The Floyd case has put the national spotlight back on Klobuchar’s days as a prosecutor, particularly as it became clear Derek Chauvin, the officer involved in Floyd’s death, was involved in the death of another citizen while Klobuchar was prosecutor. Chauvin was one of six officers who fired on and killed Wayne Reyes in 2006 after Reyes reportedly aimed a shotgun at police after stabbing his friend and girlfriend. While the death happened during Klobuchar’s tenure at the helm of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the case did not go to a grand jury until after she left the office and became a senator.
Klobuchar did not criminally charge other police involved in the more than two dozen officer-involved fatalities that occurred during her time as prosecutor. She left those decisions to a grand jury, a practice that was common at the time.
Doesn't sound like Klobuchar was atypical as a prosecutor - but that's kind of the problem. The system has been rotten for a very long time, and choosing a VP candidate who's been one of its enforcers would be a big mistake with tensions running as high as they are now.
We have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment.
Is there any prospect of Keisha Lance Bottoms getting picked?
I don’t really know much about her, or political positioning, but just saw her speaking about the riots and doing an interview and I found her rhetoric and communication skills more captivating and engaging than Biden or any of the people who were competing with him for the nomination.
Bewildered wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 4:58 pm
Is there any prospect of Keisha Lance Bottoms getting picked?
I don’t really know much about her, or political positioning, but just saw her speaking about the riots and doing an interview and I found her rhetoric and communication skills more captivating and engaging than Biden or any of the people who were competing with him for the nomination.
Bewildered wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 4:58 pm
Is there any prospect of Keisha Lance Bottoms getting picked?
I don’t really know much about her, or political positioning, but just saw her speaking about the riots and doing an interview and I found her rhetoric and communication skills more captivating and engaging than Biden or any of the people who were competing with him for the nomination.
Just going on her recent speech, she is impressive.
She also does not come at the cost of a senate or congress seat.
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having that swing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for it meaning a thing
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Harris is a bit of an interesting case. She's not popular with the BLM crowd, for having overseen and upheld exactly the kinds of policies that have lead to excessive incarceration of black people (much like Sir Kier Starmer) while attorney general, and certainly doesn't have the kind of record of speaking out against injustice that people like AOC have.
On the other hand, there are obviously limits on what people, especially people of colour and especially women, can achieve within the political system. There is presumably some value in having political insiders from underrepresented groups (beyond giving the establishment an unwarranted appearance of representativeness), and maybe Harris felt it was important to prioritise that over saying and doing what she really thinks. As VP she should have more opportunity to speak her mind and try to lead rather than follow. She's butted heads with Biden before, for instance for being chummy with segregationists, and might help to drag him into more progressive directions.
I've seen a lot of people celebrating the appointment of a woman of colour as a victory in and of itself, and of course they're right. But that victory will be pretty hollow if it's not accompanied by a huge amount of lasting change. Having a black president for two terms still lead us where we are today.
We have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment.
Bird on a Fire wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 12:57 pm
Harris is a bit of an interesting case. She's not popular with the BLM crowd, for having overseen and upheld exactly the kinds of policies that have lead to excessive incarceration of black people (much like Sir Kier Starmer) while attorney general, and certainly doesn't have the kind of record of speaking out against injustice that people like AOC have.
On the other hand, there are obviously limits on what people, especially people of colour and especially women, can achieve within the political system. There is presumably some value in having political insiders from underrepresented groups (beyond giving the establishment an unwarranted appearance of representativeness), and maybe Harris felt it was important to prioritise that over saying and doing what she really thinks. As VP she should have more opportunity to speak her mind and try to lead rather than follow. She's butted heads with Biden before, for instance for being chummy with segregationists, and might help to drag him into more progressive directions.
I've seen a lot of people celebrating the appointment of a woman of colour as a victory in and of itself, and of course they're right. But that victory will be pretty hollow if it's not accompanied by a huge amount of lasting change. Having a black president for two terms still lead us where we are today.
The biggest attack lines coming from Republicans right now are that Biden and Harris are far-left extremist socialists, and that Biden and Harris are conservatives in the pocket of Wall St, that don't care about BLM or equality.
Biden has been making it quite clear that he's talking and listening to progressives on policy - with Warren, for example - while also being a known moderate. Basically, they are safe options that independent and conservative white voters can and will vote for, and Republicans are flailing around in response to him and Harris.
The Republicans seem to have totally jumped the shark in terms of internal consistency, never mind actual veracity, but maybe that's a low-risk strategy until somebody works out how to break through their stranglehold on information flow to their base.
And the Democrats' strategy of targeting right-of-centre former Republicans and swing-voters does seem to be working well to win the election. I just hope that after winning they can pivot to delivering useful change, especially on climate change (the next decade will be soooo much easier if the USA stops pissing in the pot) and maybe dialling down the institutional racism a few notches. I suppose I'm less bothered if the US continues to be a corporate-owned economic basket-case in other areas, because I'll never have to live there; I'd just like less of its malign influence on stuff that matters to the rest of the world.
We have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment.
Bottoms
