The real Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris, ever since she became the Presidential candidate, has lately reversed many positions she once trumpeted. Until now, one might understand if this new attitude created confusion, or even convinced many that she had moderated. No such joy. This morning on NBC-TV’s Meet the (De)Press(ed), host Kristen Welker heard from two different people who confirmed that Kamala Harris hasn’t changed. At the moment she’s saying what she has to say to convince some voters that she’s changed, and help others insist that she’s changed. But she also has an ally who pours almost as much contempt on the Constitution as she does.

Kamala Harris then and now

Voters heard Kamala Harris say those in the service industries – whose real, meaningful income comes from tips – shouldn’t have to report this income or pay taxes on it. But she said this only after Donald Trump said the same thing (and for good economic reasons). Worse, last year she broke a Senate tie on a bill increasing the penalties for failure to report tip income. (The decision to copy Trump on “no tax on tips” was a sudden one. When Trump first said it, the legacy media cited experts decrying the revenue drain. Once Kamala Harris said it, they dropped that line and emphasized how that would help people.)

As CNAV has said before, that’s not the only Trump position Harris has, frankly, plagiarized. She has copied Trump’s immigration stance lately, even to showing a picture of Trump’s border wall in her own advertising. That’s the same wall President Joe Biden ordered contractors to stop building on his first day in office. Nor has Harris, as “Border Czar,” stood down on any of the pro-migration lawsuits the Biden administration is involved in with the State of Texas.

Today Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit quoted a Trump campaign fundraising letter highlighting these and other “Harris flip-flops.” They include a Medicare for All Act, and enrolling illegal migrants in Medicare.

So which is it?

Also today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared on Meet the (De)Press(ed) to talk about Kamala Harris. Kristen Welker interviewed him:

Q: To describe Vice President Kamala Harris as a progressive, she has previously supported Medicare for All. Now, she does not. She previously supported a ban on fracking. Now, she does not. These, Senator, are ideas that you have campaigned on. Do you think she is abandoning her progressive ideals?

A: No, I don’t think she’s abandoning her ideals. I think she’s trying to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election.

“Pragmatic” comes from the Greek pragmateuo I take care of something, from prakt- a root meaning “to do,” whence practice. It could stand for willingness to settle for less in order to do a deal. But Bernie Sanders used it another way: to lie about one’s positions to get elected.

It’s OK to lie, so long as you know the truth, and [the lie] is good for [your organization.] Actor Judd Nelson, as swindler-murderer Joe Hunt, in the NBC-TV mini-series Billionaire Boys Club.

It’s one thing to hear from the Trump campaign that Harris is lying. But it’s quite another to hear an ideological fellow traveler actively encouraging her to lie.

On gun control, Harris lately said that mandatory gun confiscation would be “a good idea.” She even said she would take “executive action” to that end “within the first 100 days.”

That post is in reply to an earlier post embedding video of another interview that Kristen Welker held today. This one was with Sen. Rafael Warnock (D-Ga.), who spoke to those gun confiscation plans. He didn’t exactly endorse her doing it by executive order. That unconstitutional he dared not be. Instead he talked hopefully of passing an Act of Congress to achieve that result. (Credit Margaret Flavin, also of TGP.)

Q: Should she also be, in your opinion, supporting a mandatory gun buyback program?

A: Listen, we’re not going to be able to get where we need to go without action in Congress. We’ve got to pass some laws to deal with this. Now, I was heartened by the fact that two years ago, we finally did a gun safety law, the Safer Communities Act. It was the first gun safety law we passed in 30 years. Thirty years. It was modest, but it did save lives. But clearly, in the wake of what happened just the other day in Winder, Georgia, it’s not enough. The least we can do is move forward on the bipartisan spaces where ordinary people agree.

Clearly, there’s a disconnect between what the people, the American people want, and what they’re able to get out of their government. Again, 87% of Americans believe in background checks. In background checks. And yet I hear politicians say that ‘it’s not guns who kill people, it’s people who kill people.’ And yet we don’t even want to know who those people are. We won’t even support…..

Q: Senator, yes or no, though. Should she support the mandatory buyback program? Just a yes or no.

A: Listen, look, as a pastor, I’ve done buyback programs. You can pick this issue or that issue. But I think that, again, there’s not one single thing that will make all of this go.

About gun control

No one doubts that Raphael Warnock was a church pastor. But the church has many pastors who interpret the Sermon on the Mount to suggest that Jesus was a Socialist. Maybe he was one such. And maybe no one taught him in seminary that Jesus once encouraged His disciples to arm themselves.

In any event, Sen. Warnock was talking about the latest school shooting that left two students and two teachers dead. What he didn’t tell Ms. Welker was that the alleged shooter’s father also faces trial. (He gave a 14-year-old boy with mental problems, an AR-15 rifle – as a gift. This, after repeatedly abusing the boy and his sister.) Nor does it occur to Warnock that a target with armed staff is a hard target. This probably doesn’t occur to Kamala Harris, either.

Kamala Harris looks forward to a debate – or does she?

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is preparing for the one debate she agreed to have with Donald Trump. Trump offered to debate her last Thursday on Fox News Channel. She declined – so Trump showed up without her. What was supposed to be a debate, turned into a “town hall” event with Trump and host Sean Hannity.

The latest report (again from Jim Hoft) is that Harris has secluded herself in a hotel in Pittsburgh with a mock debate stage and a Trump impersonator to practice on.

We know that Vice President Kamala Harris is in her hotel in Pittsburgh. They’ve got the lights as if it’s in a studio. They’ve got the stage. They’ve even brought in somebody who’s dressed and acting like the former President.
Bryan Llenas, Fox News

Last week, ABC-TV, which will host the debate, released the latest rules:

The debate will last 90 minutes with two commercial breaks.

The two seated moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, will be the only people asking questions.

A coin flip was held virtually on September 3 to determine podium placements and order of closing arguments; Trump won the coin toss and chose to select the order of statements. He will offer the last closing statement, and Harris selected the right podium on screen (stage left).

Candidates will be introduced by moderators.

Candidates will enter upon introduction from opposite sides of the stage; the incumbent party will be introduced first.

There will be no opening statements; closing statements will be two minutes per candidate.

Candidates will stand behind the podiums for the duration of the debate.

Props or prewritten notes are not allowed onstage.

No topics or questions will be shared in advance.

Candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water.

Candidates will have two minutes to answer questions, two minutes for rebuttals, and one extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses.

Candidates’ microphones will be live only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when the time belongs to another candidate.

Candidates will not be permitted to ask questions of each other.

Campaign staff may not interact with candidates during commercial breaks.

Moderators will seek to enforce timing agreements and ensure a civilized discussion.

There will be no audience in the room.

Harris had contested at least half these rules, but ABC wouldn’t hear of any change.

Will the real Kamala Harris appear in two nights? Or will America see a fake Kamala Harris, as Dr. Ben Carson seems to think? Actually, on Fox’ Sunday Morning Futures, Carson did remind his audience that Harris said her values had not changed.

I think it’s gonna be one of the most consequential debates ever because people will finally get a chance to hear from Kamala Harris, what she believes. And all this business about flip-flopping, you have to wonder if she has really flip-flopped because she said that her values have not changed. So what kind of values are we talking about? You know values that as the DA in San Francisco led to a policy where people can go into stores and take $900 worth of stuff with little or no consequences.

Or the kind of values that allow you to kill babies right up to the time of birth and maybe even beyond that time, opposing legislation that would save babies that survive abortion attempts. You have to wonder about that.

So what you are gonna see in the debate is Donald Trump running on his past policies, and Kamala Harris running away from her past policies. So it should make for a very interesting evening.

An interesting evening, indeed.