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The pressure is mounting on Harris to be replaced …voluntarily or otherwise

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The pressure is mounting on Harris to be replaced &&num;8230&semi;&nbsp&semi; voluntarily or otherwise<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Recently&comma; I suggested that President Biden should dump Vice President Harris&period;&nbsp&semi; I went so far as to say that she is such a drag on the ticket that he may very well pick a new running mate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Of course&comma; mine is just one conservative’s opinion&period;&nbsp&semi; Why should Biden take any advice from me&quest;&nbsp&semi; But it seems that those with more connection to Biden – and more influence on him – are agreeing with me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">From one of the major Oracles of leftwing ideology&comma; the Washington Post&comma; comes this&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker – admittedly one of the Post’s more moderate political writers &&num;8212&semi; has said out loud what has only been whispered in the closed-door rooms of the progressive political class&period;&nbsp&semi; In her recent column&comma; Parker called on Vice President Harris to voluntarily walk the political plank&period;&nbsp&semi; She should &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;step aside&period;”&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">While I had called on Biden to boot her off the ticket&comma; Parker does not think that is a good idea&period;&nbsp&semi; She writes&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Biden can’t fire her&period; He can’t risk alienating his base&period; Full stop&period;”&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Of course&comma; Parker is correct&period;&nbsp&semi; Playing to identity politics has its downside and can backfire&period;&nbsp&semi; Harris is a case in point&period;&nbsp&semi; Although I do not believe the response to canning Harris would be as severe as Parker suggests&period; Truth be known&comma; Harris is not an overwhelmingly popular figure in the Black community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Whether Biden boots Harris or she takes off &lpar;allegedly&rpar; on her own&comma; Parker and I do agree that she is a serious threat to Biden’s reelection&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Parker states that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The seriousness of this situation can’t be overstated&period;”&nbsp&semi; That comes very close to saying that Harris is an existential threat to a Biden second term&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">In fact&comma; Parker sees Harris as the second of two potential knock-out punches&period;&nbsp&semi; She writes that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Biden’s diminishing faculties&comma; notwithstanding his relatively successful State of the Union address&comma; and his increasing physical frailty are concerning&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Parker suggests that Harris’ relatively limited and behind-the-scenes role these past several years has been to prevent her weakness from being more widely seen&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">According to Parker&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It has seemed that Harris’s role was to be quiet&comma; lest she embarrass her boss with her sometimes inane&comma; rambling remarks and a laugh that erupts from nowhere about nothing obvious to others&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Seeing Harris as the proverbial albatross around Biden’s neck is not just a matter of conjecture&period;  It is seared into the polling numbers&period;  In a recent NBC poll&comma; Harris’ numbers were Very Positive at 10 percent&comma; Somewhat Positive at 18 percent&comma; Neutral at 16 percent&comma; Somewhat Negative at 11 percent and Very Negative at 42 percent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">According to a March 2024 USA Today poll&comma; Harris had a 36 percent unfavorable rating to Biden’s 41 percent&period;&nbsp&semi; Clearly&comma; Harris makes a bad situation for Biden a LOT worse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">And it is not just Harris’ general unpopularity and ineffectiveness in an office that has a low threshold for effectiveness&period;&nbsp&semi; It is that fear that she could very well take over the presidency during a second Biden term&period; That is a terrifying thought for most voters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Parker suggests that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There’s no reason to think her ranking would spike were she suddenly promoted to the Oval Office&period; Instead&comma; most signs point to disaster&period;”&nbsp&semi; This despite Harris’ own claim to the Wall Street Journal that she is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ready to serve” as president if necessary – and amazingly claims that anyone who knows of her work as Vice President &&num;8220&semi;walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi; Yeah&comma; right&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">&nbsp&semi;In calling on Harris to withdraw for the good of the country&comma; it is obvious that Parker wants to see Biden win in November&period;&nbsp&semi; I guess that is where she and I differ&period;&nbsp&semi; My recommendation to dump Harris is based on the possibility of a Biden win&period;&nbsp&semi; That is not my view&period;&nbsp&semi; I see Biden replacing Harris with someone better in the event that he does win a second term&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Be that as it may&comma; the pressure to have Harris replaced on the Democratic ticket is mounting&period;&nbsp&semi; The decision does not have to be made today&comma; but sometime before the Democratic National Convention&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">So&comma; there &OpenCurlyQuote;tis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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