The mainstream media attempts to brand Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate as a “moderate” are “hilarious,” — because Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is anything but moderate, said Jon Favreau, who was a top speechwriter for former President Barack Obama.
“It was hilarious to me that she is being called in all this coverage a moderate, like Joe Biden has found a fellow moderate or centrist,” Favreau said during one of his recent podcasts, The Daily Wire reported.
The new center?
The problem, as Favreau pointed out, is that any notion that Harris is a moderate is quickly dispelled by a look at her record.
“She supports something extremely close to Medicare For All, which Bernie Sanders acknowledged in his statement supporting her,” Favreau said. “She’s for the Green New Deal. She has one of the most liberal records in the U.S. Senate.”
Favreau went on to suggest that maybe what the media is really doing here is trying to claim that Harris’ policies represent the Democratic Party’s new center.
“If you want to call Kamala Harris’ record in the Senate and her policies that she’s supporting now centrist or moderate, great,” Favreau said. “If that’s where the Overton Window has moved, then congratulations to all the progressive activists because you have f****** moved the s*** out of that window, that supporting the Green New Deal and, basically, Medicare For All is now moderate and centrist. Fantastic, I’ll take it.”
The Democratic problem
He has a point. It is undeniable that the Democratic Party has moved to the left. Whether Americans who in the past have called themselves Democrats have similarly moved to the left with the party is another matter.
There is thus this tension between the new progressive Democrats and the old establishment Democrats, and if the Democrats, in general, are going to defeat President Donald Trump this November then they are going to need the support of both factions.
This, in part, explains the Biden-Harris ticket. You have Biden, who ostensibly represents establishment Democrats, and Harris, who represents the far left.
At the same time, however, we have seen how Democrats, including the mainstream media, are trying to make sure that Biden doesn’t appear too centrist. And now, they are trying to make Harris appear less radical. For example, as the Daily Wire pointed out, The New York Times recently called Harris a “pragmatic moderate,” which, given her record, truly is laughable.
It’s all about one thing for the Democrats: getting Trump out of office. We’ll have to see whether this ploy, this attempt to rebrand both Biden and Harris, pays off.
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