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From the left: Biden = Trump?
The push to make Joe Biden drop, marvels Racket News’ Matt Taibbi, sank to comparing him to . . . Donald Trump. E.g.: After Biden slammed party elites and the press on Morning Joe, “Trump comparisons were instantly assembled under screaming headlines. A feature by AP about how a ‘defiant’ Biden borrowed ‘tactics from Trump’ ran everywhere from the Washington Post to The Seattle Times to PBS, while Newsweek bluntly declared, ‘Joe Biden Has Turned Into Donald Trump.’ ” And they kept it up after he dropped out! “In this late flurry of ‘Biden is Trump’ obits, Washington insiders are showing what they mean by a “working” system: one in which even the president is an interchangeable part who should know his place, unlike a ‘Trumpian’ leader who thinks votes somehow entitle him to office.”
Libertarian: Harris’ ‘Make It Rain’ Vow
“Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her substitute presidential campaign on Monday by promising to pass two policies that were dropped from President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act,” observes Reason’s Eric Boehm. Biden dropped paid family leave and government-funded child care “when members of Congress balked at the price tag.” Pushing them now is “what Harris sees as an opportunity to define herself as even more economically progressive than Biden.” “Expect both initiatives to figure prominently in Harris’ campaign, particularly as she tries to shore up support from the progressive left.” Worse, it looks like she’ll be “unwilling to take ‘there aren’t enough votes in the Senate for your agenda’ as an answer.”
Election watch: Will Grassroots Rally for Veep?
“The party’s big ask in the runup” to their convention is “for Democrats to rally behind Vice President Kamala Harris,” notes The Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley. Hmm: “Primary voters rejected her candidacy only four years ago,” and they’ll again have to “grapple with” her “coastal progressivism,” which led to that flameout. Plus, Gallup finds immigration among the top issues for voters this year, yet Harris failed “miserably” at her task of addressing the border crisis. Her views on race and free health care for illegal immigrants are also extreme. “Democrats are changing the name at the top of the ticket when what’s really needed is a course correction.” Someone from “Harris’s wing of the party isn’t likely to provide it.”
From the right: Prez’s Shady Drop Out
President Biden’s re-elex dropout “raises questions about his health, the Democratic Party’s competency and Vice President Kamala Harris’ integrity,” fumes USA Today’s Nicole Russell. “Biden issued his resignation from the presidential race in a letter posted on social media,” when a live-TV address “would have been the most responsible way to do it.” And if he’s “too sick to carry out the duties of the presidency, shouldn’t the American people be informed? The ‘just trust us’ attitude that his administration has adopted until now is no longer acceptable.” And don’t forget that “during Biden’s steady decline, Harris has been at his side, telling all of us that there was no cause for concern. Even Democrats shouldn’t ignore all of the gaslighting.”
Conservative: Kamala Has Accomplished Zilch
“Democrats are very excited to have Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee,” just like “a starving person would be happy to have a plate full of whatever food they hate simply because they’re so hungry,” sneers Derek Hunter at The Hill. “But Harris is not a plate of substance,” just “empty calories.” In her brief tenure in the Senate, she was best known for “being combative in confirmation hearings on the Judiciary Committee.” This leaves her with no choice but to run on her experience as President Biden’s No. 2, grim as his record is. “Disassociating yourself from an administration that is unpopular is tough, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a candidate forced to tie themselves to an unpopular one because the alternative is to list no accomplishments.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board