Just to prove they’re not a cult or anything, in just a blink, Democrats pivoted from loathing Kamala Harris so much that she couldn’t get a single vote in two primaries, to lockstep-parroting that she is the greatest candidate in the history of the republic. The media naturally joined in the horking seal chorus, with gushing headlines about ‘joyful, ‘charismatic’, ‘Kamalot’, and even, unbelievably, claiming that her discordant, Tourettes-like cackle is ‘musical’.
According to one analysis, Harris has netted an overwhelming 84 per cent positive press coverage – the almost exact mirror of her opponent.
Where the witless American media stampede, we can always rely on the lickspittle Age to follow, bleating desperately.
“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it?” declared Michelle Obama on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Her husband, former president Barack Obama, spoke of “a country where anything is possible”. Bill Clinton, another former president, talked about “joy”.
The atmosphere was euphoric, as if the attendees could not quite believe what had happened. Instead of facing almost certain defeat in the November presidential poll in the hands of ageing President Joe Biden, victory had somehow come back within reach, thanks to the most unlikely person. Kamala Harris.
The Age kiddies might want to curb their enthusiasm a little. The dead cat has bounced – and fallen back to Earth with a smelly splat.
The surge in support for Kamala Harris has faded, a new poll suggests, leaving Donald Trump ahead in the run-up to what may be the only televised debate between the candidates, scheduled for Wednesday (AEST).
Does anyone think the debate is going to be a success for Harris? Not least if the format – muted mics and strict time limits – once again work in Trump’s favour by putting the brakes on his own worst tendencies to run off at the mouth. Even the Age’s parrots admit that “questions about Harris’ policies linger”.
That would be because she hasn’t announced any. Apart, that is, from completely reversing her stance on fracking. Otherwise, her campaign is an insultingly policy-free zone. More notably, Harris hasn’t done a single press conference, and her only interview, a soft-soap job with old, white guy Tim Walz holding her hand, gave new meaning to ‘superficial’. The interview was so devoid of substance that the best highlights producers could run on the strapline at the bottom of the screen were such fluff as, “I will enforce the laws: Harris”, and “My grammar’s not always correct: Walz”.
Hold the front page.
To borrow Lincoln’s famous aphorism, even the most servile media can only fool some of the people for so long.
For the first time in a month Trump is narrowly ahead, with 48 to 47 per cent support nationwide among those likely to vote, according to the New York Times/Siena College poll. It also showed that nearly a third of Americans felt that they needed to learn more about Harris and where she stands on the issues that matter to voters. Only 9 per cent felt that way about Trump.
A survey by CBS News of voters in three swing states showed Harris ahead by a single point in Michigan and Wisconsin, and tied with Trump in the crucial battleground of Pennsylvania. A YouGov poll last week, commissioned by The Times, put Harris ahead in four swing states and Trump in three.
Wednesday’s television debate, in Philadelphia, will be held without a studio audience, but with a vast one watching at home.
Trump has six presidential debates under his belt. Moreover, he has respected former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, who savaged Harris in the 2019 primaries, helping with debate prep. As well, his formerly most significant Republican contender, Nikki Haley, has also offered to help out.
Harris is not, it is fair to say, known for performing well on her feet. She is widely mocked for degenerating into bizarre ‘word salads’.
So, I think it’s very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders, for us at every moment in time – and certainly this one – to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future .
– Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, Harris has been caught out peddling yet another self-serving porkie – just days after being accused of lying about working at McDonald’s in the early ’80s.
In an X post, Harris claimed that her Indian grandfather was “part of the movement to win India’s independence”. As Indian X users were quick to point out, PV Gopalan was a diligent civil servant in the British Imperial Secretariat Service. “How could a serving bureaucrat be part of the independence movement opposing the same government and violating service rules?” wrote one.
Gopalan’s son, Harris’ uncle G Balachandran, also denied the claim. Had Gopalan advocated ending British rule, Balachandran said, he would have been sacked.
The dead cat has bounced. Now, all it can do is slowly disintegrate in the glare of the presidential campaign.
