Programming note: Please join me later today for the first episode of a brand new Tale for Our Time - an extremely timely one, I think you'll find. It airs right here at approximately 7pm North American Eastern - that's midnight British Summer Time.
~As far as I can tell, no one who knows her likes Kamala Harris. Other than Willie Brown, that is. But the fellows who decided Joe Biden had outlived his uselessness did not wish to open up a free-for-all race for the succession. They were not willing to entertain a pseudo-primary ding-dong between Newsom, Buttigeig, whoever - and the only person available to be simply announced as de facto nominee was Kamala.
So the swift surgical liquidation of Biden and the installation of Harris was accomplished. And the plan then became to keep the un-nominated nominee under wraps so that her unlikeability does not become known until, say, mid-November. This seems to be working. If one is willing to believe polls, the two latest have Kamala up four (Emerson) or, alternatively, Trump up four (Rasmussen). Which means, either way, the vice president wins, as the instant switcheroo has put the race back within the Democrats' margin of steal.
Oops, did I refer to Ms Harris as the "vice president"? Pardon me, my mistake. The strategy is to present her as the change candidate, the outsider, the insurgent - notwithstanding that she is, in fact, the incumbent. To the seven remaining Biden loyalists, this is beginning to take its toll:
Put this in an ad immediately...
KJP: "Do you know this is the Biden-Harris administration. Are you aware that this is the Biden-Harris administration and she is indeed the Vice President?"
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 14, 2024
PETER DOOCY: Axios is now reporting that she is 'hoping to distance herself from President Biden's unpopularity on the economy.' Can you blame her?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Do you know this is the Biden-Harris Administration? Are you aware that this is the Biden-Harris Administration and she is indeed the Vice President?
Oh, my. Saucer of milk for Catty Karine.
Four years ago, almost to the day, it was announced:
Former NBC News analyst and Obama White House alum Karine Jean-Pierre will serve as chief of staff for the VP pick.
Everyone was thrilled, for all the usual reasons:
Kamala Harris' new chief of staff is proud Black lesbian and trailblazing political heavyweight Karine Jean-Pierre
Jean-Pierre, the first Black person and first out lesbian to serve as a vice presidential chief of staff, says she's "looking forward" to the Harris-Mike Pence debate in October.
In American politics, "the first Black person and first out lesbian to serve as a vice presidential chief of staff" is quite a big deal, isn't it?
Alas, it never happened: the "first out lesbian" never got to be chief of staff to a vice president. Three weeks after "Election Day" 2020, and after three months with Ms Harris, it was announced that KJP would be departing the service of Ms Harris to become Joe Biden's "Principal Deputy Press Secretary".
Like I said, no one who knows Kamala likes her.
But the Dem masterminds are repurposing Joe's Delaware basement for the new candidate - out with the tapioca and Matlock reruns, in with coconuts and daytime TV dance-class:
The vibe is that of the openings of Ellen Degeneres's talk show, where Ellen would come out and dance for five minutes with the studio audience.
What's the old line on American politics? If you can fake authenticity, you've got it made. Kamala can't fake authenticity, and yet they figure she's got it made.
They may be right. From this week's Spectator, by the eminent bestselling novelist Lee Child:
Kamala Harris is a breath of fresh air, enthusiasm is high and polling looks good. If you could X-ray everyone's brain on election morning, you would conclude that Harris would win big. But she won't. The process has been corrupted by partisan placemen at state and county levels. Areas with Democratic tendencies have been robbed of polling stations. Twelve- to 14-hour queues are inevitable. Armed vigilantes will no doubt police those queues. Shadowy commissioners are empowered to certify the returns. Or not, as they alone see fit. Harris will need a huge margin to survive the erosion her votes will face. Even if she gets one, it won't be over the next morning. There will be riots, gunfire and dozens of lawsuits heading speedily upward to the Trump-packed Supreme Court. It won't be over by 6 January, or 20 January.
A handful of observations:
i) The "breath of fresh air" has been in the White House for four years;
ii) If "areas with Democratic tendencies" have twelve-to-fourteen-hour queues, it's because they're run by Democrats;
iii) The only "erosion" in the presidential election (and most others) comes in Republican votes;
iv) The only gunfire in this year's election, so far, have been the eight shots the Secret Service permitted their designated fall-guy to open up on Trump. Corey Comperatore is dead because of it;
and finally
v) "The Trump-packed Supreme Court" will, as they did last time, sit this one out.
America has insufficient shared reality for anything approaching "politics".
~We thank you for all your supportive comments these last grisly months - and thank you especially to all those new members of The Mark Steyn Club, and those old members who've signed up a chum for a SteynOnline Gift Certificate or a Steyn Club Gift Membership. Steyn Clubbers span the globe, from London, Ontario to London, England to London, Kiribati. We hope to welcome many more new members in the years ahead, and Mark looks forward to your company on Tales for Our Time tonight, and Mark Steyn on the Town tomorrow.
