US Vice President Kamala
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Not Even the Liberal Base Has Confidence in Kamala Harris: 'I Don't Think She Can Win'
Source: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
The Los Angeles Times looks like it could be starting to sour in its love for Vice President Kamala Harris. In Noah Bierman's article published on Tuesday, he warns that "Even voters who like Kamala Harris worry about her future."
The interviews between passerby and a reporter took place in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
While Susan Giffen, 69, does have concerns with how "sexism" could affect Harris' chances, she's still not her top choice:
Susan Giffen, a Democratic voter who lives in one of the nation’s most important political swing districts, said Vice President Kamala Harris is savvy, asks perceptive questions and would make a good president.
But Giffen, a 69-year-old retiree from New Hope, Pa., believes it will never happen.
“Absolutely not,” she said while running errands before an afternoon swim. “I’d vote for her. But I don’t think she can win. And I wouldn’t vote for her in a primary.”
Giffen isn't the only one who wouldn't vote for Harris in a primary. The former presidential candidate had her chance and she dropped out so early, on December 3, 2019, that she didn't even make it to the Iowa Caucus, held months later.
Bierman does go out of his way to regard certain criticisms of Harris as apparently racist and sexist. "It’s impossible to quantify how many of Harris’ political struggles are the result of racism and sexism — both blatant and subtle — and how many stem from her actions and personal qualities," he wrote.
It's not clear how all the following examples necessarily have to do with the serious charge of sexism:
Some of Harris’ challenges, including the perception that she is not a central player in the administration, have bedeviled her predecessors to varying degrees, given that the No. 2 job requires deference. Others are unique to the nation’s first female vice president: Two men told a reporter outright that a woman should never be president; a third said she “cackles” too much; a fourth called her “a joke,” who was put in her job as “a trophy.”
It's especially nonsensical to chalk criticism over how she "cackles" to sexism when the vice president truly has laughed at the most inopportune moments. Recently, she laughed at reporters who were asking her questions about Afghanistan before she gave a response. And, she didn't even let the reporter finish her question.
Clearly, Harris is doing something wrong, considering her favorability ratings are and have been terrible:
Polls show she is faring far worse than three of her four most recent predecessors at this point in their tenures, and only slightly better than the fourth, Vice President Mike Pence, who served a uniquely unpopular president, according to a Times analysis of polling data. On average, Harris is viewed negatively by 49% of voters, compared with 43% who see her in a positive light, about 10 percentage points worse than Biden’s favorability numbers.
...
The good news for Harris amid the negative poll numbers is that some voters say they simply don’t know enough about her and are willing to give her a chance. Some Democrats who worry about her say they believe she is being ill-served.
“She’s got her act together, but sometimes when she says things, it comes across a bit abrasive and maybe too aggressive,” said Edwina Thompson, an administrative assistant who did not want to give her age.
That's some way of considering something to be "good news," though Bierman's spun in yet another way too:
An NBC poll released last week and taken before the troop deaths showed more people hold “very negative” views of Harris — 36% — than any of her predecessors. That’s in part the result of relentless attacks from Fox News and other conservative media and a more polarized political environment.
It’s also increasingly hard to argue against the role her race and gender play.
Townhall's coverage from July highlighted negative perspectives against Harris in one particular poll released at the time by Morning Consult-POLITICO. Women actually had a more unfavorable opinion of the vice president, with her favorable-unfavorable ratings at 43 and 47 percent among that demographic, respectively.
Bierman and some Pennsylvanians bemoan sexism and racism, but they themselves also point to legitimate concerns with the vice president, which are particularly relevant since Harris would become president should President Joe Biden not serve out his term.
It's actually the Democrats for whom race and gender matter most. After all, let's not forget Biden chose Harris as his running mate in large part because she checked off the diversity boxes, in spite of all the ways in which Harris attacked Biden. No wonder Jill Biden had such strong words for the current Vice President, a woman who was Biden's adversary turned running mate.
Marsha Blackburn: Biden Has Done More for the Taliban and China than American Families
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), one of the several Republican lawmakers who signed a letter to President Biden demanding answers on the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, said the president has done more for the Taliban and China than American families during his presidency.
“Joe Biden has done more for the Taliban and the Chinese Communist Party than he has for American families,” Blackburn observed in a Wednesday social media post, adding that Biden’s “weak leadership” has “created a crisis in Afghanistan and a crisis at the southern border”:
Blackburn, a prominent critic of Biden, particularly following his administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan where they abided by the Taliban-approved August 31 deadline, is among several GOP lawmakers who signed a letter demanding the Biden administration provide answers about the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the humanitarian crisis created, including information on the number of Americans left behind and the vetting process used for evacuees being brought into the United States.
“We write regarding the humanitarian crisis created by your withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, and the safety and well-being of our fellow countrymen and allies who you left behind,” the September 2 letter addressed to Biden read.
“The signatories of this letter may have differing opinions about whether the United States should have maintained a military presence in Afghanistan, but we all agree that the arbitrary and poorly-planned method by which you withdrew from Afghanistan caused this crisis,” they wrote, identifying their “immediate priority” as the safety of American citizens, permanent residents, and allies left behind by Biden’s administration in Afghanistan.
“We are also concerned by reports that ineligible individuals, including Afghans with ties to terrorist organizations or serious, violent criminals, were evacuated alongside innocent refugee families,” they continued, requesting answers to a series of questions no later than Tuesday, September 7, at 5 p.m.
President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks about the bombings at the Kabul airport that killed at least 12 U.S. service members, from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The senators posed four main questions, although each has a series of follow-up questions. The main questions include:
- How many American citizens does the administration believe to remain in Afghanistan?
- How many green-card holders does the administration believe to remain in Afghanistan?
- How many Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants remain in Afghanistan?
- According to your administration, more than 50% of evacuated Afghans were not SIV applicants or their families, including vulnerable Afghans such as women and girls at high risk for Taliban reprisals. Of the more than 57,000 Afghans who are not American citizens, green-card holders, or SIV applicants or their families, how many had no pending immigration application or status with the United States prior to being airlifted?
The lawmakers requested unclassified answers that can be made available to the public, as Americans “need to see that the United States will not abandon them to terrorists abroad forever.”
“If your answers implicate classified material, you may also submit a classified appendix to your answers and coordinate with us to provide a classified briefing,” they added.
Signers include Republican Sens. Blackburn, Tom Cotton (AR), Ted Cruz (TX), John Boozman (AR), Mike Braun (IN), Susan Collins (ME), Kevin Cramer (ND), Steve Daines (MT), Joni Ernst (IA), Deb Fischer (NE), Lindsey Graham (SC), Chuck Grassley (IA), Josh Hawley (MO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS), Ron Johnson (WI), John Kennedy (LA), Mike Lee (UT), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Roger Marshall (KS), Jerry Moran (KS), Ben Sasse (NE), John Thun (SD), Pat Toomey (PA), Tommy Tuberville (AL), and Roger Wicker (MS).
