Conservatives have a strong case against Vice President Kamala Harris if they can avoid salaciousness and frame the issue properly.
On Sunday, according to The San Francisco Standard, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown held an impromptu news conference outside a restaurant in which he endorsed Harris as President Joe Biden’s replacement at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.
To put it mildly, Harris could have done without Brown’s endorsement.
The establishment media, of course, will gloss over important details of his history with the vice president. For instance, the Standard noted merely that Brown “dated Harris when she was an Alameda County prosecutor in the mid-1990s.”
Willie Brown invited reporters to John’s Grill, and held forth on Biden’s exit, Democrats’ future and Harris’ VP pick. https://t.co/yhbOHPARvo
— The San Francisco Standard (@sfstandard) July 22, 2024
The truth, however, goes beyond mere dating.
According to a 2019 Politico Magazine profile, San Francisco newspapers began mentioning Harris’ name in 1994, when one columnist, on the occasion of Brown’s 60th birthday, noted that actor Clint Eastwood had spilled champagne on Brown’s “new steady.”
Harris, the”new steady,” was only 29.
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Before long, her romantic relationship with Brown paid off.
According to Politico, “Harris had dated Brown, who was investigated by the FBI when he was speaker of the California Assembly and as mayor was dogged by conflict of interest, and she had benefited from his political patronage.”
Indeed, it said, “As the speaker of the state Assembly, Brown had named Harris to well-paid posts on the California Medical Assistance Commission and Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.”
Furthermore, “As mayor of San Francisco in 2003, Brown was supportive of her district attorney campaign although they were no longer dating. Critics — including her opponents — were bemoaning cronyism at City Hall.”
In other words, as a 29-year-old woman, Harris had a romantic relationship with a much older man who gave her government jobs and later came under scrutiny from federal law enforcement.
As we have learned in recent years, federal investigations do not always mean that someone has committed a crime. Thus, for present purposes, any hint of impropriety matters less than the manner by which Harris launched her political career.
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh raised this issue from Harris’ past on Sunday.
“Kamala Harris got her start in politics by sleeping with Willie Brown,” Walsh said in a post on X.
“She’s made a career out of begging for hand outs from powerful men. A thoroughly unimpressive human being,” he added.
Kamala Harris got her start in politics by sleeping with Willie Brown. She became Vice President because Biden needed a non-white female on the ticket. Now she likely becomes the Democratic nominee for president because the guy at the top of the ticket has dementia. She’s made a…
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) July 21, 2024
But Naomi Wolf, a former liberal who saw the light thanks in part to the establishment’s authoritarian COVID-19 policies, warned conservatives not to focus on Harris’ sexual past.
“This kind of sexist take from Republican men will not play well. Swing voters who are women are up for grabs, the Trump/Vance ticket needs them, and ‘she slept her way to the top’ just repels many women and is not an argument,” she wrote in a reply to Walsh.
This kind of sexist take from Republican men will not play well. Swing voters who are women are up for grabs, the Trump/Vance ticket needs them, and ‘she slept her way to the top’ just repels many women and is not an argument. https://t.co/t6iKPaiWOR
— Dr Naomi Wolf (@naomirwolf) July 21, 2024
Walsh made several fair points about Harris’ ascent. On the other hand, Republicans ignore Wolf’s advice at their peril.
In short, Harris’ romantic relationship with Brown highlights the fact that she has spent her career acquiring unearned power. Her sudden elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket constitutes merely the latest example.
Voters probably will not care about whom Harris dated 30 years ago. But they should care that every time she speaks she exposes herself as unworthy of the power she wields.
The Brown story reminds voters of who she is and how her “thoroughly unimpressive” career began.
Thus, the last thing she needed was his endorsement.
