VP pick is in...

mrsconn23

Kamala Harris. 

VarunaTT

Quite literally me in the office when my boss called me to tell me:

climbingsingle

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VarunaTT

I cannot wait to watch her debate Pence.

Casadena

I love this so much.  She was my favorite when we still had 20 candidates and I think she and Biden will actually be great together.  

@v@VarunaTT
I cannot wait to watch her debate Pence

lolololololol, yup.

Jen4948

I'm glad he finally made a decision. Things are definitely heating up.

VarunaTT

@Casadena I had actually broken my own rule for her b/c I usually don't donate during primaries.  I had set up a monthly donation just a few months before she announced she was suspending her campaign.  Then I switched it to Warren.  Then she suspended.  Then I figured I was a death knoll for candidates and figured I should target Sanders (I do not care for anything about him as a candidate).  So, I'm really excited to see her back on the presidential ticket and since Joe continues to promise only 4 years, I feel this gets her foot into the door for 2024 ticket.

charlotte989875

I think it’s a fantastic pick; I know she was the front runner but I was worried with all the rumors of other picks he would have screwed it ip. She was clearly the best choice. 

ei34

I'm thrilled.  And this is the VP debate I'm looking forward to most since, ironically, Biden/Palin in 2008.

short+sassy

I'm excited also!  She was previously a strong and popular candidate.  She has a solid political background and resume.  Most importantly, I think she'll help bring in more votes for the Biden/Harris ticket.

mrsconn23

I didn't realize what a close relationship she had with Beau Biden.  She said they talked almost every day.  I think her taking the busing issue personally during the debate with Joe Biden actually makes more sense now since they have a long history. 

I know she was a prosecutor and people have brought up her record, especially about jailing parents for their kids truancy among other questionable things.  But she's actually addressed that and said that she's learned and feels differently about it now.  

I think she's not going to take shit from the Trump admin.  I also think she'll call out bullshit and still get back to her talking points.  I don't think she'll get flustered like other people could when dealing with the daily onslaught of god knows what is going to come out of Trump and his surrogates.  

Also, SHE MADE FUCKING KAVANAUGH CRY.  LOL x forever. 

I don't think there was a perfect pick and I had my eye on some other people that were likely long-shots (Stacy Abrams), but I think the Biden/Harris ticket is solid. 

mrsconn23

Vulture posted all of Maya Rudolph's appearances as Harris on SNL.  I'm going through them and they're so damn funny.  

https://www.vulture.com/2020/08/snl-maya-rudolph-kamala-harris.html

VarunaTT

mrsconn23 said:

I know she was a prosecutor and people have brought up her record, especially about jailing parents for their kids truancy among other questionable things.  But she's actually addressed that and said that she's learned and feels differently about it now.  

I think it speaks well of Biden that he was able to acknowledge and grow and learn.  While I totally see the point that we all should've been anti-racist, anti-misogynist, etc. our entire lives, that's not the culture a lot of us grew up in (and still grow up in, in some respects).  I still acknowledge racist, classist, misogynistic thoughts I have and I correct them.  I'm 43 and I'll have to do it all my life.  I had to learn.  I have a real beef with the part of the progressive left playing purity politics with those of us who never had the education or life experience that taught us differently and are doing the work to better ourselves in those areas.

I know the truancy program gets a lot of criticism, deservedly so.  I also like to point out that there was never any parents jailed (multiple articles have said so) and if they were charged, it was after a series of the school systems offering levels of help to the parents to combat the structures contributing to the truancy. But they weren't jailed, everyone charged was given plea deals.

I guess all of it gets wrapped up for me in people who have been public servants for decades are going to have a mixed bag record, no matter what.  Especially when we're talking about the 80s-90s, when criminal justice reform was "lock them up", "super predators", and "three strikes" (something Kamala refused to pursue unless the 3rd strike was for a violent/serious crime).  And it's really easy for some people to judge, but if you follow some Black Twitter, there's a lot of pushback starting to happen from people who were living in the inner cities in the 90s and are pointing out that government help/intervention was being screamed for and it was supported at the time, even if hindsight is making it look bad.  And for some of these young progressives to be engaging in purity tests and compromise avoidance, isn't acceptable to me.

This is a good overview of her record without trying too hard to take a side:  https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/7/18202084/kamala-harris-truancy-prosecutor-president-2020

ETA:  Actually this is the article that is the overview, the one above is a link based off that article:  https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/23/18184192/kamala-harris-president-campaign-criminal-justice-record?fbclid=IwAR14tu7FGdi0S3GSJmA4v2z7zSQibJ-_fu1VIMe4yhZTi7wjK1RQ6FuvNmM

mrsconn23

VarunaTT said:

mrsconn23 said:

I know she was a prosecutor and people have brought up her record, especially about jailing parents for their kids truancy among other questionable things.  But she's actually addressed that and said that she's learned and feels differently about it now.  

I think it speaks well of Biden that he was able to acknowledge and grow and learn.  While I totally see the point that we all should've been anti-racist, anti-misogynist, etc. our entire lives, that's not the culture a lot of us grew up in (and still grow up in, in some respects).  I still acknowledge racist, classist, misogynistic thoughts I have and I correct them.  I'm 43 and I'll have to do it all my life.  I had to learn.  I have a real beef with the part of the progressive left playing purity politics with those of us who never had the education or life experience that taught us differently and are doing the work to better ourselves in those areas.

Thanks for the links.  I'll check them out.  I like Vox's reporting a lot.  And I'm guilty of assuming someone said it that it actually happened, re: truancy penalties. .

The bolded also sticks in my craw.  Competitive wokeness is getting ridiculous. Let people learn and grow.  Shaming people and 'call out' culture just makes people turn away.  Also it makes it hard to call out the right, who basically cower in fear of Trump lambasting them on twitter, when you're willing to shit on someone for not being 100% in lockstep or even for having questions, FFS. 

VarunaTT

This one is also good:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2020/08/10/kamala-harris-progressive-pioneer-san-francisco-da-column/3334668001/

If I had wanted to dislike her, I've got the goods.  She defended the state of CA on their treatment of transgender inmates.  It was her job.  She also worked behind the scenes to get the Department of Corrections to change their policy on transgender inmates while prosecuting the case.  That was in 2015 and 5 years later, CA's Dept of Corrections has pushed an even more liberal policy re: their transgender inmates (my opinion on their current policy is not formed, TBH, I have a lot of cognitive dissonance about it that I haven't worked through/researched).  I just feel like people forget that some of the most effective subversion techniques are done from inside the system and picking/choosing your battles to be the most effective moving forward.  Burning the entire system down is always a lovely fantasy, but we still need to have a functioning society and until we examine and work on how to make bureaucratic institutions/ structures better, chaos will reign and no marginalized population will be able to get help at all.

ETA:  She also fought against, and rid the state of CA, from the "gay panic" defense and helped out states do the same.  So, I'm pretty good with calling her an overall ally.

VarunaTT

And sorry to everyone that I seem to have gone in deep today.  



I just have lots of thoughts about current politics/issues and how we treat politicians and I like talking too much.  

Casadena

VarunaTT said:

And sorry to everyone that I seem to have gone in deep today.  



I just have lots of thoughts about current politics/issues and how we treat politicians and I like talking too much.  

SIB: Don't apologize!  It's great dialogue and I really reading well-thought out opinions!

ei34

Don't apologize @VarunaTT it's all beautifully and thoughtfully said.  Totally agree with you too @mrsconn23 re competetive wokeness and call out culture.  I think a lot of us are trying, now more than ever.  I'm still learning in my 30s and I think i'll still be learning in my 80s, if I get there.  As a kid I was lucky to grow up in an incredibly diverse area but I still had the ease of every Disney princess, book character, etc looking like me.  My parents were and are fierce advocates for justice, equity, fairness, being open-minded...and yet my kids' home library is a lot more diverse than mine ever was.  I believe they really did try.  We (not quite young adults but not yet middle aged) have more to be aware of than ever.  Biden and Harris have had missteps.  They've also acknowledged them.  I have some super far left friends that sat out in 2016, and if they do this November I'm going to flip.  Like stop you're as guilty as Trump voters. 

ILoveBeachMusic

I'm glad to hear all of you decrying call out culture. I am 59 and grew up in a diverse area. I still work at understanding and fighting my own racism. I will never be perfect (I don't think anyone is perfect) but I'm trying really, really hard. I grew up in a different era and am unlearning things.

VarunaTT

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I'm glad to hear all of you decrying call out culture. I am 59 and grew up in a diverse area. I still work at understanding and fighting my own racism. I will never be perfect (I don't think anyone is perfect) but I'm trying really, really hard. I grew up in a different era and am unlearning things.

I do think that call out culture has it's place.  I also think the left has weaponized it, a lot.  As a queer person, sometimes I get really tired of answering questions and advocacy.  But I did a lot of training to be able to do that.  And if I'm tired that day, I might punt to another person or website for that time.  To me, the key is that I can tell when someone is being disingenuous about their questions and when someone is genuinely trying to learn.  I'll overcome tired to help someone genuinely working on something.  Others? I'll call their ass to the carpet.

One of the big examples I can think of is that we had a cis het white male in my skeptics group ask a seemingly genuine question:  what does the transgender community use as a term to tell their medical provider their medical biological sex vs. their gender?  Great, right?  He's told the term used is AFAB/AMAB (assigned male/female at birth).  He immediately basically starts...evaluating the term, saying it's not good enough, doesn't it make them uncomfortable, etc.  He has his ass handed to him b/c my transgender friends basically told him to STFU, this is what the transgender community decided to us, and the cishet man was welcome to have a Ho Sit Down card.  Other people on that post were like, Hey, I had always wondered that, but didn't know how to ask, thanks.  One was genuine, the other was not.  One deserved a call out, the other deserves compassion and patience. 

For the older Knotties, it was Hookapants who started my journey on learning and unlearning racism and she was incredibly patient for me.  I've thanked her for that, b/c she extended grace and patience she didn't have to.  She told me she could tell I was trying to learn and that's why.  You can just tell.

I like Everyday Feminism's take on it:  https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/guide-to-calling-in/#:~:text=Much%20like%20calling%20out%2C%20calling,little%20more%20compassion%20and%20patience.