Digby wrote:Seems a strong candidate, did well in the primaries, and is unlikely to back down during the General. VPs are often sent out as the person to take a hatchet to the credentials of the other side, Trump flips that model, but this does leave Biden free to look like a calm and responsible figure
Agreed. I'd've preferred Tammy Duckworth if I could've chosen, but Harris is a good, safe pick, who's already been vetted and stress-tested by running in the primaries, and has skill at attacking opposition positions. She ticks enough boxes and doesn't piss anyone off too badly - that's the best option for Biden rn.
Digby wrote:Seems a strong candidate, did well in the primaries, and is unlikely to back down during the General. VPs are often sent out as the person to take a hatchet to the credentials of the other side, Trump flips that model, but this does leave Biden free to look like a calm and responsible figure
Agreed. I'd've preferred Tammy Duckworth if I could've chosen, but Harris is a good, safe pick, who's already been vetted and stress-tested by running in the primaries, and has skill at attacking opposition positions. She ticks enough boxes and doesn't piss anyone off too badly - that's the best option for Biden rn.
Puja
Trump has labelled her the most liberal member of the Senate, and he's not sure that's what America wants. At best Trump is only baiting the likes of Sanders and Warren with that charge, and Harris can only gain from such accusation
It's a fairly stupid idea that in this day and age a person even needs to be born in the US, but given the circumstances Trump's actions are easily less intelligent still and disgusting to go with it. Mind he also took a swing at her for being ambitious, as if you could run for a shit at President as she did and now VP without being ambitious, it just makes no sense almost whenever he opens his mouth and shit dribbles or spews out
Racism is all he and his enablers have. In the very highest office in the land, all of them condone it by letting him say it. Completely unacceptable, but 1/3 of a country of 300+ million seem to relate to this bait more than they do common sense, which make this country such an ugly place to be right now. Can we put to bed the question of systemic institutional racism yet?
It just seems incredibly weird that she can be the one to take this role, however symbolic it is, given the absurd situation that the US is in regarding over-zealous law enforcement and for-profit incarceration. It destroys so many lives, particularly of those who are poor, vulnerable, black.
Is this based on her time as a prosecutor? If so there is an element of she was employed by her client and her client had a case, I don't love the adversarial system but she did well within it.
Or is this based on her campaign to take the nomination which included elements such as scaling back the prison population, removing private prisons, removing the death penalty...?
There are things about Trump to be grateful for, he's highlighting just how messed up the political system in the US is, over and over individuals have lunatic levels of specific powers, which in many respects is a positive stemming from the frontier spirit, and yet there are downsides. Nobody has a comprehensive platform to address issues in law enforcement, in the judiciary, at state and federal political levels, and yet it's not just the electoral college which for me should be reformed, the US has de facto legalised corruption over and over and needs to address problems with judges, DAs, Attorneys General, Sheriffs, Senators, Govenors, Secretarys of State...
It's going to prove astonishingly hard to push back against given the legacy of institutionalised power, and frankly given many will see change as politicians trying to over reach and grab control, and that even if the ideas for what replaces the current system are good, and they might not be. And I would suggest before people start talking about lets tear down what's in place there's a discussion about what comes next and how that would link up with other areas, else it's just the Brexit promise of don't worry about the details change obviously means things will be better
All great observations Diggers me old mucker. The vaunted checks and balances are clearly not working. Currently the executive branch is running naked with gay abandon because it can control who is appointed to positions of influence in the other branches. The whole house of cards relies on the very naive assumption that individuals will choose an objective code of conduct that is in reality non existent.
Congress does have some chance to start a serious investigation of the postal service, they can summon DeJoy to answer what should be some searching questions, and if he declines to appear or answer they should have him arrested and held until he stops holding Congress in contempt. And he shouldn't be the only person not extended the licence to choose if they want to answer
