I’m sick of this “Anyone but Kamala Harris” narrative

| 6:30 pm EDT July 31, 2020
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Over the past week multiple Democratic Party operatives, some of them anonymously and some of them under their own names, have begun publicly pushing the narrative that Kamala Harris shouldn’t be Joe Biden’s running mate because she’s too “ambitious” or cut-throat.

Joe Biden has a number of strong choices for running mate, and I trust him to make the pick that he thinks will be best for his administration and for the nation. Apparently some of these political operatives don’t trust Biden, because they think he’s going to pick Kamala Harris – and they’re so dead set against it, they’re leaking horrible sentiments about her.

Let’s be clear here. Everyone who wants to be President or Vice President is “ambitious” by definition. But you only hear that word used negatively in politics when it’s in reference to a woman or a person of color. This backlash against Kamala Harris, simply for being a highly qualified person who wants to move up the ladder, is sexist and racist in nature. It needs to stop.

In addition to the sexism and racism on display here, this is also yet another instance of liberals and Democrats falling into the “anyone but the frontrunner” trap. Most observers think Kamala Harris is the frontrunner for VP, and so some people have decided that it should be anyone but her, because frontrunners are somehow inherently bad. We see this nonsense every primary season, where Democrats start bandwagoning on in favor of anyone they can find, just so they can feel good about not having to support the frontrunner. It’s harmful and stupid, and it costs us elections, and it needs to stop too.

Joe Biden’s pick isn’t going to be influenced by this kind of anti-woman, anti-minority, or anti-frontrunner idiocy. He has plenty of strong choices. The contenders have all conducted themselves with honor. Biden will pick whoever he picks. It has to be his decision in the end. The other contenders will all support Biden’s pick. But some of the political operatives floating around the edges of this process sure are revealing an ugly side of themselves.