Harris on Gabbard criticism: I'm obviously a top tier candidate so I expect to take hits (The Hill)

[Skya Rhen]

Snip...

“This is going to sound immodest, but I’m obviously a top-tier candidate, and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people that are trying to make the stage for the next debate,”
Harris said during interview with CNN Wednesday night after the last Democratic presidential debate in Detroit. “Especially when people are at zero or 1 percent or whatever she might be at, and so I did expect that I might take hits tonight.”

Snip...

During the debate, Gabbard accused Harris of advocating for jailing people for marijuana violations, keeping “people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor,” fighting for a cash bail system and hiding evidence that would have freed an “innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so.”

“Sen. Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president, but I’m deeply concerned about this record,” Gabbard said. Harris defended her record during and after the debate, saying she is proud of the work she did that went beyond giving “fancy speeches.”

Snip...

Harris also called Gabbard out for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and declining to call him a war criminal.


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/455691-harris-responds-to-gabbard-criticism-im-obviously-a-top-tier-candidate-so-i

[metroins]

1. What Tulsi said was true.

I'm not going to bash Harris though.

[jcgoldie]

14. You're right... Harris makes excuses for genocidal dictators...

...and repeatedly sided with Republicans against the Obama administration and was considered for Trump's cabinet... she spews "both side-ism" to the point that she's a fox news regular, and she's the darling of Russia amongst the entire Democratic field...

Oh wait nevermind all of that is Gabbard... Harris is the one that prosecuted people for smoking dope when it was illegal my mistake.

[NurseJackie]

23. Well-stated! Excellent reply.

That puts it all in perspective.

[BannonsLiver]

35. You'll never get that poster to address those very serious issues

Like Tulsi did when she was asked by Cooper she deflected.

[obamanut2012]

18. no, it wasn't

[metroins]

19. Yes it was

Her office prosecuted marijuana users and dealers all while the fact she used marijuana and laughed about it.

It's documented.

[SunsetDreams2]

24. Her personal use of Marijuana has absolutely nothing

To do with laws on the books that made marijuana illegal. Let’s just encourage every Government employee to ignore the laws on the books and just selectively choose which ones they will uphold, in this case prosecute.

[apcalc]

27. + 1 The trolls are out to get Harris because she said

she will go after our Head Dumbass. Gabbard is helping them, imo.

[BeyondGeography]

2. She's right

It does sound immodest.

[Chemisse]

9. Only women are expected to be modest when running for president.

You may not have meant it as sexist, but as an older woman who remembers that girls were molded to be modest and keep their eyes downward, that's what jumped out at me.

[BeyondGeography]

10. Bad answers are bad answers

My candidate pays a gender tax as well. That doesn’t mean overcoming sexist frames is the only reason why she might want to rethink her choice of words.

[Chemisse]

12. That may be, but it is pretty obvious that she is a top-tier candidate.

It's not like she was elevating herself beyond what the facts supported. She was the number 2 candidate on the stage last night, and has been within the top tier of four or five candidates.

[zonkers]

15. Its business.

[apcalc]

3. Harris did her job. And did it well.

And she has every right to defend her record.
Do we really care if she is ‘modest’ about it?
Sheesh... 1950’s all over again.
Screw that.

[emmaverybo]

5. But she did not defend it. She did not counter any of what Gabbard claimed. NT

[highplainsdem]

6. Exactly.

[apcalc]

25. Today she did, thus the bogus 'immodest' issue.

[emmaverybo]

33. That comment simply put down Gabbard, but did not answer issues she raised. She won't be

the only one to raise them. She did not touch on a major issue when Harris was SF DA. Harris needs to deny or explain, not just point the finger back.

I think she could do a better job and I think she will in time.

[highplainsdem]

4. Would have sounded much better if she'd said, "Candidates with lower poll numbers go after

candidates with higher poll numbers."

That's true of all of them...including Harris when she goes after Biden.

At the very least, she should have left "obviously" our of "I’m obviously a top-tier candidate." That one word in particular looked bad.

Especially since in most polls she's coming in 4th, at the bottom of the second tier, not the top tier, which is Biden alone. Lots of polls where he has as much support as Warren and Sanders combined, and Harris is trailing them by a few points.

[treestar]

20. +1

that sounded very high school.

[left-of-center2012]

7. Harris locked people up for smoking weed

But laughed about doing it herself?

[apcalc]

28. You can PROVE she laughed about specifically that, then?

[left-of-center2012]

30. It was in the debate

Maybe you missed it.

[highplainsdem]

32. Gabbard said that Harris laughed about having smoked weed herself. Video of her doing that

during an interview on "The Breakfast Club":

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/02/11/kamala-harris-marijuana-radio-int-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn

[apcalc]

37. She laughed about SMOKING WEED.

She did not prosecute for smoking weed....

[oasis]

8. You can run, but you can't hide from your record. These charges

will not vanish with the elimination of a "zero or 1 percent" candidate.

[Anon-C]

13. Joe Biden, you embrace Tulsi Gabbard at your own peril.

Now I have said my piece.

Good day!

[oasis]

16. If you have a pic of Joe embracing Tulsi, let's see it.

Otherwise your "piece" is only as valuable as anybody else's two cents.

[Anon-C]

17. I have no such pic, and I only have two pennies to rub together.

But that is my humble opinion. I love Joe, I lean Joe...but he puts Gabbard on his ticket, it will be a big mistake.

[oasis]

21. It would only take 5 minutes of research to know which

candidate Tulsi's sympathies align with.

[Anon-C]

22. I've researched Gabbard for more than five minutes. I have formed my set of opinions of who...

...Gabbard supports and from whom she draws her support.

[Thekaspervote]

31. Yes, and that person is sanders, not Biden!

[Me.]

11. And Which Dictator Does Sen. Harris Stand Up For?

Asking for a friend.

[True Dough]

26. Harris is proposing to decriminalize marijuana federally

Is Biden willing to do that?

[highplainsdem]

34. Yes, and he said that months ago:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287121802

[silentEcho]

29. I agree with Harris. Good for her taking it on the chin without the whine.

She had a powerful position as AG. Did her job as was expected. That is an asset.

[thesquanderer]

36. Anderson Cooper gave her a chance to better explain the things she's accused of,

without having to worry about running up against a 30 second time limit that might have prevented her from addressing them on the debate floor, i.e. if these accusations simply required more than soundbite explanations. But instead she attacked Gabbard over Syria and concluded by saying she's ready to move on.

This tells me that Gabbard's accusations are credible. The question is whether anyone will care.