The Kamala Problem
Can't win with her; can't win without her
Civil Rights icon James Clyburn just sent the kingmakers in the Democratic Party a pretty damn strong message: Replace Joe Biden with anyone else other than Kamala Harris and kiss the Black vote goodbye.
Hear from Mr. Clyburn directly:
This party should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything we can to bolster her whether she's in second place or at the top of the ticket
Doesn’t get much clearer than that, does it?
Stick with a wounded Biden or elevate the unproven Ms. Harris to the top of the ticket and take your chances. People warned the party about Ms. Harris. She was an untested California wannabe with a reputation for leveraging her Willie Brown concubine status to cut the line in California political progression.
I’m not being unnecessarily mean in pointing that out. That’s how her career unfolded and everyone in California politics knows it.
The question before the Democratic Party today is whether she can rise to the occasion and inspire the party. Her performance on the national stage raises real concerns about that.
Time is running out. Look for the Kamala problem to come to the fore next week, if not sooner.
Debate Fallout
— A House Democratic lawmaker has become the first in the party to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step down as the party’s nominee for president, citing Biden’s debate performance against Donald Trump failing to “effectively defend his many accomplishments.” Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas said in a statement Tuesday that Biden should “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw.” —AP
— Maine Rep. Jared Golden on Tuesday became the second member of Congress to declare he had no confidence in his party’s frontrunner, President Biden, revealing that it “has been clear to me for months … Donald Trump is going to win.” — N.Y. Post
— “From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Biden is dependably engaged — and many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours. Outside of that time range or while traveling abroad, Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued” — White House Aides as reported by Axios
— Joe Biden will sit down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday for his first post-debate TV interview to show the president’s mentally fit; it will not air live, however — Deadspin report
— Biden read from a teleprompter this Tuesday in an appearance designed to show he’s mentally with it: “Extreme heat is the #1 weather related killer in the US.” That’s false. CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics says twice as many people die of COLD in a given year than heat.
— New York Times reporters were on TV Tuesday touting their current reporting on Biden’s mental capacity. Bottom Line: The president’s mental lapses have become “more frequent” according to staff who deal with him daily.
— One in three Democrats think U.S. President Joe Biden should end his reelection bid following last week's debate against Republican Donald Trump, but no prominent elected Democrat does any better than Biden in a hypothetical matchup against Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday.
— A confidential polling memo circulating among anxious Democrats is confirming some of their worst fears: President Joe Biden’s support has started to tumble in key electoral battlegrounds in the wake of his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta, and Biden’s diminished standing is now putting previously noncompetitive states like New Hampshire, Virginia, and New Mexico in play for Donald Trump. What’s more, Biden has taken such a reputational hit that he is polling behind other alternative Democratic candidates—including Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer—in hypothetical one-on-one matchups against Trump.
Mr. Biden took six days to prep for the debate. The New York Times now reports that the president never started his debate preparation before 11 a.m. and was always “given time for an afternoon nap each day.”
Mr. Biden told a fundraising meeting on Tuesday that his poor performance during the debate was because he was exhausted from International travel. He had earlier blamed his mental lapses on a head cold.
Jill’s Cohones
In the current edition of Vogue, First Lady Jill Biden (above) says she’s miffed because the American people don’t know about all the many fabulous things her husband as done for them.
If they knew all of that—I mean, the bridge is being built in their city and they don't know who did it. They don't know who's getting the lead out of their water. They don't know who's stopping the pipeline going through the parklands. They don't know.
Settle down, Jill. People are ignorant, as you so impolitely point out. But, let’s be honest, Joe has no idea what he did either.
Goodbye, Mary
I worked alongside Mary Salamy for a couple of decades at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She died last month. Her last few years were rough health wise, I am told. Over now, thankfully.
I’ll not get all maudlin here or give you my theological take on what lies next. I’ll just say this:
I’ll see Mary again.
Thanks for reading. Remember to laugh a little, avoid soreheads and always question authority. You can follow me on Facebook and X and reach me directly via email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.
One More Thing
Thank you Sherm.
You as well.
Clyburn would like us to bow to his racist blackmail. Americans are more attuned to King's character over color of skin. Biden is Dead, Jim. And so is Obama's fourth term barring bird flu or the Epstein gambit. We the locked-down, mugged, price-gouged masses yearning to breathe free see orange as--if not the new black--irrelevant. We're not morons and don't need one thrust into lordship over us by winged monkeys shrieking from the same page. I sense your Mary had your rare gift for the true thing rather than the sensational thing--which in this time of universal deceit is properly subversive.