W. Niederhut Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 Excellent, timely commentary about Kamala Harris by James DiEugenio at the Kennedys and King site, folks. America desperately needs this kind of informed historical analysis, in lieu of the usual MSM soundbytes. After watching the debate Thursday night, I have had a sinking feeling about the mainstream corporate media's celebration of Kamala Harris's alleged "win" over Joe Biden on the busing/desegregation issue. To paraphrase Paul Krugman in 2016, it looks like Biden is already getting "Gored" by the mainstream media. Kamala Harris: A Study in Showboating https://kennedysandking.com/articles/kamala-harris-a-study-in-showboating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) I am an all out anti-Trump person as many of you can see by my postings. I watched this so-called debate as I know I will vote for whomever the Dems place against him in 2020. However, this was the worst main stream media televised debate format I have ever seen in giving the public a fair and reasonable chance to evaluate the candidates and hear them out in any substantive and truly informing way. "One minute" to answer a question about complex issues? You've got to be kidding me. Often the moderators just wanted a "yes" or "no" answer or a junior high class "show of hands?" There is no way any of us citizens could make a determination about which candidate is better qualified in a ridiculously clipped time constraint format like that. That wasn't a debate. It was a sound bite contest which turned into a shouting match at times because the other more ignored candidates felt shut out and had no choice but to try to get their two cents in anyway they could. All the candidates could do was try out their selected "sound bites" ( shouting them if need be ) and hope that their's struck a network reported chord afterward. And what chance did any of the other candidates have when the top 4 already most well known ones are placed right in the middle of the lineup and asked the most questions? Those lesser known candidates were literally "shut out" of the debate with very few questions and physically placed outside the main camera point of view. To be fair they should have had the top four news covered candidates evenly split from the ends to the middle. And I wasn't any more impressed with Kamala Harris than I was anyone else. She got her practiced and prepared attack on Biden in and her "food fight" sound bite got some laughs. But no way could what little she shared honestly show any better qualifications than several of the other candidates. I sense there is a "fix" in to favor her and even in the media. From watching and reading more than most average citizens I wish Eric Salwell could get more exposure and I also believe both Governor Jay Inslee and NYC mayor Bill De Blasio have the guts and gravitas needed to successfully stand up to the Republican political war machine. I totally support everything Bernie Sanders stands for and would like to implement, but his well advanced age is a risk factor in my mind. Edited June 30, 2019 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Just read Jim Di's essay regards Kamala Harris. What an eye opener. Harris is a shameless political office climber and this agenda seems to be her main one versus being a fighter for the middle and lower classes as she promotes herself. I wish every adult person could read Di Eugenio's research on Harris. If they could, she would not be the main stream media darling they are trying to make her into. To me, Kamala Harris is more in line with the wealthiest 1% versus the rest of us. I needed to know these facts about Harris that Jim has uncovered to make a much more informed decision regards her presidential candidacy qualifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Well said, Joe. I agree with your take on the debate format. The simplistic debate sound-bytes were then simply amplified by the superficial media spin afterward. "Biden is in trouble," etc. One key point in the DiEugenio essay is that Harris (and the MSM) have avoided any discussion of the historical context for political discussions about busing and desegregation 40 years ago. It reminds me of people who denounce Abraham Lincoln for not being a more ardent Abolitionist in 1860, at a time when he was trying desperately to keep the border states from seceding. I think it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said that people need to be judged on the basis of their historical contexts and culture. As for Kamala Harris, if she is a true champion of justice, why did she put the kibosh on re-opening the botched RFK assassination "investigation?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Just the refusal to address Sirhan and the RFK assassination was a lighting rod for me when I read about it a few month's back. She had an opportunity to address a key potentially polarizing issue, that was the right thing to do, and she whiffed. Great further detail by Jim. Good to see he's still doing good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) I understand candidates for political office having to avoid discussing or dealing with certain issues that could completely derail their chances at the ballot box right off the bat ... to a point. I can still remember Tim Russert instantly destroying Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich's candidacy in the first televised national audience 2004 Democratic debate by asking Kucinich (with the debate's "very first question" ) whether Kucinich still believed in UFO's. See Kucinich's credibility ruining response below which Russert forced him into saying. Thanks a lot Tim! But in Kamala Harris's case ( after reading Jim Di's research essay on her ) we are not talking about UFO's and fake moon landings. We are talking much more down-to-Earth relevant issues. When you examine the factual record of Kamala Harris's entire government career Harris has compromised way too much in extremely important key issue areas that truly effect us all for her to honestly claim herself a champion of truth and justice and a dedicated advocate for the working class majority of Americans versus the powerful top wealth 1%. That title belongs much more honestly to Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders reminded us all again in this sound "byte?" contest of the almost unbelievable disparity in wealth distribution in our country fact of just a handful of families in this country owning what ... 85% of this? And the built-in self-interest priority control over our working class lives that this massive selective tax break wealth ownership provides that tiny minority versus the rest of us. And how this disparity is now truly, seriously damaging and stressing our common good needs and everything our democracy stands for. However, Sander's main concern issue warnings go unheeded by most due in great part to the national media choosing to focus their coverage on other areas of political discourse such as Trump's photo-op foreign trips, tweets, rally slogans and Melania's latest high fashion dress purchases? I think Sanders has always felt a huge frustration that no matter how much he has tried to inform America of this massively unbalanced distribution of wealth disparity and how it factually equates into a growing stress on our common good in ever more extreme negative ways, the average American just isn't getting it! They just are not responsibly acknowledging or responding to this message and it's immediate relevancy, importance and urgency in their daily lives right now. The fact that the greater part of America and it's majority of citizens have been falling farther and farther down the world average scale in so many standard of living areas in the last 50 years and which is proven to be due in great part to lost control of their best interests to the top 1% ruling class ( and who can never get enough wealth and control ) is in my opinion the greatest challenge we face as a country and democracy over all other issues. How we spend "our" money is everything! Trillions and trillions on wars, never ending tax breaks and benefits for the top 1% while the huge majority of Americans lose more and more in every area of their daily life needs. We have the resources to truly improve the lives of every American in so many needed ways, but when the majority of Americans can't alter this 1% favoring budget spending and control ( let alone acknowledge this reality ) we will continue to feel greater and greater disproportionate wealth and control stresses in our daily lives. Here is Dennis Kucinich's response to Tim Russert's first debate question in 2004 to him regarding whether Kucinich still believes in UFOs Kucinich said to moderator Tim Russert’s question, “It was an unidentified flying object, OK? It's, like, it's unidentified. I saw something.” To audience laughter, he added, “I'm also going to move my campaign office to Roswell, New Mexico, and other one in Exeter, New Hampshire, OK? And also, you have to keep in mind that more - that Jimmy Carter saw a UFO and also that more people in this country have seen UFOs than I think approve of George Bush's presidency.” : Edited June 30, 2019 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 If Senator Harris comes off as a showboat, take a look at Biden. He's worse in so many ways. He even took a $200,000 fee to speak in favor of Republican Congressman Upton in 2018 who was in a tight race against a progressive Democrat. Upton won. https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/joe-biden-record/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) Doug, I agree about Biden. But a Democratic party Harris candidacy against Trump in 2020 would also be a great mistake imo. We Democrats need someone of Bernie Sander's integrity and policy vision and advocacy. Edited June 30, 2019 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Devastating, well researched article on Joe Biden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Douglas Caddy said: If Senator Harris comes off as a showboat, take a look at Biden. He's worse in so many ways. He even took a $200,000 fee to speak in favor of Republican Congressman Upton in 2018 who was in a tight race against a progressive Democrat. Upton won. https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/joe-biden-record/ This article posted by Doug is a good companion piece to the one by Jim D. It makes absolutely clear that when Harris went after Biden during the debate she only scratched the surface. I hope Jim reads it and thinks about it. I’m not a Harris supporter, and I think Biden is a poor choice of candidate to run in 2020. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 I'm not on the Biden bus, myself, but I am concerned about the way our mainstream media is spinning the debate coverage of the alternatives to the Current Occupant. The last thing this country needs in 2020 is a Democratic nominee who can't compete with the Orange Baboon in the White House. When Fox Business News is suddenly promoting Kamala Harris, I smell a rat. But, getting back to the general forum subject of JFK, the candidate on the stage Thursday who reminds me most of JFK is young Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg, to me, seems to have the same kind of keen intellect, humanistic wisdom, and self-confidence that JFK had. And, to their credit, both men had actually served their country in time of war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 I'm just about set on endorsing Elizabeth Warren. Maybe she can ask Buttigieg to be her vice presidential candidate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 David Talbot posted this on Facebook today: No surprise -- Kamala Harris is surging in the polls after her debate performance. And Joe Biden is already fading. Although I'm still rooting for either Bernie or Elizabeth -- because I trust only them to fully confront corporate domination of America -- I'd relish a Kamala-Trump debate. Here's how she would do a Biden-take down of Trump's fat ass: "I was a prosecutor in California for many years. And I know how to put men like you behind bars. Serial sex offenders... rapists. Corrupt politicians who betrayed the trust of the people." Boom. End of the Bully-in-Chief. And here's how Kamala could truly ensure her landslide victory over Trump. She should pick Senator Sherrod Brown as her vice presidential running mate. Ohio goes immediately into the Democratic column... along with the rest of the Midwest heartland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 The Defense has responded. Rather incompletely. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/30/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2020-1391212 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 16 hours ago, Ron Bulman said: The Defense has responded. Rather incompletely. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/30/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2020-1391212 Interesting to read Willie Brown's specious comments in Politico, in light of Jim DiEugenio's "Showboating" essay. It sounds like Brown is fully onboard with Kamala Harris's Showboat production. Perhaps people in the mainstream media should ask Willie Brown and Kamala Harris if they can name any white politicians who got elected 40 years ago for publicly advocating forced busing to desegregate schools. It must be a very short list. P.S. I was (and am) an advocate of desegregation, and lived through the first, tumultuous busing years it in the Denver Public Schools-- but it was not very popular in white communities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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