A joy to watch. Spectacular, really. A friend recently observed that anyone who speaks publicly will occasionally rely on certain 'filler words' to buy a few seconds of mental time and space to bridge the gap to a subsequent point. It sometimes sounds like Kamala Harris has only filler words, and no actual point. I'm not quite sure where this one stacks up against some of the other recent hits -- we'll revisit those in a moment -- but this is an instant classic unto itself. As several others have noted, this clip looks and sounds even worse than the transcript reads. And the transcript reads...poorly:
KAMALA HARRIS: "For Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way its impact has been the pandemic...we will assist Jamaica in Covid recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential." pic.twitter.com/fmPJFTbKQ6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 31, 2022
An amusingly ridiculous word salad. How? How is she so bad at this? I think she's just trying to say, "Jamaica's economy, like America's, was hit hard by the pandemic, so we're going to continue to help them on both the economic and public health fronts." Instead, we got, er, that. "I’ll give Harris this much: At least she didn’t stumble into calling for regime change in Russia," quips Allahpundit. "If you’re going to gaffe, make sure you don’t risk starting a nuclear war by doing so." It's funny, and a bit scary, because it's true. What a week or so it's been for the Adults In The Room, back in charge, or whatever. I'm still not sure if the Jamaica jumble above one-ups her 'significance of the passage of time' gem however. That one featured a phrase -- passed off as profound, but not really profound at all -- mindlessly employed four times in a matter of seconds:
KAMALA HARRIS: "The significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time...there is such great significance to the passage of time." pic.twitter.com/jUsnyNiSpB
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 21, 2022
The finger-in-the-air, nodding conclusion to this clip, following a banal reference to "our children," almost feels as if she's trying to convince herself that she's managed to keep the train on the tracks over the previous 31 seconds, hoping that the audience agrees. Speaking of time, I think this one is probably my favorite to date. It is time for us to enjoy a slow motion car wreck that she visibly could not avoid, even as she was speaking it into existence in real time. And that time, my friends, is every day:
— Lawrence Jones III (@LawrenceBJones3) January 13, 2022
"It is time for us to. Do what we have been doing, and that time is every day. Every day it is time for us to agree. That there are things and tools that are available to us. To slow this thing down." Still her best work, I believe. Yesterday, President Biden received his fourth COVID vaccine shot. Given his demographic profile, that seems like a good idea. Watch the videos in this post again, then say a little prayer for the president's health.