Kama, Kama, Kama, Kama, Kama, Kameleon.
Vice President Kamala Harris might be a woman without conviction, but she’s trying to get away with selling more than a few contradictions.
There is nothing normal about Harris’ opaque campaign for president.
On Wednesday, Axios’ Alex Thompson reported on a “lengthy ‘fact-check’ ” forwarded by the Harris team to their allies in the press revising the unpopular policy positions she articulated just a few years ago.
Among the assertions made: Harris “does not support an electric vehicle mandate.”
Of course, that’s not a fact check; it’s an announcement that the vice president has flip-flopped on an issue of enormous importance.
Back in 2019, Harris co-sponsored a bill that would have required automobile manufacturers to produce only electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, completely phasing out the gas-powered ones that most Americans depend on by 2040.
During her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination (remember when you had to run for that?), Harris touted her support for an “accelerated model” under which that transition would be made by 2035.
Thompson, to his credit, followed up by asking if Harris would sign or veto the bill she co-sponsored just a few years ago.
The campaign didn’t respond for several days.
And when it did, it declined to comment.
So to summarize: A major party’s candidate to wield the awesome power of the executive branch is seeking to secure the political benefits of shedding an unpopular, unworkable position via press release, but refuses to answer any follow-ups about the specifics of her new position?
“I don’t support an electric vehicle mandate, but I just might sign one into law.”
Did you catch her wink there?
Harris’ doublespeak is brazen, but not entirely without political merit.
With the media behind her, she believes — perhaps correctly — that she can have her cake and eat it too.
Maybe if she “reimagines” her beliefs via edict — and not with her own voice — she can both convince moderate, independent voters to buy her backtrack away from the far left, and get progressives to understand that once she’s in the Oval Office, she’ll rejoin the team.
