Harris Ignores Biden Race Record She Blasted Just a Few Months Ago
If the modern Democratic Party is good at anything, it is undoubtedly talking out of both sides of its mouth.
From its strangely circumstantial exaltation of the separation of church and state to its support for the sanctity of life just about anywhere besides the womb, the party is known for ideological and moral inconsistency.
On Tuesday afternoon that was all but stamped, sealed and certified when Sen. Kamala Harris of California oh-so-gracefully accepted a vice-presidential nod from the campaign of 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” Biden announced on Twitter, highlighting Harris’ relationship with his deceased son Beau Biden, the former Delaware attorney general.
“Back when Kamala was [California] Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”
Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 11, 2020
.@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.
I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 11, 2020
An almost amnesiac Biden had all but forgotten what may have been one of the lowest moments on his primary path to success: an early campaign onslaught from Harris herself on the issue of race.
The senator’s brief March 8 video endorsing Biden — which was then followed up by several months of silence infrequently broken to loft shallow praise on the then-Democratic primary front-runner — had apparently been all it took.
And Harris too had apparently forgotten the moment, claiming with certainty on Twitter that Biden “can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.”
“I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief,” she said.
Americans with any semblance of an attention span, however, know just how phony this exchange really is.
They, of course, remember when Harris raked Biden over the coals regarding his weakness in taking on racial segregationists within the Democratic Party in the 1970s, when he was a freshman senator from Delaware and she was just a black school girl surviving the Civil Rights era.
REMINDER: Joe Biden’s now-VP pick, Kamala Harris, grilled him over his record on busing and his relationship with senators who “built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race.”pic.twitter.com/SxoFjnfU7s
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 11, 2020
The line of attack, which came first in a June 27, 2019, debate, followed a week of controversy stemming from Biden’s ill-advised attempt to appear moderate by highlighting previous efforts to show “civility” to fellow legislators who opposed desegregation efforts including widely unpopular public school diversity busing.
Of course, Biden did not simply seek to show “civility” to those folks. He downright agreed with them on school desegregation, saying he did not want his kids to grow up in a “racial jungle,” according to Snopes.
“Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point,” Biden said at the time. “We have got to make some move on this.”
Harris nailed the Obama administration vice president on his racial justice record, reminding the audience to thunderous applause that she was one of those black students bused to better-funded white, suburban schools.
“I will direct this at Vice President Biden,” Harris said. “I do not believe you are a racist and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.”
“But I also believe and it’s personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country,” the senator said. “You also worked with them to oppose busing.”
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day,” she said.
“And that little girl was me.”
There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XKm2xP1MDH
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 28, 2019
How it is that in the months that followed such righteous indignation and personal hurt became public forgiveness and claims that Biden would be a unifier-in-chief if elected, I will never know.
Something tells me the prospect of a vice-presidential nod certainly didn’t hurt — particularly given the fact that Biden was all but required by the left to choose a black female running mate in light of recent events — but far be it from me to get conspiratorial.
Whatever it was, however, matters relatively little. The why here is not nearly as important as the what.
In a year and campaign season in which the Democratic Party is centering its platform on diversity as a strength and racial justice as an imperative, its members have chosen an old white segregation apologist for president and decided to entirely forget his horrifying record on race.
Worse still, one of the first folks to rightly air out that record has now conveniently forgotten about it as well, paid off with the promise of higher office.
Strange how the prospect of political power always manages to send the Democratic ideological compass spinning in two distinctly different directions, isn’t it?
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
