Crooked Media - Policy bonk

Tuesday, August 27, 2024 BY CROOKED MEDIA

- Town & Country magazine recounting the time RFK Jr. brought home the head of a beached whale in Massachusetts.

Right-wingers and the media are pushing Kamala Harris to get more detailed about her policies and plans. But caving to that pressure may not be what voters really want — and may not even be a good idea, political strategists tell What A Day.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), agreed to sit for their very first big, mainstream interview of the campaign, planning a joint appearance on CNN this Thursday evening. The announcement follows weeks of pressure from everyone in disgraced former President Trump’s orbit, and many in the media, that effectively turned Harris’ media strategy into a story of its own. They want to ask her about all sorts of things — especially the more-progressive positions she took earlier in her career and has now walked back, and to get a lot more detailed about the future policies of a Harris administration. Conservative Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) recently piled on, claiming Harris “owes the American people answers.”

Yet some experienced political hands are doubtful that what voters really want is a bajillion-point policy plan on… just about anything. “Polling right now is proving the theory that voters are mostly post-policy at this point,” a Democratic strategist in a battleground state told What A Day. “Why would Harris want to ‘prove to voters she isn’t light on policy’ when we already know what they care about: abortion, economy, social security … If I’m Kamala Harris I don’t want or necessarily need a policy section on my website.”

It’s not like the other side is eyeballs-deep in detailed policy briefs. Trump is both laughably vague on policy, and will change on a dime when he feels like it. The most we really know about his plans come from the infamous right-wing Project 2025 platforms, which he’s now attempting to run away from. Nobody expects him to expand on his stances at the upcoming debate. If Harris goes into the nitty-gritty on thorny issues now, she risks losing the momentum she has gained during her rapid campaign rollout, analysts say.

Yet Harris is also being pushed from within her party to be more specific about some issues, too.

One policy topic that she’ll continue to be pressed on: U.S. policy toward Israel. Many pro-Plaestinian activists have grown increasingly frustrated with Harris since the Democratic National Convention last week, during which she delivered a speech that didn’t call out Israel’s handling of the war on Gaza that has killed some 40,000 people, according to local health authorities. So far, she has maintained the Biden administration’s stance toward the issue, refraining from calling for an arms embargo on Israel that activists believe would stop the war.

“If she's serious about getting the vote of a unified Democratic Party, she needs to take immediate action to achieve a cease-fire,” Hala Rharrit, a longtime State Department diplomat who resigned over Biden’s Israel policy, told What A Day. “Rhetoric is not enough — a policy shift is required. If she doesn't, the Democratic Party will remain split and she will lose the election.”

For now, at least, Harris’ lead in the polls suggests a lot of voters feel comfortable with what they know about where she stands on the issues they care about most, like abortion and the economy… and not being batshit crazy.

Donald Trump keeps insisting he has nothing to do with Project 2025, the notorious right-wing blueprint to remake America into an authoritarian MAGA wonderland within months of Trump taking power. Never mind that many of his longtime top former aides wrote the damn thing. He keeps trying to convince folks it won’t form the basis of his administration. Then, as if to prove it, he rolled out a different plan that only Trump would expect to soothe the skeptics: Let the roadkill guy handle it.

Trump has asked notorious conspiracy theorist, former third-party candidate and roadkill enthusiast, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to lead his transition team. RFK Jr. himself dropped the news to Tucker Carlson in an interview posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday, days after throwing his support behind Trump. In case there might be any doubt about his exact responsibilities, RFK Jr. specified that he’s going to “help pick the people who will be running the government.” Former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii (now Trump-aligned independent, or, right-wing grifter, whichever you prefer), Tulsi Gabbard, will also join the transition team.

RFK Jr. became best known during this campaign cycle for his run-ins with dead animals, including a bear, a whale, his old freezer full of roadkill meat, and a worm that ate part of his brain and died in his head. So… will he propose naming any dead megafauna to Trump’s cabinet? Would a dead water buffalo be a better White House Chief of Staff than Reince Priebus? I mean if we’re being honest, probably. But in any case, if Trump wins, we’ll all find out together!

Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s pledge to remove his name from the ballot in states where he might steal some of Trump’s vote isn’t going so hot. Kennedy might not technically be able to remove his name from some swing-state ballots, including Wisconsin and Nevada. His name will also still appear on the ballot in Michigan. We’re not complaining! It’s the latest in a string of incidents that Kennedy seems to have not completely thought through.

We’ve OFFICIALLY made it through the DNC and enthusiasm is at an all time high. Now let’s channel our excitement into action. Vote Save America has set a BIG goal: 75,000 volunteer sign ups for their 2024 Organize Or Else program by National Voter Registration Day on September 17th. Vote Save America is the absolute best at providing the highest impact ways you can take action right now to support down-ballot races in must-win districts AND build momentum for the Harris/Walz ticket.

To put this in perspective: In 2020, Biden won by just 44,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin. The margin of victory is tiny - But if VSA recruits enough volunteers, they can close the gap and secure a win for Kamala Harris. Plus, Vote Save America will walk you through the process so you can hit the ground running (if you’ve volunteered with Vote Save America before, still make sure to sign up for this 2024 program so you’re provided the latest actions).

Every volunteer shift makes a difference - So head to votesaveamerica.com/2024 to get involved now!

This message has been paid for by Vote Save America. You can learn more at votesaveamerica.com and this ad has not been authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

The Israeli military today said that it rescued a hostage who was taken by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7 surprise attack. The military said Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued from a tunnel “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip” but didn’t offer specifics on how the operation went down.

Special counsel Jack Smith revised his indictment of Donald Trump’s election interference case, slimming down the allegations in response to the Supreme Court's notorious ruling granting presidents sweeping executive immunity.

Trump unenthusiastically confirmed he’ll show up to the September 10 after reaching a deal with Dems on the parameters, but the Harris campaign suggested that he may have spoken too soon. That would be SAD!

Democrats on the state and national level are suing to block a pair of rules adopted by Georgia’s State Election Board that could be used by local officials who don’t want to certify election results. Now why in the world would this board — dominated by Trump’s allies — want to be able to delay election results?… We can’t imagine! Hear more about this on today’s episode of the What A Day podcast.

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Liam and Noel Gallagher are reuniting Oasis for the first time in 15 years. If they can settle their differences, we’re sure Democrats and Republicans can, too. World peace also now seems within reach, and it sounds like “Wonderwall.”

Kamala Harris’ campaign has opted NOT to do debate prep with an AI-bot modeled on Donald Trump, Semafor reported. It hadn’t occurred to us that they might, but now that we know they won’t, we’re grateful the Harris campaign has decided not to unleash an AI-powered Trump debate bot on the world [shudders].

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