.@donnabrazile for NYT: “@VP stands on the steely, unbowed shoulders of Black women…who broke barriers before her. It shouldn’t be so hard for a leader like Ms. Harris, so visible in the office she holds, to get some credit where credit is due.” https://t.co/x0EkqlpHID
— Kirsten Allen (@KirstenAllen46) March 2, 2023
There are pundits who opine that Vice-President Harris should ‘step aside’ for 2024. These pundits are not as smart as they would like to believe, and in their place I would find less dangerous takes.
… I have watched politicians up close for decades. And I have known Vice President Harris for years and urged Joe Biden to make her his running mate in 2020. I believe that the criticism of her is unrelated to her performance as vice president and fails to account for the role she plays in the White House.
As a consequential and successful vice president himself for eight years under Barack Obama, President Biden has a keen understanding of the job he once held and he has tasked Vice President Harris with major responsibilities. She has done an outstanding job and her record in two years stands up to that of her predecessors. Has she solved every problem? No, but name me one vice president who has…
To advance President Biden’s objective to strengthen America’s foreign alliances, Ms. Harris has met (mostly in person) with more than 100 world leaders to repair damage to our international relationships caused by Donald Trump. At the Munich Security Conference in February she announced that the Biden administration has formally concluded that Russia is guilty of “crimes against humanity” in its war against Ukraine and warned China not to assist Russia in its invasion. Through public-private partnerships, she helped raise over $4.2 billion to address the root cause of migration from Central America.
Ms. Harris has pushed for federal legislation to secure voting rights, worked to expand access to the child tax and earned-income tax credits, is co-leader of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, was an integral part of the White House’s push to get Americans vaccinated against Covid, and is the chair of the National Space Council.
Questions have been raised about the fitness of just about every vice president to move into the Oval Office should the president die or is unable to continue serving for another reason. Mr. Biden knew what he was doing when he selected Ms. Harris to be his vice president and had confidence that she would be up to the task of succeeding him if necessary. I hope that never happens, but if tragedy strikes, Mr. Biden’s judgment will be proven correct…
VP Kamala Harris arrives at SFO. She spent almost 20 minutes greeting a jubilant crowd of supporters. pic.twitter.com/IHqYaPZKh2
— Dustin Gardiner (@dustingardiner) March 3, 2023
So much joy as Madam @VP & @SecondGentleman greet the crowd at San Francisco International Airport. pic.twitter.com/94vdRvuKn0
— Opal Vadhan (@OpalVadhan46) March 3, 2023
That wraps up @VP’s open press events for the day. Thanks for following along.
ICYMI: This pic from her arrival at SFO this morning is something special. pic.twitter.com/pVHC7khKXq
— Dustin Gardiner (@dustingardiner) March 3, 2023
“The representation of @VP is just massive. I’ve seen it not only here in the United States, but I’ve traveled all over the world, and you can really see that impact of having a woman in this powerful role.”pic.twitter.com/Xad836Rhog
— Liza Acevedo (@LizaAcevedo46) March 4, 2023
“She has spent every minute of every day of her professional life serving the people. That’s it.” – @SecondGentleman interview with @CapehartJ pic.twitter.com/wUpn4IWg9y
— Opal Vadhan (@OpalVadhan46) March 4, 2023
?? And being able to even break ties in the senate involved work and diligence and intraparty campaigning (including what SHE did) to keep those 50 votes in hand…and she protected parts of those bills that mattered to vulnerable communities. https://t.co/5kpyW75pri
— Hope ?????? (@HopeisaBison) March 3, 2023
•VP travels nationwide promoting envirojustice—trolls shrug.
•She goes to schools to tout the #ChildTaxCredit—haters say she’s not working.
•She barnstorms for repro rights—they call it nothing.
•She visits small towns—comedians say she’s MIA.They don’t see us. SHE DOES. pic.twitter.com/8EbpdsT0gT
— Hope 🦬💙❤️ (@HopeisaBison) March 4, 2023
Black members of staff from across the Biden-Harris Administration met with @POTUS and @VP in celebration of Black History Month.
Our Administration is proud to recognize the Black staffers who lead on and are helping create a more fair and inclusive democracy across our nation. pic.twitter.com/FyK1tjr1kA
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 26, 2023
This is the ticket
Save the ink and typing energy on your lil’ think pieces
This is the ticket #BidenHarris2024 pic.twitter.com/7KalSLlV94
— Qondi (@QondiNtini) March 4, 2023
Baud
I can’t believe the NYT allowed that to be published.
satby
And it’s a great ticket. We need to lead with our strengths.
satby
@Baud: the typesetters rushed it out before management woke up.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Caught me by surprise too.
randy khan
Oh come on – it’s not like she’s gone to the DMZ and stared forcefully at North Korea. That’s the kind of leadership America needs.
Ramalama
Dan Quayle. Did G Herbert Walker B get pressured to toss Mr Potatoe Head off the ticket?
Baud
@satby:
Sadly, I think they allowed it because it was Donna Brazille. People can dismiss her praise for Kamala out of hand because she’s a black woman and associated very closely with the party.
Cameron
“Haters” and “trolls” = Our Liberal Media. Look at the list of things she’s done over the last couple of years; how many of them got any real coverage? And then the same bozos who fail to report on what she’s doing loudly complain that she isn’t doing anything. This bullshit about replacing her on the ticket is just that – bullshit.
Baud
Dems can really show they’re serious about unifying the country by replacing both Biden and Harris with never Trump Republicans.
Lapassionara
On one side, we have candidates who are serious about public service, and on the other side we have candidates who want to eliminate whole classes of people from society. Come on, media, do your job!
Ken
@Baud: If you’d ever announce your short list for VP, we could all get behind a “dump Biden-Harris, give us “Baud-XXX” movement.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Bingo.
Baud
@Ken:
Or BM for short.
schrodingers_cat
@Lapassionara: They are doing their job, which is to prop up that party of white supremacists.
Princess
Biden -Harris is our ticket.
I have zero qualms about her ascending to the presidency if it should be necessary. She’d be a great president.
I have more doubts about her political abilities but that’s more a reflection on the shallow personality and charisma-driven American voters than any knock on her personally . We’ve already demonstrated we can’t be trusted to vote for the more qualified candidate with the best platform.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
NotMax
And now for something completely different.
;)
Splitting Image
I remember back in 2011 hearing Republican-leaning pundits suggest that the Democrats had realized that Obama was an abysmal failure and were secretly planning to swap him out for Hillary Clinton.
This is who they are.
RandomMonster
I know you’re joking, but actually she’s done that, too.
JMG
All Vice-Presidents are inherently subject to criticism because the office itself is inherently ridiculous, as its first inhabitant, John Adams, described with some eloquence. Washington political reporters do so because they exist to serve power, and the VP has none. Note that the one VP in modern history who had real power, Cheney, got less criticism, and certainly less derision, than the average VP. Harris of course gets extra doses because she’s a woman of color, but that doesn’t change the basic equation, merely amplifies it.
zhena gogolia
I’m with Qondi!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: But — BRAZILE
Amir Khalid
Can those naysaying Kamala Harris for vague or even unnamed reasons pick a better running mate for Joe Biden? Is there any Democrat willing to be named as such, knowing that they would only wind up being exploited to divide the party? I don’t think so, and I don’t think so.
S Cerevisiae
@Baud: you are giving DougJ a run for his money, well done!
Roger Moore
FTFY.
dmsilev
@Amir Khalid: No, they can’t. They also refuse to understand that a lot of people like Harris, regard her as well suited for the position, and would be really pissed off if she were cast aside.
To put it bluntly, black women are one of the bedrock foundation slabs of the Democratic Party and casting aside one of their own would be an absolutely stupid thing to do, spitting in their collective face for no good reason.
BruceFromOhio
LMAO indeed
Kay
Amusing take on Tesla from a Car and Driver reporter:
Scratch an antiwokester, find a cranky, old fashioned and inflexible boss. How funny is it that the employees of the phony “free speech” advocate are afraid to answer simple questions.
WaterGirl
@BruceFromOhio: So dismissive, in the best possible way.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Interesting. Thanks!
Geminid
UN Delegates negotiating a High Seas Treaty finally got it done yesterday evening. From the BBC:
This is the first major international treaty governing the oceans since the 1972 Law of the Sea Treaty, and it will be covered extensively by news sites specializing in the marine environment and in the law of the sea.
Alison Rose
I LOVE OUR VEEP
O. Felix Culpa
@Alison Rose: Moi aussi.
Brachiator
@JMG:
I recall a great scene in the John Adams mini series where newly elected VP Adams is crestfallen to discover that Washington doesn’t want him to attend cabinet meetings.
True enough, but this doesn’t really relate to the criticism of Harris as the 2024 running mate, which are ultimately attacks on her as a potential president.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
This is totally unsurprising to anyone who has been paying attention. Companies tend to take on some of the traits of their leader. For a company like Tesla, that has had basically one CEO for their whole existence and that one has a strong personality type, the result is a company that almost perfectly mimics its CEO. For an older company, like Ford, that has had many different CEOs over the years, it all tends to wash out and become generically corporate. You can have companies with a strong company culture and a tendency to promote from within that will maintain some of the founder’s personality even when they’re long dead, but even there, all but the strongest traits tend to wash out over time.
narya
I love Harris; she was on my short list waaaaaay back in the primaries for 2020. I was, and am, so very glad that Biden chose her; they build on each other’s strengths in so many ways.
Since it’s an OT, I’m gonna experiment today! I fell asleep last night only halfway through beer #2, an oatmeal stout. I put it in the fridge, and today I’m gonna make a gingerbread cake using at least some of it. I cannot find a recipe I like–I prefer butter to oil for my cakes, and most of the recipes use oil or oil plus butter–so I guess I’ll just have to come up with one. I might split the leftover beer in two and use some in a chocolate cake as well. I bought a couple of oranges yesterday, as well, so I think the grated rind will go in the gingerbread cake and I’ll use the juice for a frosting.
And maybe more postcards today! I finished my very first batch of 10, and I have plenty of cards and stamps, so . . . thank you, WaterGirl, for continuing to keep the postcard thing front and center; it helped me get off my butt and sign up to do it.
Ruckus
@satby:
the typesetters rushed it out before management woke up.
I’d bet a Very Likely on that.
Ruckus
@Lapassionara:
I wouldn’t expect too much from FTNYFT.
It saves having to be pissed off almost every damn day.
Jackie
We need to woo him to flip to the Democratic Party!
”Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, who represents West Texas regions from Monahans to El Paso and to San Antonio, was censured Saturday in a rare move by his state party over votes that included supporting new gun safety laws after the Uvalde school shooting in his district.
The Republican Party of Texas voted 57-5 with one abstention, underlining how the two-term congressman’s willingness to break with conservatives on key issues during his short time in office has caused GOP activists and some colleagues to bristle.
That independent streak includes opposing a sweeping House GOP immigration proposal over the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes a large portion of his South Texas district. He has also voted to defend same-sex marriage and was an outright “no” against a House rules package after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy became speaker.”
https://www.cbs7.com/2023/03/05/texas-republicans-censure-rep-tony-gonzalez/
Ruckus
@Lapassionara:
Come on, media, do your job!
Most of them think that they are.
Because most of them think their job is to influence the readers.
Nothing else.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Too easy. It was just sitting there mocking you, and you went for it.
Too easy.
kindness
I think most of the pundits and Village Elders animosity towards Kamela is racism, but they will deny that till their pasty white cows come home. The Democratic folk who are against her want to knife her chances for future elections. Both groups are scum as human beings go.
Ruckus
@narya:
In the CA primary, I voted for Harris for pres. She gets crap from a lot of news sources and yes she did from some citizens because she was the attorney general of CA for 6 yrs and some felt she was betraying her heritage. But if you look at her record she actually did very well in trying to get racism out of the office and the courts. Humans of all colors and stripes do break the law, she worked hard to make it better. Change can not happen without working at it from the inside and she does that exceedingly well. There are not a lot of politicians that truly work towards their duty to all of us, she is one of them. She works for another one and she works for us.
Jackie
@Jackie: Here’s another article re Gonzales AND FL’s Maria Elvira Salazar upsetting the GQP apple cart. McCarthy is too chicken shit to put his foot down for the obvious reason(s.)
“Rep. Tony Gonzales’ Republican colleague from Florida, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, has also decried the anti-immigration rhetoric Republicans have used as they champion that bill from Rep. Chip Roy of Texas. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Salazar said, “We understand that immigrants want to come and live in the promised land.” Referring to her Miami-area district, Salazar said, “Orderly legal immigration is good for the country and good for District 27.”
“Roy has called the two members’ concerns about his bill “absurd,” but with Republicans holding such a slim majority in the House, the pushback from these two Latino members is significant. The question is whether Gonzales and Salazar will stick to their principles or fold.
That pressure to fold will clearly come from Roy and other MAGA Republicans who appear to believe Latino Republicans lack real power and are not to be taken seriously. Republicans like to use the elections of representatives such as Gonzales and Salazar to brag about the party’s diversity, but Roy’s insulting dismissal of their concerns suggests that Republicans don’t intend to actually listen to those Latino members. But give Gonzales and Salazar credit for trying to fight back within their own party.”
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/immigration-latino-republicans-attempt-impossible-rcna72754
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
/People with access to her public schedule, credentials to attend her events, and who have been entrusted with informing the public
delphinium
@Jackie: Was just reading about him this morning. Hope he continues to stick with these types of votes and doesn’t let his party intimidate him. Don’t know if he agrees with enough of the Democrat’s policies to switch, and he may not want to anyway given he’s from TX.
different-church-lady
@Cameron: It could be that she’s a surrogate for the people who feel they can no longer push to replace the top of the ticket.
Fair Economist
@Amir Khalid:
Of course not. The reason they want a contest for either the Prez or the VP nomination is that it will split Democrats and improve the Republican’s chances. We have a great team.
different-church-lady
@Lapassionara:
MEDIA: “Wait, this is a job?”
MomSense
The way MVP has been both erased and smeared is infuriating. I am so proud of the way she represents our country and I would love to see her President.
gene108
@Geminid:
Republicans in the U.S. Senate do not want to ratify treaties any longer. Something, something right-wing paranoia about giving away our sovereignty to foreign entities.
I hope, unlike with global warming, this doesn’t cause much of the world to refuse to ratify this treaty and protect marine habitats.
MomSense
@zhena gogolia:
Qondi is the only reason I’m still on Twitter. She’s the best.
Kay
@Roger Moore:
I just think it’s funny that the traits of THIS leader are “cranky, old fashioned and autocratic” since we’re constantly told by him and his worshipful fans how modern and unconventional and ultra cool he is=-
they’re all such phonies. Like all of these “bold contrarians” Elon Musk just recycles whatever was cutting edge when he, Elon Musk, was 22 years old. This is one big, boring middle aged “Glory Days” revisiting.
jonas
This. Most voters are basically disengaged from day-to-day politics and, as we saw in 2016, can’t tell the difference between celebrity and real leadership any longer. I think, though, the people who *can* tell are the ones Harris is reaching out to and connecting with.
trnc
And it will still justify the next three Greg Craig editorials.
trnc
@S Cerevisiae:
Not to take anything away from DougJ or Baud, but the NYT really does make the pitchbot pretty easy these days.
trnc
@Ruckus:
It’s infuriating that we may never see another straight up policy story without politics from the media outlets that can afford to run a few non-clickbait articles from time to time.
Jackie
@delphinium: Gonzales seems to align pretty well with our social agendas, and he sounds pretty pissed off and defiant about being censored by the Texas GQP. McCarthy’s not pleased with his defiance, either.
I guess we’ll wait and hope!
James E Powell
The political press dislikes Kamala Harris & loves DeSantis. No doubt there are several anonymous “but some” Democrats who can explain why, but it’s certain that it has nothing to do with racism or misogyny.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: I love Qondi!
Kathleen
@Amir Khalid: It’s simple. Someone not Black and not female.
lowtechcyclist
@Cameron:
This is God’s truth. In the small slice of Twitter that I encounter, I see all sorts of things that our VP is doing. They’re choosing not to cover it, and I’m sure her being a woman and a person of color has a great deal to do with that. But then they take their own choice not to cover her as evidence that she’s not doing anything. Why do these people still have jobs?
Biden-Harris ’24! Can’t believe there’s even any discussion about this. They’re our ticket, period.
Kathleen
@dmsilev: Which is one of the reasons why media hate the Democratic Party so much.
lowtechcyclist
@James E Powell:
That really sums it up, doesn’t it?
Juxtaposing those two facts tells us all we need to know about our ‘liberal’ media.
Kathleen
@MomSense: I agree!
Thank you, Anne Laurie for your posts highlighting Vice President Harris’ accomplishments and keeping her front and center, as befits an historic Vice President.
Kathleen
@MomSense: She’s so much fun! She brings the “eye candy” too LOL!
MomSense
@Kathleen:
INORITE!
RaflW
@Lapassionara: Come on, media, do your job!
One has to remember who now owns most of journalism. Between big corporate ownership of the major nets, to hedge funds and billionaires owning a lot of print (including Gannett being owned by Fortress Investment Group).
So, if we look at who signs the paychecks, I rather cynically think a lot of people in media are doing their jobs, as defined by their bosses – though not by us who consume said media.
Fake Irishman
@gene108:
I think this is generally true, but they did assent to the Kigali protocols phasing out HFCs last September. That’s a really big deal (and a complicated story involving Obama negotiating a treaty, an a defense court decision nullifying the US ability to implement it, a bipartisan law (signed by TRump!) that committed the US to the standards, uncontroversial EPA regulations(!) and finally US ratification of the treaty.
WaterGirl
@narya: I don’t care what the recipe calls for re: baked goods, including bread, I substitute butter for oil. Every time. And nothing bad has happened yet. :-)
WaterGirl
@narya: Good job on the postcards!
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
@Lapassionara:
NYT: “And all serious-minded people very properly condemn the extremists on both sides – those who work for the public good, and those who work to destroy it.”