[www.nytimes.com]

Joseph R. Biden Jr. selected Senator Kamala Harris of California as his vice-presidential running mate on Tuesday, embracing a former rival who sharply criticized him in the Democratic primaries but emerged after ending her campaign as a vocal supporter of Mr. Biden and a prominent advocate of racial-justice legislation after the death of George Floyd in late May.

wow, what a fake out!

"I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 03:17PM by hal.

Good. Now on to victory!

---

rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Let the bloodletting begin. Sure hope Kamala's up to the scrutiny … it's going to get ugly.

Why we are willing to accept this may be a topic for another thread.

Opens up an interesting possibility for Gavin Newsom, too. He may want to get out of Sacramento before he gets Gray Davised… of course, there would not be a big problem if Ahnalt wanted to come back - Jerry did it successfully.

Could be an interesting game of political chairs coming up …



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 03:26PM by bfd.

I can't wait to see her destroy Pence. I so hope the reelection campaign accedes to at least a single VP debate.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Look for tales of Harris and a CA guy being intimate. Rush Limbaugh was talking about a carnal connection last week.

Quote
rjmacs
Good. Now on to victory!

Yes.

Right on. Dump Trump.

Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

---

rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Best choice hands down.

Oooooo, I was right about her speech position and I really like the way she presents herself.
I like it.

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Quote
Pam
Best choice hands down.

Not sure she was the best choice, but it seemed pretty apparent Joe was going that way.

Rice just didn't have enough name recognition with the general public ...

---

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship. Imagination without skill is Modern Art.

So many of those remaining women I can see in cabinet jobs. Such a qualified group. Go get ‘em Kamala.

Can hardly wait to hear what Cheeto is going to say



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 03:35PM by samintx.

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rjmacs
Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

It won't work, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

Quote
vision63

Quote
rjmacs
Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

It won't work, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

F that. She should, as they say, grab them by the short hairs, if they try. If it is alright for the other guy....

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Andy Borowitz: Pence Terrified To Be Alone On Debate Stage With Woman

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Quote
rgG

Quote
vision63

Quote
rjmacs
Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

It won't work, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

F that. She should, as they say, grab them by the short hairs, if they try. If it is alright for the other guy....

Agreed - one thing we can be sure of: even if she ever did anything potentially as embarrassing as this, she certainly didn't pay her corrupt personal lawyer to funnel thousands of dollars illegally to cover it up.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Quote
vision63

Quote
rjmacs
Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

It won't work, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

I don’t think samintx was endorsing the strategy, but it WILL happen! The hyper sexuallized black woman is as much a trope as the violent black man!

---

San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

Plus, by comparison, Pence has got to be the unsexiest tube of white paste to run for VP in quite a while. One doesn't get a 'stud vibe' from a man who calls his wife "mother" and isn't allowed to dine with single women unaccompanied. It does make you wonder what size belt he wears, though.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Team Biden wishes it had known something was slightly wrong with every woman before promising a female VP

Quote

What a mess! With the deadline to select a vice president approaching, the members of Team Biden wish someone had told them before this all started that every high-profile woman they would consider for the vice presidency would turn out on further inspection to be just slightly wrong — too ambitious, or too self-effacing, or too prepared, or polarizing in some other, completely unexpected way. She might want to be president herself when this was over, which historically would be an anomaly for vice presidents, and probably ought to be disqualifying. Did these vying, sparring, lobbying women who were putting their names out there through such never-before-attempted means as meetings, statements and fundraising appearances not realize that they were in contention for the vice presidency, a sacred office not designed for grasping or distracting personalities?

[www.washingtonpost.com]

---

It does make you wonder what size belt he wears, though.

is there a translation available for this?

Quote
vision63

Quote
rjmacs
Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

It won't work, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

I read this way back when Harris announce her run and I think it's a real problem. It just looks bad. We are going to be hearing about this non-stop until the election. I really thought it would be a deal breaker for Biden.

[www.latimes.com]

"But another part of her life had a significant impact on her career: In 1995, she began dating Brown, then Assembly speaker and one of the most powerful men in California politics. Brown put Harris on the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission, part-time posts that supplemented her prosecutor’s salary with nearly $100,000 in extra annual pay.

The December night Brown was elected mayor, Harris joined him at center stage in a longshoremen’s union hall and gave him a blue cap that said, “Da Mayor.”

They broke up before his inauguration in January 1996, but Brown has remained a key supporter."

***

When a woman dates a married man and then receives political favors from him.... that's just gonna look bad.

Just as when a man dates a married woman and then receives political favors from her.... that looks bad too.

I'm sure V63 has had a perfectly written rebuttal on hand for months - I wanna hear it.

NOT THAT I THINK IT DISQUALIFIES HARRIS... I'll vote for them... everyone I know and care about will too if I have anything to say about it... but... it's a problem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 03:50PM by hal.

Can Pence be on a stage alone with a woman? Kosher?

Probably the safest, best choice for him. I’ll vote for her.

Quote

Look for tales of Harris and a CA guy being intimate. Rush Limbaugh was talking about a carnal connection last week.

Somehow, I don't have a problem with F**king.

---

200k COVID deaths by Election Day and the conversation is going to be about a woman VP candidate having sex?

really?

considering who is the current occupier of 1600 Penn Ave?

really?

if it was a guy who slept with a few women, everyone would smirk and say he was a stud politician and exactly what the country needs.

really?

i call BS. really!

stay well.

rob

Willie Brown was the most powerful politician in California for quite awhile. The fact that Kamala Harris was involved with him should be of no less importance than Gavin Newsom being once married to Trump Jr's current partner Kimberly Guilfoyle… How does any of this affect their ability to make decisions and carry out the work they need to do for the electorate?

It's all People Magazine news…

Dumbf's laundry is certainly much dirtier, much nastier, and much more likely to affect national security than who a 30 y.o. politician hung out with decades ago.

What's most important is that Kamala just tied her wagon to Biden's. VP is a dead end for many politicians. Even Willie Brown says so…. [thehill.com]

Quote
robfilms
i call BS. really!

stay well.

rob

Ummm.

Welcome to our sexist, racist, homo/transphobic, classist, ableist political culture, where BS is a primary dietary staple.

But I appreciate the sentiment.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Quote

200k COVID deaths by Election Day and the conversation is going to be about a woman VP candidate having sex?

She spread the virus by having sex, that @#$%&! - Your right wing uncle, on Facebook in about 2 hours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 04:05PM by p8712.

Well it was the "safest" choice, but of course everyone has stuff in their closets.

In a way, I am glad he made this choice, because he'd reiterated that he doesn't hold grudges ... so this is saying something about him as a candidate too, that (at least on this point), he's true to his word. I'll bet Barack and Michelle had a lot to do with his making this choice.

And yes, she will mop the floor with Pence. I have the distinct feeling he'll need prayer, as he always seems to. (With apologies to those of you who are religious, I'm sorry, but "thoughts and prayers" aren't going to beat a virus, or prevent gun violence.)

Edit: oh, and it IS interesting he didn't pick someone from the far left. That's maybe not such a bad thing, as he might lure even more of the "I'm-sorry-I-voted-for-Trump" Republicans.

---

Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 04:12PM by PeterB.

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hal

Quote
vision63

Quote
rjmacs
Yep, Suzanne - it's time to start the open campaign reducing female candidates to their genitals. Old hat, won't work.

It won't work, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

I read this way back when Harris announce her run and I think it's a real problem. It just looks bad. We are going to be hearing about this non-stop until the election. I really thought it would be a deal breaker for Biden.

[www.latimes.com]

"But another part of her life had a significant impact on her career: In 1995, she began dating Brown, then Assembly speaker and one of the most powerful men in California politics. Brown put Harris on the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission, part-time posts that supplemented her prosecutor’s salary with nearly $100,000 in extra annual pay.

The December night Brown was elected mayor, Harris joined him at center stage in a longshoremen’s union hall and gave him a blue cap that said, “Da Mayor.”

They broke up before his inauguration in January 1996, but Brown has remained a key supporter."

***

When a woman dates a married man and then receives political favors from him.... that's just gonna look bad.

Just as when a man dates a married woman and then receives political favors from her.... that looks bad too.

I'm sure V63 has had a perfectly written rebuttal on hand for months - I wanna hear it.

NOT THAT I THINK IT DISQUALIFIES HARRIS... I'll vote for them... everyone I know and care about will too if I have anything to say about it... but... it's a problem.

Willie Brown and Blanche split up in 1976. That's well known. What's the problem? Willie Brown is also a great man.

Quote
bfd
What's most important is that Kamala just tied her wagon to Biden's. VP is a dead end for many politicians. Even Willie Brown says so…. [thehill.com]

But the only way she'll actually become VP is if a supposedly "dead end" former VP wins as president. The logic seems a bit flawed in this case.

According to the voting record she’s voted 93% of the time with Bernie, which will matter to some.

Quote
vision63
Willie Brown is also a great man.

He's responsible for making the California Dream a reality for those who dreamed about it but were unlikely to ever achieve it. Since he's left, it's been a pretty sketchy dream … but it's been kept alive by those he nurtured and supported like Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom.

Brown noted that the difference between Harris and other politicians he had helped was that "Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was D.A. That's politics for ya"

Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?

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GGD

Quote
bfd
What's most important is that Kamala just tied her wagon to Biden's. VP is a dead end for many politicians. Even Willie Brown says so…. [thehill.com]

But the only way she'll actually become VP is if a supposedly "dead end" former VP wins as president. The logic seems a bit flawed in this case.

Even Tricky Dick Nixon eventually won the office. But as noted by others, for every Tricky Dick or George Bush the First, there's an Al Gore…

Being picked for the vice presidency is obviously a huge honor, and if Biden wins, Harris would make history by being the first woman to hold the job.

But the glory would be short-lived, and historically, the vice presidency has often ended up being a dead end. For every George H.W. Bush, who ascended from the job to the presidency, there’s an Al Gore, who never got there.

True, the vice president does have an advantage the next time the party needs a new nominee, which in Biden’s case could be four years from now. But in the meantime, the vice president has no real power and little chance to accomplish anything independent of the president.

Basically, no one takes the vice president seriously after election day. Just ask Mike Pence.

[www.msn.com]

She should campaign well. This will enable the Dems to double-team Trump.
Pence will be ignored.

Quote
Steve G.
She should campaign well. This will enable the Dems to double-team Trump.
Pence will be ignored.

Isn't he already?

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p8712
According to the voting record she’s voted 93% of the time with Bernie, which will matter to some.

Which could be a good thing, too. It might sway some of his supporters to vote.

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

About the Willie Brown angle, let’s not mince words. An overview of here relationship is available here.

Willie Brown was Speaker of the California Assembmy and Mayor of San Francisco and a formidable power broker. He was also well known for being a gadfly and playboy.

Brown is the model for the politician that never met a camera he didn’t like, has already inserted himself, commenting in a San Francisco Chronicle op-Ed just days ago, “If Joe Biden offers the vice presidential slot to Sen. Kamala Harris, my advice to her would be to politely decline.”

• The angle of attack will not be ‘Kamal Harris is a sIut’ it will be ‘Kamal Harris is a ”wh*re”’.
• The optics, for those that care, will not be good (How damaging is another question).
• Harris dated Brown while he was married, but he and his wife had been long estranged.
• While they were dating, Brown appointed Harris to two positions beneficial to her career and also very lucrative (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars).
• The length of their relationship, Harris 29, Brown 60, was relative brief, roughly two years.
• When Harris tan for District Attorney in 2003 she took pains to distance herself from Brown, going so far as to describe him In an interview as an “ albatross hanging around my neck.”
• Brown, for his part has commented that of those whose careers he has nurtured, Harris “is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was D.A.," Brown wrote. “That’s politics for ya.”
  
  
  
  Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 05:00PM by Blankity Blank.

“Basically, no one takes the vice president seriously after election day. Just ask Mike Pence.”
Or Dick Cheney

Quote
Blankity Blank
About the Willie Brown angle, let’s not mince words. An overview of here relationship is available here.

Willie Brown was Speaker of the California Assembmy and Mayor of San Francisco and a formidable power broker. He was also well known for being a gadfly and playboy.

Brown is the model for the politician that never met a camera he didn’t like, has already inserted himself, commenting in a San Francisco Chronicle op-Ed just days ago, “If Joe Biden offers the vice presidential slot to Sen. Kamala Harris, my advice to her would be to politely decline.”

• The angle of attack will not be ‘Kamal Harris is a sIut’ it will be ‘Kamal Harris is a ”wh*re”’.
• The optics, for those that care, will not be good (How damaging is another question).
• Harris dated Brown while he was married, but he and his wife had been long estranged.
• While they were dating, Brown appointed Harris to two positions beneficial to her career and also very lucrative (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars).
• The length of their relationship, Harris 29, Brown 60, was relative brief, roughly two years.
• When Harris tan for District Attorney in 2003 she took pains to distance herself from Brown, going so far as to describe him In an interview as an “ albatross hanging around my neck.”
• Brown, for his part has commented that of those whose careers he has nurtured, Harris “is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was D.A.," Brown wrote. “That’s politics for ya.”

Willie needed to be exactly how he is in order to break out and for a good long time, basically run California.

Quote
p8712
According to the voting record she’s voted 93% of the time with Bernie, which will matter to some.

Or, putting it another way, 93% of the time Bernie voted with her.

---

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Here's her Wikipedia page. A quick read further impressed me.

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graylocks

Quote
p8712
According to the voting record she’s voted 93% of the time with Bernie, which will matter to some.

Or, putting it another way, 93% of the time Bernie voted with her.

---

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 05:19PM by August West.

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graylocks

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p8712
According to the voting record she’s voted 93% of the time with Bernie, which will matter to some.

Or, putting it another way, 93% of the time Bernie voted with her.

Except he's not in the running.

Perfect choice, in my opinion. Biden can play the nice slightly horny Uncle Joe and Harris can kick ass. She'll make it exciting enough to keep the young vote engaged.

Let me say, I doubt there is a successful woman in any field that hasn’t been called a @#$%& or a wh*ore at some point. You learn quickly that it is going to happen because people feel threatened by you.

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Blankity Blank
“If Joe Biden offers the vice presidential slot to Sen. Kamala Harris, my advice to her would be to politely decline.”

That entire argument will be rightly seen as sexist by young voters and blacks. Plus, you take this statement completely out of context. In his statement he is saying that it will hurt her chances to be president.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown (D) advised Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) to "politely decline" any offer to be presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate.

Brown wrote that the vice presidency would likely hinder any further political ambitions for Harris.

“Historically, the vice presidency has often ended up being a dead end. For every George H.W. Bush, who ascended from the job to the presidency, there’s an Al Gore, who never got there,” Brown wrote in an op-ed for the San Francisco Examiner.

Quote
rgG
Let me say, I doubt there is a successful woman in any field that hasn’t been called a @#$%& or a wh*ore at some point. You learn quickly that it is going to happen because people feel threatened by you.

unfortunately this is profoundly true.

---

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Quote

“Historically, the vice presidency has often ended up being a dead end. For every George H.W. Bush, who ascended from the job to the presidency, there’s an Al Gore, who never got there,” Brown wrote in an op-ed for the San Francisco Examiner.

This reminds me of sportscasters trotting out "no team has come back from this far behind" stats that the team promptly overcomes. The stat is true until it isn't, the stat itself has no power. Or, in stock market terms, past performance is no guarantee of future results.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2020 06:33PM by Acer.

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Acer

Quote

“Historically, the vice presidency has often ended up being a dead end. For every George H.W. Bush, who ascended from the job to the presidency, there’s an Al Gore, who never got there,” Brown wrote in an op-ed for the San Francisco Examiner.

This reminds me of sportscasters trotting out "no team has come back from this far behind" stats that the team promptly overcomes. The stat is true until it isn't, the stat itself has no power. Or, in stock market terms, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

I'm looking forward to the next 12 years.