The Stream

The Brew: “We Can’t Afford Four More Years of This!” Says Running Mate of Woman in Office the Past Four Years

By Al Perrotta Published on September 23, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Happy Monday!

We are 42 days away from Election Day.

The Ticket That Couldn’t Shoot Straight: Kamala Befuddles on Star-Studded Oprah Town Hall

On Thursday, Kamala Harris had a sit-down town hall meeting hosted by Oprah Winfrey, with a slew of A-listers dropping in via video, including perennial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep — whom Harris managed to call “Marilyn.” Even Oprah started calling Harris out for her evasive non-answers on policy questions, (making her a far more credible journalist than the ABC News debate moderators).

Asked how she would reduce the cost of living , Harris offered a long word salad before basically saying she would reduce inflation by lowering costs. No, this is not that lady who does the spot-on Kamala Harris impersonation; this is your actual Democratic presidential candidate.

Remember what we said Friday about thinking, “You would have been fine if you just stopped there”? Harris had one of those moments. In a question about gun control, she said that she herself owns a gun. She should have added a bit about supporting the Second Amendment and then stopping there — but instead she went on to say, cackling all the while, “If someone breaks into my house, they’re getting shot!” She definitely should have stopped then. But she went on even more, adding, “I shouldn’t have said that.”

She didn’t stop there either, adding what I believe is the very telling kicker: “My staff will clean that up.”

Good night, nurse. We can’t make this stuff up.

Clearly, Harris feels no obligation to clean up her own messes. She seems confident in believing, “I will say or do whatever inane, contradictory or damaging thing that comes into my head, my staff will spin it — and the media will play along.”

Fortunately for Harris, she is not the only self-destructive candidate on her ticket.

On Saturday, running mate Tim Walz actually said, “We can’t afford four more years of this.”

The context doesn’t matter. Harris is the incumbent. Four more years of “this” means four more years of her being in charge of the country. It is such a windfall for Trump’s campaign that he should give Walz a membership at Mar-a-Lago.

Harris Repeats a Wicked Lie About Woman Who Died After Chemical Abortion

Young Amber Nicole Thurman of Georgia died recently from complications caused by a chemical abortion. That is the flat truth. Had she not taken the abortion pills, she would be alive today.

Yet at a rally Saturday, Harris again blamed Thurman’s death on a “Trump abortion ban.” She even got the crowd chanting Amber Nicole Thurman’s name. Yes. Let’s say her name — loudly. And keep saying she died because an abortion mill put abortion pills in her hand and then forgot about her.

What’s the Fear? Harris Bails on Traditional Al Smith Dinner

One of the most beautiful traditions in American politics is the election year gathering of the candidates for the Al Smith Dinner. Since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon donned tuxes in 1960, the Catholic charity event has been a splendid night for the candidates to put on their finest, set aside the partisanship, and roast each other — and themselves.

Guess who is refusing to go this year? Kamala Harris. Her campaign revealed Saturday she is skipping the October 17 event to stay on the campaign trail. She is the first presidential candidate to refuse to attend since Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984. And we all know how that election turned out for him.   

“We are disappointed that she will not be with us, as this is an evening of unity and putting aside political differences in support of a good cause of helping women and children in need regardless of race, creed, or background,” Archdiocese of New York spokesperson Joseph Zwillng told the New York Post. “We hope she reconsiders.” 

According to the Post, Donald Trump reached out to the archdiocese to reconfirm his commitment to attend. This was not a bright move on Harris’s part, as it again shows her to be fearful. Sure, she’s shown what National Review has called an “anti-Catholic animus,” and her radical advocacy for abortion puts her at odds with Catholic teaching. But this is a charity event where the candidates hang out as real human beings. It’s not about their policies. This was a chance for Harris to glam up for the night, make a few jokes at her own expense — which goes a long way in politics — and break the perception that she’s preprogrammed and vapid. Instead she will leave the night to Trump — and her fear of appearing will give him a whole mess of new material. 

Harris is trying to mitigate bailing on the Al Smith Dinner by accepting an invitation to debate Trump on CNN on October 23 that Trump has already said he has no interest in. Trump repeated at his rally Saturday, saying it’s “too late” because voting is already underway, he’s already done a debate on CNN, and he doubts the moderators will be more fair this time than last. 

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Perhaps Harris is avoiding a night of humor because it’s gotten her into trouble before. Video has emerged of Harris on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, boasting that she’s going to implement the Green New Deal and — wait for it, Pennsylvania voters — “finally putting an end to fracking once and for all.”

Is Jill or Joe Running the Show?

Much ruckus was caused the other day by a clip of Joe Biden, who at his first Cabinet meeting in nearly a year (!!) handed it over to wife Jill Biden. “Take it away, kid,” he said. (Who calls their wife of 50 years “kid”? But I digress.)

Social media erupted. “Dr. Jill is sitting at the head of the table! She’s the real president running the show!” 

The good news? Joe Biden was sitting where presidents sit: in the middle. (Didn’t you see Dave?)

 

Although Joe was where he was supposed to be, it was Jill who stepped up and spoke substantively for twice as long as he did. Unlike the movie, the incapacitated president wasn’t in the White House basement; he was in the meeting, watching, as someone else took on his duties. 

Meanwhile, someone asked great question on X: “If Dems wanted her to look presidential, why didn’t Kamala preside over the first Cabinet meeting in 11 months?”

This item wouldn’t be worth mentioning but for some other news this weekend.

Did you know that Biden was with three foreign leaders this weekend for a so-called Quad meeting? Not at the White House, but hidden away in Wilmington, Delaware. He was also meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi privately at his home. But we have no idea who was running the meetings. Even the mostly obedient White House Press Association is having a fit about the historic lack of access.

However, one clip suggests whoever is running the meetings it isn’t the President of the United States. It seems like Biden wasn’t even sure who he was meeting with.

Along The Stream

Michael Giere writes “The Radicals Don’t Fall Far From the Tree.”

Dr. Ben Carson offers up an excerpt from his book, The Perilous Fight,  called “Mission Drift.”

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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