# The Kamala Harris thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** kamala-harris\ **Created:** [October 20, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236 "2018-10-20T03:08:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![DavidChou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@DavidChou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidChou)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/261 "2019-02-24T22:02:15Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I see him gulping the water. It’s a poor stunt, is the point. Not convincing for most, AFAIK. So if the point was to demonstrate safety, why didn’t he take a normal gulp? Unless, of course, you believe he really just happened to have been coughing twice and just happened to have needed to only wet his lips and wasn’t trying to demonstrate anything at all…yes, it’s statistically possible. Just seemed very strange for a man widely renowned for his command of optics. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/262 "2019-02-25T00:25:24Z")
How does anyone parse this? A tweet of @Jeremy\_Ellwood seen on Facebook the other day: > [@](#): > > Dear @DNC: > In 2015, we told you we WILL NOT vote for Hillary. We were told you don’t need our votes. You coronated her. She lost. You blamed us progressives. Let me explain 2020 as shortly as possible: We will not vote for Kamala Harris. I recommend you take that to heart. Instead of exploding in anger, my initial reaction, I posted “Kamala Harris FTW! I love her!” That got no reaction. The only other comment was “What don’t they like about her?” That also went unanswered. All I see there is destructive glee from a so-called progressive at helping Trump to win and threatening to do it again. No logical relevance to Kamala Harris about the DNC “coronating” (that isn’t a real word, you know). Nothing about finding ways to help America become better. Just mindless destructiveness for its own sake. smh ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/263 "2019-02-25T00:33:58Z")
What is there to parse? It pretty simply says progressives of his ilk will not accept Harris. What is the difficulty? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/264 "2019-02-25T00:34:55Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > How does anyone parse this? A tweet of @Jeremy\_Ellwood seen on Facebook the other day: > > Instead of exploding in anger, my initial reaction, I posted “Kamala Harris FTW! I love her!” That got no reaction. The only other comment was “What don’t they like about her?” That also went unanswered. > > All I see there is destructive glee from a so-called progressive at helping Trump to win and threatening to do it again. No logical relevance to Kamala Harris about the DNC “coronating” (that isn’t a real word, you know). Nothing about finding ways to help America become better. Just mindless destructiveness for its own sake. smh Yes, tha attacks from the kremlin begin.:mad: Isn’t he from NZ anyway? I have made no secret of the fact I dont like some of her politics. But I even said that to balance out the “old white guy” as Prez i could see her as Veep, so I dont hate her. But she is low on my preferred choices. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/265 "2019-02-25T01:28:03Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > How does anyone parse this? A tweet of @Jeremy\_Ellwood seen on Facebook the other day: > > Instead of exploding in anger, my initial reaction, I posted “Kamala Harris FTW! I love her!” That got no reaction. The only other comment was “What don’t they like about her?” That also went unanswered. > > All I see there is destructive glee from a so-called progressive at helping Trump to win and threatening to do it again. No logical relevance to Kamala Harris about the DNC “coronating” (that isn’t a real word, you know). Nothing about finding ways to help America become better. Just mindless destructiveness for its own sake. smh There will always be idiots saying idiotic things. There will always be someone saying “you better not nominate X!”. All we can do is pick the candidate we think best represents our values and will have the best chance to win. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/266 "2019-02-25T01:33:51Z")
Who is Jeremy Elwood, and why should I care what he says? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/267 "2019-02-25T01:43:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Who is Jeremy Elwood, and why should I care what he says? Nobody asked you to care about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/268 "2019-02-25T01:47:49Z")
Because it raises concern that the insidious destructive politics that attached to Bernie last time, secretly backed by Putin, is raising its ugly head again. Time to be forewarned. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/269 "2019-02-25T01:59:32Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Because it raises concern that the insidious destructive politics that attached to Bernie last time, secretly backed by Putin, is raising its ugly head again. Time to be forewarned. Yes, this is a good point. We should keep this in mind for any poorly or anonymously sourced attacks on Democratic candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/270 "2019-02-25T03:18:31Z")
What’s so irritating about @Jeremy\_Ellwood is reusing the same tired attack line they used against Hillary 4 years ago, without even bothering to come up with anything relevant for today. The flat-out lazy _idiocy_ of it all. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/271 "2019-02-25T03:20:14Z")
I wonder how much the Kremlin pays him? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/272 "2019-02-25T03:27:17Z")
I looked into who had posted that stupid tweet on FB and it was a Tulsi Gabbard enthusiast, whose cover picture is Gabbard campaigning side-by-side with Bernie. If Gabbard is a progressive, I’m Marie of Roumania. Idiocy upon idiocy! ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/273 "2019-02-25T04:24:48Z")
> [@LAZombie](#): > > From your cite at the New York Times" > > "Before Ms. Harris answered the question, Charlamagne tha God interjected, asking her to say what she listened to while she smoked in college. Everyone laughed, before D.J. Envy appeared to return to his original question. > > “Was \*\*it \*\*Snoop?” he asked. > > “Oh yeah, definitely Snoop,” Ms. Harris said. “Tupac for sure.” > > My bolding. The use of “it” suggests that she was referring to what music she listened to as she smoked pot. Yes, she previously claimed she smoked pot once in college and it was a joint. DJ Envy asked her “What do you listen to? I know you have to go, but what does Kamala Harris listen to?” Meaning, what do you currently listen to. Then CTG asks immediately, “What was you listening to when you was high? What was on? What song was playing?” She laughs and exclaims, “Oh my goodness.” DJ Envy then asks, “ **Was** it Snoop?” Past tense, so he was piggybacking on CTG’s question. Kamala Harris replies, “Definitely Snoop, Tupac for sure…” Then DJ Envy asks “What do you listen to now? What’s your favorite hip-hop artist.” Then she replies that she really likes Cardi B. You’re right it’s not a big deal when it comes to all the problems in our country, and it’s a drop in the bucket compared all the lies Trump tells on a daily basis. I took it as her attempt to appeal to pander to the youth crowd. Silly, but that’s it. I did think it was wrong that The Washington Post and MSNCB felt the need to do damage control for her. WaPo has a video where they try to explain it away, and one of the hosts at MSNBC said that FOX was lying about the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/274 "2019-02-25T13:14:14Z")
Harris **actively** fought to prevent trans prisoners from getting SRS in prison. She wass a prosecutor who actively led the fight against (voluntary) sexworkers. She has a wonderful quote about why we should keep or increase prison funding instead of education. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t even seem to see much wrong with our absurd sentencing lengths and incarceration volume. These are completely valid criticism and incredibly **actively damaging** viewpoints for a lot of people. This is **before** you even hit the “far left” part of the equation where the likes of prison abolitionists and anarchist who proudly chant ACAB live. This is not some bit of purity politics. It’s life or death for a lot of people. Can you not see why a lot of people, especially trans folk and sex workers (which often overlap) and those who care for them may be incredibly against voting for her? Now, yes, I have to acknowledge that even in the sphere of things about her that are concerning not everything is bad, the proposed reduction of bail for criminal offenses, for instance, is good. But by and large with her background, not just as a prosecutor, but as someone who fought tooth and nail for specific policies, it’s hard for me to believe she’d even throw half the people I care about a bone, much less champion their rights. I’ll still vote for her, absurdly begrudgingly, if she gets the nomination, she’s almost certainly better than Trump and our shit electoral system ensures third parties don’t work mathematically… but I’m extremely concerned she’s just going to worsen our absurd approach to crime, law enforcement, under an air of liberal friendliness and legitimacy (which isn’t anything new, to be fair. See: Bill Clinton’s entire approach to crime; See: Obama’s use of ICE). I swear people are already closing the [Democrat Criticism Window](https://twitter.com/thenib/status/1093575117970595840). Not every vehement criticism of a candidate is the Kremlin sowing discord. Yes, yes, we have intelligence that they plan to do that and have likely started already. But Harris, in particular, has an incredibly concerning record that only becomes more concerning the farther left you are. She does not appeal to the far left. She does not appeal to center-right Third Way Democrats who are leery about this whole “UHC” or “Green New Deal” thing, I’m confused about why anybody is pushing her so far, she seems like the candidate that appeals to the most narrow possible band of slightly-but-not-too-left Democrats who are vaguely sympathetic to social democracy. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/275 "2019-02-25T15:06:55Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > … I swear people are already closing the [Democrat Criticism Window](https://twitter.com/thenib/status/1093575117970595840). Not every vehement criticism of a candidate is the Kremlin sowing discord. … There is a difference between the sorts of issues you raise and the link that Johanna calls attention to and the distortion of comments made to create silly gotchas out of bupkiss. That said, > [@](#): > > … trans folk and sex workers (which often overlap) … makes one wonder what “often” means. To quote from [the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Executive Summary](https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Executive-Summary-Dec17.pdf) - > [@](#): > > Respondents reported high rates of experience in the underground economy, including > sex work, drug sales, and other work that is currently criminalized. One in five (20%) > have participated in the underground economy for income at some point in their lives— > including 12% who have done sex work in exchange for income—and 9% did so in the past year It is in my mind a stretch to call someone who “ever” exchanged sex for income a “sex worker”, a further stretch to call even those “ever” or “in last year” 12 or 9% “often”, and even more of a stretch to imply that such means the converse, that a high fraction of all sex workers are trans. From what I understand the explanation for the numbers of transpeople who have ever exchanged sex for money is desperation for money due to severe discrimination. As sex workers they are often subject to abuse and victimization. Seems to me order of business is to fight against that discrimination, not to facilitate sex work as a viable option. [This](https://filtermag.org/2019/01/23/presidential-hopeful-kamala-harris-has-helped-make-sex-workers-lives-more-dangerous/) seems to be the basis of the sex worker complaint against Harris. She > [@](#): > > pursued legal cases including child sex trafficking charges against the “adult” personals website Backpage. She also cosponsored the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) in the Senate, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump as part of a package with FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017) on April 11, 2018. > > “It’s despicable that Backpage & its executives purposefully designed Backpage to be the world’s top online brothel,” tweeted Harris, a few months prior to the charges filed through the Office of the Attorney General. > > Harris long advocated for the shutdown of Backpage–which eventually came to pass on April 6, 2018, when the FBI seized it because of the website’s reported connections to child sex trafficking. One consequence was that it made it harder for independent sex workers to do business via the net, “forcing” them to do business in riskier ways (finding other, legal, work is not an option I guess). Personally I find the shut down of child sex trafficking a pretty big plus. And I cannot fault her for doing the job of making breaking the law harder to do. YMMV. OTOH the fighting against SRS for prisoners who need it seems like a bigger hit on her. _This_ sort of discussion about issues is not suspicious for being Kremlin sowed and is in my mind reasonable to air out. How do other candidates stack up on making it easier for sex workers to do business by internet sites? On the issue of SRS for prisoners and other items regarding trans-discrimination? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/276 "2019-02-25T15:49:34Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > OTOH the fighting against SRS for prisoners who need it seems like a bigger hit on her. It does. ☹ However, in the intervening years, she may have come around and become more enlightened on the issue. Like Obama eventually did on marriage equality. Let’s push her to make a policy position of it now, then we’ll re-evaluate. Here in Great Debates just about 10 years ago, Doper sentiment was _heavily_ against SRS for trans prisoners. I had to argue against otherwise liberal Dopers saying, and I quote, “Not just no, but Oh Hell No.” Against Dopers citing a badly flawed and outdated, misleading survey claiming that SRS didn’t help gender dysphoria. If Dopers have so come around in the meantime to consider this opposition a “hit” against a Democratic candidate, then Harris can too. There’s been great and fairly rapid progress in just the last few years. Ten years ago, there were no healthcare insurance plans that covered SRS. Now they’re commonplace! Harris has to be aware of this and take it into consideration when she thinks it over now. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/277 "2019-02-25T15:59:39Z")
I hope I was not one of those “Not just no, but Oh Hell No.” Dopers, but I will say that I learned a bunch from Una’s threads and cites in particular and that my ignorance has been vastly reduced regarding these issues even over the past five years, let alone ten. Yes, growth should be allowed. Still it is sometimes hard to assess what is growth and what is disingenuous self-serving political positioning in an election season. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/278 "2019-02-25T16:12:15Z")
As to the Kremlin smears, they’re all revved up already: [A foreign disinformation campaign is targeting Democrats ahead of 2020, report says](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/9kpd73/a-foreign-disinformation-campaign-is-targeting-democrats-ahead-of-2020-report-says?utm_medium=vicenewsfacebook&fbclid=IwAR2vBPrPqIhKeL713nXAjWni7nU9gJU1s-Vt1MPDhIOHY7vtKok1gBh4SgY) > [@](#): > > The four targets are Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, all of whom are running for president, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who’s expected to run, the report said. The coordinated social-media attacks seem to exist to sow discord between Democrats by circulating fake images, with one example showing a blackface doll in Elizabeth Warren’s kitchen. Politico also reported that a tweet employed ‘racist and sexist stereotypes’ to humiliate Harris, the most targeted of the four. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/279 "2019-02-25T18:35:55Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > How do other candidates stack up on making it easier for sex workers to do business by internet sites? The FOSTA-SESTA bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins. Exactly 2 Senators voted against it. (And one of them was Rand Paul, of course.) Chances of finding any serious candidate for the presidency who wants to be known as the pro-sex worker candidate are probably not very good. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236/280 "2019-02-25T19:44:35Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The FOSTA-SESTA bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins. Exactly 2 Senators voted against it. (And one of them was Rand Paul, of course.) Chances of finding any serious candidate for the presidency who wants to be known as the pro-sex worker candidate are probably not very good. Harris made it a crusade in CA, however. But simply voting for it should not be a hindrance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kamala-harris-thread/823236.md?page=15)