
The one white female Dem nominee *narrowly* lost when seeking a third term for her party in the WH (a rare event) and she won the popular vote.
I just don't get the "minorities can't win!"
I mean, even republicans will
Vote for a republican woman over a democratic man. Albeit TERRIBLE women. The list is long enough that I need not reiterate. Looks like BOTH parties will vote for party over gender. The idea that Republicans would vote for a woman but Democrats wouldn't it's just ridiculous. It's a weird assumption that just needs to go the way of the dodo
sadly
My only quibble with Kamala Harris is that she—for whatever reason(s) we’ll never know—as California Attorney General refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin for his role in the mortgage fraud of the 2008 financial crisis. Because he certainly was guilty. But rearview politics aside, I think she is solidly qualified. I also don’t think succeeding Joe Biden at any time during a second term is a ‘back door’ for many of the examples Stephen has accurately outlined here. It is literally the system we have as constructed, and the literal definition of succession.
I’m sticking with Joe for now. I believe Kamala would (will) be an excellent President. While I agree that the “Black Woman”nominations for VP and SCOTUS were awkward and artless, I believe that choosing the best candidate from an underrepresented demographic because that demographic is underrepresented and doing it for diversity’s sake is reasonable and necessary, and that it does not besmirch the fact that they are, in fact, the best candidate, IMNSHF(wipo)O, it highlights it.
I also was more supportive of Stacey Abrams’ bid for VP than Kamala’s (although I was under the impression that Stacey removed herself from VP consideration as she intended to run for the governorship of GA), because I was more enamored of Stacey’s Southern Black American roots than Kamala’s Californian, multi-cultural ones (personal preference not a judgement of Kamala).
At any rate, thank you.
I am reading (listening to the audiobook) “James” by Percival Everett read by Dominic Hoffman and loving it.
I'm also not looking for Kamala Harris to get pushed off a glass cliff, which I think some of the bad-faith Dems are trying to do. And I hate that legitimate calls for diversity are easy to then spin into the DEI shibboleth.
Again Republicans appropriate either Black American vernacular or things intended to give us a seat at the table and turn it into weapons against us. And liberals buy right into it. What a way to run a railroad.
Oh yeah still pissed about the people measuring Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams' relative Blackness to put them in conflict, and then when it's time for Stacey Abrams to get the nod for Georgia governor all this support evaporates and they support the unreconstructed Brian Kemp. That will ALWAYS piss me off. She should be governor right now. There was some ugly bad faith with the ADOS bullshit and they even tried to invoke Stacey Abrams in that way.
Yes. (TBC) My preference for Stacey Abrams in that context related to my boundless admiration for her, not to any negative judgment of VP Harris.
We’ve been in need of MORE diversity forever! Gawd knows I would love a woman president just because I’m tired of old white men who don’t represent me. Sadly with all the ramping up of racism again I’m dubious that any woman could win. FWIW I voted for Warren in a primary and Hillary against Trump.
And HELL YEAH Abram’s. I love her.
The reason we have a VP in the first place is for situations like this. I think Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris was of course demographically strategic, and it was a good one.
The use now of DEI as a racist/“Affirmative Action” slur implies the person couldn’t possibly have otherwise acquired an important position on their own merits. That’s the point of DEI — to finally transcend such prejudices by showing qualified people who would never have been recognized otherwise.
I listened to most of the 2020 primary debates. Kamala Harris challenged Joe Biden more than any other candidate. She was prepared, she was intelligent, she was fierce. She didn't relent on Biden, it was fascinating to hear. I remember during one debate, thinking to myself, when Biden wins the nomination, he will pick Kamala Harris as his VP. He picked her for all the right reasons, and she also happened to be a woman of color.
That actually really impressed me about Biden, it was a huge show of respect. (Just like the fact that he remained #2 to a Black man and didn't undercut him). That is massive personal growth in a person.
Well come on Seth! How could Biden really compete with Obama? The man is a genius.
I’ll always remember the many ways Kamala Harris ripped Brett Kavanaugh new ones during his SCOTUS confirmation hearings. Also how she manhandled Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions so badly during his AG hearing he required a fainting couch. Ha ha good times, sort of.
I wish we saw more of Harris in venues that demonstrate her readiness for the presidency. My primary issue with Biden (whom I support as long as he’s our candidate) is that it’s not apparent that he’s been preparing her to succeed him. As a former VP, he should be well aware of his duty to her. He has given her big assignments but I haven’t heard him extol her accomplishments in them, and he’s a man who readily reels off his wins. It’s true that accomplishment won’t win over the racist crowd but the Democrats have to quit worrying about how MAGA will respond. They won’t like Harris but they also won’t like Newsom, much less Whitmer. Nor Buttigieg. Harris could be a tremendous candidate. Sadly we know too little about her and there’s no excuse for that.
That's probably one of the bigger mistakes the Biden team has taken since 2020. Harris is not a "normal" VP, because Biden is the oldest POTUS in history, so she is far likelier than a typical VP to get suddenly promoted. It should be absolutely essential to show from day one that she is fully on top of everything, even the public face of the administration in many respects. Maybe they thought it would be insulting to Biden, but a huge error to keep her in the "background toady" role that typical VPs are in.
Sinema was given a more prominent role with infrastructure that could have easily gone to Harris a former senator. It would’ve been a great bipartisan win for her. Instead, she is stuck with immigration
Yep--and if you're going to give her immigration, give her something to work with--pushing an immigration funding law, put her behind the administration's enforcement mechanisms, etc.--instead they sent her down there with nothing to say but "hey, migrants, stop coming here" which is what you'd do to a candidate you're trying to kneecap.
Take her to NATO summits, G-7 meetings, have her prominent in the campaign circuit both in the midterms and now--run her like she's a co-president rather than a VP. Get people used to the idea that "if Joe dies, she's got this".
Maybe someday, the default for white guys won't be that they are the best choice for any given position, and the default for any person of color or any woman, and they are at best, the second best choice, and picked only for diversity's sake. It won't be soon, but maybe, just maybe, my great grandchildren will see that day.