Category: Domestic Affairs,

Kamala Harris Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

Ms. Harris also faced questions about her political strategy and her campaign’s organizational structure. She relied on a stable of California political strategists, led by the longtime political operative Averell Smith, who did not heed warnings from grass-roots organizers to invest more heavily in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Instead, the campaign focused on later primaries in states with more nonwhite voters, including South Carolina and California.

…“Sometimes campaigns can tear friendships apart but we have grown closer,” Ms. Klobuchar tweeted. “Her good work will continue.”

“Her campaign broke barriers and did it with joy,” Mr. Booker tweeted. “Love you, sister.”

Mr. Biden, campaigning in Iowa, called Ms. Harris “a first-rate intellect, first-rate candidate, real competitor.” He walked away when a reporter asked whether he would consider Ms. Harris as a running mate.

Kamala Harris Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race – The New York Times

Yes, there were fund-raising issues but they only manifested because of all of the other issues in her once promising campaign.  The lessons?

1.) POC and women candidates need to be better than their white/male counterparts. It’s an ugly truth but it is the truth.

2.) Iowa and NH are very white. They are also smaller populations which make retail politics easier and more effective to pull off. Both states like to go their own way though so there is a huge opening for new faces to succeed there. The media markets are so inexpensive it is staggering. The Peanut Gallery’s point here is that although they are very white states there are definite (and relatively inexpensive) paths to success for “outsiders” and “newcomers” who are WILLING TO PLAY BALL with retail-style campaigning. For all of those reasons and more,  blowing them off isn’t just poor strategy, it’s just plain stupid.

3.) Sticking to the message is how campaigns win. Changing up the message every other day is how candidates lose. Period.

4.) California is a big state. It is not the entire country though. Banking on a California campaign strategy while employing a tightly knit, closed circle of California-only consultants and leadership is, well, naive and a bit arrogant.

5.) If you can’t campaign in all of the different regions of the country, what does that say about your ability to conduct yourself among the varied cultures across the globe? Don’t answer that. Because it doesn’t say anything good.

6.) She picked a poor cycle to run as America’s “top cop.” We don’t need a law and order prosecutor. We need a reformer.

7.) Outside of La-la-la land donations dry up when candidates don’t do retail politics. Anyone who couldn’t see her war-chest drying up has never campaigned outside a major media market.

The Peanut Gallery doesn’t really see itself ever willingly voting for a prosecutor in a primary but it still wanted to see her do better than this.

It’s not the press, it’s not white men telling her sit down and be quiet, and it’s not ‘electability’ (whatever that means) that sunk her. It was piss-poor decision making that did her in.

The Peanut Gallery is secretly breathing a sigh of relief she finally dropped out. The country needs someone with more savvy and leadership skills than she showed.

The Kamala Harris Conundrum

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The Kamala Harris Conundrum

Exactly.

….Plus, her campaign has been an absolute shit-show. Yes, despite all of the candidates high opinions of themselves, they all have a lot to learn when they start out on the campaign trail. But also yes, Kamala has struggled with management, administration, policy deployment, and acknowledging that it takes different things to run and win in different parts of the country.  And yes, the last item is serious cause for concern. It speaks to her diplomatic ability and whether or not she is prepared to deal with other countries and cultures.

So many of us want to like her. … Or at least want to like her ins pite of her record but she is simply not ready for primetime.

How Kamala Harris’s Campaign Unraveled

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Representative Marcia Fudge, who has endorsed [Senator] Harris and is a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in an interview that the senator was an exceptional candidate who had been poorly served by some top staff and who must fire Mr. Rodriguez. But she also acknowledged that [Senator] Harris bore a measure of responsibility for her problems — “it’s her campaign” — and that the structure she created has not served her well.

…“You can’t run the country if you can’t run your campaign,” said Gil Duran, a former aide to [Senator] Harris and other California Democrats who’s now the editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee.

…Her assumptions about the issues that would inspire Democrats were also muddled: she began running on a tax cut aimed at lower- and middle-income voters and then turned to a pay raise for teachers.

…Then there was [Senator] Harris’s campaign message.

…After months of uncertainty, she’s back to embracing her role as a prosecutor.

…[Senator] Harris said she was being deliberate, but several aides familiar with the process said she was knocked off kilter by criticism from progressives and spent months torn between embracing her prosecutor record and acknowledging some faults.

…The fact that [Senator] Harris is now banking on an Iowa-or-bust strategy highlights a major strategic miscalculation early on that set her off on the wrong track.

When she entered the race in January, she bet that the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire would matter less to her political fortunes than South Carolina, with its predominantly black Democratic electorate.

…What her campaign did not anticipate was that Mr. Biden would remain strong with many black voters, and that Senator Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg would rise as threats in Iowa and New Hampshire. [The Peanut Gallery can not resist interrupting to point out that conventional wisdom says it plainly: “Don’t take NH for Granite.”]

…There are also generational fissures. One adviser said the fixation that some younger staffers have with liberals on Twitter distorted their view of what issues and moments truly mattered, joking that it was not President Trump’s account that should be taken offline, as [Senator] Harris has urged, but rather those of their own trigger-happy communications team.

…[She] bifurcated the leadership between two decidedly different loyalists: her sister, the chair, and Mr. Rodriguez, a trusted lieutenant who had managed her 2016 Senate campaign. Mr. Rodriguez was a central figure at the San Francisco-based consulting firm, SCRB, that had helped direct [Senator] Harris’s rise for a decade; all of the firm’s partners were lined up to advise the presidential race.

The two camps were soon competing, each stocked with people who shared a tight bond with [Senator] Harris but who regarded each other with suspicion or worse. The setup cost [Senator] Harris opportunities to recruit some of her party’s most sought-after outside strategists and left her reliant on a team less experienced in national politics [emphasis: Peanut Gallery] than in California, an overwhelmingly blue state where campaigns often turn on factional infighting within the Democratic Party.

…Dan Sena, a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, met early with [Senator] Harris’s team and came away concerned that they were overly reliant on political thinking shaped in California’s idiosyncratic political system. 

“Winning in California requires a different road map, between a top-two candidate system and the expensive TV markets,” Mr. Sena said. [emphasis: Peanut Gallery]

…One official recalled that during the flight from Oakland to Iowa on the night she announced her campaign in January, [Senator] Harris told senior members of her campaign team that she wanted to “go stealth.” However, instead of pursuing retail politics and introducing herself to voters in more intimate settings, as [Senator] Harris [seemed to have] suggested she preferred, her senior aides determined it was more important to cement herself in the top tier and play for “big, television moments,” as one put it.

“If you go big like that, you’ll never get a real understanding of the American people,” said Minyon Moore, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and a longtime admirer of [Senator] Harris. “Because we don’t live up there.”

…Messages from bookkeepers warning of financial strain went unheeded, according to [Mr. Rodriguez’s] critics, until cutbacks were inevitable.

…Harris and other members of the senior staff were enraged because they did not know the extent of the layoffs until after they happened. Some aides were informed about the mass firing of New Hampshire staff from junior aides and members of the press rather than Mr. Rodriguez.

How Kamala Harris’s Campaign Unraveled – The New York Times

Not. Ready. For. Prime-time.

‘No discipline. No plan. No strategy.’: Kamala Harris campaign in meltdown

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Late in 2015, Rodriguez, then a senior adviser to Harris’ Senate campaign, came out of the bullpen to manage her race after she parted ways with her first manager. It wasn’t a competitive contest [emphasis:Peanut Gallery], but Rodriguez helped oversee spending cuts and staff and consultant layoffs as he worked to significantly slash Harris’ overhead.

…[Other aides] question the wisdom of firing junior and midlevel staffers while the main people empowered to make decisions have all been spared.

…The organizational problems have been agonizing for rank-and-file workers who still believe in Harris’ chances and want to do right by her, another aide said. But the person noted that Harris’ well-received speech at a major Democratic event in Iowa a few weeks ago was eclipsed by news of layoffs across New Hampshire earlier that day.

…Still, others point to Rodriguez’s constant yielding to Maya Harris as a reason he should be held accountable for the campaign’s failures. “It was his decision,” another aide said of the fraying pact, adding there were opportunities for him to take control. “He chose to defer to Maya.”

The unorthodox composition of the campaign is further complicated by other factors. Rodriguez’s California business partners — Ace Smith, Sean Clegg and Laphonza Butler — are senior Harris advisers atop a flat leadership structure that includes just a few other outside voices, including ad maker Jim Margolis, pollster David Binder and Maya Harris. Critics of the arrangement say it has contributed to an insular culture and reinforced the business partners’ long-term obligations to one another.

…Under an updated iteration, Clegg formally assumed control of messaging while Butler took over the financial, digital and operations teams. Dave Huynh, the campaign’s delegate expert, was put in charge of the political department. Emmy Ruiz’s turf included states and the field organization. And Kosoglu oversaw scheduling, communications, advance and policy.

‘No discipline. No plan. No strategy.’: Kamala Harris campaign in meltdown – POLITICO

Hiring leadership without experience is a rookie move.

Black Women Want to Be Excited About Kamala Harris. The Truth Is More Complicated.

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Harris will have to defend her record on criminal justice just as other candidates have to defend their own votes and positions. And black women know that for a black female presidential candidate, the stakes will be far higher than for her white male peers. Criticism of her character and policies is bound to be influenced by a lethal combination of racism, sexism, and cultural ignorance.

…Still the more I dug into Kamala Harris’ background, the worse I started to feel. I wondered whether I was being too hard on her or even holding her to a higher standard than I would a white male Democrat. Former Vice President Joe Biden admitted that he hasn’t been “always right” on issues of criminal justice. No candidate is perfect, and the idea that I might not support a black woman who is qualified for the job is excruciating. My life’s work is centered on black women and their stories, no matter how complicated those narratives might be. Was my hesitation premature and unfair? But the alternative is almost as painful—giving someone who looks like me a pass on actions that have hurt our communities. I want a black female president. But I want an end to mass incarceration for all black women, for all black families, even more. Who can deliver that? Could it be Harris? Maybe, but I need her to make that case.

Black Women Want to Be Excited About Kamala Harris. The Truth Is More Complicated. | Glamour

hmmmm

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

[The] goal was two-fold: Grow an audience in part through heartwarming, inspiring messages, and use that following to spread messages promoting division, distrust, and doubt.

…This tweet didn’t seek to anger conservative Christians or to provoke Trump supporters. She wasn’t even talking to them. Melanie’s 20,000 followers, painstakingly built, weren’t from #MAGA America (Russia has other accounts targeting them). Rather, Melanie’s audience was made up of educated, urban, left-wing Americans harboring a touch of self-righteousness. She wasn’t selling her audience a candidate or a position — she was selling an emotion. Melanie was selling disgust. The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.

…Professional disinformation isn’t spread by the account you disagree with — quite the opposite. Effective disinformation is embedded in an account you agree with. The professionals don’t push you away, they pull you toward them. While tweeting uplifting messages about Warrick Dunn’s real-life charity work, Tyra, and several accounts we associated with her, also distributed messages consistent with past Russian disinformation. Importantly, they highlighted issues of race and gender inequality. A tweet about Brock Turner’s Stanford rape case received 15,000 likes. Another about police targeting black citizens in Las Vegas was liked more than 100,000 times. Here is what makes disinformation so difficult to discuss: while these tweets point to valid issues of concern — issues that have been central to important social movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo — they are framed to serve Russia’s interests in undermining Americans’ trust in our institutions.

…They attacked moderate politicians as a method of bolstering more polarizing candidates.

…Russia strategically employed social media to build support on the right for Trump and lower voter turnout on the left for Clinton. …Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy.

…Their work was never just about elections. Rather, the [Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA)] encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It – Rolling Stone

Mmmhmmmn.

Federal judge says former White House counsel Don McGahn must speak to House

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“However busy or essential a presidential aide might be, and whatever their proximity to sensitive domestic and national-security projects, the President does not have the power to excuse him or her from taking an action that the law requires,” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote.

“Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings,” Jackson said.

…The ruling stops short of saying White House officials must answer all questions they’re asked before Congress. Instead, the ruling focuses on whether an official like McGahn must appear for testimony once subpoenaed.

Federal judge says former White House counsel Don McGahn must speak to House – CNNPolitics

hmmm

Pete Buttigieg Is a Lying MF

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“Kids need to see evidence that education is going to work for them,” Buttigieg explained whitely, when he was running for mayor in 2011. “You’re motivated because you believe that at the end of your education, there is a reward; there’s a stable life; there’s a job. And there are a lot of kids—especially [in] the lower-income, minority neighborhoods, who literally just haven’t seen it work. There isn’t someone who they know personally who testifies to the value of education.”

…Unemployment rate for black college graduates is twice as high as the unemployment rate for white grads. Black college graduates are paid 80 cents for every dollar a white person with the same education earns. White people leave college with lower debt and higher earnings. White kids get more resources, more advanced classes and have access to more technology. But Pete says it could all be solved with a vision-board.

…This is not just a lie of omission, it is a dangerous precedent. This is why institutional inequality persists. Not because of white hoods and racial slurs. It is because this insidious double-talk erases the problem by camouflaging it. Because it is painted as a problem of black lethargy and not white apathy. 

Pete Buttigieg Lies About Education Disparities

hmmmm

A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

…“This will strain bed capacity,” authorities wrote in a discussion paper in February 2018.

..According to current and former government officials, and emails and memos detailing the Trump administration’s strategy, it is clear they knew that without enough beds in government shelters, children would languish in Border Patrol stations not equipped to care for them.

…[Policies also] made it harder for adult relatives of unaccompanied minors to secure the children’s release from U.S. custody. Enhanced vetting of sponsors — including fingerprints and other paperwork — and the sharing of that information between child welfare and immigration authorities slowed down the release of children and exposed the sponsors to deportation.

…The contractors tasked with carrying out the background checks and fingerprinting were overwhelmed, according to current and former HHS officials.

…The approach caused thousands of unaccompanied minors to be stranded in U.S. custody and exacerbated the appearance of a crisis on the southern border — a major element underlying the administration’s public request for billions of dollars in additional funding from Congress.

…A few months after the policy was implemented, HHS officials determined that it was not improving child safety. They concluded that the added vetting was redundant and needlessly extended the time children remained in custody.

…The administration also developed and rolled out its family separation policy in the spring of 2018, part of its “zero tolerance” approach at the border. The months-long initiative, which separated thousands of children from their parents, compounded the need for shelter space.

A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border – The Washington Post

mmhmmm

South Bend black leader endorses Biden, rebukes Buttigieg

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Davis also scolded Buttigieg, saying the mayor’s woes attracting support from communities of color “is not a new problem for him.”

…But Buttigieg, who is polling at 0 percent with black voters in Quinnipiac’s latest South Carolina survey, didn’t have to answer for some of his campaign’s recent racial miscues, such as the revelation that some South Carolina black leaders were surprised to see themselves named as supporters of Buttigieg and his Douglass Plan for black America.

“It’s very difficult and very frustrating to talk about a Douglass Plan when he did not perform that while he was the mayor here in town. A Douglass Plan should’ve been implemented in South Bend, Ind.,” Davis said. “He should’ve run on that in the 2011 or at least 2015 campaign, run on it, had success with it, shared it with Indiana, run nationally. I would’ve been the first one to champion that. But to see that he champions it across the country when it wasn’t practiced here has brought me great concern.”

South Bend black leader endorses Biden, rebukes Buttigieg – POLITICO

hmmmm

White House review turns up emails showing extensive effort to justify Trump’s decision to block Ukraine military aid

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People familiar with the Office of Management and Budget’s handling of the holdup in aid acknowledged the internal discussions going on during August, but characterized the conversations as calm, routine and focused on the legal question of how to comply with the congressional Budget and Impoundment Act, which requires the executive branch to spend congressionally appropriated funds unless Congress agrees they can be rescinded.

…In the early August email exchanges, Mulvaney asked acting OMB director Russell Vought for an update on the legal rationale for withholding the aid and how much longer it could be delayed. 

…The office of White House Counsel Pat Cipollone oversaw the records review.

…The document research has only exacerbated growing tension between Cipollone and Mulvaney and their offices, with Cipollone tightly controlling access to his findings, and Mulvaney’s aides complaining Cipollone isn’t briefing other White House officials or sharing important material they need to respond to public inquiries.

…Mark Sandy, a career OMB official, has testified that the decision to delay aid to Ukraine was highly unusual, and senior political appointees in his office wanted to be involved in reviewing the aid package. Sandy testified that he had never seen a senior political OMB official assume control of a portfolio in such a fashion, according to the people familiar with his testimony.

Sandy told impeachment investigators he had questions about whether it was legal to withhold aid Congress had expressly authorized to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia, but OMB lawyers told him it was fine as long as they called it a temporary hold.

White House review turns up emails showing extensive effort to justify Trump’s decision to block Ukraine military aid – The Washington Post

hmmmm

Navy Secretary forced out after Trump’s war crimes intervention causes division and chaos in military

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Trump intervened to reverse sentences against all three service members, ignoring Pentagon leaders who had told him such a move could damage the integrity of the military judicial system, the ability of military commanders to ensure good order and discipline, and the confidence of US allies and partners who host US troops.

…The Pentagon chief “fired” the Navy secretary Sunday for going outside his chain of command by proposing a “secret agreement with the White House.”

…”I cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” [Navy Secretary Richard] Spencer wrote in his letter to the President acknowledging his termination.

…Current and former military officials say discipline is central to the US military ethos: that US forces are highly trained to operate in a legal and disciplined manner and if they are found guilty of violations, they must face punishment.

Beyond the impact on the military judicial process, there “could be an impact on military leaders and their ability to enact measures of good order and discipline. There also could be a potential crisis of confidence in the potential countries we’re operating in.”

Navy Secretary forced out after Trump’s war crimes intervention causes division and chaos in military – CNNPolitics

hmmm

Another Confederate monument comes down, this time in North Carolina

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A judge ruled this month that the group [that donated the statue in 1907, the Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy] did not give sufficient evidence supporting the monument’s continued presence in front of the courthouse.

Another Confederate monument comes down, this time in North Carolina – CNN

hmmm