Kamala Harris
June 10, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I have thought that Kamala Harris was likely to be one of the last Democratic presidential candidates left standing when the primaries get under way, and I believe she has been favored by Democratic outlets like the New York Times. But her campaign has stumbled, to put it mildly, and for now, at least, she doesn’t appear to be among the front-runners. This may be partly due to the fact
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May 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Advocates of abolishing the death penalty claim that innocent defendants have often been executed. I’m not sure whether these advocates have been able to show that this has ever happened in modern times, but a New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof makes a pretty good case that Kevin Cooper, a death row inmate, is innocent of the murders he was convicted of committing. Cooper, an African-American, was convicted of
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March 21, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Being a prosecutor has long been a steppingstone for lawyers who aspire to higher office. But this might not be true anymore for Democrats. The problem is that Democrats have become ambivalent about law enforcement, and hostile towards the police. This puts Democratic prosecutors in a bind. They risk the early derailment of their career if they are ambivalent about law enforcement and hostile towards the police. Just ask Baltimore’s
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March 19, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yahoo News reports that when she was the attorney general of California, Kamala Harris declined to investigate Herbalife, the nutritional supplement company that has been accused of fraudulent marketing practices. In 2015, prosecutors in the San Diego office of the California attorney general sent Harris a lengthy, detailed memorandum urging such an investigation. However, Harris did not initiate one. Other states did. So did the Federal Trade Commission. It obtained
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February 20, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It wasn’t so long ago that presidential candidates were well advised to deny that they ever smoked marijuana, or at least that they ever inhaled. Those days apparently are past, at least for Democratic candidates. Kamala Harris appeared on a talk radio show called Breakfast Club. Asked if she opposed the legalization of marijuana, Harris answered: “That’s not true.” To support her denial Harris said “I have [smoked pot], and
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February 16, 2019 — John Hinderaker
In 2016, a popular meme featured a photo of admiring reporters on an airplane and the text, something like “Find someone who looks at you the way reporters look at Hillary Clinton.” That photo is weirdly hard to find now, but if this isn’t it, it is close enough: In 2016, Hillary was the candidate of the liberal press. Who will be the anointed candidate next year? Kamala Harris is
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February 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Kamala Harris is “simply American,” but so much more. She’s a three-fer: Asian American, African-American, and female. I’n not sure how much Harris’ Asian heritage will help her in her quest for the Democratic nomination, but the other two identities are crucial to that quest. If Harris obtains majority support from African-American and from female Democrats, she’s virtually a shoe-in for the nomination, assuming a decent share of the African-American
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February 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
“For Harris, identity is simply ‘American.'” That’s the title (print edition) of a gushing article about Kamala Harris in today’s Washington Post. The Post’s Kevin Sullivan then rambles on for paragraphs discussing Harris’ multi-racial, multi-ethnic background. “Simply American” or not, Harris isn’t above discussing it, either. When she decided to run for president, she wrote a book about her heritage. Here’s what I’d like to know. When Harris applied to
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January 31, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Scott wrote this morning about the collective freakout on the Left about Howard Schultz’s independent candidacy for president, because his vote-splitting potential might assure Trump’s re-election. The logic of this is obvious enough, but I am not so sure Schultz isn’t doing Democrats a big favor, and that it could work out very differently. Stranger things have happened. It’s not like we’ve never seen a billionaire who had never held
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January 29, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Sen. Kamala Harris backs “Medicare for all” — i.e. the single payer health insurance system that Sen. Bernie Sanders advocates. The “single payer” is the government — i.e., taxpayers. During a CNN town hall, Jake Tapper asked Harris whether her proposal means eliminating private health insurance. Harris reportedly answered in the affirmative, saying she would be okay with cutting insurers out of the mix. As if to justify this, she
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January 28, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Regarding Kamala Harris’s presidential prospects, a few observations on why conservatives should fear her more than other candidates in the Dem field. First, I want to add a little bit to Paul’s post about Harris and Willie Brown from earlier today. Paul understates Brown’s full political stature by describing him as a “kingmaker” in Bay Area politics. Brown in his heyday as Assembly Speaker was simply the smartest politician in
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January 28, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Willie Brown, the longtime kingpin of San Francisco politics [UPDATE: make that California politics], thinks that part of the answer may be the political favors he did for Harris when they were having an affair and thereafter. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, the ex-San Francisco mayor states: I’ve been peppered with calls from the national media about my “relationship” with Kamala Harris, particularly since it became obvious that she
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January 22, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Kamala Harris entered the presidential sweepstakes yesterday. In keeping with its kinder, gentler coverage of presidential aspirants, now that all of them are likely to be Democrats, the Washington Post (per reporters Matt Viser and Chelsea Janes) delivers a puff piece about Harris’ entry. The Post does acknowledge that Harris’ time as California attorney general “is bound to come under scrutiny during her presidential campaign.” However, it offers no inkling
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January 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Sen. Kamala Harris styles herself a “progressive prosecutor.” But Harris wasn’t nearly progressive enough for Lara Bazelon, a law professor and former director of the Loyola Law School Project for the [allegedly] Innocent in Los Angeles. In a New York Times op-ed, Bazelon rips Harris for her “regressive” conduct and positions during her time as a district attorney in San Francisco and then California’s attorney general, According to Bazelon: Time
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December 31, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
In this post, I reported on the shameful attack by Senators Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris on a judicial nominee — Brian Buescher — for belonging to the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic social and charitable organization. The two Senators insist that Buescher drop his membership in that organization and recuse himself from cases in which it has taken a position. Why? Because according to Hirono, the Knights have taken
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December 26, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Recently, Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed that Democrats have a hard time connecting with voters because they (Democrats) are so “smart” and “know so much.” If Democrats are smart and knowledgeable, you can’t prove it by Hirono. She embarrasses herself routinely on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she almost invariably finds herself in over her head. The latest embarrassment is her attack, along with Sen. Kamala Harris, on a judicial nominee
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November 26, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Democrat losses in the 2018 election have placed Sen. Kamala Harris’ spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee in jeopardy. Absent some sort of fix, the Democrats will lose one slot on the Committee, and Harris, as the least senior Dem, will be the one to go. (“Spartacus” is next in line, but his slot is safe). Losing her seat would deny Harris, who almost certainly will run for president beginning
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