August 13, 2024

"And I think the Biden people may have been in somewhat bad faith — maybe not consciously, but I’m not sure they weren’t trying to undermine her."

"Because the obvious thing to do would be to have this qualified — if not always that politically adept — much younger vice president take over for you when you’re about to be 82. But they gave her the border, they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done. So I don’t think they gave her a very good hand to play. But meanwhile she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well. I have a lot of respect for that."

Said Nate Silver, quoted in "Nate Silver on How Kamala Harris Changed the Odds" (NYT). This is the Ezra Klein podcast, so you might want to listen to it. I'm seeing a lot of interesting material.

Silver has a new book, "On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything" (commission earned).

122 comments:

Dixie said...

"they gave her the border"

What the hell does that even mean? These Democrat wonks have an entire language that is different from English. "They gave her the border." Huh?

They put her in charge of the border so they could have somebody BESIDES BIDEN to blame when they did what they always planned to do which is to eliminate all border controls and allow anyone who wants in to come, regardless of whether they are a terrorist or not. That's what they did. They set her up to be the fall guy.

And she accepted the job. Which calls her judgement into severe question.

Kamala Harris is a vessel into which they will pour all the hate that would normally flow to the person in charge (Barack Obama) into her instead. She's been used (sexually) by politicians for her entire career. So she's used to this sort of treatment.

Achilles said...

I love the cope from Silver.

Kamala is a true American success story and the only thing holding her back right now is that Biden didn't give her enough responsibility.

Sure she screwed up both the things he put her in charge of but he should have done more to...

set her up for success?

doctrev said...

"But meanwhile she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well. I have a lot of respect for that."

This isn't even a backhanded compliment. It's Nate Silver pointing out that Kamablah is a remarkably empty vessel who is still tied to this trainwreck of an Administration. And the problem with stealing another election is that white men will avoid the army in droves for a future Iran/ Taiwan war- at best.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I just heard Silver being interviewed on House of Strauss, so he must be making the rounds because of his new book. He is very good, but he slants his takes to the politics of his audience a bit. He was not so positive about her with Ethan

Gusty Winds said...

Kamala's odds were changed for her by a coordinated propaganda rollout between the DNC and the MSM. She hasn't done anything. Admittedly, the DNC and the MSM have millions of brainwashed Americans in their back pocket. We can thank the liberal education establishment for that.

Gusty Winds said...

I don't believe for minute Kamala is magically now winning in the voter fraud swing states. It's part of the voter fraud, slow roll the count being set up for November. Trump won those states in 2020, and will win again in 2024. We know the fraud is/was real. It's just a matter if they can pull it off again. They've got white women on their side who will deny and believe anything, so it could work again. Then we are screwed.

Tom T. said...

Silver has been simping hard for Harris, perhaps trying to get back into the left's good graces. His euphemisms for her lack of political skills are comical. It's not clear whether he understands that his own description of her is that she's weak, because he ties her ability to accomplish things to the willingness of powerful men to let her.

Jamie said...

How Kamala Harris changed the odds?

With the eager participation of every major media and social media source except Fox News and Twitter, that's how.

Levi Starks said...

She changed the odds by keeping her mouth shut and quietly watching an already decrepit old man become even more decrepit.
And after reading this I’ve realized she’s a gold digger.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Well, "played the game really well" is so damned important isn't it. I'm quickly losing what small amount of respect I had for Nate given what he expresses respect for. What banality.

Quayle said...

"But meanwhile she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well. I have a lot of respect for that."

He respects 'playing the game'. Typical bubble mentality. The rest of us, on the other hand, respect actual accomplishment that helps us in our everyday lives.

Mr Wibble said...

They gave her a perfectly fine hand to play. The problem is that she played it terribly, because she's not very smart, and unwilling to put in the work.

Mark said...

Vice presidents have less legal authority than do cabinet members. Like with all vice presidents, the current one was given figure head assignments as theater. The only vice president who was given any real power to do anything was probably Cheney, and that because of his experience as Secretary of Defense. Pence was the public face of 15 Days to Slow the Spread, but it was Trump, with Fauci and Birx at his side, who ran the show.

Butkus51 said...

in a controlled environment shes awesome is the theme

TreeJoe said...

I'm so sick of this "they gave her the border which was a tough hand" crap. We are talking about the Presidency - both President and Vice are expected to be able to command the resources of the entire nation and solve major issues.

She failed - not because she didn't solve the problem. But because she didn't even try to solve the problem, she had her surrogates complain about the assignment and make excuses, and then she had people claim she was never responsible in the first place.

Complete and utter leadership failure.

Dave Begley said...

Nate Silver is just a suck up. Dem hack! When will Ezra and Nate have a fawning conversation about JD Vance?

Kate said...

Of course Dr. Jill tried to sabotage Harris. She didn't realize that, compared to Pelosi, she's an amateur. Only Shakespeare is qualified to tell this story.

Big Mike said...

Shorter Althouse: don’t watch the Musk-Trump conversation to learn about Trump’s policies — watch instead a Harris tongue bath between Nate Silver and a guy who once accused Althouse of running an antisemitic blog.

Big Mike said...

[This was, of course, back before antisemitism was a badge of honor among lefties]

Narr said...

Was Biden set up to fail on the cancer moonshot?

All Biden or Harris ever had to do to garner 45% (+/-) of the honest vote was Not Be Trump. Success or failure at particular tasks is wholly beside the point.

RMc said...

This is the Ezra Klein podcast, so you might want to listen to it.

Ezra Klein is an idiot, so I think I'll pass. (Or as my Dad would say, "I'd rather take a beating.")

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Precisely

Mason G said...

"they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done. So I don’t think they gave her a very good hand to play."

They gave her a "major domestic policy area", little got done and she's somehow the victim here?

Is that how it works?

Ambrose said...

I am surprised he was allowed to say that they “gave her the border” in the NYT.

mccullough said...

So Kamala botched the border and voting rights. But they were tough assignments. The Soft Bigotry of No Expectations.

doctrev said...

True, but it also doesn't matter. All the envy in the world is still insufficient to make the Donald stop talking. You can tell a lot about people by what they focus on, and the rabid lib partisans are now a minority even on Twitter.

The oligarchs would have been much better off cutting a deal with Trump, but at this point he's going to go after at least some of them.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Democrats get the soft touch.
all While Kamala rolls out the same old hoaxes and lies the leftist base think are real. Media do nothing to correct the lies- they are on board with the lies.

Sebastian said...

"they gave her the border"

To normies that looks like a setup, but from a prog point of view pretending to work on root causes while letting the invasion continue boosts here credentials.

"they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done"

What was there to be done? Dems have control in the key jurisdictions, and the 2020 shenanigans are set for a repeat in 2024. What's not to like?

"she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well"

Its interesting, isn't it, that this is the extent of her "accomplishments." Quite the leader. Quite the vision. Though I don't recall the reps of solid adversarial interviews. JDV has had more reps in three months than KH has in three years.

BUMBLE BEE said...


Catherine Herridge points out that the border issues are a team Biden/Harris effort. What would have been required to not have been an accident?
https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/1822769975150714900

Lazarus said...

It was common during and after the 2020 campaign to hear that Biden could be a transitional figure who would only serve one term, if even that. All that talk ended sometime during Biden's first year in office. Was that because the Biden Team realized that Harris was incompetent, or because the talk was never seriously meant to begin with and the Bidens were never going to walk away from power?

Harris was tasked with the "long-term" factors pushing illegal immigration. That was a nothing job. The long-term factor is the US is a rich country and Central American countries are poor. There was nothing that she was actually going to achieve, and it's doubtful that she seriously tried to do anything. Was she set up to fail? Or to burnish her resume with a useless title? Or to provide cover for Biden's opening up the border?

What does it mean to say that Harris was "qualified?" That she was a natural born citizen over 35 who'd been living in the country for at least 14 years? That she was a senator and a loyal member and servant of the Democratic Party? That she is a woman of color? That she had enough executive ability to actually do the job of president? That she was actually willing to do the work the job required?

cfs said...

I believe today is Nate Silver's book release date. He is promoting it hard on X.

""But meanwhile she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well. I have a lot of respect for that.""

He is pointing to Harris' positive press coverage , "building connections" and "playing the game" as a reason to give her respect? I usually require more from someone before coming to the conclusion that they deserve my respect.

The press is creating Kamala's persona from nothing--actually less than nothing. They are memory-holing all their previous reporting on her and her abilities and presenting her as something she is not. She is doing nothing but making a few public appearances, saying nothing of substance (and even that is scripted), and letting the media tell the voters who she is.

Big Mike said...
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Big Mike said...

In politics there are lots of ways to do nothing. Harris chose the laziest way, which was … to do nothing at all. At the other end of the scale there’s an energetic way to do nothing. You go on a “listening tour” where you meet with the “stakeholders” (carefully vetted and selected), you do photo ops, you have your staff produce white papers, and it all culminates in a “road map” that is all things to all people (writing documents that are all things to all people is a Washington, DC, art form). Meanwhile, of course, nothing gets done, however if you’ve timed it well, you have a “road map” you can actually run on for re-election — which you will pitch into the dumpster as soon as you’ve won. If you need to score points you might even choose to implement a few of the road map’s recommendations to support your re-election bid before throwing the rest in the dumpster. For instance Pete Buttigieg actually built 8 charging stations with his $7.5 billion, the rest is “plans.” (Have you seen those plans — me neither, and I ain’t holding my breath.)

But as I pointed out, the energetic way to do nothing is not what Harris did.

Mr Wibble said...

"Was that because the Biden Team realized that Harris was incompetent, or because the talk was never seriously meant to begin with and the Bidens were never going to walk away from power?"

I suspect a bit of both. Biden probably didn't like the idea of stepping aside to begin with, and once it was clear that Harris was a moron, he tore up any agreement.

Michael K said...

The problem with your theory, lefty Mark, is that Trump wanted to end the shutdown by Memorial Day and was harassed by the Media into letting Fauci take over.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

I expected to see a discussion of the Trump interview here. Hmmm.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Silver is making excuses for Harris. Yes, the Bidens set her up to fail but she didn't really make any attempt at accomplishing anything.

Mason G said...

"He is pointing to Harris' positive press coverage"

A turd would get positive press coverage as long as it identifies as (D).

Mark said...

You really want to go with Trump was weak and let himself be pushed around?

Drago said...

tsk tsk tsk

Once again, as always, no one was "positioning Kamala for success".

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

This is about the 4th or 5th time biden launched his "cancer moonshot". He rolled it out once every 18 months or so since the obambi admin.

Similar to how EVERY SUMMER during the obambi/biden admin was the "Summer of Recovery!" followed by all the reports of "stay-cations" instead of vacations and "fun-employment" instead of unemployment where suddenly everyone got the opportunity, since they were out of work, to pursue their REAL dreams and passions!

Nowadays that's all simply too complicated so the New Soviet Democraticals just go with straight up lying about inflation, immigration, crime, unemployment, trade, forever wars, etc.

Yancey Ward said...

"Why couldn't they give Harris a no-show job?" is what this sounds like.

n.n said...

Failing silently, serenely with Silver support.

n.n said...

Willie wood (pun intended].

Amexpat said...

Trump wanted to end the shutdown by Memorial Day and was harassed by the Media into letting Fauci take over.
So Trump has no free will, no agency, no responsibility when things go wrong? Isn't his trademark firing people who don't live up to his expectations. He certainly had no problem firing cabinet members who were respected by the MSM.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

August 15, 2017: Trump called neo-Nazis very fine people after Charlottesville.

Right? Wrong.

The media deceptively cut the context of his remarks where specifically said he was NOT referring to neo-Nazis.

Instead, he was referring to the people who oppose tearing down American Historical Statues.

Wince said...

Count-down to when Harris starts playing the victim?

Mr Wibble said...

The shutdowns were going to happen whatever Trump wanted. He tried to get in front of it, but it didn't work. If he had outright opposed them, it would have hurt him with squishy moderates, and strengthened the Dems hand. Ditto Fauci, who was a gov employee and thus protected from being easily fired. Trying to do so would have only created a shitstorm, made Fauci more influential, and given the Dems more ammo.

He tried to walk a very fine line with COVID, and almost succeeded. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

Michael K said...

He wasn't weak, it was a massive Media frenzy.

Harun said...

"But they gave her the border, they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done. So I don’t think they gave her a very good hand to play. "

Do they think we are stupid or are they stupid?

They removed all of Trump's policies, encouraged people to come, didn't screen, didn't do DNA tests, etc. and only 3.5 years later when the election started, did they do a 180.

That is their actual border policy: keep it open, help as many people come, no matter what, except for a small window during elections when they pretend they are.

Nate Silver is either delusional or he is lying here - he likes that policy and is lying here which is pretty scumbag move.

I'm sick of lying scumbags being lionized. If you don't like Trump embellishing the truth, well, don't reward this kind of obvious lies either.

Static Ping said...

They were obviously trying to undermine her. She was a DEI hire when Biden promised a black woman specifically, then discovered to his shock that the number of black women who were even remotely qualified was very short. Harris also humiliated Biden during a debate, which was pretty much her only positive during the train wreck that was her campaign for President, and Biden, if anything, holds grudges. She was chosen as insurance that he would not be pushed out because no one wanted Harris, which worked really well until it became obvious he was senile. She was specifically given crap jobs so Biden did not have to deal with it. For her part, she didn't seem to care and made minimal effort.

The enthusiasm is two (2) fold. First, a lot of voters wanted nothing to do with Biden's senility, and Harris, for all her faults, is not senile. That would have worked with Hillary or Newsom or pretty much anyone. Second, she's running a basement campaign where her surrogates, which includes most of the media, do the work. She's a proven awful campaigner and speaker, and she did not suddenly get better in the past couple of weeks. She is campaigning as an outsider despite being an obvious insider, and keeps changing all her views on all issues. If the media treated her like they did during the 2020 primaries, this would have fizzled out already, and the only question is whether the media can lie to the American people long enough to carry her to the end. If she gets exposed, which given she comes across as a vacuous dimwit except in the most controlled environments, that enthusiasm is going to get blunted very quickly.

Freder Frederson said...

We know the fraud is/was real.

And you know this how? Because IIRC none of the "evidence" turned out to be true and every single lawsuit was dismissed and many of the lawyers who claimed they had "proof" ended up being disbarred and sued (and it is eventually going to cost Rudy $147 million).

Fred Drinkwater said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Harun said...

"they gave her the border"

To normies that looks like a setup, but from a prog point of view pretending to work on root causes while letting the invasion continue boosts here credentials.

"they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done"

What was there to be done? Dems have control in the key jurisdictions, and the 2020 shenanigans are set for a repeat in 2024. What's not to like?

"she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well"

----

I think these people view politics and campaigning as fully separate from running the country.

Wow, what a great pitch line to get suckers to invest! Amazing marketing! But zero product.

Temujin said...

These people could rationalize stabbing their mother in the back. Yes- they did this consciously. Not only that, but they foisted this doddering, unable to campaign corruptocrat onto America and the world back in 2020. They (and so many of us) knew it then and yet they persisted. And, then spent the next 3.5 years bemoaning the spectacle of Kamala Harris trying to share her thoughts in between cackles. "Leaked" insiders asking aloud about removing Harris from the ticket, right up to the point when they decided she was, instead, a combination Joan of Arc and Harriet Tubman. (see Time Magazine's current cover).

These people are nothing if not chronically disingenuous.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Althouse: FYI I can no longer publish comments from my Kindle. Publishing from chrome on my windows laptop works.

Harun said...

Freder is behind the times. There have been several lawsuits in Fulton County that have revealed numerous problems with "the perfect election."

1) 750 test ballots included in a recount that didn't match the election count
2) Thousands of duplicate ballots included in that recount
3) Keep in mind the recount was thousands off from the election and they did these things to try to get closer...
4) Fulton County admitted in court they bought signature verification software and did not use it on any absentee ballots. They didn't even use it. Did someone know this was the plan, because man, that would be really handy to know if you wanted to push fake ballots into the system.

In these cases, they have not been able to actually see any ballots either. Which is weird. Dems claim its PERFECT but they won't show the ballots.

Gusty Winds said...

I know it because I'm not a disingenuous moron, and there have been a shitload of stories (of course not in MSM) from WI, GA, AZ and PA proving the fraud was very real. You just support Democrat voter fraud, but you're too much of a coward to say it.

Harun said...

Let's keep this nice and easy.

Freder, did you know Fulton County bought software and equipment for signature verification and then didn't use it? 147,000 absentee ballots. No signature verification done. Why didn't Fulton county tell us this in 2020?

Doesn't this really harm claims of a "perfect election?"

Also, an entire special elections team was dropped into Fulton County - paid for by some NGO, consisting of election experts, and yet Fulton county had numerous problems...its almost like the experts weren't there to run a fair election but maybe they were there to......well, we will never know because the media isn't interested, GA government isn't interested. Will they do signature verification this year? Who knows? Well, they do know and I am sure their dem operative buddies also know. Just not the public.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/fulton-county-2020-election-problems-challenge-media-fact-checks

Harun said...

What if their main goal was kabuki theater while the border remained firmly open? I'd say she was a success there, then.

Carol said...

The POTUS clique always craps on the VP, whoever it is.

Political Junkie said...

I probably wont read the book, but as I mentioned here before, even though Nate is on the opposite team (in several ways), I think he is a "good guy". If I was an R president, I would consider him for some type of "kitchen cabinet" role.

Darkisland said...


Biden people may have been in somewhat bad faith — maybe not consciously

How does this make any sense in the English language? Doesn't telling someone something in "bad faith" require that it be done consciously?

John Henry

Carol said...
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Carol said...

Appreciate that Silver calls out the Russia collusion bullshit. I mean they know it's BS, but it was SO useful with the rabble, amirite? Did anyone really believe that one?

n.n said...

Resuscitating Mrs. Harris.

They’re eating the cats — They’re eating the dogs said...

Interesting podcast with Nate Silver

Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin Interviewing Nate Silver
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tetragrammaton-with-rick-rubin/id1671669052?i=1000663893837

Narr said...

Hush, children! All good people know that 2020 was the Immaculate Election.

Darkisland said...

The Constitution Article II Section 1 begins:

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

Not in the Vice President. The only duty of the VP is to preside over the Senate as president. The VP does not work for the president in any legal or or other sense. The president does not hire or fire the VP (other than running with them), can't set pay, benefits, perks or anything else.

The VP can tell the president to go F***K himself and there is nothing that the president or Congress or the Senate can do about it.

So I don't understand how, constitutionally or legally, any of the president's constitutional or other powers can be delegated to the VP.

So she was put in charge of the border. What does that mean? Does she have any authority to hire/fire the head of the border patrol? If the BP head says "F***k you, lady, I work for the president. I take orders from him." What power does she have other than going to the president and complaining? Then the Prez can give the same order or perhaps just say "It's just Kamala being Kamala, ignore her."

I know there is a general belief that the VP is some sort of Assistant President. I don't see it myself. It doesn't seem right to treat them this way.

I still think that the VP should focus on their job as president of the Senate. Yeah, I realize that it has very little (some would say no) power.

Neither did Senate Majority Leader in the 50s. Yet Lyndon Johnson took that powerless post, that nobody wanted and most senators didn't even want to exist. As a 42 years old, 1st term senator, he used first the assistant minority leader, then minority leader and finally majority leader positions to become arguably more powerful than the President.

Maybe I need to send JD Vance a copy of Caro's Master of the Senate which details how he did that.

John Henry

pacwest said...

A turd is getting is getting positive press coverage as a matter of fact.

Kevin said...

"And I think the Biden people may have been in somewhat bad faith — maybe not consciously, but I’m not sure they weren’t trying to undermine her."

For comparison, lay out how the Biden people tried to undermine Trump.

n.n said...

Kamala at the border, an Afghan pulled over her eyes.

effinayright said...

Nothing in the Constitution prevents the POTUS from seeking the advice of the VEEP regarding foreign or domestic policy, or relations with the Senate. Kamal can't make law, but she very well be charged with advising the POTUS whether border policies are being effectively carried out.

Ever since Nixon, all VEEPS have played such roles, and all have been used as surrogates to explain or promote presidential policies, or represent the POTUS in various official forums, abroad.

Your narrow view of VPOTUS power would effectively dissuade candidates from ever seeking the office, as it would mean they would look forward to sitting with their thumbs up their asses in the West Wing or the Senate doing nothing. For four years.

narciso said...

https://x.com/dom_lucre/status/1823403085449896009

Gusty Winds said...

So she was put in charge of the border. What does that mean? Does she have any authority to hire/fire the head of the border patrol? Kamala carried out her assigned task perfectly. She was supposed to do nothing, and successfully did nothing. Goal was to import 15 million future Democrat voters, and increase census counts for the House and the electoral college. Now they just simply deny she was assigned anything.

Darkisland said...

Effinay,

I agree that the president can, and probably should, ask the VP for advice. The prez can ask advice of anyone, including you, including me. The prez can then decide whether or not to implement the advise.

He can even tell subordinates to consult his subordinates to consult with the VP for advise.

Advising the president is nowhere near the same thing as being "in charge of" something.

As for sitting around the senate with their thumb up their ass, I agree, who would want to do this? I think the Senate President (VP) should do their job of presiding over the senate. I also think that an activist VP could develop a fair amount of power as VP if they put their mind to it. I would love to see them try.

John Henry

stlcdr said...

"But they gave her the border, they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done. So I don’t think they gave her a very good hand to play."

They gave her a job and she didn't do it?!

This is not about giving people 'hands to play' they are in the position to solve these problems - they decided what the 'hand' is, and did nothing about it.

D.D. Driver said...

We know the fraud is/was real. If we "know its real" why can't Trump ever actually prove it in court? I believe things that people prove. Not stuff that somebody on the internet "knows." The fact is Trump faced a "put up or shut up" moment and Trump ran away like a coward.

Let's make believe that there actually was "voter fraud" in Georgia. Your hero quit on you. He had the opportunity to fix the system but he quit! He is both a loser and a quitter. But you fuckers love this guy more than you love winning elections so here we go again.

D.D. Driver said...

I have been waiting for four year for one (just one) of dipshits that "know" that voter fraud is real to explain why Trump quit on his suit if it was so actually you know real.

People with "real" legal claims don't give up. People with bullshit legal claims give up.

D.D. Driver said...

Trumptards are 100% as braindead as the Kamalabots and don't forget it.

Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Wibble nails it

Mark said...

The only duty of the VP is to preside over the Senate as president. The VP does not work for the president in any legal or or other sense.

There is an unsettled question of whether the Vice President is an official of the legislative branch under Article I of the Constitution, or an official of the executive branch under Article II.

Mark said...

Your narrow view of VPOTUS power would effectively dissuade candidates from ever seeking the office

Former VP John Nance Garner to LBJ, who asked his advice when JFK was considering him: “The vice presidency is not worth a bucket of warm piss” (usually cleaned up on quotes to say "warm spit").

First VP John Adams: "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."

Former VP Harry Truman: "Look at all the Vice Presidents in history. Where are they? They were about as useful as a cow's fifth teat."

Jamie said...

What Harun said is exactly what my husband believes was Harris's job.

Rusty said...

He trusted the experts to do their jobs responsably. He was wrong.

Rusty said...

And, Mark. By your metric Harris has been an abject failure. But you know that.

Darkisland said...

Mark,

I agree that whether the Office of VP is executive or legislative may be unsettled but I don't see why it makes a difference other than academically.

Whether executive branch or not, the VP has no executive powers under the constitution. Nor does the president have any powers (other than perhaps political) over the VP.

The only constitutional power the VP has is in the legislative branch, to break senate ties.

John Henry

Rusty said...

So, MArk. What you're saying is it doesn't matter if she fucked up?

narciso said...

she isn't issuing executive orders, she isn't giving any, shes just a bump on a log

Darkisland said...

Mark,
I've heard the Garner quote and think Caro may have even referenced it. I've also heard the other 2 at various times and lots of other discussion of how powerless and useless the VP is.

But it still had more power (ability to break ties) than the Majority Leader and especially Minority Leader had before LBJ took them over. The ONLY power they had was preference in recognition. If they wanted to speak on the floor, they got to speak first. That was it.

And yet LBJ made that leadership position more powerful (arguably) than the president of the US.

I've talked about the King of England here and how he has powers to make a Stalin blush but never uses them openly. Mainly out of custom. I think the VP could build a power base in the Senate but doesn't out of custom. Also most VPs are a bit dim.

Ever since Sarah Palin ran on the idea of being an activist Senate President I've been fascinated by the idea. We've not had any VPs that could do that since then. JD Vance might be an exception.

Or not.

But I can dream.

John Henry

narciso said...

now the spending she was aided by with the Gope did cause the inflation, the other policies exacerbated crime and despair,

narciso said...

Garner was an old school Texas Democrat, as such he didn't cotton to FDR's corporatist vision, that explains his thinking on the matter,

Mason G said...

"Advising the president is nowhere near the same thing as being "in charge of" something."

If you pick your running mate on something more substantial than having dark(ish) skin and a vagina- you know, like assuring that you're both on the same page regarding policy goals- that sort of thing- well then, you can put a subordinate in charge of a project and use your position to implement their recommendations.

I had a boss once (owner of the company), who tasked me with a particular job. As the project progressed, I asked him about how he wanted a certain detail to be performed and he told me "That's up to you. If I wanted to be making the decisions on this, I'd do the job myself."

Mind your own business said...

No court ever listened to any facts or proof. All cases were dismissed on procedural grounds (judge are political cowards too). If you can't demonstrate to me that the election was fair and above board, I don't want to hear your excuses about how "nothing was proved." Right, it was never proven that the election was fair. I also believe things that people prove. So prove to me that it was. If you want me to respect the process, prove to me that it was done fairly. The burden is on you. Even a casino can do that much.

Skeptical Voter said...

Some might say of Kamala, "She seen her opportunity to fail and she took it." Bad grammar--but accurate.

donald said...

Once again, I saw it happening at the North Fulton Annex.

AndrewV said...

I believe it was Calvin Cooledge who told the story of the old woman who had two sons. One went to sea as a merchant marine and the other became Vice President of the United States. Neither one of them was ever heard from again.

PB said...

They were all calling her a drag on the ticket, but now, instead of opening up the nomination to the convention, they promote her to the top of the ticket having never received one primary vote from anyone.

The Democrats fall in line and start echoing the party line like good cult members.

RCOCEAN II said...

Kam is just so dreamy. Its amazing how she's skyrocketed in the polls just by doing nothing except being "Kam". Oh, and having all the MSM say how great she is 24/7 for the last two weeks. And not having any press conferences. Or making any substantive speeches.

The Great and powerful Kamala has spoken. Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain!

RCOCEAN II said...

Who knew Kamala was an innocent bystander for the past 3.5 years? I thought she was border Czar and helping Biden make all the "tough decisions", but no - it looks like she was just playing solitaire the whole time.

Jim at said...

The whole thing is a house of cards. And we all know what will eventually happen.

Well, a lot of us know. The rest are pretending somehow this will be different.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

"She's playing the game really well."

THE MEDIA are in her corner. Period.

Ralph L said...

getting a lot of reps

What does this mean?

MadTownGuy said...

"Because the obvious thing to do would be to have this qualified — if not always that politically adept — much younger vice president take over for you when you’re about to be 82. But they gave her the border, they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done. So I don’t think they gave her a very good hand to play. But meanwhile she’s getting a lot of reps and giving speeches and building connections and played the game really well. I have a lot of respect for that."

A lot of respect for getting very little done? And "qualified?" Word Salad Disorder must be contagious.

Jamie said...

To me, the image on the Time cover bears her only a passing resemblance. Bluntly, it appears to me that they've presented her Black genetic heritage and erased her Indian generic heritage. I don't like it; it's a subtle lie. But she is who she is - getting the media to do her code switching for her even visually, is on brand.

TaeJohnDo said...

Screwing is what got her where she is today.

TickTock said...

“The obvious thing to.do .. “. Hard to believe Silver is that naive.

TickTock said...

“The obvious thing to.do .. “. Hard to believe Silver is that naive.

Goldenpause said...

Silver is trying to put lipstick on a pig. Harris is less competent than a senile Biden.

Iman said...

I’m watching Silver being interviewed on Megyn Kelly’s podcast as I write this. Much more honest broker than Ezra “JuiceBox Mafia” Klein, the “Journolist”.

Drago said...

You may or may not recall Ezra and his Washington Post team pitched the idea of a "Vox" website (an "eat your vegetables"-"explainer of news" site) as a potential Washington Post internal product directly to Bezos.

Bezos told them essentially to pound sand. No way.

So Klein dug up some external funding with the Vox Media crew and joined their consortium of media properties and Vix is stll there.

Klein and crew thought they would be able to attract big media names who wanted to take advantage of the changing media landscape but that never happened because who would jump to this crew?

So Vox suffered from having some real dolts writing some real non-sense, flying in the face of their desired reputation of getting all the facts right everytime and explaining it all in a way that was more accessible to large groups of people.

One of the more famous "fact" screwups was when one of their writers acrually claimed there was a 30 mile elevated highway from Gaza to Jerusalem that Arabs were not allowed to use!

And Mathew Yglesias wasnt helping matters. Thats another story.

Achilles said...

Amexpat

So Trump has no free will, no agency, no responsibility when things go wrong? Isn't his trademark firing people who don't live up to his expectations. He certainly had no problem firing cabinet members who were respected by the MSM.

Pure dishonesty. If Trump went against Fauci any harder than he did then McConnell would have impeached him. Then Pence would have locked down the country and Republicans would have been blamed for it.

The lamest people in the world are 20/20 Desantis supporters who refuse to admit Desantis actually locked down Florida and nobody was threatening to impeach him. But all the people that supported Desantis were supporting lock downs before it was cool to be against them.

Achilles said...

And you know this how? Because IIRC none of the "evidence" turned out to be true and every single lawsuit was dismissed and many of the lawyers who claimed they had "proof" ended up being disbarred and sued (and it is eventually going to cost Rudy $147 million).

Math. All legitimate regressions point to Biden getting around 60 million votes. 95% confidence that Biden did not get more votes than Obama in 2012. 99.9999999% confidence Biden did not get more votes than Obama in 2008.

Biden was outperformed by Obama on every metric and was trailing Obama's 2012 performance on election day. Then in the middle of the next night Biden magically took the lead.

Anyone who thinks Joe Biden had anywhere near 70 million voters is a mathematically illiterate fool.

Iman said...

I vaguely remember some of that background, as well as a few of the Journolist D-baggers

Big Mike said...

I did a lot of my commenting this morning on my iPhone while sitting in the waiting room of the mechanics' shop as they did some routine maintenance on my car. I don't know why I got so many double posts, but that may have had something to do with it.

MikeD said...

" This is the Ezra Klein podcast, so you might want to listen to it. I'm seeing a lot of interesting material." Of course you are!

walter said...

"they gave her the border, they gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done"
Suggesting they are one and the same.

Clyde said...

She has failed up from California prosecutor to California Senator to Vice President to Presidential nominee. What a country, huh?

Tina Trent said...

But what about the issues? What did she do with the border, put it in a locked box next to Al Gore's policy promises? Come to think of it, she's a lot like Al Gore, if you changed his batteries.