Take a moment to grasp this point. Historically, it is of huge importance. Democratic weakness on attacks like this goes back to George McGovern in 1972. The Nixon campaign hit him on “acid, amnesty, and abortion” (the amnesty part referring to young men who’d fled to Canada to avoid Vietnam). McGovern’s aides raised it with him. He told them not to respond, no one would believe that about a war hero (which he was). Then, in 2004, John Kerry was swift-boated over his service in Nam. He too directed his campaign to ignore the attacks, no one would believe them. They may have cost him the White House.
The Harris-Walz campaign has clearly learned this lesson. Walz, who so far has been a perfect running mate, whose brilliant comportment (just the right balance of showing deference to Harris and offering his own unique defense of the party’s positions) has made most people forget the name Josh Shapiro, will still have to address this matter at the convention. But his place on the ticket hardly depends on it. Which it might have, if Democrats hadn’t hit back this past week.
Then, later in the week, Harris went after Trump on the border, converting a perceived weakness into a possible strength and turning Trump’s number one issue around on him. “I was the attorney general of a border state. In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers,” she said Saturday in Las Vegas. “Earlier this year, we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades. But Donald Trump tanked the bill because he thought it would help him win an election. Well, when I am president, I will sign that bill into law.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-12 02:22:00
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