August 19, 2024

"When she starts talking about presence and power—the twin pillars of her political philosophy—she gets steely around the mouth...."

"It’s always been a mistake to think of Harris as a next-gen version of Barack Obama, as commentators who are fixated on color and on vibes sometimes do.... Harris is a person in a role, and sometimes, while speaking, she wears that role the way a groomsman wears a tux he doesn’t like....  During the notoriously dramatic Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, Harris pressed the nominee hard. She set her face neutrally and peered intently at him, asking questions meant less to gather information than to speak directly to the TV-watching audience: 'Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?' Her voice was low and mellifluous and strong: a prosecutor’s sharklike gravitas.... Get in where you fit in, use your power where you can.... These days, by contrast, Harris looks unbounded, emancipated, often genuinely happy. In her speeches, she seems tickled to have another chance at the Presidency, and energized by the prospect of running against Donald Trump and all he stands for. She often looks overcome by joy.... She’s still a prosecutor, poised to use her position for one good reason, the rest be confounded: stop Donald Trump.... It doesn’t matter, by her lights, what the Presidency means, only what she means to do with it...."

A second occasion this morning for my "how does Kamala feel" tag. And how does Kamala feel? Unbounded, emancipated, overcome by joy, mellifluous, strong... and sharklike.

Not a big fan of the unbounded shark as President.

121 comments:

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Gee I wonder who those “commentators who are fixated on color and on vibes” might be.

Iman said...

When you’ve lost the WaPoo…

“ It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this [Harris-Walz] policy is. It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would. The FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk.”

narciso said...

My god vinson have you no ahame of course he works for the new yawker

Sebastian said...

'Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?'

In its sheer inanity, isn't that question disqualifying by itself?

Iman said...

"When she starts talking about presence and power—the twin pillars of her political philosophy—she gets steely around the mouth...."

That last part was probably why Willie Brown cut her loose…

MartyH said...

Our job as the KHive is to make sure the Queen shark is joyful, unburdened by what has been, with a dualistic democracy forever (have you ever thought about the significance of time in this Brat summer?)

Gusty Winds said...

Do we believe Kamala wrote anything she said at the Kavanaugh hearing? She took part in the railroading of a good man. She also locked up a lot of black people in CA, and hid exculpatory evidence. She's not a shark. She's a witch.

Leland said...

“Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?”
Lots of laws that prevent the male body from raping or killing others. Is she opposed to those laws?

Wince said...

"When she starts talking about presence and power—the twin pillars of her political philosophy—she gets steely around the mouth...."

Is that what her flask is made of, steel?

narciso said...

Hes their media critic so ignorant on all fronts

Peachy said...

The Democrat Party elite is a power and money structure. Of course she is happy - she has the media, the power structure, and the vote-count machine in her corner. Soon she will be a very wealthy woman.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I do wonder how the thousands of young black men she prosecuted with shark-like zeal feel about this campaign to rebrand her as a joyful warrior for justice. Perhaps the New Yorker could compare and contrast those convicts with the victims of Catholic priests in San Francisco where, as DA, Harris declined to press the case against many after her predecessor did all the hard work of investigating and interviewing witnesses. Those abused children were not joyful or fixated on “color and vibes.” Why did DA Kamala let the guilty men skate free?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

We’re the perps not males who violated laws using their bodies?

Wince said...

“Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?”

Military conscription? Vaccination mandates? Supporting a life you did not choose to bring into this world?

n.n said...

Sharks are carnivorous creatures that entertain abortive ideation in darkness. How do the vegans feel about their equitable inclusion?

n.n said...

Trump is AntiSha.

Peachy said...

kamala is vicious and stupid.

Jamie said...

Laws that give government power over "the male body"? Like, every law?

Laws constrain people from doing what they might otherwise be inclined to do. Of course they apply to "the male body."

I didn't listen to that hearing, only read about it. I suppose I should look up how Kavanaugh answered it. But regardless of that, oh Lord am I heartily sick of Democrats' pretending that the overturn of Roe is an "abortion ban."

narciso said...

Shameless wretched jackass we dont deserve this blight upon our nation

wendybar said...

These people are obsessed with race, and feelings, and I am sick and tired of it all, already. It is all they have because they WANT America destroyed.

narciso said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Political Junkie said...

The hostess highlighted much cringeworthy material. But, D's now have something that can be sold, and the cultural/social/business gatekeepers are selling away. Should she win? Of course not. Will she win? Afraid she will. I stand by my prediction of 52-45-3.Polls might look spooky after her poll bounce at week end. Oh well.

n.n said...

The initial script of The Spy Who Loved Me concluded with Jaws being killed by the shark, but after a rough test screening, Jaws was so well-liked that the scene was changed to have him survive.
...
Kiel stated the props were uncomfortable for him and he could only wear them for less than one minute before gagging.

- wiki

Or

Tetanus is a serious disease of the nervous system caused by a toxin-producing bacterium. The disease causes muscle contractions, particularly of your jaw and neck muscles. Tetanus is commonly known as lockjaw.

Either way, if the author is correct, Democrats should be concerned about their second string.

Political Junkie said...

You are correct. But it will not matter. It should, but it will not.

Sally327 said...

This is on Joe Biden. He picked her to be VP, she never ever would have ascended to a position where she could become President of the United States except for this bizarre confluence of events. Caused by Joe Biden. I wonder what sin we're being punished for.

Is this need to inform us who she is, what she feels, is it because we can't be trusted to reach the correct conclusions on our own? Has it ever been this way before, that we were so consistently lectured about how we were to view some politician running for office? They can't make us fall in love with her or decide because of these articles they write or what they spout on TV that we're going to think she's the political version of Beyonce. Better than Beyonce even. Kamala is actually more like Kim Kardashian I think, although without the billion dollars.

Dixcus said...

1) Arrest and jailing of Donald Trump
2) Joe Biden resigns the Presidency (or dies). Kamala Harris becomes President.
3) Trump found dead in jail.
4) Presidential election cancelled (lack of time to field another candidate).
5) Voila ... how to become a President without getting a single vote either in a primary or general election.

The End.

Limited blogger said...

The existence of "twin pillars" implies that some effort and energy went into erecting them. When, where and by whom did this construction occur?

n.n said...

Presence and Power (PP) are the P-duality of the Democratic platform, ominous and foreboding.

tcrosse said...

Kamala was not chosen by Joe Biden. She was chosen by whoever chose Joe Biden.

Skeptical Voter said...

I read this codswallop and realize that Kamala is not the only person who speaks word salad.

Howard said...

Gravitas!!!!

mccullough said...

How many times does a shark need to pass the bar exam?

narciso said...

That was worse than the agonizer

AlbertAnonymous said...

The “twin pillars” must be the two EV charging stations produced by the multi-billion dollars spending spree allowed by the so-called Inflation Reduction Act

Krumhorn said...

"When she starts talking about presence and power—the twin pillars of her political philosophy—she gets steely around the mouth...

Uh oh! Maybe she going to show us how to give him that hawk tuah, and spit on that thang.

- Krumhorn

Aggie said...

I think the Progressive Legacy Mainstream Media's job in this campaign is to first hate Kamala / Walz and then come around to loving them - to show us all how it's supposed to be done.

William said...

Absolute rubbish!

She is an empty (pants) suit.

Michael K said...

How about Selective Service?

mikee said...

"... always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever." Orwell

I didn't expect the braying laughter as the boot stamped on my face. Not a desired addition to the boot stamping. Not at all.

Mason G said...

I see "joy" is still the go-to descriptor, I wonder how long they're going to run with that. And then, there's this: "Her voice was low and mellifluous and strong: a prosecutor’s sharklike gravitas...." That's some damn fine bullshit right there, you know.

Kamala has the lowest approval rating of most any VP ever, if you believe the nonsense they're peddling about her these days, you're definitely the target idiot- err... audience- yeah, that's what I meant to say- audience.

n.n said...

Twin pillars is sexual innuendo with joyful and nutritious connotations.

Oso Negro said...

How about child support or alimony?

Balfegor said...

Harris has a speaking cadence that, having grown up in California, is very familiar to me, and extremely irritating (far more irritating than, to take an example, the speaking style of Hillary Clinton, which many people found irritating). Mazie Hirono has it too. I can't think of any men who have it, probably because a man who tried to use this voice would be instantly ridiculous. It's this slow, nauseatingly self-congratulatory preschool teacher voice. It's particularly evident in the recent clip of Harris talking about how democracy makes us so, so strong, complete with over the top hand gestures that make Trump look restrained.

narciso said...

its a rejected zoolander spec script hence Ben Stiller's appearance

Bob Boyd said...

What is he talking about? I hope he's not implying that men can't get pregnant.

Big Mike said...

Well, we used to have laws constraining men from entering women's locker rooms and waving their dicks in the faces of women inside, however these laws are no longer enforced -- and that is not due to Kavanaugh's jurisprudence.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

With florid phrases like "she gets steely around the mouth" they are just begging for Willie Brown references. Cmon man. I'm only human.

Freder Frederson said...

She also locked up a lot of black people in CA, and hid exculpatory evidence.

I bet that if she was a Republican you would laud her for this.

Lazarus said...

It doesn’t matter, by her lights, what the Presidency means, only what she means to do with it

What does that mean? What's its truth content? It's already established that she isn't saying "what she means to do with" the presidency. She probably doesn't know herself. And what does the presidency "mean"? Do presidents have an idea of the "meaning" of the presidency, or do they just try to do what they think it necessary to do? If I felt like wasting a freebie article on this story, context might help that sentence make sense, but as it is it's just empty verbiage.

"The Kamala Show/How Vice-President Harris’s public persona has evolved, from tough prosecutor to frozen interviewee to joyful candidate"

The supposed enigma here is resolved by the fact that prosecutor Kamala wasn't in the spotlight. She was only in the media when she was doing her job. When she became VP she was on camera more. She had "frozen" interviews when she didn't know what to say and giggly public appearances when she didn't know what to say but could just cackle her way through the performance.

narciso said...

which brings up that little noticed billy joel song 'you're only human' I thought was more maudlin than most

narciso said...

https://johnkassnews.com/chicago-is-a-hot-dog-town-field-guide-for-reporters/

Bob Boyd said...

Melania Trump: What am I going to tell the kids?

Donald Trump: Tell them I'm going fishing."

narciso said...

hes gonna need a bigger boat,

William said...

I read The New Yorker. I'll pass on this article. This snippet quoted is extravagantly bad. "Overcome with joy." Has anyone other than people in the media ever taken notice of her joyous presence. I wouldn't call her dour, but joyous is not a word that springs to mind. I don't think joyous is synonymous with silly, but it's worth a shot. I guess it's easier to define her as joyous rather than telling us Joe Biden has a terrific, focused mind.

hombre said...

Kamala was an embarrassment as prosecutor. Apparently, Marxist Senator and Nothing Vice President didn't strike the gaslighter's fancy.

Jaq said...

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will downward revise jobs for the April 2023-March 2024 period by up to 1 million. This means that all "beats" recorded in the past year will have been misses and the US job market is in far worse shape than the admin would admit. - ZeroHedge

Not to worry, nobody is going to ask her anything about the fact that the economy is in a downward trajectory, and that even the miserable full-time job numbers, far outnumbered by part time jobs, in the reports over the past year were as made up as the stuff Winston Smith put out in 1984.

Jaq said...

Don't worry though, you can totally trust the inflation numbers.

Jupiter said...

"She often looks overcome by joy...."

Mary Beth said...

"Her voice was low and mellifluous"

Try "nasal and grating".

PM said...

She sounds like a New Age leftover getting a pass because she's not Trump.
We've already seen Kamala fold in a previous run for President. This time it's because the Biden jig was up and desperate Democrats had no alternative.

minnesota farm guy said...

The answer to Kamala's question to Kavanaugh is " the draft". Certainly affected my choices.

Bob Boyd said...

She's not the shark, she's the jumper.

Iman said...

What about “Bidentown”?

John henry said...

BREAKING.! Kamala came out with a policy!

Free usb ports on buses "imagine! You can charge your phone on your way home from work!"

https://x.com/PhilHollowayEsq/status/1825509378767675830?s=19

John Henry

Kakistocracy said...

Biden masterminded the most stunning bait and switch in the history of American politics. The GOP did not expect it on that Sunday morning a few short weeks ago. Nobody did, the timing was so perfect. Then he launched the Kamala campaign for her and nobody could have predicted quite how instantly that would consolidate and take off. It’s as if someone opened the windows on America and the fresh air is pouring in, filling our lungs with the fresh oxygen we have been craving.

Trump rambles on like an old warthog. She is always succinct and on point. He has no discipline. She operates as if she had been trained by the military, and I don’t mean the Russian one. He has nothing new to say. She is an unfolding book of new ideas, along with being a master communicator.

270 electoral college votes. She knows what she needs to do. She has the tide beneath her, a well stocked war chest and an army of people excited to help her. You can’t win against that if all you’ve got to show is childish goading. Trump’s campaign team know this. They know how to script their campaign back on track. But their nominee simply doesn’t have the discipline to stay with the playbook. He is uncontrollable and when he loses it we all see it. Childish goading. It’s all he’s got.

Up until Biden moved his cheese it was Trump’s for the taking. Now who’s the geriatric burn out? This election remains Harris’ to lose.

Peachy said...

She went full Maduro. Never go full Maduro.

Peachy said...

"It's this slow, nauseatingly self-congratulatory preschool teacher voice."
That.

Gusty Winds said...

No, I wouldn't laud nor applaud. Crooked prosecutors wreck lives. But glad to see you have no problem with Kamala doing it. You didn't even refute. Just accepted this is they way she was as a CA prosecutor and move on. Who's racist here???

Peachy said...

Uh no. Kamala is a clear idiot. She cannot speak without a crutch. She cannot face an unscripted interview because she is a hot mess.
As stated succinctly above by Balfagor.
[Kamala has the] ... [] the slow, nauseatingly self-congratulatory preschool teacher voice."
But she has the vast Soviet Media and the dedicated useful idiots like you to propel the mass-BS.

Static Ping said...

I am trying to figure out if "joy" is a euphemism for "dumb" or "drunk". I suppose it could be both but I like some specificity in my euphemisms.

Kakistocracy said...

The Democratic party's donor class is the most neoliberal and neoconservative in its history. Right now it looks like Harris is going to pitch aspirational change to the party base and "the more things change the more they stay the same" to the party's superrich donor class--that really calls the shots here.

mikee said...

Joyous, braying laughter. Mostly braying, but joyous, too. Well, braying.

Ralph L said...

One must fixate on vibes to generate buzz.

Real American said...

What a bunch of nonsense. Her question of Kavanaugh was embarrassing for it further demonstrated her lack of basic knowledge, seriousness, and gravitas. We KNOW it was for show. The author of this puff piece seems to think that works in her favor. Her grandstanding made her look like a fool.

Rusty said...

With carne asada!

Old and slow said...

"Biden masterminded..." now there is a phrase you don't see every day. Just for fun, I googled this phrase. The top response included this, "Biden the bungler".

robother said...

Driving back from a medical appointment this morning, Clay and Buck were playing an extended Kamala unscripted riff, in which she claimed that prior to 2022, the NCAA Women were not allowed to have brackets. The woman is a complete airhead.

hawkeyedjb said...

The news media spent years turning a senile mediocrity into "sharp as a tack" Joe Biden. They won't have any trouble making this third-rate, unaccomplished back-bench political hack into a Nobel laureate.

JIM said...

The significance of time. That's the ultimate guide to what makes Harris tick. And Communism. Obama's "apple" didn't fall far from his Dad's tree, Same deal with Harris. What part of "fundamental transformation" is unclear?
Democrats, Please stop voting for the "cult of personality".

chickelit said...

Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?

About half of all abortions involve male fetuses (expect perhaps in China). So laws protecting the unborn males. That's why you must dehumanize fetuses to make Harris's point.

Kakistocracy said...

Trump Media shares hit post-merger low as DJT slump continues ~ CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/19/trump-media-djt-stock-harris-earnings.html

Michael K said...

Freder would volunteer for the prison camp guard position in the concentration camps she plans.

Michael K said...

I mentioned this on Facebook one time and some Karen sent nasty notes to all my female friends on Facebook.

Michael K said...

Trump's media thing has always been an ego thing. It followed his banning by Twitter. Now he is back on Twitter.

Bruce Hayden said...

Rep James Clyburn. Traded his support and that of the CBC, for a Black(ish) VP candidate. With firm Black support, the primaries were effectively over.

dbp said...

Any questions Harris put to Kavanaugh were a farce. She'd already spent the prior months roasting him and declaring him guilty of every accusation on Twitter.

dbp said...

Only men have been drafted or are required by law to register for selective service. Besides that, an abortion isn't about the female body, but rather her right to destroy the life which resides inside of her body. In most cases, a life which was created, in part, by her own willing actions.

TickTock said...

"Biden masterminded ..." Rich, that's awfully rich

Yinzer said...

It was seriously suggested in the Washington Times today that the word salad and giggling are caused by day drinking. She needs to take the edge off to speak in public at all? this should make for a great debate!

effinayright said...

The Constitution doesn’t have a “no time” exception for holding Presidential elections. NO ONE has the authority to cancel it.

effinayright said...

When did a Republican ever lock up lots of black people for weed possession, or anything else? Last time blacks were treated viciously , being beaten and set upon by police dogs, was in the the DEMOCRAT-run South.

Michael said...

She is a birdbrain, a wind-up toy. There is no "there" there. Eighty days is far too long for the media to keep this balloon up in the air.

Drago said...

Field Marshall Freder creates hypothetical to assign blame to non-leftist for the thing a leftist actually did and he clearly supports.

Discuss.

Drago said...

LOL!

New Soviet Democratical Rich decides now would be a fantastic time to introduce a bit of North Korean hagiography to Althouse blog!

Actually, that is an unfair comparison to the North Koreans. Even they have limits.

Seriously, as I read LLR-democratical Rich's post I kept waiting for the wink and the nod and the "just kidding!" part....

DINKY DAU 45 said...

DARK BRANDON and the Prosecutor have pulled off the biggest bait and switch event in political history.This one will go down in the history books like when I was a kid reading about Patrick Henry,Benedict Arnold , "BRAVEHEART" the Rosenbergs etc. They eliminated the group of Double Haters who weren't voting for two old senile men and now there is only ONE trump AND A YOUNG 59 YEAR OLD on the other side, a no brainer shoo away the grandpa. Trump is going backwards while Harris picks up the steam and after Convention tonight's bump WILL EXCEL EVEN MORE. New blood and not same tired old DON OLD junk with hate ,fear mongering and of course lies..THE GREAT BAIT AND SWITCH caught the inept Repubs with their pants down begging for the old candidate to talk about something pertinent.There only hope left is the planting of all the ringers in the certification of votes areas and denying the votes,THAT AINT GONNA WORK EITHER everyone on to them. Outflanked by the DARK ONE and his protege! Even miss lynsey is concerned saying his idol might not win because he cant keep focus for more than a sentence ..You reap what you sew...it will all be over soon and we can move into the future not the past..The women are coming with a focus ,eliminate the old senile guy.

Jaq said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jaq said...

"Biden masterminded the most stunning bait and switch in the history of American politics"

I had assumed that Richie One Note the blind squirrel had found the proverbial nut in describing the whole Biden presidency, I mean who voted to provoke Russia into a war, to outlaw the internal combustion engine, and to spend so much money that inflation and debt are now issues as serious as a heart attack, all the while, with all of this spending, not creating jobs?

Jaq said...

The reason they loved Joe Biden was that he was nakedly for sale, and the superrich prefer to deal with people who are openly and cravenly for sale, since they have more money than they will ever be able to spend.

They will easily deal with this 'pretty girl" version of Bernie Sanders, who will be even less of a match for them than Bernie would have been.

America deserves Kamala.

Jaq said...

Doc, can you imagine what it must be like for Rich to wake every morning worried about the health of Trump's portfolio? Maybe he lives vicariously through Trump.

Rusty said...

"How does Kamala feel?" With her tentacles.

Achilles said...

Freder is just an evil person who makes up lies in his head to justify his actions.

Narayanan said...

that is definitely an improvement over joey spongebrains shitspants [AceofSpades]

Achilles said...

Thank you for admitting that the Democrat party is evil and anti-democratic to the core.

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

Rich gets a boner when the government attacks his political opponent's businesses and makes every effort to destroy them.

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

Anyone who knows how the number is generated knows that if we were using the 1970's method for measuring inflation Biden/Harris were were than Carter.

john mosby said...

Twin pillars? Yeah.

TE Lawrence had Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Kommie-Lay has Two Pillars of Ditz-dom.

JSM

Hassayamper said...

No single American in our entire 250 year history did as much to lock up black people as Democrat Senator Joe Biden and his 1994 Crime Bill.

You would think that black people, sensitive as they are to stereotypes portraying them as having lower IQs than other races, might have made more of a ruckus about this incontrovertible fact in 2020, particularly when Trump had never been anything but a lavishly recognized and awarded friend to the black community.

Saint Croix said...

Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?

I used my body to grab my secretary's breasts. And then they made it illegal. Damn it!

Saint Croix said...

I used my body to work for a sub minimum wage. And then they made it illegal. Damn it!

Saint Croix said...

I used my body to inject heroin into my body. And then they made it illegal. Damn it!

Saint Croix said...

I used my body to castrate that 12-year-old boy. Luckily, I got him to sign a consent form. Hooray!

Iman said...

You’d lose, Fredo.

Jim at said...

She is always succinct and on point. She operates as if she had been trained by the military, and I don’t mean the Russian one. She is an unfolding book of new ideas, along with being a master communicator.

Stupidest thing you've ever written. And that's a very high bar. I mean, it's like you live in Opposite Land.

Mikey NTH said...

Like, omigod!

Kakistocracy said...

Mike K writes: "Trump's media thing has always been an ego thing. It followed his banning by Twitter. Now he is back on Twitter."

Huge insider overhang (more than twice the float) already in a shelf registration. No potential for profitability any time in the foreseeable future.
For the 6 months ended 6/30, revenues declined 30%.

Still $22.24 is overvalued. There is no company. That's why it keeps dropping. Wait until September when Trump can sell his shares.

Michael K said...

"Rich" doubles as an investment advisor. Your party doesn't even know economics.

Megaera3 said...

I do get that Cunningham is a career brown-noser, but his choice of the Kavanaugh hearing question as an exemplar of Harris' prosecutorial Mad Skillz is almost as worrying as Kamala's apparent belief that her question was going to be a big GOTCHA moment. The answer is so blindingly obvious that her question proves her, beyond cavil, to be legally submoronic, someone who never should have been allowed in a courtroom with the right to mess with peoples' lives.

Craig Mc said...

There's really no depth journalists won't sink to in service of the Democrats, is there?

Yancey Ward said...

They would literally eat a plate of dogshit if it would get Harris elected in November.