June 9, 2019

Kamala Harris seems to have invented a stock nonanswer for any question... and I think you can tell she doesn't believe she can get away with it.

125 comments:

rehajm said...

Fraudopotamus.

tim maguire said...

How about, “every problem has its own best available solution and I’m not going to rule out any solution until we define what the problem is.”

Lewis Wetzel said...

She sounds like a wannabee cabinet secretary, not a wannabe president.
They all sound like that, except for Warren.

Kevin said...

"First, do not offend," has never been a viable leadership strategy.

I suspect this is finally going to be made clear in 2020.

It's great for keeping the flock together where it stands, but the shepherd's job is to lead them to green grass while keeping the wolves away.

Kevin said...

Shorter Harris: I know noting until it arrives in a briefing book.

Wilbur said...

Yeah, because the experts are ALWAYS right.

That's why they're experts. Just ask one.

Kevin said...

In the past, it has never hurt a sitting Senator to run for President.

It raises their name recognition and builds a national donor base to fund their campaigns.

It may not work out that way this time.

Gillibrand and Harris, for example, may never recover from the increased exposure.

Humperdink said...

"Beats me."

David Begley said...

She won’t be able to dodge MY question.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Would you consider that the rent is too damn high?"
“I would consider as President reading a briefing book. I would consider surrounding myself with experts. I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk...”

Quaestor said...

What is it now, a 21-passenger clown car or 22, or 23? I'm too bored to count, frankly.

Somewhere the Dems are hiding their real candidate, in an underground bunker guarded by Lord Vader's personal stormtrooper leibstandarte most likely. It cannot be any of these muppets, these mannequins, these bipedal jokes, not if there's a single non-rotten brain serving on the DNC.

Do the Dems think they are doing themselves a favor by allowing their brand — what's left of it — to be polluted by such epic lameness. They're all lame, or lame and ancient, or so goddamned lame they couldn't pour water from a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.

Kevin said...

The buck stops at the briefing book.

tim in vermont said...

Listen to experts... Feel the power of the deep state flow through you.... Bwa ha ha ha ha!

Leland said...

Shorter answer: "I will do whatever the deep state tells me to do."

Even short answer: "I'm a follower, not a leader"

TrespassersW said...

"What's your favorite color?"

"Plaid."

How is it that these ciphers, these empty chairs, have risen as high as they have in Democrat politics?

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

What a fooking affirmative-action lightweight. Fantastic poster child for why things don't work if Democrats are in charge for any extended period.

tim in vermont said...

I guess when she is dealing with Mexico, she is going to consider the American citizens most at risk from the flood of competing cheap labor? Bwa ha ha ha ha!

I guess when she is dealing with China, she is goign to consider the American union workers most at risk from Chinese steel dumping, etc? Bwa ha ha ha!

She is going to consider the plight of American programmers shunted aside for indentured programmers from the subcontinent? Bwa ha ha ha ha!

Her main concern will be for the billionaires whose one-sided-free-trade and cheap foreign labor gravy trains has been put at risk.

tim in vermont said...

By decideing beforehand who is “most at risk” she is pre-empting any real discussion of the issues.

Tank said...

Shorter answer: "I don't know what to do."

Fen said...

"I would consider surrounding myself with experts"

That last line always makes her inner thighs a little slippery.

Bruce Hayden said...

“I would consider as President reading a briefing book. I would consider surrounding myself with experts. I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk...”

Ok, Who gets to fill out the briefing books? Are you admitting that you would have those people pulling your strings? Similar problem with experts - who would be picking them?

These are decent questions, esp with Democrats. Obama ran his Administration as a medieval monarchy, with his various constituencies getting cabinet posts that could be run as fiefdoms. For Crooked Hillary, it very likely would have been rule by bribery, with different factions battling for dominance through how well they fund the monarchy.

The problem with the Democrats is that they mostly seem to believe that good intent and proper progressive positions is sufficient to run the country effectively. It isn’t. Obama looked incompetent running it because he was. His management technique seemed mostly to be benign neglect, taking his management inspiration from the way that Chicago is run. He had no training or experience in running anything more complex than his Senate office, and that was starkly evident for the eight years he was in office. And, yes, we still don’t know who was actually pulling his strings, who had funded his schooling, who had hidden so much of his former life. Etc. And Harris seems to be saying that she two dreams of living in the big house, in trade for letting others fill her briefing books and pick her experts.

daskol said...

The opportunistic Dems vying for the nomination are playing out for all or at least many more to see the lesson of Donald Trump that more eager students took in a few years ago: it’s all over for our political class. They suck. These are not more impressive people than the near-score Trump humiliated in the GOP primary. They’re still here because Dem elites are more powerful, and that kind of power is hard to surrender. Even when it’s already gone, it will take smashing Kamalas and Kirstens and Betos before they rethink the approach. Good soldiers. That’s all they are: not necessarily all that talented but loyal and dogged.

traditionalguy said...

She would care for those most at risk from Tariffs. That would be the World Cash Flow Oligarchs who broker the cheapest labor on the Planet for a middleman fee while world trade is facilitated by the USA Navy at our sole cost.They are the ones at risk ,as Trump gives the American middle class its first champion allowed to play the game since Ronald Reagan's brief interlude.

daskol said...

Liz Warren’s scholarship is debased ideologically driven stuff that doesn’t support her stature and her political accomplishments are entirely rhetorical but she’s a giant in this field. She didn’t screw or marry her way to position, she can actually give a rousing speech.

Johnathan Birks said...

When will we "have a conversation" about Willie Brown?

stevew said...

@tim maguire
Well put. There are lots of ways to construct that answer that demonstrate a willingness and ability to lead. KH’s answer demonstrates the opposite. She is an awful candidate for the top executive position in the government. Did one of her experts give her that answer?

iowan2 said...

Democrat politicians have few core values. It starts with getting elected, moves to staying elected. When they get voted out, it moves to extending to the monetizing of their elected office. Not picky which cause, see, Speaker Boehner and pot legalization.
Democrat core value is getting elected for the raw execution of power. Any legisation fought for is to extend the exercise of that power.

hawkeyedjb said...

"Not sure what my deeply held beliefs are on that. I'll have my people figure those out."

AlbertAnonymous said...

Good God, she just sucks. Talk about unprepared. Does she really think she just “gets to be president” because she’s a black woman? Dems coming out of California are so out of touch with the country as a whole because they’re used to their bubble with it’s guaranteed elections for Dems if they just keep spewing the party line. Things are different when you’re out of the bubble.

iowan2 said...

Good God, she just sucks. Talk about unprepared. Does she really think she just “gets to be president” because she’s a black woman?

We have a winner in todays update with reality.

rhhardin said...

Lie down with experts, get up with fleas.

gilbar said...

Kamela: "I'm SO incompetent; that Before ANY decision, i would read the briefing book and get instructions on what to do; you see? I'm SO incompetent that the Only thing i Know how to do, is sucking cock"

MartyH said...

Notice how Trump has shifted the Overton Window on tariffs from pointlessly self destructive to useful political tool in what? a week?

holdfast said...

Bitchy, invasive and ignorant sounding is no way to go through life.

gspencer said...

The variant of the non-answer I've come to expect from her, "Yes, we should have a conversation about that."

gilbar said...

AlbertAnonymous said...
Good God, she just sucks. Does she really think she just “gets to be president” because she’s a black woman?


Well, she got ALL her other jobs because of her sucking; why should the President be different?

Kamela: "WHOSE dick do i have to suck do get This job?"

Jeff said...

I read this as Harris expressing contempt for Trump's supposed stupidity. I mean, what kind of person doesn't do any research or talk to anyone with some expertise before making important decisions?

The trouble with this line of criticism is first, that most people don't care how a President arrives at a position; they only care what his position is. Second, the criticism itself, like similar criticism we heard about Reagan and GWB, stems from anonymous sources and/or stories told by disgruntled ex-employees or others with axes to grind. Third, there doesn't seem to be much correlation between how studious a President is and how successful he is. Carter and Clinton were both thought to be policy nerds; Clinton did well but Carter was a disaster. Reagan's vice president was more steeped in policy details than Reagan was, but it's pretty clear which of the two was a better President.

So we come to Trump. I don't see how the Democrats are going to get anywhere until they explain just what specific policies of Trump they would change and how their changes are an improvement. Up to now, everything I've heard sounds like something you'd hear in a junior high cafeteria.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

*Experts*

Drink!

iowan2 said...

President Trump is a big idea guy.
He says I want a 75 story tower here. His minions explain that zoning won't allow it. So he goes about changing the zoning.
Rinse and repeat.

He comes up with a strategy. Gets shot down, cures the objection or changes strategy. Why is this so hard to grasp?

Milo Minderbinder said...

Q. "Would you sleep with Willie Brown to get a job?"
A. “I would consider reading a briefing book. I would consider surrounding myself with experts. I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk...”

Michael said...

Ah, you would “consider” it would you? But then after consideration you might reject the considered notion that youwould surround yourself with experts. Affirmative action word salad stupidity.

Humperdink said...

Does this mean she will show up at the first debate with a stack of briefing books?

n.n said...

There are alternatives. Develop the economy. Emigration reform. Do it for the unPlanned children! #HateLovesAbortion

Temujin said...

"I would consider listening to the voices of those who would be most at risk."

Of course. Who might that be directing your actions or policies? Why do I have visions of her basing her actions and policies on screaming college students and incoming illegal immigrants? Why do I think her policies will be based on flash polls instead of a solid philosophical base?

She's horrible. A preener. A grandstander. Like Biden, she could have a long career as a Senator where barely talented people can hide among the truly talented, without having to stick out until they want to. As President, there will be no such tall grass to hide in. She's not the one.

Michael K said...

Gillibrand and Harris, for example, may never recover from the increased exposure.

Good observation.

There is a reason why Mayor Buttpeg and 77 year old Biden are leading.

we still don’t know who was actually pulling his strings, who had funded his schooling, who had hidden so much of his former life. Etc.

I have wondered this since he appeared. It may be years before we learn who is running him.

I wondered about him since early 2008.

Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city’s most popular black call-in radio ­program.

I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows:

“He said, ‘Cliff, I’m gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'”

“Oh, you are? Who might that be?”

“Barack Obama.”

Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.


Where did he come from ? Why is the original birth certificate missing ?

Who are these people?

Fernandinande said...

"What's your favorite color?"

I would consider as President studying Pantone's Polyester Swatch Book. I would consider surrounding myself with color samples. I would consider listening to the voices of the people of colors.

JPS said...

You can really have fun surrounding yourself with experts.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Soviets have emplaced ballistic missiles in Cuba but not to worry. I have experts including Curtis LeMay and Dean Rusk to advise me on how to proceed.

My fellow Americans, we must face the threat of global climate change. To advise me on the best way forward, we have Michael Mann, Kevin Trenberth, Judith Curry and Richard Lindzen.

Danno said...

Blogger Tank said...Shorter answer: "I don't know what to do."

Even shorter: I don't know shit.

Retail Lawyer said...

"listen to the voices of the people at risk . . ." Progs always throw in the useless word, "voice". Its not helpful. Makes me think their constituency is shouting slogans and illiterate.

Fernandinande said...

"I would consider listening to the voices." -- Son of Sam

Henry said...

It's the Michael Dukakis campaign all over again.

Henry said...

Give her credit for at least not calling her experts The Best and the Brightest

Biff said...

A briefing book? Is that anything like a binder?

iowan2 said...

Leftist media ignore their responsibility to ask follow up questions. "What if your advisors offer four different courses of action. What core principle will you base your decision?"

robother said...

"Why did we invade Iraq? What else could I do, I was surrounded by experts!"

MadisonMan said...

"How will you approach any problem as President?"

“I would consider as President reading a briefing book. I would consider surrounding myself with experts. I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk...”


Not a Leader.

gilbar said...

robother said... "Why did we invade Iraq? What else could I do, I was surrounded by experts!"

I think robother just won!

LA_Bob said...

"... and I think you can tell she doesn't believe she can get away with it."

That look on her face, especially at the end of the clip, seems to confirms Althouse's judgement.

"Look! I have to say something!"

Tommy Duncan said...

"Let me consult with the pollsters to see what works with the focus groups."

Beasts of England said...

'I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk...'

A true profile in courage!!

Limited blogger said...

So I see Kamala has started creating campaign ads for Trump?

Sam L. said...

Sooooooooo...nothing!

Paul said...

“I would consider as President reading a briefing book. I would consider surrounding myself with experts. I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk...”

What the hell? It's a yes or no question and she recites Hamlet. "To be or not to be"...

mtrobertslaw said...

Q. On what core principle will you base your decision?
Ans. You mean like an apple core?

madAsHell said...

"It was so much easier when I had a dick in my mouth!!"

Rick said...

Not only is she an idiot so are her staffers.

madAsHell said...

Who are these people?

Manchurians!!

I'm hoping Trump eliminates the FBI. Although Nixon was a damn fool, DeepThroat Mark Felt was not motivated by love-of-country. He was feeling scorned after being passed over for the FBI director job.

Birkel said...

LBJ has expert Bob McNamara.
He got, what? 65k American boys killed?
And how many more wounded, physically and mentally?

Experts tend not to understand what they imagine they know.
GIGO.

I prefer MAGA.

tim in vermont said...

All of the experts felt that WWI was a capital idea!

Robert Cook said...

I read a profile of Harris in the New Yorker a few weeks ago. This pathetic answer seems to reflect her character as depicted in the story: so compulsively careful not to say anything that could cause a backlash or antagonize people in a position to vote against her that she ends up saying nothing at all.

This is not attractive in a candidate for public office, much less for the presidency.

If she is the Dem candidate against Trump, (unlikely), she will simply disappear next to Trump.

tim in vermont said...

A “crossroads” in folklore suggests a choosing of the ways, between selling your soul to the devil, maybe, or living a less exciting life on the straight and narrow, which makes this last verse of Crossroads pretty funny.

You can run, you can run, boy
Tell my friend, Willie Brown.
You can run, you can run, boy
Tell my friend, Willie Brown.
And I’m standing at the crossroads
And I believe I’m sinking down.


“Heels up for Willie Brown!”

OK, I added that last line.

Seeing Red said...

I know nothing until I listen to “experts” (who may be in on the take) is not a good response.

Seeing Red said...

“Considering reading a briefing book” means she might not.

Limited blogger said...

The dems are still going to have 2 days of debates with 10 people on stage each day?

Why?

Howard said...

On a senate panel, Kamela plays a prosecuting attorney and comes off as strong, direct, forthright. On the campaign trail, she goes into corporate attorney mode and comes off as a two-faced equivocator trying not to make a mistake.

madAsHell said...

so compulsively careful not to say anything that could cause a backlash or antagonize people in a position to vote against her that she ends up saying nothing at all.

See Barack Obama.

tim in vermont said...

I understand that she has a string in her back with a ring on it, and if you pull it, it says “Math is hard!”

Oh wait, that was a different Barbie, if you pull it, it says “I would consider as President reading a briefing book...."

madAsHell said...

Why?

Cuz....they don't know what issues will stick.

Am I the only one that sees the traditional path to the nomination has changed?? It used to be that the WaPo, Time, or NYT would identify a "front runner". I just don't see it that way anymore.

Tomcc said...

It's kind of a long way of saying "I'll get back to you on that."
She will be very busy listening to all those voices! The most inclusive president ever.

rightguy said...

Obama was Chauncey Gardener without the landscaping skills. Kamala is Obama in a skirt, without the rhetorical (and BS) skills. There is no there, there, in all three cases. Zero, zilch, nada.

Rae said...

I seem to recall Trump being roundly mocked during his campaign for saying "I'll have the best people" when asked what was essentially the same question.

buwaya said...

A younger Willie Brown would have made a superb presidential candidate for this year.
He has the wit, the personality, the charm and the color to grab the lead easily.

In his day he was held back by the skeletons in his closet, but that doesn't matter now. He was born too early.

Tomcc said...

FWIW, I suspect she cares deeply.

rcocean said...

Message: I will listen. To the people. To all sides. To the experts. To the ignorant. To Everyone. To anyone. I will feel your pain. I will grow additional ears.

And then I will make the decision. Based on the Democrat/Liberal party line.

Amadeus 48 said...

Nope.

She's a loser.

Can I vote for Willie Brown?

Yancey Ward said...

That was awful!

I have written it many times- in a field this large and politically non-diverse, you have got to take quite a few contrary positions to break out from the pack. Here Harris was given a real opportunity to do so and gave such a ridiculous non-answer. I am now beginning to think she never gets it right.

glenn said...

When the candidate was a functionary in the backwaters of the Alameda County DA’s office and got her “foot” on the promotion ladder by stuchiping Willie Brown it’s just not fair to expect Churchillian rhetoric. Great legs, yes. Great intellect, not so much.

Michael K said...

In his day he was held back by the skeletons in his closet, but that doesn't matter now. He was born too early.

Willie is/was a sharp dresser unlike Jess Unruh who showed the way in CA politics.

He might be too realistic for today's Democrat Party.

mikee said...

Will she have notebooks full of such info?

Zach said...

It raises the question of why she hasn't read the briefing book yet.

Elections aren't just one long ad campaign. Candidates are supposed to have policy teams. It's a major current issue on which opinions differ and the incumbent president has staked out a controversial position. If she wants to be the person making the decision, she should explain what she would do differently and why that's better than the status quo.

Also, it's a very passive conception of the presidency, isn't it? The job of the President is to ratify the decisions made by the real experts, and to do the assigned homework. You read the briefing book, you get the gold star. If you promise to read the briefing book in the future, that's almost as good.

The interesting question is: who does she think creates the briefing book? For a candidate, the answer is nobody. If you haven't formed a good policy team, there's nobody to brief you. You can't read the book, because there is no book.

For a President, the answer is even worse. If you don't have your own policy team, the briefing book is written by the person who's already there. You bought the status quo when you let the status quo write the brief.

Gk1 said...

Do the democrats have any female candidates who have ever made it on their own other than fucking powerful men? Other than being Willie Browns side piece, what has she ever done? What had Hillary done other than fuck Bill? Thats Harris' problem, shes just a chippie that fucked her way to the top. That's enough to get you a senate seat in California but that's about it.

Mr. O. Possum said...

She's Gillibrand but without the moral conviction.

hawkeyedjb said...

"... she ends up saying nothing at all."

When you know nothing, it's easy to say nothing. She might have - sorta, maybe - understood the question. Nobody has yet told her the answer, so she has to go with what she has. I think the correct Democratic answer is "No. Trump's doing it, so we never will."

An answer that can also be used over and over.

Amadeus 48 said...

She has a Thomas Dewey campaign going:

"Agriculture is important. Our rivers are full of fish. You can't have freedom without liberty. Our future lies ahead."

This will turn out well!


Achilles said...

She isn't even pretty anymore.

Now she is just a dumb washed up woman who used to suck dick for a job.

She wont even be useful as a VP front.

DavidUW said...

The best thing about getting California politicians out of the California bubble is the reveal of how utterly stupid they are

Sally said...

Kamala Harris confuses presidential primary questions with Toastmasters Table Topics. All she had to do was speak for a minute.

Tank said...

Try to imagine Harris or Gillibrand debating Pence.

Matt said...

"People most at risk" translation "I'm only gonna care about brown people and the sexually confused because history".

Beasts of England said...

'She wont even be useful as a VP front.'

I'm not yet convinced of that. If it's Biden, he'll need to up his intersectionality score, and she checks several boxes.

Daniel Jackson said...

"I have a plan; it's a complicated plan; so trust me, I have a plan [or words to that effect]." Dick Nixon, 1968.

We are dealing with a photographic negative of another Californian. Are Democrats so blind that Nixonian bullshit is not outed and called it for what it is.

Do we REALLY need a reminder?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVdomcsjBA

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Reminds me of John Kerry.

David Duffy said...

She has learned to not give a soundbite to the hysterical homosexuals, the fierce femobots, the crazed crowd that scream "PHOBIA" at everyone who doesn't Seieg Heil the party line, the race identity anti-racist mobs. These are the people she fears.

The only ones who will criticize her for her zombie-like goose step are the Althouse crowd, a group no one cared about until Trump figured out they were a slight majority in the swing states.

The answer to this slight majority in the swing states? Immigration. Turn every state into California.

Fen said...


"The only ones who will criticize her for her zombie-like goose step are the Althouse crowd, a group no one cared about until Trump figured out they were a slight majority in the swing states."

The group that got Trump elected were Obama voters who crossed over. Attempting to replace them with new citizens enslaved to the Democrat welfare state will be as effective as throwing kerosene at a fire.

A central tenant of conservative philosophy is to identity your mistakes so you don't keep repeating them. The Left chooses instead to embrace fantasy narratives that will blind them in 2020 just as they were blinded to what was coming on election night 2016.

They hwve a date with Karma. It's nice when then universe works out the way it should.

BTW, Trump is going to form a new coalition with latino immigrants. Democrats must not talk to many refugees fleeing socialism. Just ask Sarah Hoyt - they hate the Left more than I do, and with gooe reason.

Immigrants are not going to be the compliant rubes dependent on Democrat welfare slavery that you hope them to be.

And weird how you will readily seek to undermine your fellow countymen by importing foreigners you hope to enslave. We are due for a good culling.

Achilles said...

Beasts of England said...
'She wont even be useful as a VP front.'

I'm not yet convinced of that. If it's Biden, he'll need to up his intersectionality score, and she checks several boxes.

Sure. Checks boxes.

But actual value added? Just checking boxes isn't enough.

Biden might pick her because she is dumber than he is.

Howard said...

Don't Bogart that joint, Fen. That must be some KGB given the depth of that pipe dream.

Semper Ebrius

narciso said...

Whereas he brings no game:

https://mobile.twitter.com/realsaavedra/status/1137821371084419072?s=21

gadfly said...

The correct answer is: "“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabron and ching' tu madre!”

tim in vermont said...

Trump is going to form a new coalition with latino immigrants.

I began to understand why Trump appeals to legal Hispanics when I was buying some vegetables at a. stand in South Florida, and saw the horrific border video that I guess plays non-stop on Spanish language TV. I am not sure the pictures are having the effect that the producers hoped.

chickelit said...

Does Harris always wear the same Maddow-inspired drabwear?

Kirk Parker said...

"Bitchy, invasive and ignorant sounding is no way to go through life."

Well, it got her to the Senate...

McGehee said...

"I would consider having your press pass yanked if you asked me a question like that while I was president."

rbrandt said...

Sheesh, can’t she just say ‘sure’.

wildswan said...

Shorter Kammie:
If I was President, I would lawyer up.

gilbar said...

i just re-re-relistened to Kamela's "answer",
and i'd have to ask: 'so, is that a Yes? or a No?

evmick said...

NPC

walter said...

Seems about right..since she likely has zero understanding of economics.
Maybe she'll seek Robert Reiiiiiccchhhhhh.

walter said...

Well..she understands barter..

alan said...

Not just a non-answer; she's essentially told you "oh dear, I haven't thought about that, at all!"

Mojo Jojo said...

Kamala Harris is the singularly most powermadd politician in office today. It would be much quicker for her to tell us the things she wouldn't do or consider to get ahead.

Achilles said...

Kirk Parker said...
"Bitchy, invasive and ignorant sounding is no way to go through life."

Well, it got her to the Senate...


No it didn't.

stlcdr said...

Why would you make policies that put people at risk - oh, but are we talking about American people?

I don’t believe trump has put such policies in place. Indeed, I have seen him protect all American people, to put and keep the US in a position of strength.

bagoh20 said...

Q: A hammer is a useful tool when building a house, if you were building a house, would you consider using a hammer?

A: Let me get back to you on that.

Michael K said...

I think she has bought that Democrat theory that Trump doesn't know anything. He doesn't know the difference between the moon and Mars. Actually, that was Sheila Jackson Lee who really doesn't know. She is saying she will get the "experts" who have run the country into the ground the last 25 years to tell her what to do.

Danno said...

I see John Hinderaker at Powerline posted on this topic and made an attribution to Althouse.