BIDEN FOR VICE PRESIDENT?
HE HAS EXPERIENCE
Reportedly, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, is getting sick of repeated questions about whether the first-term senator really got into the presidential race in order to wind up as someone’s running mate — especially for former Vice President Joe Biden.
No, she answered the question again during a recent press availability in Nashua, New Hampshire. In fact, she said, she has encouraged the talk.
Wait for it.
“I think that Joe Biden would be a great running mate — as vice president,” Harris said. “He’s proven that he knows how to do the job. And there are certainly a lot of other candidates who would make, for me, a very viable and interesting vice president.”
Biden, vice president for eight years under President Barack Obama, only recently announced his candidacy but immediately became the front-runner in the race. Harris is currently a distant fourth.
A LITTLE OFF THE TOP
Former U.S. Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke livestreamed himself getting a haircut in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, as part of his campaign re-set last week.
During his session at Chema’s barbershop, he discussed his haircut, even describing how his ear hair needed to be trimmed, something, he said, that becomes necessary as you age.
O’Rourke also took questions from Facebook followers, discussed his education platform and allowed his barber to talk about moving from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso.
A barbershop customer said he recognized the former congressman’s face from television but did not know his name. The Democrat explained that he was running for the presidency.
Earlier in his campaign, he had live-streamed himself getting his teeth cleaned. The re-set occurred because O’Rourke fell in the polls after his original declaration as a candidate, which coincided with a Vanity Fair article on him in which he said, “Man I’m just born to be in it (the presidential race).”
For the next re-set, a prostate exam? Back waxing? Colonoscopy?
HE’S OUR BOY
The 22nd and 23rd Democrats to throw their hats into the ring for the 2020 presidential nomination of their party have something in common. They both hired the same guy who has been accused of workplace sexual harassment.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock announced he’d be No. 22 on Tuesday, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he’d be No. 23 later in the week. They both employed Kevin O’Brien.
O’Brien worked as senior adviser under Bullock in the Democratic Governors Association before being fired in 2015 amid allegations of workplace sexual harassment.
“When I was made aware of the complaint against Mr. O’Brien at the Democratic Governors Association,” Bullock said. “I fully agreed with the decision to end his employment. It’s clear that was not enough to protect these women from what has proven to be an unacceptable pattern of behavior on his part. We all have a responsibility to do better and to put an end to sexual harassment, and I’m committed to doing my part.”
A month after he was fired, de Blasio hired him. However, he resigned as senior mayor adviser in March 2018 after investigators confirmed “sexual harassment in violation of the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,” according to a report.
We’ll be curious to see if any of the other 23 candidates have thoughts on the matter — or have hired him.
THE WAY OF THE GUN
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker D-New Jersey, either knowingly issued a false statement about guns on the presidential campaign trail recently or cribbed someone else’s false point and used it himself. Either way, the liberal Washington Post called him on it, giving him three “Pinocchios” for being misleading.
Booker said toy guns were more regulated than real firearms, and his campaign made it worse, saying, “Nowadays, there is more regulation over toy guns than real ones. While medicine, children’s toys, and any number of other consumer products are subject to regulation by the federal government, firearms are exempt.”
Except, of course, firearms are subject to numerous laws, and their manufacturers can be sued if the guns malfunction.
“Our industry is the most heavily regulated industry in the country,” a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation told the Post. “No other industry is regulated at the federal, state and local level to the extent our industry is regulated, which include design and performance standards.”
As is often the case, though, someone picked up Booker’s point and repeated it. In this case, it was former Parkland High School student David Hogg, who is wont to say outrageous things. Now someone is likely to repeat Hogg’s statement, and so it goes — the ever elusive truth.