"Harris’s stint as vice president has often been pretty unremarkable, but it has provided a rich vein of memes, in part because she can be an awkward communicator...."

"It’s part of what fueled critical media coverage of her during the first year of her tenure, and which led the White House to largely sideline her during the first half of the Biden presidency.... As the first female, Black, and South Asian vice president, Harris was always doomed to receive an extraordinary amount of scrutiny and bias — and emphasized her persona as a 'joyful warrior' in part to combat some of those stereotypes. The joyful warrior, it seems, is sometimes a goofy one too. Harris delivers many of these lines in a genuinely funny way, with an affect unlike many politicians (described sometimes as just vibing along).... Plenty of people are... meme-ing their way to a new celebration of Harris — unburdened by what has been."

I'm reading "Why is everyone talking about Kamala Harris and coconut trees? Ironic Kamala Harris meme-ing isn’t so ironic anymore," a Vox article from July 3rd, when KH was just coasting along in the background, shielded by the seeming candidate, Joe Biden. I don't really understand what was ever "ironic" about any of this.

There are various embedded tweets at that link, including, "How are you supposed to exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you AND be, unburdened by what has been at the same time? Waiting for her 3rd great revelation that synthesizes these two." That's a reaction to this:

Four straight minutes of “what can be, unburdened by what has been.” It’s incredible. I had no idea she used it this much. pic.twitter.com/TClfC1EyH6

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) June 29, 2024

I can understand her interest in being "unburdened by what has been," but she's stepping into the candidacy without having had to fight off rivals who offered new visions or even needing to present anything of her own.

ADDED: I didn't know people had taken to calling Kamala Harris a "joyful warrior," but this year is a lot like 1968 — President withdraws, VP steps into candidacy, convention in Chicago — and the candidate, Hubert Humphrey was famously called "The Happy Warrior."

ALSO: Gretchen Whitmer has called herself "The Happy Warrior." From a July 9th article in the NYT, "Whitmer Talks Tequila, Pearl Jam and Debates in New Book/The Michigan governor will not talk about running for president. But her new book, 'True Gretch,' is full of details keeping the chatter alive":

"It’s a kind of mosaic of what it was moments before"/"My memories are a montage of magical madnesses."

What if we all started talking like that?

Those are 2 quotes I've happened to blog in the last 24 hours — see here (Robert Downey Jr.) and here (RFK Jr.).

Have minds fragmented? Are we dreamily struggling to pull them together with alliteration and the notion that splintered things really do cohere? This mess in my mind is... a mosaic... a montage....

You know, we've been laughing at Kamala Harris's way of expressing herself, but she's not the only one.

A big "Streisand effect" for an otherwise obscure tweet: "Kamala sounds like Marge Simpson."

That's the entire tweet, from a Trump adviser I've never noticed or cared about, Jenna Ellis. But it's a big deal, because anti-Trumpers went big, attacking it. Why does it even matter? People like Marge Simpson, she has a distinctive voice, and somebody noticed a similar quality in Kamala Harris's voice.

The "Simpsons" show itself responded, I'm reading in "Marge Simpson claps back at Trump adviser Jenna Ellis for Kamala Harris dig: I 'feel a little disrespected'" (Fox News).

Here's the show's tweet:

Marge Simpson has something to say. pic.twitter.com/viux96bAPf

— TheSimpsons (@TheSimpsons) August 14, 2020

I guess I should congratulate the show for drawing attention to itself. It's so weird that it's still on the air. Not only is it the longest running scripted prime-time TV show, it has 10 more seasons that the show that's in second place.

I hate the idea that we're not supposed to make fun of Kamala Harris. No one unmockable should be given access to great power. By the way, she herself is always laughing, laughing when nothing is even funny. We're supposed to put up with a person laughing at nothing and also to be banned from laughing at something?! That's not my idea of America. Trump says he'll "make America great again." What's the counteroffer? Make America grim again?