Harris Takes Pragmatic Stance to Stand Out in Democratic Field

[left-of-center2012]

Kamala Harris portrayed herself as a pragmatist rather than an ideological politician as she seeks to differentiate herself among the top tier of candidates in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary.

“My motivation is truly about how can I fix the problems that wake people up in the middle of the night,” she told Bloomberg News Sunday aboard her bus on a five-day trip across Iowa. “Wherever that fits on someone’s ideological spectrum, have at it.” In explaining her approach, Harris said issues that matter most to voters don’t fall along ideological lines.

“When it comes to the basic things that do wake people up in the middle of the night, where would you put on the spectrum of ideology that everyone should have health care?” Harris said. “Where would you put on the spectrum that every child should have a decent education?”

Harris, 54, has been unable to whittle away support from front-runner Joe Biden or top Elizabeth Warren after seizing the spotlight at the first debate in July with a harsh critique of the former vice president’s opposition to busing in the 1970s. A Quinnipiac poll last week showed Biden leading nationally at 32%, with Harris in fourth place at 7%.
Among African-American voters, Harris, who is black, fares worse: Biden 47%, Harris only 1%

https://www.yahoo.com/news/harris-takes-pragmatic-stance-stand-222302979.html

[wasupaloopa]

1. We need pragmatism, ideals are great too

My idea is a pragmatist president and idealists in Congress

Idealists have the progressive ideas that can become law. Though of course they need to realize Congress requires compromise.

[lapucelle]

9. Pragmatism under a strong Democratic governor here in NYS got us the $15/hr minimum

wage, tuition free state university and community college, a gold standard paid family leave law, gender pay equity legislation enacted, and Roe v Wade codified into state law.

Next year, we're on track for legalized recreational pot. None of this magically happened immediately, but we have these things now, while other states don't.

There are several excellent pragmatists running for the executive position, Biden, Harris, and Warren among them.

I'm open to voting for any of our fine Democrats who have what it takes to turn policy into practice and who have the necessary patience required to do it right.

At the moment, my preference is for the woman with the plans.

[wasupaloopa]

11. I can't argue with that.

I am a Californian and I think we are very progressive but you just may have us beat.

[lapucelle]

13. "None of this magically happened immediately" is a key point.

Your theory that idealists who dream big (but who might not have what it takes to get things done) are better suited to a legislative body is a point well taken.

[Princetonian]

2. Otherwise known as the "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" approach.

Still waiting for Harris to apologize to Kevin Cooper:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/17/opinion/sunday/kevin-cooper-california-death-row.html

And to clergy abuse victims:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/06/26/clergy-abuse-survivors-question-sen-kamala-harris-record/

And to parents jailed for their kids' truancy:
https://www.factcheck.org/2019/05/kamala-harris-spins-facts-on-truancy-law/

[LakeArenal]

3. And Al Franken

[Princetonian]

5. Amen!

[wasupaloopa]

4. The world according to a Biden supporter

Are you afraid of losing the lead?

I heard so much this weekend that Harris is the one to watch. For her everything is looking up.

For Biden being on top, everything can only go down. You are looking in the rear view mirror.

Biden’s gaffs added together show that his mental ability is deteriorating. I know because I am 73.

[Princetonian]

6. "Biden's gaffs added together show that his mental ability is deteriorating."

That is as classy an attack as when Harris implied Joe is a racist "who worked with segregationists".

[wasupaloopa]

7. It is the truth. I do the same thing. It is his age catching

up with him. Anyone nearing our ages can see it for what it is.

For what it is worth Sanders is sharper than Biden. I am 73 and I think both are too old to be president which requires much more mental ability.

People like me realize that when we age we lose abilities. A realistic person accepts that because it is natures way.

[Princetonian]

8. Nope. I am almost half his age. I "do the same thing" 4x more as much as Joe on a daily basis.

I am a multi-tasker who gets little sleep and have lots to do as a busy mom with a family. My family and friends know this and understand.

You are an anonymous Harris partisan doing what Harris has done already in the first and second debate when she implied Joe is a racist "who worked with segregationsts": attacking Joe with ugly baseless accusations. Very sad.

[wasupaloopa]

10. I am not speaking as a Harris supporter. I have nothing

against Biden but his age.

I am not like those who need to find dirt on someone. If that is what you think you need to do to win you must not have much faith in your candidate’s chances.

I am staying pretty much out of the primary except that I think Harris being a woman and a person of color has the best chance of beating trump.

And because she has the experience and ability to be a good President.

All we have to do is let the others beat themselves.

[Princetonian]

12. Yeah right. Not interested in buying the Brooklyn Bridge either...

Last edited Mon Aug 12, 2019, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Proud WOC here who thinks Harris has no chance of beating Our National Nightmare because she has too much unaddressed baggage from her past that Republicans will only be too happy to air again and again during a general election. As it is, Harris does worse against Trump in every state and national poll matchup than THE TOP TIER CANDIDATES WHO ARE ALL SEPTUAGENARIANS.

[wasupaloopa]

14. My guess is you know nothing about Harris first hand.

We in CA do. Many of us have already voted for her twice. She is the best at interrogating Repubs.

You need to tear her down because you are afraid she will overtake Biden. And you should be afraid.

You being a WOC gives you no incite into Kamala Harris.

[Princetonian]

15. No but there are plenty of disapproving federal judges and defense lawyers who do know her well.

Their words give me plenty of informed factual insight into Harris.

U.S. judges see ‘epidemic’ of prosecutorial misconduct in state: Federal judges called upon state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris to respond to reports of a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct going undisciplined in state courts...

Judge Alex Kozinski asked Vienna if his boss, Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris, wanted to defend a conviction “obtained by lying prosecutors.” If Harris did not back off the case, Kozinski warned, the court would “name names” in a ruling that would not be “very pretty.”

https://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-lying-prosecutors-20150201-story.html

"Clergy Abuse Survivors Question Kamala Harris’ Record"

'Harris never responded to him when he wrote to tell her that a priest who had molested him was still in ministry at a local Catholic cathedral. And, he says, she didn’t reply five years later when he wrote again, urging her to release records on accused clergy to help other alleged victims who were filing lawsuits.

“She did nothing,” said Piscitelli, today the Northern California spokesman for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Survivors of clergy abuse and their attorneys say that Harris’ record on fighting sex abuse within the Catholic Church is relevant as the U.S. senator from California campaigns for the presidency... They complain that Harris was consistently silent on the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal — first as district attorney in San Francisco and later as California’s attorney general...

Catholics make up large voting blocs in the city and the state, accounting for roughly a quarter of the population in both San Francisco’s metro area and across California.

“There’s a potential political risk if you move aggressively against the church,” said Michael Meadows, a Bay Area attorney who has represented clergy abuse victims. “I just don’t think she was willing to take it.'

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/06/26/clergy-abuse-survivors-question-sen-kamala-harris-record/

These are the heartfelt words of The New York Times' Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Nicholas Kristof:

This is the story of a broken justice system. It appears that an innocent man was framed by sheriff’s deputies and is on death row in part because of dishonest cops, sensational media coverage and flawed political leaders — including Democrats like... Kamala Harris, the state attorney general before becoming a U.S. senator, who refused to allow newly available DNA testing for a black man convicted of hacking to death a beautiful white family and young neighbor. This was a failure at every level, and it should prompt reflection not just about one man on death row but also about profound inequities in our entire system of justice.

I’m using strong language, I know. But I went to San Quentin to interview Cooper, reviewed trial transcripts and other documents, spoke to innumerable people on and off the record, and in 34 years at The New York Times, I’ve never come across a case in America as outrageous as Kevin Cooper’s. So hear me out...

As state attorney general, Kamala Harris refused to allow this advanced DNA testing and showed no interest in the case (on Friday, after the online publication of this column, Senator Harris called me to say "I feel awful about this" and put out a statement saying: "As a firm believer in DNA testing..."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/17/opinion/sunday/kevin-cooper-california-death-row.html

Don't Attack the Messenger. What does Harris have to say?

[wasupaloopa]

17. That is exactly the point. This is one sided.

If you can look up the charges you can look up the rebuttal

[Princetonian]

18. You're wrong. There is only one side to social justice: the right side.

Harris is consistently on the wrong side of social justice in the cases I have documented in this thread:

Reply 2: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=236405

Reply 15: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=236536


No amount of rhetorical nonsense is going to fool anyone but the most partisan.

[Princetonian]

22. "I have nothing against Biden but his age." Do you feel the same way about Liz and Bernie?

[LakeArenal]

19. You hear Harris is the one to watch cuz you keep repeating it

Are you afraid of your favorite your candidate has no chance ever?

Harris’s political opportunism has been evident since Franken.

Her experience as a prosecutor is an anathema to me. I probably wouldn’t have voted for her even without the Franken baggage.

I find her “pragmatism” harsh and critical.

I find her approach caustic and stiff.

All I can say about Joe, which many here don’t accept. Joe is the lead everywhere.
Has been from the start. He has the most experience. We is the most well liked nationally and globally.

When folks say the only thing I have against Joe is his age, I laugh at the falseness of that. For all of us 55 and over who lost their jobs during the big Republican purge of 2009, who had to take early retirement to survive, I cringe every time someone says anyone is too old and In my opinion are full of crap and ageists to boot.

[wasupaloopa]

20. I didn't even bother to read all that. You know nothing about

Harris

Biden is too old because his faculties are diminishing. Call it what you want I am speaking from experience. The problem is with people who can’t admit to being aged.

Old age, sickness and death is waiting for all of us.

[Princetonian]

21. Keep digging. "Biden is too old because his faculties are diminishing."

This OP is tailor-made for you:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=236680

It's a shame when Democrats can't bring themselves to read unvarnished facts from impeccable news stories. Sooner or later, Harris will have to answer to her DA and AG history. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[Princetonian]

23. lol

[GeorgeGist]

16. Pretty thin gruel from the author of this piece.

I have no sense of how she stands out.

[madville]

24. She is an awkward opportunist

All of her messaging and tactics just fall flat and fizzle for some reason. It's kind of off-putting, much like her forced personality where she laughs at everything she says.

[MineralMan]

25. Kamala Harris Is Simply Not Ready to Be President.

Who says so? People who will be voting in the primaries. That's who. Polls reflect people's opinions about such things.