Yesterday’s “voting rights” event in Georgia held by the administration didn’t seem to change many minds. In fact, the president’s racially charged rhetoric, including comparing anyone who doesn’t support his federal elections takeover to Jefferson Davis and George Wallace, only made the White House appear more desperate and pathetic. The more they push, the more obvious it becomes that they feel like they’ve got to rig the 2022 election to have a chance.
Given Stacey Abrams’ decision to not attend, it’s clear there’s some stink coming from the Biden administration that other Democrats don’t want to get on them. This “voting rights” nonsense, coupled with a demand to blow up the filibuster, isn’t helping.
It wasn’t just Biden that debased himself, though. Kamala Harris spoke as well, and in doing so, showed she’s either really dumb or really dishonest.
Now you see, this is where I lean towards Harris being more shamelessly dishonest than outright dumb. Yes, she’s an absolutely terrible politician, but even then, I assume she can count. Given that, anyone with a four-year-old’s understanding of math understands that 52 senators are not actually a “minority.” Right now, that’s the count against blowing up the filibuster, with all 50 GOP members joining with Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
Past that, the implication that the Republicans are somehow violating the Constitution by filibustering is so blatantly false that there’s just no way it’s an oversight. Were Democrats violating the Constitution when they filibustered Tim Scott’s police bill? Of course not. Harris isn’t dumb, though she’s wholly unqualified for the job she holds. Rather, she’s attempting, rather haphazardly, to tarnish the filibuster itself because it’s not expressly mentioned in the nation’s founding document.
Harris would later go on to call the long-standing legislative maneuver “arcane.”
That’s a cheap, weak assertion that no one is going to buy. The filibuster is not arcane, i.e. mysterious and secret. It’s one of the most public, long-standing legislative institutions the country possesses. As the RNC points out above, Harris’ party (and she herself) used it 327 times in 2020 alone.
Worse for Harris, the list of receipts is long when it comes to Democrats, including Joe Biden, viciously defending the filibuster as the crown jewel of minority rights. When you say one thing over and over for years on end, it tends to be difficult to turn on a dime and claim the opposite. So, perhaps she is dumb for believing anyone would be fooled by such an act?
Plus, when we are judging mental fortitude, we should probably take into account whether the strategy being enacted makes any sense whatsoever. In this case, Harris’ stern demand to pass “voting rights” (which already exist) is a dead end, blocked by multiple Democrat senators who have no interest in committing political suicide. A smart administration would pivot away to something they can actually accomplish instead of running headlong off an electoral cliff. Yet, here we are, with Harris believing that she can put her serious face on, do that weird halting speaking style she does, and somehow get what she wants. It’s unseemly at best and a complete turnoff for voters at worst.
So, the question remains, is Harris really dumb or really dishonest? I’ll just go with some yet unmeasured mix of both. Either way, she’s really bad at her job.