Politics
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October 22, 2024
On the town halls with Liz Cheney, Kamala Harris has made no identified concessions to win Cheney’s assist, whereas Cheney has come out in opposition to the Dobbs choice. What’s to not like?
Vice President Kamala Harris at a city corridor with former consultant Liz Cheney in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
(Scott Olson / Getty Pictures)
Monday’s unlikely Kamala Harris–Liz Cheney “Blue Wall” tour, to 3 suburban counties in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, made some heads explode on the suitable and the left.
“Kamala Harris City Corridor with Liz Cheney Blows Up On The Launch Pad,” blared a Purple State headline. On social media, progressive and different critics of U.S. assist for Israel’s cruel assault on Gaza had been horrified to see Harris campaigning with “struggle hawk” Cheney.
“Michigan: Key swing state, highest focus of Arab People within the nation. Harris: Let’s marketing campaign with Liz Cheney!” tweeted The Hill’s Niall Stanage.
My good friend and colleague John Nichols wrote in The Nation: “If Harris desires to win Wisconsin, she ought to cease speaking about, and showing with, the Cheneys, and begin speaking up the assist she has obtained from Barack Obama.”
I’d argue Harris can do each, already has, and can proceed to. In truth, her vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will seem with Obama in Madison on Tuesday. Then Harris and Obama will seem in Detroit—reportedly launched by Eminem. The pair shall be in Georgia on Thursday. And Michelle Obama will be part of Harris in Michigan on Saturday. I’d love Harris and each Obamas to go to Milwaukee earlier than November 5. We’ll see.
Importantly, Harris has made no identified coverage concessions to win Cheney’s assist. Certainly, the one massive information from the city halls got here when Cheney, a staunch abortion opponent, agreed with Harris that for the reason that Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade, states have gone too far with abortion bans and restrictions that hurt girls.
Present Concern
“I believe there are lots of of us across the nation who’ve been pro-life, however who’ve watched what’s occurring in our states for the reason that Dobbs choice, and have watched state legislatures put in place legal guidelines which can be leading to girls not getting the care they want,” she stated. “This isn’t a problem that we’re seeing break down throughout social gathering traces,” Cheney continued. “In locations like Texas for instance, the legal professional common is suing to get entry to girls’s medical information. That’s not sustainable for us as a rustic, and it has to vary.”
Cheney didn’t say what modifications to coverage she would assist, however her remarks had been… outstanding. She hailed the Dobbs choice when it got here down in June of 2022, welcoming it for returning the difficulty to the states. Whereas the previous Wyoming congresswoman bought rapid flak from the suitable for altering her stance, Cheney doubled down within the tour’s third cease, in Waukesha County: “It’s crucially vital for us to search out methods to have the federal authorities play a task and defend girls from among the worst harms that we’re seeing.” Clearly, she not believes the states ought to management the difficulty.
The Nationwide Assessment’s Charles C.W. Cooke was apoplectic: “I’m sorry, but when your desire for/in opposition to a politician additionally leads you to vary your thoughts on abortion or faculty alternative or taxes or no matter, then you have got utterly, disastrously, categorically misunderstood why we’ve politicians and what their position is,” Cooke tweeted, noting her previous assist for payments that declared life started on the “second of conception.”
Repeatedly requested whether or not different outstanding By no means Trump Republicans— you, Mitt Romney—may soar off the fence and endorse Harris, Cheney stated sure, however added: “I definitely have many Republicans who will say to me, ‘I can’t be public.’ They do fear about an entire vary of issues, together with violence, however they’ll do the suitable factor. And I’d simply remind folks, if you happen to’re in any respect involved, you’ll be able to vote your conscience and never ever must say a phrase to anyone.” Thousands and thousands of Republicans, she predicted, would do precisely that.
In any other case, the city halls had been primarily noteworthy due to the heat between the 2 girls. Cheney, who as soon as derided Harris as a “radical liberal,” now describes her as somebody with a “honest coronary heart,” “character” and “braveness.” Harris likewise known as Cheney brave for opposing Trump and supporting her. The vice chairman, who opposed the Iraq Warfare, nonetheless aligns with Cheney on assist for Ukraine and sustaining the NATO alliance, which Trump opposes. “If Trump had been president, Vladimir Putin could be in Kyiv proper now,” Harris stated in Waukesha County.
The tragedy in Gaza solely got here up there, when an viewers member shouted “What about Gaza?” and was reportedly faraway from the room. Critics have famous that the city corridor questioners had been pre-screened, and whereas they had been described as “undecided” voters, at the very least a pair appeared already inclined to vote for Harris.
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The screened questions didn’t hassle me a lot (this occurs at most presidential city halls). These occasions had been already dangerous sufficient for Harris, given liberals’ and progressives’ disdain for the Cheneys. Personally, I appreciated the occasions, particularly the final one in Waukesha County. That historically conservative, “white flight” county gave one-third of its votes to racist Alabama governor George Wallace within the 1964 Democratic Get together. It was the launching pad for former GOP Governor Scott Walker’s political profession (he began out as Waukesha County government). However on Monday, the person broadly credited with serving to launch Walker, broadcaster Charlie Sykes, endorsed Harris and moderated the Cheney-Harris dialog there. “Welcome to a manufacturing of The Odd Couple,” Sykes instructed the group.
The day’s funniest second got here in Royal Oak, Michigan, after a query from moderator Maria Shriver. “Everyone I speak to says you already know, I’ve to show off the information, I can’t learn something, I’m mediating, I’m doing yoga. I’m so anxious… I’m consuming gummies. What are you doing?” Harris shortly replied, “Not consuming gummies!” to loud laughter. It additionally led to a poignant second, when the vice chairman instructed folks to not give into despair.
“I say don’t despair as a result of in a democracy, so long as we are able to maintain it, in our democracy the folks, each particular person has the facility to decide about what shall be. And so let’s not really feel powerless. As a result of then we’ve been defeated.… The baton is now in our palms, to combat for, not in opposition to, however for this nation we love.” The group gave her a standing ovation.
Will Harris’s technique work? All three counties voted closely for Nikki Haley within the GOP major, even after she’d withdrawn from the race. The newest New York Occasions/Siena ballot, taken after Cheney and lots of different Republicans started endorsing Harris, discovered that 9 p.c of registered Republicans stated they’ll vote for her, and it was simply 5 p.c in its earlier ballot.
I’ve seen people complain that Monday’s occasions had been a replay of 2016, when Hillary Clinton spent an excessive amount of time on the finish courting white suburban girls and neglecting her numerous, city base. However Harris isn’t doing that. Final weekend she was in Detroit with Lizzo and Atlanta with Usher. She spoke to the UAW in Lansing on Friday. She has many extra such occasions developing. However abortion goes to be a driving situation November 5, and Cheney giving even “pro-life” girls a push to vote for Harris—and to rethink what it means to be “pro-life,” as abortion bans are killing girls throughout the nation—is an enormous deal. I assumed Monday was a great day.
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