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Furious columnist hits out at N.Y. Times for report on Black voters’ view of Kamala Harris
Black pundits and columnists are already predicting the racism that will surface from some of the top media outlets in the country as they try to cover a candidate of color in the presidential race.
Writing for "The Nation," legal expert Elie Mystal shredded the New York Times for a report they titled: "Some Black Voters Say They Wonder if a Black Woman Can Win."
Mystal was furious as the Times "used other Black people to make their point."
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He explained that as a Black voter, he wonders about many things.
"I wonder if aliens exist; I wonder if God is an a--hole; I wonder how many abortions Donald Trump has paid for," Mystal wrote Tuesday. "But the Times wouldn’t run a story that stated 'Some Black Voters Say They Wonder How Many Active Ku Klux Klan Members Attended the Republican National Convention.'"
He thinks that more Black voters likely wonder about the latter than about whether Harris could win in November.
One Black woman from Atlanta, interviewed by the Times, said, "America is just not ready for a woman president, especially not a Black woman president."
Keli Goff at The Daily Beast is another writer parroting that language, he said. Her sentiment is akin to, “I’d vote for a Black woman, but not that Black woman.”
Mystal wrote that Goff simply stating what the U.S. has told Black people for generations, especially Black women. That message: "America hates you."
"We see the disdain this country holds for people of color whenever we turn on the news. We feel the antipathy this country holds for women every time we go to work, or read an opinion from the Supreme Court," Mystal wrote.
"Harris has been subjected to the worst press coverage of any vice president in my lifetime, and she’s about to be subjected to the worst coverage of any presidential candidate in American history… save perhaps Hillary Clinton."
He called it nothing more than "white male supremacy," which not only dictates the leadership, but works to hold others down by telling them that they feel don't deserve power.
"I can already see David Brooks and Bret Stephens clacking away on their keyboards, doing everything in their power to call Harris unqualified, unintelligent, and undeserving of the office she seeks," Mystal wrote.
The Washington Post editorial board has already taken a different path by encouraging Harris not to hold back out of prudence.
He warned it will get "ugly," but said he won't be deterred by "programming that’s designed to make me think a woman of color can’t win."
While "they are not ready for her, but she is ready to beat them," Mystal closed.
Former Democratic presidential candidate endorses Whitmer for VP
Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to be vice president Sunday evening, calling a ticket combining Vice President Kamala Harris and the Michigan governor “the winning hand” for Democrats after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign Sunday afternoon.
“The heroic, selfless decision by Joe Biden has given us the chance to nominate two leaders who will wipe the smirk off Donald Trump’s face and allow us to come roaring back,” de Blasio said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The best way to beat Trump? Team up @VP Kamala Harris and @GovWhitmer!
The heroic, selfless decision by @JoeBiden has given us the chance to nominate two leaders who will wipe the smirk off Donald Trump’s face and allow us to come roaring back. A Harris-Whitmer ticket is the…
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) July 22, 2024
De Blasio ran for president during the 2020 cycle and participated in the presidential debates held in Detroit in 2019.
Biden endorsed Harris to be the Democratic nominee for president shortly after ending his own campaign, and Harris has started the process of taking over his existing campaign apparatus.
Several Michigan officials quickly endorsed Harris on Sunday, including U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.), U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids), Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), Dan Kildee (D-Flint), Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), Attorney General Dana Nessel and former governors Jim Blanchard and Jennifer Granholm.
Granholm also serves as Biden’s energy secretary. Another member of Biden’s cabinet, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who lives in Traverse City, also quickly endorsed Harris.
Buttigieg is among the names who have been floated as a potential replacement for Biden or running mate for Harris, along with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also endorsed Harris on Sunday, and Whitmer.
Whitmer did not endorse anyone Sunday but said that her “job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.”
Other officials being floated as potential running mates for Harris include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.
We need a Harris-Whitmer ticket now!
Think of the excitement and energy that would bring! @KamalaHarris and @GovWhitmer: That’s a team we can win with. https://t.co/Pz2Kc7CqzV
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) July 22, 2024
While some have indicated they believe Harris may select a male running mate to “balance” the ticket, de Blasio urged delegates to “think of the excitement and energy” a Harris-Whitmer ticket would bring.
“We need a Harris-Whitmer ticket now!” de Blasio said.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.
DNC panel to meet in public to set ‘transparent, fair’ framework to pick nominee
WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee will move forward with the process to formally nominate a presidential candidate Wednesday when one of its committees meets in public amid ongoing efforts to set up a virtual roll call vote ahead of the convention, States Newsroom has been told.
The nomination process has been playing out for months as the DNC committees with jurisdiction have been meeting to iron out the details for a virtual roll call.
The need for a virtual roll call was triggered by deadlines in Ohio and some other states that required the political parties to have their nominee certified before or during the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to take place from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22.
Following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, the co-chairs of the DNC Rules Committee announced that it will be the panel’s “responsibility to implement a framework to select a new nominee, which will be open, transparent, fair, and orderly,” according to an individual familiar with their statement.
The committee is scheduled to meet publicly from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday. The meeting will be live-streamed on the DNC’s YouTube page.
DNC Rules Committee co-chairs Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the “process presented for consideration will be comprehensive, it will be fair, and it will be expeditious,” according to an individual close to the process who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.
‘Grasping’: Obama’s ex-campaign manager laughs that Trump team caught off guard by Biden
Republicans are scrambling to regain their footing after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election campaign and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
The 81-year-old president ended his campaign Sunday following weeks of mounting pressure from other Democrats over concerns about his age, and Barack Obama's former campaign manager David Plouffe told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Donald Trump and his GOP allies were left grasping at straws following the shakeup.
"I've been impressed by Kamala's interviews the last few weeks," Plouffe said. "She's a prosecutor, he's a criminal – I like the matchup.
"Listen, let's not forget, the biggest issue in this campaign was Joe Biden's age. If Donald Trump gets elected, he'll be older than Joe Biden [was] on Inauguration Day. This guy is showing serious signs of unfitness — yes, in terms of character and the positions he holds, but in terms of his decline. He is really, really having trouble reading the Teleprompter. Obviously, the [Republican National Convention] speech was bad in tone, but he couldn't follow instructions there. This should give us great pause."
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The former president had been counting on a rematch with his 2020 rival, and although his team has been preparing for the possibility that Biden would drop out, Plouffe made fun of Trump adviser Jason Miller for coming out of the chute by attacking Harris for supporting a ban on plastic straws for environmental reasons.
"I'm excited about this," Plouffe said. "I think the Trump campaign doesn't seem like they were as prepared for this switch as perhaps they might have been. They seem like they're kind of grasping. I guess they're talking about plastic straws and whatnot – not a compelling message."
Watch the video below or at this link.
MSNBC 07 22 2024 07 17 29 youtu.be
‘Damn shameful’: J.D. Vance met with uproar as questionable speech claims debunked
Sen. J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican former President Donald Trump has picked as his running mate, was shamed this week for the questionable claim that undocumented immigrants caused his mother's addiction to drugs.
An X community note was added Wednesday to a Vance 2022 campaign ad called "Are you a racist?" in which he suggested undocumented people were the lone source of the narcotics that took over his mother's life.
"I nearly lost my mother to the poison coming across our border," Vance says. "Joe Biden's open border is killing Ohioans with more illegal drugs and more Democrat voters pouring into this country."
The simple narrative Vance presents in his ad is challenged by the context of his mother's descent into addiction.
While Bev Vance ultimately did find herself addicted to heroin, which a 2022 White House report notes comes primarily from criminal organizations in Mexico, her substance abuse problems began with alcohol, multiple reports show.
The gateway between the two substances appears in a Washington Post report about Vance's "radicalization" that was published the same year as Vance's ad.
It notes Vance's mother "worked regularly as a nurse until she started stealing prescription narcotics and getting high."
Bev Vance's prescription opioid habit developed in the mid-1990s, about the same time the Food and Drug Administration approved Purdue Pharma's OxyContin and triggered an opioid crisis that plagues the nation to this day.
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It's that context referenced in this week's Community Note, which reads, "Vance’s mother utilized her position as a nurse to steal prescribed medication from her patients, not because of undocumented immigrants."
And it was that context that outraged X users who viewed the ad and challenged its message.
"Damn shameful," replied X user @AspieJames.
"Even without the lie, this ad was disgusting," wrote @ChristinaKilis.
"This tells us exactly who he is," wrote X user Sandy. "He runs with the hares and the hounds."
Another X user reminded readers of criticism Vance faced for a failed nonprofit for people with opioid addictions that "didn’t spend one nickel on anybody," as a political opponent argued in 2022.
"Bold talk coming from a man who set up a fake charity to 'help those affected by the opioid crisis,'" replied Jesse Denney, "and then used all of the proceeds to fund his Senatw [sic] campaign instead of, you know... helping people."
A New York Times report notes, "Some of the nonprofit group’s own workers said they had drawn a different conclusion: They had been lured by the promise of helping Ohio, but instead had been used to help Mr. Vance start his career in politics."
‘Journalism at its worst’: Washington Post columnist blasts CNN’s ‘fawning’ RNC coverage
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin accused CNN and other broadcast networks of a "new low" with their coverage of the Republican National Convention (RNC).
In a post on X, Rubin called out CNN on Thursday.
"CNN and other broadcasts have reached a new low in RNC coverage, fawning over 'unity' and 'young Vance' - ignoring we are seeing a fascist party overflowing with criminals plot the downfall of America, a VP who is the single most radical and unqualified in history," Rubin wrote.
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"No pushback on lack of information on Trump's injury. It's access journalism at its worst. It's not the media we need to defend democracy," she lamented.
Throughout the Republican convention, CNN has devoted a scant few minutes each night to fact-checking the falsehoods repeated by speakers.
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CPAC attendees stun host as they cheer for Trump impeachment: ‘That was the wrong answer’
Conservative activist and lobbyist Matthew Schlapp was left speechless Friday after attempting to “hype up” the crowd at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) conference in Texas, only for the effort to backfire spectacularly.
“How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” Schlapp asked the massive crowd at the annual conservative event.
To Schlapp’s surprise, a wave of cheers erupted from the crowd.
“No,” Schlapp responded, shaking his head and smiling awkwardly. “That was the wrong answer. Let me try it again: how many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?”
Schlapp’s second attempt garnered a more mixed response, with some still cheering while others booed.
Schlapp again laughed off the unexpected response.
“Can someone bring some coffee out for the people at CPAC?” he said.
CPAC was founded in 1974, with President Ronald Reagan delivering the organization’s first-ever inaugural keynote speech. It’s held regular annual conferences in years since, with President Donald Trump delivering a speech at the organization’s conference in 2024.
Schlapp, 58, has long been involved in Republican politics, having served as President George W. Bush’s deputy assistant. Schlapp previously served as CPAC’s chair, and currently runs a lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump administration.
The Independent reporter Andrew Feinberg flagged the moment in a post on social media, describing Schlapp’s attempt to “hype up the CPAC crowd” as having gone “horribly wrong.”