Kamala asked if she thinks Trump is a white supremacist: "I think you should ask him that question"

[Skya Rhen]

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Cartoonist]

1. We know his answer

Speak up Kamala. Don't run from the question.

[Princetonian]

2. Wow. I can see how tough Harris is going to be on Trump at a debate!

[MustLoveBeagles]

3. He's already answered that question

He thinks he's the least racist person in the whole world.

[underthematrix]

4. This is gonna put her campaign on life support because she

went after Vice President Biden over something that happened 40 years ago but she's now afraid to say #TraitorTrump is a white supremacist? I don't get it.

[StarfishSaver]

10. She's not afraid to answer the question. She's probably tired of being asked because it's stupid

She's right. They need to ask Trump the question instead of asking Democrats.

And, fyi - Biden so far has refused to say that Trump is a white supremacist so you might want to rethink your criticism of Harris here.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-white-supremacist/

"Joe Biden stops short of calling Trump a white supremacist: 'You just want me to say the words so I sound like everybody else'

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who was quick to connect Donald Trump's racist rhetoric to the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, stopped short of calling the President a white supremacist outright at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday.

"Why are you so hooked on that? You just want me to say the words so I sound like everybody else," Biden told a reporter. "I'm not everybody else -- I'm Joe Biden. I've always been who I am. I'm staying the way I am. He is encouraging white supremacists -- you can determine what that means."

He continued: "It's like everybody wants everybody to call someone a liar. When you say, 'I don't call people liars, I say they don't tell the truth,' you want to hear me say liar so you can put it out and say, 'Biden called someone a liar.' That's not who I am. You've got the wrong guy."

Earlier in the day, when asked the same question about Trump and white supremacy, Biden replied, "I believe everything the President has said and done encourages white supremacy. And I'm not sure there is much of a distinction ... Whether he is or is not a white supremacist, he encourages, everything he does speaks to them. He's afraid to take them on."

[StarfishSaver]

15. Was Biden unprepared when he refused to answer the same question?

[StarfishSaver]

17. LOL. Of course

[Cha]

5. The reporters actually should ask

trump that question. Come on reporters.. don't be scared of the head of the ******* snake.

[mcar]

6. Yes, they should

We know our candidates know the answer.

[tonedevil]

7. Let's see, she said...

he is a racist, that he empowers and condones White Supremacists, but there are people here pissing and moaning because she did not say he IS a white Supremacist. That is some bullshit it isn't like she failed to call out donald. I guess it really is silly season.

[Princetonian]

8. Joe, Beto, Liz + other candidates beginning w/Inslee show no such compunction calling Trump that.

Considering how many times we have heard that one of Harris' biggest pluses was how tough she was going to be on Trump, I think feeling surprise at her unwillingness to cross that bridge is understandable.

[StarfishSaver]

11. Not so fast. Biden has refused to call him that.

You should do your research before attacking candidates for not doing what your candidate himself has refused to do.

Joe Biden stops short of calling Trump a white supremacist: 'You just want me to say the words so I sound like everybody else'

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who was quick to connect Donald Trump's racist rhetoric to the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, stopped short of calling the President a white supremacist outright at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday.

"Why are you so hooked on that? You just want me to say the words so I sound like everybody else," Biden told a reporter. "I'm not everybody else -- I'm Joe Biden. I've always been who I am. I'm staying the way I am. He is encouraging white supremacists -- you can determine what that means."

He continued: "It's like everybody wants everybody to call someone a liar. When you say, 'I don't call people liars, I say they don't tell the truth,' you want to hear me say liar so you can put it out and say, 'Biden called someone a liar.' That's not who I am. You've got the wrong guy."

Earlier in the day, when asked the same question about Trump and white supremacy, Biden replied, "I believe everything the President has said and done encourages white supremacy. And I'm not sure there is much of a distinction ... Whether he is or is not a white supremacist, he encourages, everything he does speaks to them. He's afraid to take them on."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-white-supremacist/

[Princetonian]

20. See Reply #18.

[madaboutharry]

9. That is the wrong answer.

She needs to know deflecting isn’t going to work.

[StarfishSaver]

12. That's not "deflection"

She and Biden are smart not to jump into the "Is he a white supremacist" briar patch. The press needs to stop asking such a stupid question of Democrats and start pushing Republicans on this issue.

[StarfishSaver]

13. You know Biden has refused to answer this question, too?

[Princetonian]

18. Joe did not say, "You should ask him that question" which is a deflection aka. dodge.

Joe said he would rather say someone is not telling the truth rather than call someone a liar so he is saying that he believes Trump is a white supremacist.

[StarfishSaver]

19. LOL

I thought the problem was that she refused to say he's a white supremacist, something Biden also refused to do.

Obviously the problem is not that she didn't answer the question that Biden didn't answer but that she's Kamala Harris.

[Princetonian]

21. No, Harris gave a non-answer while Joe gave a nuanced answer that confirmed what he really thought.

[StarfishSaver]

22. Lol

And if Harris had given a "nuanced" answer and Biden had said, "I think you should ask him that question," you'd say Harris dodged the question with a complicated answer while Joe was pithy and tough.

I see you.

[Princetonian]

23. Nope. If Harris had given Joe's answer, then I would understand what she was saying at least.

It is a very polite way of speaking that Joe clearly was taught growing up in a nice Catholic family and after being a Senator for so long. I understand because I was taught the same way growing up. Clearly those lessons failed with me, though. lol

But Harris' answer dodged the question completely. She did not even attempt to answer. She simply shut down the reporter. Every candidate ought to address these questions in a way that explains not deflects.

[StarfishSaver]

24. How dare Harris "shut down a reporter" who asks a stupid question of her

But to some people, no matter what she does is wrong and if Biden does the same thing, dancing on a pin while twisting like a pretzel immediately commences to try to maintain the fiction that Harris can do nothing right and Biden can do no wrong.

[Princetonian]

25. Hmmm... okay.

[Ponietz]

26. Warren unequivocally says it--straight up--no games

[link:http://

Link to tweet

?s=21|

[LuvLoogie]

27. I ain't mad at Kamala for that answer.

The press, and our waning friends, acquaintances and relatives who support that shit mouth are going to have to ask that question of themselves. The press has abdicated its responsibility and culpability in bringing us to this point.

I trust our candidates to be themselves and navigate their ways forward. The press and embarrassed Republicans harrangue the Democrats with "why don't they do something." For fuck's sake, press and Republicans, pick up a fucking oar and row.

[ucrdem]

28. Ouch. This doesn't look like a presidential temperament.

She made this her signature issue in the first debate and now she looks brittle and defensive when asked an easy question with an obvious answer which for some reason she's reluctant to give. Does she find Trump's words less hurtful than Biden's? If so, why?

[StarfishSaver]

29. "Brittle"?

[ucrdem]

30. It's a euphemism for irritated.

Do you disagree?

[StarfishSaver]

31. I think she's tired of the press asking Democrats this stupid question and thinks it's time

Last edited Fri Aug 9, 2019, 09:28 AM - Edit history (1)

for them to turn the question on Trump and the Republicans.

The other day, Chris Matthews asked Harris "Is Trump a racist?" She said yes. Matthews then asked her, "how do you define racist?" Ridiculous.

These questions are stupid and both she and Biden have every right to tell the questioners to go ask it of Trump and his supporters instead of asking it of Democrats who have made very clear what is obvious. That doesn't make them "brittle."

It's strange to see Democrats who should be critical of the shallow, stupid way the press covers our candidates now trashing a candidate because she didn't politely, obediently and genteely answer lazy, pointless press question intended to grab a soundbyte, not to actually inform or learn anything.

On edit: FYI - "Brittle" may be a euphemism for "irritated," but it's a euphemism that tends to be used to describe irritated women while irritated men are more likely to be described as just 'irritated" without the need for any gender-charged "euphemisms." (And Biden supporters, please spare yourself the trouble of googling "Biden + Brittle" to prove that someone somewhere used the term to describe Biden. I'm not saying no man has ever been described as brittle, just that it's a term more likely to be used to describe women.)

[ucrdem]

32. I don't think it's a stupid question. Tiresome perhaps, but not stupid.

So getting irritated on camera is not a good response.

[StarfishSaver]

33. All depends on where you're coming from, I guess

I don't expect candidates to never show irritation - in fact, I expect them to.

I assume you'll be as critical of Biden and the other candidates whenever they appear "irritated" on camera?

Beto must drive you bonkers. He not only pushed back on similar stupid questions the other day, but actually cursed out the press in the process - and was hailed as a truth-telling hero. Nowhere did I see him accused of being "brittle" or "defensive" or any way inappropriate.

Some people hold Harris (and other female candidates) to a different standard than they hold others to. Where they're "tough," she"s "brittle" and "defensive" and where they refuse to put up with crap, she"s not being cooperative, etc. We've seen it all before and, like, before, it not clear how much of this double standard is simple bias against an opposing candidate, unconscious bias against disobedient women or something more insidious.

[ucrdem]

34. Okay it's still early and she'll no doubt figure out how to avoid putting out that vibe.

In this instance though the problem is not just her irritation, it's that she made a big, big deal out of being offended by Biden's wording, as we know, and now she appears annoyed that someone asked her opinion of an infinitely more grievous offender. So it hints at inconsistency. And that's a euphemism for hypocrisy.

[StarfishSaver]

35. "avoid putting out that vibe"?

I think more people need to check their own impressions and consider why they think a woman who shows irritation at being asked a stupid question is "putting out" a negative "vibe" while men evidencing the same reaction are tough and no-nonsense.

But I suspect for some of these people, something else is going on that has little or nothing to do with anything she actually says or does.

[ucrdem]

36. Well you're right in that I wouldn't comment if it hadn't been for that debate performance.

But now that's part of who she is, and she can't run from it. And that's exactly what her answer to this perfectly reasonable and predictable question tried to do. That's why it's getting attention.

[Skya Rhen]

37. +1000

[ucrdem]

38. Thank you

I have to wonder if Harris ever considered the possibility that she wouldn't destroy Biden, as I imagine her advisors explained that she would need to do. And I have to wonder why she didn't immediately fire those advisors.