When you’re as liberal as they get — not to mention a black woman of Asian descent — and The Washington Post doesn’t have your back, you got problems.
The Jeff Bezos-owned liberal paper — whose motto is “Democracy Dies In Drabness” — wrote yet another piece dissing Vice President Kamala Harris. The paper has already detailed her dysfunctional office and its disgruntled workers, along with her endless word salads, but this time it went further.
“Some Democrats are worried about Harris’s political prospects,” said a headline this week. Now mind you, it’s 641 days until Election Day 2024.
It’s not the first time a liberal news outlet has taken early aim at a Democrat. In 1999, many weren’t happy with the prospect of Vice President Al Gore becoming president, so they were kinda brutal to him (“Saturday Night Live” picked up on that and mocked him for his earth-tone wardrobe and his “lock-box” fixation).
The Post went to a top source, Jacquelyn Bettadapur, a “longtime leader of the Cobb County Democrats.” That’s right, the paper was able to reach her! So great. Let’s hear her insights.
“People are poised to pounce on anything — any misstep, any gaffe, anything she says — and so she’s probably not getting the benefit of the doubt,” Bettadapur said. Many Democrats, she said, “don’t know enough about what she’s doing” — adding, “it doesn’t help that she’s not [that] adept as a communicator.”
Man, you can only get that kind of expert political analysis from the top Cobb County, Georgia, Democrat.
Now, the Post wasn’t able to get the current chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party in South Carolina. But they were, thank God, able to reach Brady Quirk-Garvan, a former chairman. He dropped this wisdom:
“I think many Democrats have changed from a 2008 sentiment, or even the feeling in 2012 and 2016, which were about voting for aspiration. Democrats at the moment — I don’t hear a lot of chatter about aspiration. I hear about what’s going to guarantee a win, what’s a certainty, what feels safe,” he said.
We’ll skip the insights offered by a former South Carolina state legislator and go straight to “one South Carolina Democratic strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of damaging professional relationships.” This is gonna’ be good ‘cuz it’s anonymous.
“Every fiber in my body wants her to be president; everything I’ve ever fought for is for someone like her to be president. I think she’s a good person with a good heart who can lead the country. But I don’t know that the people who have to make that happen feel that way right now. I don’t know that she has what it takes to get over the hump in our present environment.”
Huh. Now that’s one shrewd observation. A lot of powerful people don’t think Harris is the one so she likely won’t be president.
Even though the 2024 election is ages away, the onslaught of negative press on Harris will be a drag on her ambitions. The press may ease up on her should President Joe Biden decide to drop, but he appears ready to rumble again so that may not happen.
Harris, 58, could just coast — being vice president is about the easiest job in the world. She could wait around until 2028 and give it a go then. But anyone who knows her knows she thinks very highly of herself and has concluded that she — among the 320 million Americans — is the one to lead.
She may not even get that chance.
Over the last few months, Democrats have openly mused about her future, with some liberal news sites and party leaders saying she shouldn’t run in 2024. If Biden runs again, he should dump Harris, some stories say. Others say that if he doesn’t run, the party should bail on her and pick someone else.
Take the recent survey from Morning Consult: Just 28% of Democratic voters would vote for Harris in a Democratic presidential primary without Biden on the ballot, down from 33% in a poll last year. You don’t win the White House with those numbers.
The liberal site Slate laid a vicious slap on Harris shortly after Election Day 2022.
“As Joe Biden weighs a run for re-election even as he becomes the first octogenarian U.S. president in history, he should think back on what it was like to watch the Harris campaign flame out,” Christina Cauterucci wrote. “Harris, a proven dud of a presidential candidate who has done little to distinguish herself since is not a good choice for the Democrats’ top billing. For his second term, should he seek one (he shouldn’t!), Biden should tap someone else.”
And Harris, it turns out, is surprisingly even more unpopular than her predecessors.
“As the country has become more partisan, vice presidents have been less likely to enjoy broad support among the public. [Mike] Pence, for example, had a net favorability of roughly zero for much of his four years in the White House. Joe Biden, Dick Cheney and Al Gore all began their tenures with higher ratings than Harris currently enjoys,” The Los Angeles Times wrote last month.
The 2024 election, as we noted, is 641 days away. But that might not be enough time to bail out her sinking ship.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.