Vice President Kamala Harris is putting in a concerted effort to prove she is still the best choice as President Joe Biden’s number two, or if, gasp, he were to sandbag himself, to be the Democratic presidential nominee. The forecast is gloomy for the upcoming election, and as once-friendly media types now tentatively broach the VP’s weaknesses and significant fault lines, critics say she has returned to her old ways of making stuff up on the fly.
Last week she was in Chicago to wish the Rev. Jesse Jackson good luck as he retired from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. A few days later, she was back in the Windy City, speaking at the UnidosUS 2023 annual event to promote the nation’s Latino population, where she dished up more than a few whoppers.
Extremism: Rinse and Repeat
According to UnidosUS, the vice president capped off “three days of collaboration, innovation, and thought leadership” for the American Latino population. Her speech began with a slam against former president Trump and pivoted to praising the Biden-Harris administration. The level of applause was hardly rally-worthy. But not to be dismayed, she giggled and went right into her tried and tested diversity routine. And, oops, she did it again: Recalling her parents, marchers for civil rights in California, pushing her fussy little self in a stroller at a protest. Her mom asked: “What is it that you want?” Little Kamala replied, “Fweedom.” Yeah, that story is lifted from a 1960s interview with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
She also spoke about dignity – and then filleted Texas and Florida for keeping illegals from roaming free in their states. Following a brief statement on immigration – not the crisis but the treatment of immigrants – she called out extremists who overturned Roe v. Wade, scolding SCOTUS and calling on Congress to come up with a national law on abortion rights.
Kamala Harris (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In one very long sentence, she lamented gun violence, voter ID laws, banning books, and arming teachers. By this time, she was well off track, reiterating that these “extremists” are historical revisionists: “Extremists want to replace history with lies.” In a genius move, Harris flipped the once-Republican narrative on its head as if it was her idea. Remember the hoopla when Democrats went about erasing history, destroying statues in 2020?
Lies, Lies, Lies Yeah
Although she didn’t mention Governor Ron DeSantis by name, Harris was clearly doubling down on her recent speaking engagement in Florida. It was there she fibbed regarding the Sunshine State public school curriculum that teaches enslaved people were taught skills: She asked incredulously, “How is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?”
But the VP’s interpretation did not fly with even CNN. Political commentator Scott Jennings on State of the Union this past Sunday wasn’t convinced she had her Florida information entirely down pat, even though she spouts it religiously now. He stated:
“What is amazing to me [is] how little Kamala Harris apparently has to do that she can read something on Twitter one day and be on the airplane the next to make something literally out of nothing. This is a completely made-up deal. I looked at the standards, I even looked at an analysis of the standards, in every instance where the word slavery or slave was used, I even read the statement of the African American scholars that wrote the standards – not [Florida Gov.] Ron DeSantis, but the scholars.”
All right, so she doesn’t do too much to prepare for her campaign speeches and so seems forced to pepper them with hackneyed untruths. But Jennings wasn’t done: “Everybody involved in this says this is completely a fabricated issue, and yet look at how quickly Kamala Harris jumped on it. So, the fact that this is her best moment, a fabricated matter, is pretty ridiculous.”
One must ask if the Democratic National Committee is waiting for Godot.
(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
But she’s been a great border czar, right? On the cusp of having the most illegal aliens ever to cross into this country, Harris has continually maintained the border is secure. Back in 2022, her statements irritated the heck out of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who once tweeted her disdain: “Kamala Harris’ statement that ‘we have a secure border’ is further evidence that she’s either completely disconnected from reality or she’s blatantly lying. Either way, she has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency.”
None of this behavior is new, but one might think that the second in line to the nuclear football might at least spout a modicum of truth after almost three years. Harris has claimed she smoked weed and listened to Tupac: debunked. “The majority of women are minimum wage workers,” she repeats: not even close.
As the campaign rolls on and Biden retreats to the basement, number two might have to ditch her Pinocchio oratory and tell some truths that cannot be disputed. Why the need for lies if her record and that of her boss are “saving the soul of a nation”?
