We must change people’s perceptions, and it starts at the top. When those in charge don’t see the value of people like Tamir Rice or Atatiana Jefferson, there can be lethal consequences. pic.twitter.com/J4MznO7Abb
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 27, 2019
Rep. Shirley Chisholm, one of my earliest political idols, said “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” After Friday’s HBCU Trump debacle, Senator Harris took her chair, and changed the conversation.
Good story on @KamalaHarris today. https://t.co/oYKH04lQ7i
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) October 27, 2019
… In the hours after Harris initially announced she wouldn’t be present at the forum, talks began between her campaign, Mayor Benjamin and Benedict College to create an end result that didn’t include the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center with a breakthrough happening overnight, a Harris campaign aide said.
“People were figuring out a solution where the group honoring President Trump wasn’t involved and students had access to speeches and the ability to ask questions,” the aide said.
Another aide said Harris, the only graduate of a historically black college in the 2020 field, wouldn’t stand for the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center “disrespecting” the legacy of HBCUs and their history rooted in protest, justice and equality.
“When it became clear Donald Trump would receive an award after decades of celebrating mass incarceration, pushing the death penalty for innocent Black Americans, rolling back police accountability measures and racist behavior that puts people’s lives at risk, and then learned all but ten Benedict students are excluded from participating, I cannot in good faith be complicit in papering over his record,” Harris said in a statement Friday…
Kamala Harris: "What do we have in Donald Trump? Someone who dares — dares — to use the word 'lynching' with the blood that has been poured on the soil of South Carolina and so many places." https://t.co/Hg8Ui0kIWv
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 26, 2019
“On that debate stage in terms of whose running, l am probably the only or one of a very few who has spent her career actually working on reforming the system as oppose to just talking about it.” pic.twitter.com/SQ06vteqbU
— Daryon (@daryongeronimo) October 26, 2019
Folks, let's stop for a minute and reflect on what Kamala Harris did in the last 24 hours.
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) October 26, 2019
So Kamala Harris pulled her support for the forum. She was prepared to hold a counter-program with her own people.
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) October 26, 2019
It's also important to note that Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, one of the co-sponsors of the event, had a choice to make — he could side with the Trump friendly sponsors, or side with Kamala.
He sided with Kamala.
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) October 26, 2019
So tactically and strategically, this was a big win for Team Kamala. /end
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) October 26, 2019
"Kamala Harris stood on principle, but she had to stand alone. The fact that the entire composition of the event was changed as a result of her protest speaks to the power an individual with moral clarity and determination can have." https://t.co/RUR5BKrJgg
— Kirsten Allen (@knicole_a) October 27, 2019
I see a lot of valid commentary about Kamala standing alone in her advocacy at the criminal justice forum but at the same time I feel like that was absofuckinglutely the precise point she intended to make. What better platform to set herself apart, and with what better audience?
— Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) October 27, 2019
It was also a premeditated and fearless confrontation of the “Kamala is a cop” propaganda, truth be told. She isn’t afraid to put her entire record under scrutiny, in fact she reformed the whole forum to make sure ample Black stakeholders/voters were in attendance.
— Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) October 27, 2019
Kamala isn’t waiting for the game to catch up to her, she’s changing the game on the ground in real time. She was ready for every question that came from the audience she cultivated, but the frontrunners weren’t. That’s not ‘standing alone’, it’s leading and rallying the troops. pic.twitter.com/S7egYCjodQ
— Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) October 27, 2019
Let me be clear: the core of any fight for justice is that you speak truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Thank you to the grassroots supporters who joined me in this fight. https://t.co/mW3wBDfvdy
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 29, 2019
Mnemosyne
This is why the Russian troll farms have been pushing the Kamala is a cop! bullshit so hard. She’s not just a threat to Trump, she’s a threat to white supremacy as a system, and even “soft” white supremacists hate and fear her because of that.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Still ready for Kamala!
bemused senior
This is why I support KH. She is smart, principled and has a track record of working for and achieving change in a real system that pushes back. Yes I belong to the crawl over broken glass club, but I will vote for Kamala in the primary, if she is still in it.
feebog
The WaPo story on this issue was essentially a hit piece. Horrible reporting. Harris was and is my first choice. Ain’t nothing going to change that.
Jeffro
It’s what it will take: guts, and the subsequent willingness to get outside the blessed ‘box’, and create one’s own ‘news’. Because the both-sides media sure as heck isn’t doing anything innovative, or working to change the usual narratives about Dems.
It’s okay though. We’ve got this. Show your face at an HBCU again, trumpov. Or a ballpark for that matter. ???
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Bwa-haw-haw!
Nancy’s letter has scuppered Lindsey’s “You’re big meanies!” open letter to Congress before Mike Pence can even be the tie-breaking vote cause Willard and Murkowski don’t want to play
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: They tried to weaponize a statement she made quoting a Catholic priest from LA who spent most of his career trying to help at risk African American and Latino youth or those who had already wound up in gangs.
West of the Rockies
Didn’t Harris heavily invest in Iowa? Chris Hayes had a poll up tonight listing the top four in that state (Warren, Biden, Pete, and Bernie).
I adore Harris, but I sure hope she can begin to soon start registering more strongly. I want her to leapfrog Pete and Bernie.
Edited for clarity.
Mary G
She knows how to lurk silently in the bushes so she can pounce out and demolish things. The political press and pundits disparage her because she’s not doing things the way they think she should. She has no patience with trifling questions, and her refusal to speak on the media’s terms offends them and they ignore her for it. There’ve been a ton of videos of her connecting to real people who’ll support her and aren’t likely to be polled. I believe there are a lot of them who will raise her results in Iowa and South Carolina.
Only one thing: I love her, and she’s at the top of my list, but the way she often starts tweets with “let me be clear” drives me nuts. Maybe Obama did it a lot before launching into a nuanced explanation of issues instead of a snappy soundbite? Marco Rubio uses it too. Stop. Just be clear.
Ladyraxterinok
@West of the Rockies:
IMHO Bernie people are Bernie people.
Mayor Pete looked good. Then recent stuff about his wanting judges like Kennedy and his support from old college pal Zuck makes me think dem voters have been targets of a slick corporate/WallStreet campaign. ca
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: Good to see Father Boyle fans pushing back. He is the person the Catholic Church should make a saint, but won’t.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They can’t even get Trump ass kissing right.
Bobby Thomson
Thanks, Anne. She had a great weekend.
Kay
My father loves Kamala. He’s voting for her and if she’s not on the ballot he probably won’t vote because he’s that sort of person. You know- vindictive :)
Picture…the opposite of a team player. Is that a hermit? Okay, close.
West of the Rockies
@Ladyraxterinok:
My hot take is that Bernie is too old, and Pete too young (and without national experience). I welcome their voices and efforts, but not as President.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: Have you seen this story about the 84-year-old right winger trying to do evil to a mosque in France, but was stopped by two members, aged 74 and 78, who prevented him despite one of them getting shot in the chest?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t have any kids, so you can’t actually be describing me…
also, I am Team Broken Glass (Even Bernie)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
Hermits of America unite!
Mike in NC
Senator Harris is my favorite candidate, but I don’t know if any of them can overcome the GOP’s plan to go overboard on spending money (from Russia, Saudi Arabia, as well as domestic wingnut billionaires) on alt-right propaganda to trash the Democratic presidential and VP nominees.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: I had not. I’m glad to read it did not turn out worse.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: I wondered who also went to military school that the shooter may have related to?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Laura Ingram, John Yoo and Alan Dershowitz
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They are, George, see above. Probably in coordination with your lady wife
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There is nothing they won’t do for this man. It’s a cult. You wonder how they recover. They go back to being normal people after this total debasement? Not possible.
laura
@Mike in NC: Turnout. That’s what wins, massive, overwhelming numbers of voters in every district.
Senator Harris is ready! Her ground game is strong. If she was a white dude, she’d be crushing the field already. I cant wait to cast a vote for her in the primary.
hilts
Warren is my first choice, but Harris is a close second and either one of them would be vastly superior to Biden. For starters, Warren and Harris can easily speak in complete sentences without losing their train of thought, while Biden stumbles and bumbles his way through prepared remarks and is a disaster when he’s put in situations where he has to speak off the cuff.
West of the Rockies
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Will veterans, active-duty personnel, and the IC push back or stand by in silence? I hope (and expect) the former.
West of the Rockies
@West of the Rockies:
Republicans are fast approaching a “Have you at long last no sense of decency” moment.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You know- this is getting to be quite few people testifying against Donald Trump. Fox is going to have to add shifts or shake up the hack roster or something. They may outnumber the cable tv defenders here shortly.
Jay
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
I would posit that none of them ever were normal. Laura Ingram became famous for outing people, for spite and sport, at a time and in a place (Dartmouth in the ’80s) where that could ruin a person’s life. John Yoo, torturer (by proxy). Dershowitz, racist pervert.
Just Chuck
@West of the Rockies: Are you kidding? They blew past that years ago. It turns out the GOP does have a sense of decency, because you have to know something about decency in order to do the opposite of the decent thing every single time.
Kay
Do you feel like they succeeded in smearing the whistleblower though? I haven’t hear a word about him from non-obsessed people.
My husband thinks “the whistleblower” is actually a sort of spokesperson for a group of horrified people, like the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit- how they pick the person who is least likely to be destroyed by the opposition to go up front. Unimpeachable.
Anne Laurie
@Kay:
Look at the Lyndon LaRouche groupies, or the various ‘Socialist/Marxist/Communist’ subgroups that keep splitting up into smaller & smaller cells over obscure points of terminology. Or the Randroids, which the cult founder’s son is trying to turn into a multigenerational cash cow.
Once (if) we can bring the majority of our political commonwealth back to sanity, the Trumplodytes will recede, like their forebears, into being another sporadic annoyance — like a case of jock itch or toenail fungus that flairs up whenever the victim is under the weather…
mad citizen
Let me be clear: Ha! I responded to one of her pre-debate surveys to tell her to stop saying “I want to tell you.” Just tell us.
Jay
Just Chuck
@Anne Laurie: The only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judean People’s Front. Splitters.
oldgold
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, they will. In fact, they are already doing so.
David Burbach
@dburbach
That was quick: Laura Ingraham goes right at LTC Vindman being a Soviet refugee of Ukrainian origin; John Yoo then says LTC Vindman may be guilty of espionage.
KRK
@Page1ANews
Replying to @JohnJHarwood
Oh my God, look at the spin they are using right now, actually saying that Vindman is a Ukrainian double agent….this is so freaking bananas
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
For the longest time I got Laura Ingram confused with this Right wing “advice” person who used to be on AM radio that I would hate-listen to in the car. She would yell at women when they called in – very judgmental. I was both shocked and horrified to realize there were two mean Right wingers who are basically identical. I don’t know what happened to the other one.
BethanyAnne
Looks like Harris’s views on sexwork have evolved since her work in San Francisco and as AG. Much like someone evolved his views on gay marriage when it was convenient. I guess that’s good. I lived across the Bay when she was in SF, and I remember her as an authoritarian that I didn’t like. And my friends who did sexwork absolutely *loathed* her. Don’t know if that makes me a Russian troll or not. I am glad she is punching up now. I still want Warren first, but all the praise here over Harris has me paying a little attention to her.
NotMax
@mad citizen
Can’t help but think back to a Nixon quote (really, am NOT making this up):
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I wouldn’t want to wake up next to a lady pipefitter.”
;)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BethanyAnne:
Nah, just the kind of supporter who makes people dislike their candidate, like the PUMAs of ’08 and the B-Bros of 16.
Mary G
Text of Vindman’s opening statement: very brave of him.
Another Bill Taylor with a lot more to lose.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: I say this in all sincerity, no snark, and I’ve thought this before, but for that one alone: I’m very glad you post here.
I can just picture Nixon saying it, and a younger Archie Bunker and his friends laughing and laughing
trollhattant
@Mary G:
Have a hunch Pope Frank probably is aware of, likes, and understands Father Greg a good deal. The rest of that lot, who knows?
BethanyAnne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, good, well at least I have that going for me. Maybe I should praise Biden, then.
Kay
@Anne Laurie:
I think it’s hard for them because they actually love all these straight laced diplomats and military people and to defend Trump they have to just drop their entire world view and insist the dissenters are all top secret double agents.
I read Trump twitter and during Mueller they invented this elaborate tale about how Mueller and Trump were secretly working together to bring down Obama because Mueller is exactly the sort of person they’re usually demanding we all worship.
The contortions are just incredible. They’ve had to drop or denounce basically everything they have ever said over the last 30 years. They’re willing to do it, though.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: it makes me think of a Jack Germond story, he was covering the Nixon campaign, I think his gubernatorial campaign in ’62, and the reporters invited Nixon out for a few jars (as Germond liked to say). He went along and at the end of the evening they decided to go to a diner that was popular with reporters, especially because of a waitress who was funny and good company. Nixon assumed that meant they were all sleeping with her and tried to fit in as one of the boys by making lewd remarks about their friend. They all just felt sorry for him.
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @NotMax: Couldn’t agree more.
trollhattant
@oldgold:
Would Kamala throw John Yoo’s ass in the dock? Because she’d leapfrog over everybody, Jesus included, if she promised to bring that shitheel to justice. But hey, what’s a $400k Boalt teaching job among torturers?
Jay
sukabi
@West of the Rockies: ummmm. They can no longer see that point in the rearview mirror as they passed “No Decency left” at least 4 years ago.
Kay
@Mary G:
Just amazing. “My family fled the Soviet Union when I was three years old”. And the cable tv Republicans must smear him. They must. Because they’ll give Trump anything, anything he needs.
Mandalay
@Mary G:
There’s an interesting article/hit piece titled “The 6 most annoying rhetorical moves from the Democratic debates” which mentions that as well, though apparently Kamala Harris isn’t the only candidate who does it.
The one that grates with me is when Biden solemnly and pointlessly spits out “period!” after he has said something that he believes is of great importance to the nation. He makes himself sound like a doofus.
TS (the original)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sen Collins was concerned about this – but would she vote for it – of course she would.
BethanyAnne
Was it Biden who always said literally? or was that Gingrich? I don’t remember who it was, but I remember it being as annoying as hell in like 2008.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
The bonus? It saw print as part of an interview with Ms. magazine.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
As leaked at the time, Nixon to David Frost before one of the 1977 taped for televised interviews:
“Well, did you do any fornicating this weekend?”
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: These people are out of their motherfucking minds.
MisterForkbeard
@BethanyAnne: Let’s not pre-emotively whine about being called a Russian Troll.
That said, I’ve hear similar things from people in the sex trades. Though this strikes me as something that would apply to virtually any DA – they’re going to uphold the laws and the vice laws in particular are relatively easy targets. Except in great circumstances, a DA is going to enforce laws and any priorities passed down from above.
danielx
Obligatory: But Her Electability….
Mandalay
@Kay:
That would be Dr. Laura Schlessinger, a really vile piece of work. She’s still making a living by speaking to people with problems in their personal lives as worthless failures who richly deserve all the bad things that come their way.
She makes Laura Ingraham seem sweet, warm, cuddly and likable by comparison.
Mary G
@Mandalay: Biden’s deal that makes me grind my teeth is using “folks” every other sentence. McCain did it too.
guachi
Since you need 15% in the Democratic primary to get any delegates at the district/state level Sanders, who has been consistently at 16-17 looks to lose out on lots of delegates in those places he drops below 15%. Also, all the “extra” delegates are awarded proportionately to candidates above the threshold. So it’s entirely possible (and likely) that Biden and Warren net ALL the delegates from a state even if their combined vote percentage is only 60%.
It’ll be interesting to see where candidates get close to that 15% threshold.
Mary G
@Mandalay: “Dr. Laura” was the worst. She’d introduce her radio show by identifying herself as her son’s mother and then spend the rest of her time telling the women that all their problems were due to working outside the home, really vicious. I had to quit a carpool because the other people in the van voted for her.
Cacti
@Mary G:
Nah, McCain’s thing was “My friends” before every statement.
BethanyAnne
@MisterForkbeard: Twas San Francisco. Opposing sex and drugs wasn’t quite the mandate from above that it is elsewhere. Tho with the tech squares making up more and more of the city, maybe it is now. Dunno, I left shortly after the 08 collapse. “Kamala is a cop” has been damn close to my internal opinion of her for years. I’m glad if she’s shedding that, but she did actually earn it. And I figured that would get me called a russian troll pretty quickly, tbh.
I dunno, I did work for Obama in both elections, even with his known views about marriage in the first election. And I wouldn’t take my old snapshot of Harris as anything like firm opposition. I mean it when I say I’m glad she’s evolving. I don’t have as much appetite for politics as I did before 2016, so I’m not around here as much, or paying as much attention. Maybe the evolution has been happening while I pay attention elsewhere. I just can’t devote as much attention as I did before Trump. It just feels too toxic now.
SectionH
@Mary G: I’m not sure I even follow her on the Twit machine. But yeah there are certain tropes… never mind ppl like Ammar – I am on the verge of blocking him, because the insistent crap is driving me nuts. I srsly doubt I can afford the level of I’ve given you a bunch of money NOW LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE FOR FIVE MINUTES.
— stressed out with a lotta shit, and regularly unsubscribing to many I’m sure deserving campaigns. And I’m ready to kill ActBlue, because that’s clearly where all this shit comes from.
SiubhanDuinne
@Kay:
I believe you’re thinking of Laura Schlesinger — “Dr. Laura.” Not only blonde, right-wing, and judgmental but the same first name. No wonder you conflated them!
Never sought her out, but I would occasionally catch odds and sods of her radio program because the best traffic report was on the same station. Horrible person. I have a vague recollection there was some scandal that forced her off the air for a while (she said the N-word near an open mic or something). Haven’t thought of her in years, and I hope to return soon to that state of prelapsarian bliss.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Is “Dr” Laura still on the air? I used to listen to a financial advice show on the weekend that ran on a rightwing station, and I had to hear a lot of her commercials. The Frasier show did a great parody of her with Christine Baranski
Just Chuck
@SectionH: Yep, gave to ActBlue once, and I feel like I ended up on every mailing list for every Democrat in every state. Some of them had no working unsubscribe, so they’re now in my spam folder, and that’s training gmail to block them as spam in general. Lesson learned: never give these people your real email address.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Just Chuck: I gave to one of DougJ’s group funds last year, and I get all kinds of emails from people I never heard of. And their staff. And their kids. And sometimes their moms. And their pets. I hate that shit. And I don’t want to sign anyone’s fucking birthday card. Not even Barack or Michelle.
SectionH
@BethanyAnne: I believe you. To This Day I have friends in SF who think they’re politically aware… yeah, right. At least they didn’t vote for Dolt45. Their privilege I guess.
We’re still fighting fights in San Diego city, never mind the county, so we want actual voters to get out and vote. People who so aren’t worried about Kamala’s “cop” nonsense.
Cacti
Since it’s an open thread:
GM, Toyota, and Fiat-Chrysler join Trump’s effort to force California to accept weakened auto emissions standards.
Guess I know which make my next car definitely won’t be.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
Father Greg is a bona fide local hero. I know people who have volunteered with Homeboy’s social services and they say that he is, in fact, the real deal.
And he’s a Jesuit, of course, which gives online “leftists” a double reason to hate him and his good works.
psycholinguist
I can’t stop thinking what a young, dynamic group of front runners we would have if the three old people at the top of the polls had kept their day jobs. Flame away.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Cacti: Kinda surprised Toyota is going along with that, the Prius is practically the state car of California.
Mandalay
Lindsey Graham tweeting this evening about leaks in the NYT on Vindman’s testimony tomorrow:
Oh, if only, Senator…
ETA This Senator complaining about leaks to the media is the same Senator who is complaining about the secrecy of the investigation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@psycholinguist: the other side of that coin is, if those young dynamic front runners can’t overtake those geriatrics, how dynamic are they?
Central Planning
@Cacti: Shit. I bought a Toyota hybrid 2 weeks ago.
Mandalay
@psycholinguist:
And who exactly among that “young, dynamic group” are you claiming is more “dynamic” than Warren?
Booker?… Klobuchar?… Buttigieg?… Gabbard?…
Seriously, list their names.
I’ll even make it easy for you: name just one.
Jay
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t want to enter a contest to see Hamilton with Chasten Buttigieg, even if I find him charming and would love to see the show.
sigaba
@Adam L Silverman: Father Boyle is really someone who could stand to get some more attention.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
*blushes” Aw, shucks. Very kind of you.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Just Chuck: Don’t forget The Judean Popular People’s Front! Splitters!
Miss Bianca
@West of the Rockies: I think if South Carolina goes for Harris, she could spike it. Not so worried about Iowa.
HinTN
@Cacti: Fuck, I love Toyotas. Have not driven anything else (except a very used 86 GMC 3/4 ton truck) for 30 years. This may make me rethink that loyalty.