Is Harris really a moderate?

[durangodawood]

I was against court packing. But after watching the R senate shirk its advise and consent role re Garland, I'm ok with it now. New rules. Thanks, Mitch!

 

[Albion]

That seems to be the impression most people have, but I have some concerns about some of her positions...

It's impossible to view this most liberal of all Senate Democrats as a moderate. This is why I thought Susan Rice might be a better choice; she is no moderate herself, but she doesn't carry with her such a public paper trail that would need to be hidden from the voters.

 

[Kentonio]

If the democrats win over Trump this time around (and there's a good chance that'll happen), she's not going to be VP for long. Biden's not going to serve out the entirety of his first term. 3-4 months in, he'll step down due to health issues, and she'll be running the show.

Sorry but this is pure nonsense. Biden has wanted the presidency for decades and the idea he's going to just hand it over to someone else after a few months is complete fiction. Seriously, where does this kind of silliness even come from?

 

[Albion]

Sorry but this is pure nonsense. Biden has wanted the presidency for decades and the idea he's going to just hand it over to someone else after a few months is complete fiction. Seriously, where does this kind of silliness even come from?

What looks like failing health, combined with his longstanding desire to BE president more than to be president in order to accomplish anything in particular have led people to that conclusion.

 

[Kentonio]

What looks like failing health, combined with his longstanding desire to BE president more than to be president in order to accomplish anything in particular have led people to that conclusion.

Except that's nothing more than a Republican smear line. Biden has expressed some very strong ambitions for his presidency, not least leading a national campaign to find a cure for cancer, something that as we know has ravaged his (and most of our) families.

 

[zippy2006]

Possibly a better metric is how often a senator votes in accordance with Trump's wishes.

Why would that be a good metric? For determining political ideology or for ...anything?

I often see liberals make Trump the sun around which their political solar system orbits, and I don't see this as a desirable move.

Speaking as a Californian, I've watched her career with great interest and support from when she became Attorney General of the state. I would say her law&order credibility put her in more moderate or even conservative territory for California, which puts her more moderate or slightly liberal nationally. And while a lot of people on the extreme left don't like her for the law&order resume, and there may be a temptation to run away from it, I think she should step into it.

Thanks, that is interesting. She seems like a strange pick to tell the truth. She has alienated all sorts of different groups, she has made harsh criticisms of Biden himself, she did terribly poorly in the primary, and she doesn't align with Biden politically or support his moderate-not-Trump platform. I realize she is a black woman who might even be Asian too, but when you ignore her sex and race it is a strange pick.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Er, his own bunk. But a guy can dream.

Curse this physical distancing!

 

[Skewpoint]

Er, his own bunk. But a guy can dream.

I'd really rather not see what's underneath those robes Mr. Goat.

 

[Albion]

Except that's nothing more than a Republican smear line.

If that were so, you'd have a point. Sure, he mouths generalities in TV commercials and tries to repeat what his advisors tell him so say, but anyone can do that.

If he actually campaigns...and debates, live, face to face, with the President...we can return to this and see who between us was the more accurate.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Why would that be a good metric? For determining political ideology or for ...anything?

To the extent that politics is a line and Trump and extreme Republicanism is at one end, and extreme Democrats are at the other, with moderates in the middle, then Democratic Senators that vote more often with Trump are ideologically closer to the middle.

 

[zippy2006]

To the extent that politics is a line and Trump and extreme Republicanism is at one end, and extreme Democrats are at the other, with moderates in the middle, then Democratic Senators that vote more often with Trump are ideologically closer to the middle.

Yet I do not see Trump as a consistent ideological pole of conservatism or Republicanism.

The difficulty with Trump is that you have a lot of populism in the mix. That may be true for Harris as well.

 

[Albion]

...then Democratic Senators that vote more often with Trump are ideologically closer to the middle.

Sounds reasonable. Are there any?


As this chart shows, only three Democratic Senators might qualify and barely: Joe Manchin (WV), Doug Jones (AL), and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ). All represent primarily Republican states.

ProgressivePunch: Senate Members by score / All issues

 

[essentialsaltes]

Yet I do not see Trump as a consistent ideological pole of conservatism or Republicanism.

Like it or not, the GOP is now the party of Trump.

Sounds reasonable. Are there any?

Heidi Heitcamp (ND) has voted in accordance with Trump's wishes 54% of the time. Donnelly (IN), Manchin (WV), and Sinema (AZ) are also over 50%.

 

[cow451]

Yeah, but Ben Shapiro and Bill Maher would chew up most people and spit them out in a debate...would you want either of those two guys as your president?

They aren't running, so it's irrelevant.

 

[zippy2006]

Like it or not, the GOP is now the party of Trump.

Like it or not, it's not, and anyone who uses a Trump test to define political ideology would be ridiculed by political scientists.

 

[cow451]

The court-packing aspect is the thing that has me concerned...it sets a very bad precedent.

I can see our country in 2050...with 31 supreme court justices, simply because every time a president isn't getting their way in terms of policy, just add a few more so that you can give yourself a majority...then handle everything else with executive order.

She seems to be quite FDR'ish in terms of her views on the branches of government (meaning, executive branch uses blunt force to trample over the other branches)... Of course, FDR also had special camps for people who he viewed as a political threat in the name of "national security".

...perhaps that last bit was a bit "scaremonger'ish"...but with people with severe authoritarian leanings, there always has to be that concern. It's the main thing that concerns me about Trump. Willingness to declare "anyone who disagrees with me as a threat to freedom and national security" should always raise some red flags for people.

If someone is willing to suggest that we lock someone else up for reporting on them negatively (Trump) or willing to lock someone up for a non-violent drug offense to further their career (often times in very suspicious circumstances) (Harris)...that has to be a red flag.

LOL, the current administration and party have run hard on court-packing, so neither side can complain about the tactic itself. It's a matter of which side one wants doing the packing.

 

[cow451]

And it's a very accurate methodology for mapping political ideology. If you want a second opinion, the vote-based classification of VoteView also places Harris as one of the furthest left senators (link).

Tell me that this rating would actually change your vote.

 

[zippy2006]

LOL, the current administration and party have run hard on court-packing, so neither side can complain about the tactic itself. It's a matter of which side one wants doing the packing.

"Court packing" means increasing the size of a court to instantly achieve a majority. So if there are five conservatives and four liberals on the Supreme Court, Harris would change the size of the Court to 11 by adding two liberals.

Tell me that this rating would actually change your vote.

A strongly progressive VP would change my vote, and this rating reflects that, therefore this rating could change my vote.

 

[Albion]

Heidi Heitcamp (ND) has voted in accordance with Trump's wishes 54% of the time. Donnelly (IN), Manchin (WV), and Sinema (AZ) are also over 50%.

Heitcamp and Donnelly are not in Congress, so you are down to two (!) out of the whole Democratic delegation in the Senate. That disproves the contention pretty effectively.

 

[Speedwell]

While we're on the subject, how high is up?