Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumKamala Harris
I am a progressive Dem leaning towards Bernie or Warren, but I am interested in Kamala Harris. I was wondering what people might think of her, pro or con? I want to learn more about her than what is on her Wikipedia page.
How progressive is she? Her resume looks good. She seems like a good mix of experience and youth. I want to know more about her and what DUers think about her.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)Don't know much really, but that portion of her public service will probably tell us a lot about her vision and values.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)I agree with you that we should all educate ourselves.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
QC
(26,371 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,272 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
QC
(26,371 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
onecaliberal
(32,483 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
roody
(10,849 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
I have done a cursory google search on her. What I am really interested in are DU peoples opinions of her, maybe backed up by a fact or two. I know that you think she is not progressive, but maybe a word or two on why you think she is not? Thanks for your response.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
roody
(10,849 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
bearsfootball516
(6,369 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
still_one
(91,949 posts)you how honest or dishonest those who make that association are
This is not unlike some who tried to paint Hillary as pedophile defender, when she was appointed by the court to defend an abuser, and tried to be removed from the case, but the judge refused to allow her to be removed, and so did what she took an oath to do, defend the client to the best of her ability.
All one needs to do is look where she stands on the issues, and she is progressive by any standard.
In fact, even though I am undecided, I am going to change my candidate preference here to Harris, because any who implies that Harris has the same voting record and feels the same way on the issues as Manchin, is either being dishonest, or just trying to flamebait.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
roody
(10,849 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)So why didnt she file the action? Well, Senator Harris isnt exactly free to openly discuss that, because we dont openly discuss investigations. Its not appropriate to discuss partial evidence, suspicions, or rumors. This harms the party under investigation, who has a right to a presumption of innocence.
But the reasons this didnt go anywhere are likely far simpler. The civil enforcement action requested by the consumer law division would have potentially fined OneWest in order to encourage them to fix their internal issues. Those fines would have been entirely passed on to shareholders. Sen. Harris likely saw no reason to invest time and energy in pursuing fines to be levied on people already losing their shirts, just so that OneWest would be encouraged to shape up, when the recession was ensuring banks were going to be forced to do that anyway.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/21/1827095/-Kamala-Harris-and-the-big-lie-that-she-didn-t-prosecute-Mnuchin
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
roody
(10,849 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)You sound like RW media going after Hillary back in 2016.
Prove it or get lost. You have no business on this website.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,903 posts)she would be a much better President than BS.
Link to tweet
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Kamala_Harris.htm
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
KPN
(15,587 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
MrsCoffee
(5,801 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MrsCoffee
(5,801 posts)Her voting record speaks for itself.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)Not so much as a prosecutor/AG. That is where many people's concerns about her stem from.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Docreed2003
(16,817 posts)Her voting record is as progressive as you can get, but somehow that's not enough for some
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)They dig up some old controversial cases from when she was AG and use that to prove she isnt progressive.
It makes one's hair hurt.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Docreed2003
(16,817 posts)Can't wait for the "corporatist", "establishment", "centrist" attacks to come...smdh. Some folks haven't learned anything from 2016. Those same critics though will twist themselves into pretzels over certain candidates previous gun stances and are shockingly silent about "Why would any candidate NOT support Russian sanctions?"...but, like I said, predictable.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
KPN
(15,587 posts)She's definitely in the mix as far as I'm concerned.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
lapucelle
(18,038 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
wasupaloopa
(4,516 posts)classes. She is not a one sided personality. She sees the big picture and she is PRAGMATIC!
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Kamala_Harris.htm
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Cha
(295,903 posts)description of her.. Mahalo, wasupaloopa
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
wasupaloopa
(4,516 posts)One as AG and one as Senator.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Cartoonist
(7,298 posts)While I haven't followed her career closely, I get a positive feeling. I have also seen her win repeatedly. Only seasoned pros like Bernie or Joe stand a chance.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TJKay
(27 posts)but I'm far from firm and need to learn lots about the plausibly electable candidates. I consider her definitely to be a top tier candidate.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
EricMaundry
(1,619 posts)It seems like a relatively minor consideration when compared to getting rid of Trump.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MrsCoffee
(5,801 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)Thanks in advance.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)It disproportionately affected communities of color and the poor overall.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)She describes an instance in which she charged a homeless woman who was working two jobs to take care of her three children.
She just needed some help, Harris said. So the woman was charged.
By shining this infrared spotlight of public safety on the fact that her children arent in school, we were able to figure that out, get her access to services that exist, and through that process, the attendance of her children improved. We dismissed the charges against her, and overall weve improved attendance for this population in SF by 20 percent over the last two years.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-truancy-initiative_us_5c50b08ee4b0f43e410bcbc4
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)Even if the charges against this woman in this instance were ultimately dropped, I'm disturbed by the idea that she was charged in the first place. This woman's children may have become less truant, but I am disturbed by the idea that this was probably the result of being terrorized with the threat of jail time. Also, this woman's story amounts to what is essentially an anecdote. Her office had prosecuted 20 parents in just six years between '03 and '09.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)There is no easy answer to the problem. Harris chose a more aggressive approach and in the long run it did appear to work to reduce truancy. I don't think this disqualifies her or discredits her from running for President. For some voters this is probably a plus.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)living high enough to allow them to make their child(ren)'s attendance more of a top priority. In the case of a homeless woman, it's quite likely her biggest concern would be making sure she and her kids had food to eat, maybe, being able to afford medicine?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)Also, not sure how AG Harris could implement a solution like that. Her role as AG was to enforce the laws of California. The law states children of a certain age must attend school.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MyOwnPeace
(16,887 posts)in a poor district I was very active in being sure that the students were in school as required by law. If several attempts to assure the attendance was maintained by the parents were not successful, I had the legal right and responsibility to bring charges against the parents of the absent children.
Yes, it was being done against the poorer families in the community - because they were the ones having less respect for the notion that education is a benefit for the future success of the children.
It was a tool to provide better chances for success for the future for the kids - not a means of "punishing" the poor in the community. If the parents were afraid of getting fined - they tended to be more concerned with getting their children to school.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)position? Like, y'know, making sure their children had food to eat. That would be more of a concern than school attendance.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MyOwnPeace
(16,887 posts)but it was never the case in the instances I'd experienced. My "filing charges" came after several attempts to understand and/or correct the problems. The hearings were the last-attempt efforts.
I found that most (if not all) of the reasons were based more on "inconvenience" (can't get up in time - poor scheduling, too busy doing anything else, etc) than concerns over basic needs.
Besides, since it was a "poor" district a great majority of the students were provided with breakfast and lunch (covers the "having food to eat" thing, don't 'ya think?).
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)That's my final thought on the subject
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MyOwnPeace
(16,887 posts)only fines.
Yes, incarceration would NOT help - even less support for the kids.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
liberalnarb
(4,532 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
KPN
(15,587 posts)the same time understand and would probably share your concern knowing i fit's factual, I'd really like to understand this better. Like, how many were incarcerated under/by her? what were the circumstances of those incarcerations? how long were parent(s) incarcerated? what was the eventual outcome for the kids involved?
There is no doubt that the poor are disproportionately punished and affected by our legal system -- and significantly so. It's an issue I am interested in and concerned about.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Response to liberalnarb (Reply #18)
m-lekktor This message was self-deleted by its author.
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)Strong, smart, witty, no nonsense, experienced, excellent liberal/progressive background. I really like her style and presence on a stage and in interviews. She has the look and feel of a leader.. presidential. She also has a great campaign manager.
I have already made up my mind. She's the one.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)she no doubt has a campaign website, and there would be a lot of articles about her, interviews with her, etc.
The posters in this forum are prevented from being too negative toward a Democrat, for one thing. Plus there are avid supporters, who historically blindly raise their candidate to angel status, on the one hand, and those who support other candidates who see only the bad in other candidates.
So it's best if you form your own conclusion. That's what I try to do, anyway. As you can see, I still haven't "fallen in love" with a candidate, as we Democrats are prone to do.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
rownesheck
(2,343 posts)marijuana brings people joy. The fact that she had the guts to admit that in public is, at least for the moment, one reason i like her.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)I think it was an unforced error.
Also her ill advised early Tweet about Smollett.
Neither are disqualifying. She is not my first pick, but she is a perfectly acceptable candidate (prefer her to Sanders or Biden).
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
rownesheck
(2,343 posts)but i thought she has Jamaican heritage in her family. Again, i haven't researched it. Seems i read it somewhere, though.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)You don't get to stereotype within your ethnic group either as far as I am concerned.
Again not disqualifying. Just something that I would not like to see done.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Stare Decisis
(229 posts)chooses to educate us on HER ethnic group is not your concern.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Politicub
(12,163 posts)It isnt up to you or me to dictate how she should act in relation to her heritage.
It gave me a chuckle.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)She laughed in 2014 when a reporter asked if she would support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Ms. Harris finally reversed course in 2018, long after public opinion had shifted on the topic.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Quixote1818
(28,903 posts)She is one of the most liberal but ranks behind a few in the field but she is in CA for it's a bit easier for her to be progressive compared to say someone in Ohio: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/?ex_cid=rrpromo
This is my biggest concern. She was very hardcore as a prosecutor: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/21/local/la-me-innocent-20120821
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Stare Decisis
(229 posts)progressive might actually be the perfect combination.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Quixote1818
(28,903 posts)It would probably help her in the General.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)From another article it details her more progressive side..
The first test of Harriss principles came in 2004, after she was elected as San Franciscos district attorney (DA) while promising never to impose capital punishment. Less than six months into her tenure, Harris defied a united chorus of voices from the citys police chief and police rank and file, to Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein calling for the death penalty for a twenty-one-year-old who killed an undercover police officer.
During the officers funeral, two thousand officers gave Feinstein a standing ovation after a speech in which she criticized Harris, who was also at the funeral. The states attorney general and former senator Barbara Boxer (whose seat Harris has now taken) looked for ways to circumvent Harriss decision, but ultimately failed. Thanks in large part to Harriss steadfastness, the killer was spared the death penalty.
In other words, at the very start of her career, Harris defied her own party, her citys police department, and endured public humiliation to defy reactionary demands.
Later, in 2009, Harriss Republican rival for attorney general attempted to use her anti-capital punishment stance against her and turn the race, in his words, into a referendum on the death penalty. Harris didnt budge.
Harris has been a frequent critic of the criminal justice system, an encouraging sign. She outlined her philosophy in her 2009 book Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutors Plan to Make Us Safe, the title of which has become a common refrain for Harris. Her smart approach, according to the book, involves focusing on short-circuiting the criminal careers of offenders much earlier, getting offenders out of the system permanently, ensuring lower rates of recidivism, and investing in comprehensive efforts to reduce the ranks of young offenders entering the criminal justice system. One of her suggestions was to teach nonviolent inmates and some juvenile offenders skills for employment.
To that end, Harris supported reforming Californias three-strikes law, refrained from seeking life sentences for criminals who committed nonviolent third strikes, and in 2004 instituted the Back on Track program, which put first-time offenders between ages eighteen and twenty-four into eighteen-month-long city college apprentice programs, which contributed to the citys recidivism rates dropping from 54 percent to 10 percent in six years. She would later order parole officers not to enforce residency restrictions against sex offenders.
Over her time as DA and, later, as California attorney general, she took a number of progressive stances. She opposed the anti-gay Proposition 8, helped defend Obamacare in court, supported an undocumented immigrants bid for a law license, sponsored legislation that increased transparency around websites data collection, opposed Californias despicable shoot the gays ballot initiative, and filed a brief in the Supreme Court encouraging it to allow public universities to consider race in admissions. Under her direction, the states justice department adopted body cameras, California police were made to undergo implicit racial bias training, and her office received an award for accelerating the testing of rape kits.
Harris also had a respectable record of standing up to corporate malfeasance. She filed a friend-of-the-court brief signed by thirty-one other state attorneys general in 2011 in a Supreme Court case looking to end the practice of drug companies paying competitors to keep generic versions of their drugs off the market. In 2012, she set up a privacy enforcement protection unit in the attorney generals office, which at one point fined a company for surreptitiously installing spyware on its customers computers.
In 2011, she brought the largest fraud settlement in decades against a company that had spent fifteen years overcharging the states insurance program for the poor and disabled. She reached a $6.5 million settlement with two former Countrywide executives over predatory lending and called for a Homeowners Bill of Rights, which led foreclosures to plummet in the state and Daily Kos to declare her a banksters worst nightmare.
Harris also has a strong history of going after polluters. As district attorney, she created San Franciscos first Environmental Justice Unit and went after cases involving illegal dumping and air pollution. As attorney general, she went after companies including BP, Chevron, Comcast, Cosco Busan, ExxonMobil, and South California Gas Company, with Cosco Busan agreeing to the largest settlement of its kind for its 2007 spill in the San Francisco Bay.
With Trump in office, Harris has become even more outspoken. Shes come out in support of single-payer health care and free college tuition for families earning less than $140,000 a year. Shes a frequent critic of Trumps policies. In her short time in the Senate, shes put forward bills to end the pay gap for black women and clarify the rights of people detained at US ports of entry, and cosponsored bills to raise the federal minimum wage, close tax loopholes for Big Oil, ban agricultural use of dangerous pesticides, and stop new oil and gas leases as well as the renewal of old ones in the Arctic Ocean.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/08/kamala-harris-trump-obama-california-attorney-general
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)I really could care less. I have used it but it's not a huge deal to me if its legal or not. One can always get it and use it if they want to.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
ismnotwasm
(41,919 posts)Shes powerful, and lays out a good message. She doesnt mind adopting things like Medicare for all, which I personally have a problem with, but many, many people are enamored with the idea, so I assume she will also support the major tweaking that will make it work. She also doesnt take any shit. She would have Trump for lunch in debates. She a pragmatist, which is all important to me.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MRDAWG
(501 posts)nuff said.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
wildflower
(3,196 posts)At the CNN site or YouTube.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
kelly1mm
(4,719 posts)And her calling for Sen. Franken to resign show she lacks the judgement to be President.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
SKKY
(11,771 posts)...She's tough as nails. She's progressive, for sure, but it was during that hearing that I decided I was all in for her. I don't know. I just got a sense as I watched her that she was about to do big things. And I think she is. That's why I'm supporting her during the primaries, but will support (Democratic Primary Winner) in the general.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)First of all, understand that I am coming at this from a handicapper perspective. It is always difficult for me on this site because I am accustomed to free-for-all environments on sports sites and sports wagering venues. Blunt assessment is valued and considered a necessity. The cheerleader types and tippy-toe types are not respected. On partisan political sites the dynamic can be reversed, and I often struggle with it.
I think Kamala Harris is much closer to John Kerry caliber than Barack Obama caliber. That would be my base summary. She is being confused as special when in fact her instincts are poor and the inherent weaknesses would show up at the wrong moments during a fall campaign. Harris certainly could defeat Trump but it would require Trump to remain at his current approval level and not 2-3 points higher.
Let me get this out of the way before going further: If we have a black female nominee then the polling is going to overstate her numbers. More people would say they would vote for her, than would actually vote for her. Misogyny is very real. The Andrew Gillum example is very fresh, and devastating to me as a Floridian. Just because a charismatic midwestern male like Barack Obama did not suffer compared to his polling does not mean the angle is gone. Nominating a black female liberal from a coastal liberal state would test every bit of it. As someone who prioritizes margin for error, I really don't want to test every bit of it.
Marcia Clark was given that O.J. Simpson case because she was incredibly effective and respected in high profile cases like Rebecca Schaeffer, the actress slain outside her complex front door. Clark was accustomed to being on offense. She thought she had special bond with jurors, particularly black female jurors. The O.J. Simpson case was being confused as a slam dunk case, by Clark and others in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Not until the Simpson defense was far beyond anything Clark had ever encountered or could anticipate, both in caliber of argument and caliber of deceit, did all of Marcia Clark's weaknesses show up. Now she's scowling. Now she's barking. She can't believe she is actually on defense in a slam dunk case. Consequently her instincts are being tested like never before, and she butchers many big picture decisions, like allowing 9 black females on the jury despite focus groups indicating that type of juror would hold animosity to Nicole. She failed to veto the glove demonstration by Christopher Darden, which should have been Lead Prosecutor 101.
And so forth. Again, I realize comparisons like this are more common and accepted on sports sites than political sites. I do not apologize. I trust my instincts. And Kamala Harris has verified those instincts recently by failing to provide a competent response to questions about her prosecutor past. She can't wish those questions away. The "modern day lynching" comment regarding Smollett would have been a surprising gaffe from any of our other candidates. From Kamala Harris it was almost the favorite. Her explanation of that has been pathetic so far.
Our nominee is going to be on defense in fall 2020. It doesn't matter what it looks like now. Defeating an incumbent is a monumental uphill task. I want someone who understands that right how, instead of being jolted late in the game as it unfolds that way, like Marcia Clark in the mid '90s. I simply don't trust Kamala Harris in that scenario, and the type of decisions her instincts would allow when it is one barrage of new unexpected onslaught variables every day. A male is best suited to deflect that type of thing. If we nominate a female it needs to be someone with innate charisma and patience, and not an attack dog type. I have hosted enough debate watching parties to know how that type of female plays among apolitical types.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Progressive2020
(713 posts)I appreciate everyone's posts and responses. A lot of good info in there. Harris seems like a pragmatic and tough politician who votes progressively in the Congress. I think that she seems to have a good mix of toughness and progressivism.
I will maybe watch some of her Town Hall Speeches on YouTube, as someone suggested. I intend to give all the candidates a good look. I will say that Harris looks pretty good at this point, but I intend to give it time and think as deeply as I can about these candidates. I am grateful to live in a democracy like ours. It is a privilege to be a part of the electoral process.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided