As the nation is abuzz and the mass media is positively ecstatic over the selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate there are some cracks in that happy veneer. In looking at the responses from the cabal of distemper known as the Never-Trump crowd there is a noticeable hint of discomfort.
Sure, all of the expected laudatory words have been delivered by them, but the subtext is glaring. The Lincoln Project, as one example, came out with this message of enthusiastic support.
So Harris is the choice to deliver giddiness to the crowd claiming to fight for purity of politics. (All while member Rick Wilson was desperately trying to memory-hole his past harsh words of criticism leveled at the California Senator.) Just recall, these are the same people who claim to be preserving the mantle of conservatism, and now they are claiming a sterling human rights record for the woman who used prison labor and wanted to jail parents over truant students. Such an overly insistent description defies the barest of research into her record, but sure -- human rights heroine, I suppose.
The leader of the Good Ship Bulwark, Admiral William Kristol, had some very interesting comments of his own in response to the Kamala announcement. He somehow regards her selection as cause to have Biden be completely exempted from a tried and established campaign tradition -- appearing at a presidential debate.
‘’We’ve seen Biden in office for over four decades, and we’ve seen Trump nonstop for the last four years. We’ve seen enough to make up our minds about them. So let’s skip the presidential debates but have three vice-presidential debates.’’
Oh Bill, your nervous desperation is showing. It is patently obvious that if you actually harbored any confidence at all in Biden you would be begging to have him squaring off against the man you perpetually claim is unskilled and possibly mentally damaged. If the accursed Orange Scourge is so inept in the political arena you should be salivating at the chance to have him eviscerated by your 40-year skilled veteran.
Just look at the corrupted math offered up. Of the four players he mentions, President Trump has the truncated career. Pence and Harris were known entities long before Trump took his first ever political office. If any of this quartet needs vetting via debates it would be Trump, and he would ostensibly be the most vulnerable in the process. Kristol wants to instead use Kamala as shield.
It is apparent Kristol realizes the crumbling edifice of the stage he chose to leap upon. He has cast his political reputation on the man who has been showing signs of decreased competency. In recent weeks Biden has required choreographed press conferences, staff social media spinning to clean up massive verbal craters created, and even needed a script in order to call Harris to notify her of "his" selection of her for the ticket.
Not to be bypassed in the hottest of takes, one of Kristol’s petty officers, JV Last, offered up his assessment of the Kamala news. Mr. Last is the first person to declare that her pick as VP was on par with the NFL Draft selection of Peyton Manning by the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. I kid you not. Last goes into detail about what was swirling around the Colts making that decision two decades ago in an attempt to mirror the supposed wisdom by the Biden camp in their decision to go with Harris. Last’s theorem here suffers from the very comparison he makes.
In setting the stage to declare Harris as a blue-chip No. 1 pick, "Anyone who had seen Manning play knew that, barring injury, he was headed to Canton eventually." Yes, very true. And now he wants to set up Harris as a bonafide Hall-Of-Fame-Level selection. She is the candidate who held 15 percent level of support last summer in a crowded field, and squandered that to single-digit also-ran status. Harris was regarded as a star in the field until she was leveled by Tulsi Gabbard at a debate, taken down before a national audience by someone who was effectively a third-stringer.
Before 2019 was completed Harris has burned through her cash reserves, overplaying her ground troops and relying on donations which slowed to a trickle. When the primary in her home state was set to play she was sitting in a distant 4th place, below 10 percent, while the starters were all polling above 20 percent. That striking rebuke led to her dropping out of the race entirely, with zero delegates earned. But those dismal statistics of this career politician are said to be on a level with a player who actually exceeded his HOF promise.
Says Last about the Harris decision, "It also shows that this is a steady, well-managed campaign that has the discipline to not get cute and out-smart itself." How he wrote that without laughing -- and then deleting -- is a testament to his syndrome.
One other reason that this attempt to place Harris in the elevated ranks of the can’t-miss picks is a complete miss itself and rests with the other factor of the formula. If JV is to compare the choice of Kamala with the selection of Peyton Manning, then you also have to compare the Biden campaign with the Indianapolis Colts from that season.
The top draft pick is normally reserved for the worst team in the league, and the 1997 Colts were just that. After an 0-10 start they flailed their way to a 3-13 win/loss mark, in the NFL basement. So sure, if you want to pretend Kamala is a top flight draft pick then you also have to state the Biden campaign is the team with the most embarrassing record.
And now for once I am starting to come around to following this metaphor.