Talk about damning with faint praise . . .In a discussion today of Biden's prospective '24 run, the primary reason the Morning Joe panel could come up with as to why Kamala Harris will remain on the ticket was her gender and the color of her skin.
It can be customary for political wags to wonder out loud if a GOP veep will be switched out -- see Dan Quayle in 1992, or Dick Cheney in 2004. Former Hillary Clinton campaign communications director (and Chuck Todd dinner-party honoree) and MSNBC guest commentator Jennifer Palmieri wanted to lay down this was NOT happening:
I know there's been, in [inaudible] I saw that there was some reporting, questioning whether the Vice President will continue to be on the ticket.
There is zero chance—let me tell you people—there's zero chance that Kamala Harris will not be on this, that she will not be his running mate. There is no way they are taking her off the ticket. Everything that she has brought to the administration, the support she has within the base, like, this is the -- you know, for now, unless something dramatically different happens, Democrats start to step up to run, and I see, I just don't see a scenario where that happens, like, this is the ticket.
Note that whereas Palmieri made vague reference to what Harris "has brought to the administration," she was unable to offer any actual example thereof. Her brilliant performance as border czar? Uh, not so much. Making nervous giggles great again? Vamping about Venn diagrams?
The only specific thing Palmieri could point to was Harris's "support within the base"—that is, she's a black woman. For that reason, she adds "DEI" cred to Joe.
What Palmieri only alluded to, Jonathan Lemire made explicit:
To Jen's point, the Vice President is going to be on the ticket for many reasons, including, of course, that as noted, the base -- the foundation of the Democratic party right now: black women. They're not going to alienate that by pushing Kamala—Vice President Harris—off as Joe Biden's running mate.
While claiming there were "many reasons" Kamala will be kept on the ticket, Lemire, like Palmieri, was incapable of naming any, other than the fact that she's a black woman who appeals to "the foundation of the Democratic party--black women."
When a politician's only factors for being a heartbeat (or a brain-beat) away from the presidency is gender and skin color....that's some "affirmative action."
Morning Joe being incapable of pointing to any reason Kamala Harris will remain as Joe Biden's running mate in '24 other than the fact that she is a black woman was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual and Roman.
