Today Duncan Black asked: Why Did “Everybody” Hate Harris?
Through the long “push Biden out” period, I kept telling friends (and posting here, at times) that the missing issue in the coverage was that all the Very Serious People – the press, the Professional Democrats, I guess what you could think of as the Democratic-Industrial Complex Blob – couldn’t stand Harris. They would ask why, and I would say honestly that I had no idea.
An obvious answer is basic misogyny, and of course, that played a role, but I have never had a more fleshed-out answer. There have long been various whisper campaigns that surfaced momentarily in the press about her intelligence, her skills as a boss, how she’d largely been sidelined as VP, etc.
Again, the whisper campaigns themselves are standard manifestations of misogyny, but that doesn’t fully explain the impulse behind them… read on
I believe much of the initial backlash against the vice president by Very Serious People – the press, and the “Professional Democrats,” was caused by Fox News.
As soon as President Biden was inaugurated, most Fox News programs spent much time on Kamala Harris.
The Murdochs tried to smear her out of existence early on, blunting her rise nationally, both in the Democratic Party and because President Biden was getting older.
Fox News producers used their usual tricks of editing remarks or speeches Harris made down to 10 or 15 seconds to where she might’ve flubbed a word or stumbled slightly so that MAGAts on Xitter and Facebook could hyperventilate.
This is also true of the Very Serious People – the press, and the Professional Democrats, who view many issues through the right-wing lens.
Here are some examples.
Sean Duffy And Fox Go Nuts With Coordinated Attack On Kamala Harris
Duffy said, “Does she not know how stupid she looks? Right? And that she’s not gonna get ruthlessly mocked for being such an idiot? Right, we all know don’t pretend to have an accent when you don’t.”
Here’s another: The freak-out over a handshake.
And another: How dare VP Harris tell her Twitter followers to “enjoy the long weekend” during the Memorial Day holiday? Fox News Melts Down At ‘Spoiled’ VP Harris’ Memorial Day Wish
And suddenly, Fox News personalities are climate change warriors: Fox News Attacks Kamala Harris For ‘Spending Carbon Dioxide’ To Support Newsom
