October 4, 2024 – In a truly inspiring and seriously historic event yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared with former Republican U.S. Representative Liz Cheney at a rally in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party. Together, they called upon us all to vote for the presidential candidate of hope, honesty and opportunity, Kamala Harris. Cheney’s speech was incredibly good. Be sure to watch… – BenIndy
Category Archives: Vice President Kamala Harris
Vallejo Times-Herald Editor trashes Trump & commends Kamala
[BenIndy comment: Wow! Times-Herald editor Jack Bungart doesn’t hold back. A good read, funny, snarky, true. And on the front page!]
Kamala and the Great Comeuppance
Vallejo Times-Herald, By Jack Bungart Sept 14, 2024
And so it came to this. Nine years after escorting his Pre-Nup Lottery winner down that escalator and into our collective gag reflexes, and just months separated from having a glorious evening of his standard lie-spewing overshadowed by Father Time taking out his first opponent in a TKO, Donald Trump finally met his match.
Or his mismatch, as it were.
That wasn’t a debate in Philadelphia Tuesday night. It was a Comeuppance for the Ages, nearly a decade in the making. A roasted pig if you will, more delicious than any household pet could ever be.
Kamala Harris, just months ago another meandering vice president on a long, undistinguished list of them, did a greater service to her country than she could possibly do in that Oval Office she took a giant step toward occupying.
Welcome to the New World Order. If you ever wanted rock-solid proof this country needs a female president — this female president — this was it.
Remember Harris the ineffective campaigner and anonymous vice president? That is so late June Joe Biden. Forget her. She no longer exists.
This Harris, soaring on the wings of momentum, rolling in fresh campaign cash and basking in surging poll numbers, did what so many before her — both Republican and Democrat — had failed to do. She took the bully out behind the woodshed and kicked his ass.
This long overdue, national TV takedown/exposure of Trump was beautiful in its ruthless simplicity. Hit him where he hurts. Not on his plans for the country. He has none, and he quite frankly doesn’t care. Hit him where his malignant narcissism and toxic, fragile ego live.
Start with, say, crowd sizes. Only a shallow, undisciplined fool whose next policy idea will be his first one would bother with the bait, and ladies and gentlemen, this is that fool. Then, smile, chuckle, and stay out of the way while the clown melts down into an orange pool of drivel and felonies.
You know those 63-7 football blowouts where the incredulous announcer says “Bob, this was actually worse than the final score indicates”?
This was that. But worse than the sports cliche indicates.
Worse yet for Trump were the rules. No props of any kind were allowed on stage, meaning he couldn’t drive home his point of Super-Duper MAGA Patriotism without an American Flag to, well, hump. No fans in Flyover Country proclaiming, “Honey, get over here. You say he don’t love our country because he belittles our military, but just look at him make sweet love to that flag!”
As the rout rolled on, Trump became utterly undone, undressed of any pretense of being a man capable of looking out for anything or anyone other than himself. Gone too was the pretense of Trump being a serious candidate worthy of serious consideration outside of that cult he oversees.
This had nothing to do with Republican or Democrat. It never does with Trump.
This is about a befuddled fool not just losing a debate, but losing his way. This was a man who didn’t just deserve to lose, but a man who had to lose.
Perhaps now, finally, we can rid ourselves of this insistence on trying to normalize a man who is so clearly the least intelligent man — and the worst human being — to ever run for the presidency.
Sorry, but when you are sordid enough to keep a straight face while name dropping Viktor Orbán as a character reference, you have got to go. And if you are attempting to actually make a serious case for this soulless sap, you need to check yourself.
Almost mercifully, it finally ended, but not before Trump came up with one last preposterous claim, noting that he was, in fact, “a leader” on the issue of fertility. Nonsense. Everyone knows that’s Nick Cannon.
From there, it was “off to the spin room!” … said no debate winner in political history.
It was in a spin room in Pennsylvania that Trump found his state of denial. Giddy with the pretend spoils of his make-believe victory, Trump rattled off the fictional evidence: “We won in all the polls: 90-10, 81-11 73-9 …” he said, taking a break from his new hobby of memorizing random statistics and fake numbers to make a mental note to put together plans for when the World Series Champion Chicago White Sox and Super Bowl champion Carolina Panthers visit the White House in February.
OK, so maybe he didn’t win. Undaunted, with his MAGA rattle and binky in tow, Trump quickly pivoted to the Battle Cry of the Loser: They cheated me!
The problem, claimed Trump and his handlers at Fox, was those darn ABC moderators and their facts! “It was 3-on-1” they whined, in unison.
Nonsense. This was weak, even for a small, little man like Trump who still can’t fully admit he lost four years ago. For you MAGA folks at home unfamiliar with the concept, this was called journalism. You want to simply throw crap against the wall and make stuff up? You will get checked. It’s called fact-checking. Or in this case, lie-checking.
And no, you don’t fact-check Harris on her flip-flop on fracking. That issue is addressed in the question, which she answered. The fact that she didn’t answer it well doesn’t make it the same as her opponent simply making stuff up — like murdered babies and rigged elections — again.
Did Harris answer every question? Of course she didn’t. I’m sorry, was this your first debate?
And did Trump talk longer than Harris — 5 minutes or so? Of course. See above.
This wasn’t about bias — not even close. It was the chickens coming home to roost for a decade of thousands upon thousands of ridiculous lies Donald Trump has skated on far too often. And it was beautiful. Not for any of those tired, old Democrat vs. Republican stuff, either.
For the truth.
They’re going to check on the truth? This, the evening’s big loser thought, won’t stand. Why, it could even catch on. Donald Trump shares no stage with the truth. Not now, not ever.
This — and that fragile ego — is the reason Captain Bone Spurs is ducking a rematch like it’s Vietnam.
Still …
Trump may be down. He may be missing Joe Biden more than he previously thought possible. He may have no concept of a plan to deal with this woman who is so clearly smarter, sharper, and younger than him.
But he is hardly out. Not as long as there are the archaic Electoral College and the confused, common sense-challenged, attention-starved species known as the undecided voter out there.
Plus, Trump had to be thinking, things could hardly get worse …
Hold my microphone, said one Taylor Swift.
And there it is. Now it’s a Miss-Match.
— Jack F.K. Bungart is the Executive Editor of the Vallejo Times-Herald and the Vacaville Reporter.
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Stephen Golub: Fly Me to the Moon (A Hopeful Film Resonates as Kamala’s Campaign Takes Off)
[Note from BenIndy: This post was first published on Stephen Golub’s blog, A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country. There, Steve blogs about domestic and international politics and policy, including lessons that the United States can learn from other nations. If interested, you may sign up for future posts by subscribing to the blog.]
In a blast from the past, a hopeful film resonates as Kamala’s campaign takes off.
A Promised Land, by Stephen Golub, August 4, 2024
For a fun, relaxing time the other day, my wife and I went to see Fly Me to the Moon, the lighthearted Scarlett Johansson/Channing Tatum flick about an attempt at faking the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing. Despite the enjoyable escapism, I couldn’t help comparing it with our troubled times.
A Time of Darkness, Division, Promise and Progress
I’ll start, though, by acknowledging that 1969 was far from untroubled. We were in the depths of the Vietnam war, wreaking havoc on that country while absorbing over 50,000 deaths of our own. The war and a host of other issues bitterly divided the United States. President Richard Nixon was hardly a unifying figure.
Still, if 1969 was far from an innocent time, it at least offered signs of hope and progress, starting with the massively moving accomplishment of the moon landing itself. The seeds of the women’s rights and environmental movements had already been planted, with progress soon to flower in both fields.
And for all of Nixon’s sins, insecurities and instability, which became even clearer as the Watergate scandal came crashing down on him a few years later, some of his proposals (such as a guaranteed annual income) and achievements (the launching of the Environmental Protection Agency) would be considered progressive today in Democratic circles and anathema to Republicans.
That era also merits comparison with today in other respects. There was no Fox “News” or social media to pervasively present a perverse, fact-resistant version of reality to Americans. Which in turn meant that senior Republicans could and would force Nixon to step down when the actual reality of Watergate made that a necessity. Contrast that with today’s craven Republican leaders caving to Trump even after he sought to extort Ukraine’s president and distort U.S. foreign policy for political gain, and even after he chose to support insurrectionists intent on tearing apart the Capitol and the Constitution.
Hope
Speaking of today… Fly Me to the Moon is by no means a great movie. But underlying the mix of humor, goofiness, romance, drama, cynicism and commercialism marking the film, there’s an underlying spirit of hope. And hope, despite the darkness and craziness of 2024, is what many of us now feel for the first time in some time.
It started, obviously, with the leaders of the one flawed but functional major political party we have left persuading a diminished, unpopular president that his time had gone, that for the good of the party and the country he needed to step aside. It continued with his accepting that verdict, as painful as it was, and doing the right thing.
It’s culminated, for the moment, with the impressive rocket launch of Kamala’s campaign. In the wake of her debacle of a race four years ago, the first doubt about her could have been whether she could even run for president competently. The three months ahead will truly be trying, with lots of difficulties. But she’s off to an inspiring start.
What I find most promising is that she seems to have learned valuable lessons from that campaign, as well as from those of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. Those lessons include tacking toward the center somewhat, given the realities of winning the crucial, centrist swing states necessary to win the Electoral College, which is all that matters in a presidential campaign. That in turn involves playing up her prosecutorial credentials, as opposed to previously playing them down.
Her strong start also involves standing steadfast on vital matters of principle (as well as political advantage), especially a woman’s right to an abortion and women’s rights in general; triggering an organic online buzz that might sway younger voters; and bringing on senior advisors from the successful Obama campaigns.
She’s smoothly parrying Trump’s ugly, racist, misogynist, nativist thrusts, most recently by not getting dragged into his pigsty over whether she’s Asian or Black. (Though I wonder how J.D. and Usha Vance feel about what Trump’s either/or attacks mean for their mixed-race kids.)
There’s another president Harris merits comparison with: Ronald Reagan. For all their dozens of differences, she’s coming across as her own kind of Reaganesque “happy warrior”: a blend of strong, stern, sunny, cheerful and hopeful. It’s a winning combination if one can pull it off. So far, she is.
Triumphing Despite the Troubled Skies
Inevitable troubles lie ahead, ranging from potentially legitimate negative stories to attacks on Kamala’s policy positions to Trump lying about her at every nasty turn.
Which is where we all come in. By voting, donating and working for Harris. By influencing others to do the same. By holding on to hope, even during those days when things look dark.
Triumphing in November is all very doable. After all, we’re not talking about shooting for the moon.
White Guys Won’t Back Harris? $4M Raised by ‘White Dudes for Harris’ May Prove That’s Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man
[BenIndy: We share this with deep apologies to the white dudes who found out about it too late. In truth, we privately shared several identity-group fundraising call notices (including the Black Men for Harris, Out for Kamala Harris LGBTQ+ Unity, South Asian Women for Harris, and Women for Harris calls) with friends and family, but did not think to share them here. The outrage and FOMO we saw after admitting this oversight indicate we must apologize for our grievous error. But don’t worry: there will probably be more events like this one, so keep your eyes open. Join the email lists, become group members, and sign up to be notified. Donate. Jokes aside, white voters have favored GOP candidates for years. This is an election where we hope to see that trend at least slip.]
‘White Dudes for Harris’— including The Dude himself — raise over $4M
Washington Post, by Adila Suliman, July 30, 2024
The Zoom fundraiser for Vice President Harris, attended by Jeff Bridges, Mark Hamill and Pete Buttigieg among others, raised over $4 million, organizers said.
After Black Women for Harris and White Women for Harris, it was the turn of “White Dudes for Harris” — where almost 200,000 people, including the actor who plays “The Dude” himself, helped raise over $4 million during a fundraising Zoom call, according to organizers.
Most notable among the celebrities was a man introduced as the “dude in chief,” actor Jeff Bridges, who played The Dude in “The Big Lebowski,” released in 1998, and joked: “I qualify … I’m White, I’m a dude and I’m for Harris.”
Attendees expressed enthusiasm and excitement for the campaign — while also joking about the lack of diversity on the call. “What a variety of Whiteness we have here … it’s like a rainbow of beige!” actor Bradley Whitford of “The West Wing” told the group. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) teased that a White Dudes gathering “doesn’t usually sound like something I would join, but this is a terrific cause.”
Organizer Ross Morales Rocketto also acknowledged more serious motivations for organizing the call. “The left has been ceding White men to the MAGA right for way, way too long,” he said referencing the slogan popularized by Trump, “Make America Great Again.”
“That’s going to stop tonight, because we know that the silent majority of White men aren’t actually MAGA supporters. They’re folks like you who just want a better life for their families.”
A majority of White men have long sided with Republican presidential nominees, and Trump won a majority of White male voters in 2020, The Post previously reported. President Biden ultimately won by assembling a large enough coalition of voters in key states, winning margins among young and non-White voters, college graduates and independents.
Harris’s campaign has had to contend with attacks focused on her gender and racial identity — with one Republican lawmaker calling her unqualified and a “DEI vice president,” and many political pundits widely presume that her expected vice-presidential pick will have to be a White male to give her ticket the broadest appeal.
During Monday’s call, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg framed Harris’s campaign as one for “freedom.”
“Men are more free when the leader of the free world and the leader of this country supports access to birth control and to IVF,” he told the online gathering.
The White Dudes fundraiser has no official affiliation with Harris but large amounts of money were raised through matched funds and merchandise sales, including a popular trucker hat, the group said.
During his speech, Bridges paid homage to Black Women for Harris for inspiring a wave of copycat fundraising calls. “Kamala is so certainly our girl … a woman president, man, so exciting! And her championing of women’s rights, I’m for that, and for all her stance on the environment.”
Bridges also managed to work in his character’s catchphrase in “The Big Lebowski,” quipping at one point: “As the Dude might say: That’s just my opinion, man.”
In addition to raising funds for Harris’s campaign, speakers hoped to energize supporters ahead of what is expected to be an intense race.
Buttigieg said it was an “honor” to address “this convening of dudes, right after The Dude,” referencing Bridges. “The vibes right now are incredible,” Buttigieg said of the Harris campaign. “The momentum is extraordinary.”
“I’ve never felt this kind of belief, this kind of enthusiasm ever. I want us to enjoy it,” Whitford said.
Similar zoom fundraiser calls have been organized to support Harris’s presidential bid after President Biden announced the end of his candidacy earlier in July.
More than 44,000 people logged onto a Zoom call organized by Win With Black Women to support Harris, raising over $1.5 million, organizers said. The call featured Bernice King, the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr.; 85-year-old Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the most senior Black woman in the House; and Donna Brazile, the two-time acting chair of the Democratic National Committee.That event also helped inspire similar fundraising calls for Black men and Latinas.
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