Do you remember who Kamala Harris is?
No, I’m not asking you, Mr. President. I know you doubtlessly have staff to remind you of that every four-to-six hours. I’m talking to the rest of America, especially the moderates and independents who think that now that Joe “Huh?” Biden isn’t potentially leading the free world for the next four years, our long national nightmare is somehow over.
In fact, the left has basically been memeing Harris into a savior of sorts — and you might buy into it. Former Republican National Committee chair and Lincoln Project member Michael Steele, for instance, was one of many posting this much-shared meme of our gaffe-prone veep as — sigh — Wonder Woman:
Hey @realDonaldTrump. You ready for this? pic.twitter.com/GHBy697yRI
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) July 23, 2024
Because when I think of awesome superhero origin stories, I think of having dated Willie Brown.
But, alas, Kamala Harris cannot be unburdened by what has been, to use her favorite go-to line. When Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who’s in a re-election fight with GOP nominee Dave McCormick, endorsed Kamala, McCormick was one of the first to use an ad you’re probably going to see a lot of variations on.
It’s Harris’ actual history of political positioning at the national level — one that brings to mind Noam Chomsky quicker than it does Diana Prince.
Bob Casey just endorsed the most liberal nominee in U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/J0V6W7CUlh
— Dave McCormick (@DaveMcCormickPA) July 23, 2024
Will Kamala Harris win?
Casey may say that Harris “is inspiring and very capable,” and that “the more people get to know her, they’re going to be particularly impressed by her ability.” However, they’re not going to be so impressed with her record — which, when she was running for president in 2020, included being the most liberal senator in the upper chamber, according to GovTrack.US.
And, as McCormick’s people ably pointed out in the 90-second spot, this is “the most liberal nominee in U.S. history.”
Sure, we’ve seen people like George McGovern and Michael Dukakis as Democrat standard-bearers in the presidential election, and we’ve seen them get soundly defeated.
But we didn’t hear them say they would jettison the filibuster “to pass a Green New Deal.” Or say they wanted to ban fracking and offshore drilling — reliable sources of energy production in a world where our energy supply is increasingly unreliable thanks to geopolitical instability.
And, if you work in energy production, you might be less impressed by Harris’ campaign promise to “transition” workers away from those jobs — something the Biden administration tried with decidedly unspectacular results. Kamala would want to do it more bigly, however.
The border crisis? What border crisis? “We’re not going to treat people who are undocumented who cross the border as criminals, that’s correct,” she said. She also raised her hand on stage during the first debates of the 2020 campaign when she said it should be a civil offense, not a crime, to cross the border illegally.
Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement? On the table.
Defunding the police? On the table.
Letting felons, including those who are behind bars or have been sentenced to death, vote? On the table.
Red meat? Off your table.
This is who Bob Casey — and presumably, a lot of other Democrats — think is going to wow America and win swing states like Pennsylvania.
You’ll hear some variation on his words from every Democrat over the next few weeks: “The more people get to know her, they’re going to be particularly impressed by her ability.” And any Republican who doesn’t run some variation on this ad — including Donald Trump — is a bloody fool.
Because this is who Vice President Harris was, and is, and it’s anything but impressive. The truth hurts, badly.
