Kamala Harris unloads on pundits who say only a white man can beat Trump

[crazytown]

Politico, May 7, 2019
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/06/how-kamala-harris-is-taking-on-the-2020-pundits-1305498

Kamala Harris unloads on pundits who say only a white man can beat Trump

(snip)The California senator and 2020 Democratic hopeful believes the media narrative taking shape in the presidential race over who is best positioned to reclaim the Midwest for Democrats —essentially that only certain voters will back certain candidates, regardless of where they stand on issues — ignores big swathes of the electorate that she can excite, namely African Americans and women.

snip “There has been a lot of conversation by pundits about ‘electability’ and ‘who can speak to the Midwest?’ But when they say that, they usually put the Midwest in a simplistic box and a narrow narrative, and too often their definition of the Midwest leaves people out,” Harris said in an opening salvo during the trip. “It leaves out people in this room who helped build cities like Detroit. It leaves out working women who are on their feet all day—many of them working without equal pay.”

snip "This 'electability' argument is bullshit," said Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina state representatives who appears on CNN and supports Harris. "It's the biggest faux pas that Democrats are making this election cycle. It disregards the fact that the only Democratic candidate to win the presidency in the last two decades was a black guy. And, second, we've allowed 'working class' to enter our lexicon and only mean white working class — and totally disregard a whole other swath of voters.

snip "It is meant to reshape people’s thinking about an issue that has been dominating the pundit sphere for a while in a way that more accurately reflects the electoral map and the reality that we have going in to 2020," the Harris official said. "We're not going to attack other Democratic candidates based on this," the official added, stressing Harris' respect and endearment for Biden as a person
....

Black voter turnout rate declined sharply in 2016, dropping below that of whites
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/12/black-voter-turnout-fell-in-2016-even-as-a-record-number-of-americans-cast-ballots/ft_17-05-10_voter-turnout/


Only 18% of Democratic Voters were white men in 2016 (19% in 2012). But hey, let’s take 80% of our voters for granted and aim our messaging and policies at white men

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Yes!!!

[crazytown]

2. 19% 2012, 18% 2016 of Democratic voters were White Men

But hey, let’s shaft 80% of Democratic voters and aim our message and policies at white men.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. I know, right?

[rogue emissary]

5. Hell it's not even aiming at general white men.

It's the notion we can get the slightly conservative white men. I'd be fine with us targeting our message to liberal/progressive white men. That still be a message that would resonate with me.

[crazytown]

9. It's older white men.

Support amongst 18-29 yo whites, men and women is strong.

[patphil]

33. Hey!

I'm older white...72 years old.
And a lifetime liberal who sees all the colors, and loves it.

[crazytown]

34. I'm white and 60

I haven’t had an easy life, but I don’t blame it on anyone else. Straight ticket Dem!

[uponit7771]

37. +1

[PoliticAverse]

4. There was a non-white man who ran for President once and received 6+ million more votes than Trump..

got in 2018.

[athena]

7. And a white woman who got 3+ million more votes than Trump

despite attacks from the right and left, idiocy by the FBI and Comey, and interference from Russia.

[uawchild]

8. Make that OLD white men, that's who the pundits are pushing

Barack Obama was 48 when he took office.

Joe Biden would be 78 if taking office in 2020.

Bernie Sanders would be 79 in 2020.

The AVERAGE AGE for a President taking office has been 59 years old.

Trump was the oldest man to become President at age 70 in 2016.

And yet the pundits are all waving away the simple fact that both Biden and Sanders would be almost a DECADE older when they START their term as President.

Is it because the pundits themselves are mostly old white men, or that they realize their audience is mostly old white men?

[crazytown]

10. Exactly right.

[maxsolomon]

20. Don't touch DU's 3rd rail, uawchild!

Age ain't nothin' but a number! You're only as old as you feel!

[uawchild]

23. lol Yeah, tell me about it

It seems obvious that AGE RELATED COGNITIVE DECLINE is something people don't wish to discuss about the candidates.

Because I feel both Biden and Sanders are too old to best represent our party as the nominee in 2020, I exist in a Schrodinger's Cat-like state between the two campaigns here on DU. lol

It's probably a meta-stable state.

[highplainsdem]

11. Would someone explain who these pundits are who supposedly said only a white man can beat Trump?

I can't recall hearing that argument from a single pundit.

And please don't try telling me that this argument equates with those who've said Biden is probably most electable.

That's obviously not an argument about white men per se, since there are a number of other white male candidates.

The argument about Biden's electability is largely based on how the voters, the electorate, will view him, and that's based on the polls.

Where he's way ahead.

But NOT because any pundits are saying that "only a white man can beat Trump."

[crazytown]

12. There's more than a few DU'ers who hold that view

I’m sick of being to that someone who prefers Harris or Warren wants the Democratic Party to lose.

[highplainsdem]

14. DUers AREN'T pundits. Pundits do op-ed pieces and/or make appearances on TV and radio

to give their expert opinions.

Again, I'm not aware of a single pundit who's said that only a white man can beat Trump.

[crazytown]

16. As for the pundits Senator Harris and her team

are talking about, I presume they are out there, and not figments of imaginations. Otherwise, they would not be making high level public statements. You could ring her campaign office if you were really interested

[highplainsdem]

17. I just googled

"only a white man can beat trump"

and the ONLY famous name that popped up as having said that was Michael Avenatti. Who isn't usualy seen as a pundit, and definitely isn't respected/heeded.

I also used the Google search box in the upper right corner to do a search of DU for the same words in quotes, to get that phrase, and all that popped up was this thread of yours, with that article title.

So there don't seem to be any DUers suggesting that only a white man can beat Trump.

Plenty of us think Biden is the most electable, but that is NOT the same thing as believing no other Democratic candidate could beat Trump, let alone that only a white male could beat Trump.

[crazytown]

25. there don't seem to be any DUers suggesting that only a white man can beat Trum

This makes me angry. Very angry. It’s wilfully obtuse. Bordering on bad faith. Let’s leave it at that.

[highplainsdem]

27. No, it's obtuse to suggest that people are saying "only a white man can beat Trump" simply because

they feel a particular candidate is most electable.

There isn't anyone here who isn't well aware that HRC got millions more votes than Trump in 2016, or that Obama won in 2008 and 2012.

There isn't anyone here who isn't well aware that female candidates and minority candidates can win.

But we are talking about specific candidates, not generic ones.

People who support Biden do so because they think he's the best candidate, the most electable -- NOT because he's a white man.

[crazytown]

29. "pundits who say only a white man can beat Trump"

That’s politico and Senator Harris. Take it up with them.

[highplainsdem]

30. Okay, I finally found video, though not from the event the OP cites, where Harris refers to pundits,

but she's talking about unnamed pundits in California who she says were opining that she couldn't win her races for District Attorney and AG because no one who looked like her had held those jobs.

I have no way of knowing how much of that she ran into years ago, but she's talking about past races, and apparently applying it to the current one, even though, as far as I can tell, no pundits have said that.

Link to the video:

https://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/senator-kamala-harris-talks-about-sexism-on-the-2020-race-59063365957


FWIW, I don't think this sort of argument helps her. Not after Obama and HRC broke glass ceilings.

[Kurt V.]

22. i think it's only in the title. i don't see where harris says this in the article

[highplainsdem]

24. OK. Glad to hear that. Headlines can be really stupid and misleading. I'm glad Harris didn't

make such a mistake.

[mcar]

13. Harris and Sellars are correct

I fear, though, that once the MSM sets their narrative, it is etched in stone for them.

[maxsolomon]

15. Its funny. I see Harris as more electable than Biden.

But I better not say why, because the knives are out, DU!

[MoonRiver]

19. I agree with you maxsolomon.

[TreasonousBastard]

26. Me too. It's just that it's still too early to pick sides. When I do pick a side...

Harris will be one of the top choices.

[MFM008]

18. If Harris

Is on the ticket.
I will happily and enthusiastically
Support her!

[maxsolomon]

21. If a Yellow Dog is on the ticket

I will happily and enthusiastically support said dog.

[demmiblue]

28. K&R

[Kaleva]

31. Majority of white women voted for Trump.

[patphil]

32. White men gave us Trump

Why the fuck would we expect them to elect a Democrat no matter what the color?
Oh, wait a minute, I'm white...except for a little bit of Native American.

Patrick Phillips

[crazytown]

35. I think the Russians and Comey had something to do with it.

And for those would would criticise HRC (and that is Not me) I would add, after two terms there’s a bias for change.

[maxsolomon]

36. that they were conned doesn't meant they didn't vote for him.

i'm not buying the Russian-hacked-the-votes theories. Americans did this to themselves for the Stigginit.

[crazytown]

38. Exit polls:

White men

2012 62% Romney 36%?Obama
2016 62% Trump 31% Clinton 3% Stein

[maxsolomon]

39. Yeah, they said they'd never vote for HRC because of X, Y, or Z

So they voted for Stein. Dipshits.

What do those #s prove to you?

[corbettkroehler]

40. Where To Begin?

It's a relief to read a compelling rebuttal to this unique form of racist misogyny. The premise of the original comment is offensive in more ways than I can count and I'm an old white guy!