LOS ANGELES.–Picking 60-year-old Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris raised questions about the “why” of her decision with some detractors saying that it was due to anti-Semitism, or, put more accurately, opposition by progressive Democrats opposed to having a Jew on the Democrat ticket. Harris, of course, denied any anti-Semitism, citing the fact that she’s married to 59-year-old Jewish entertainment attorney Doug Emhoff. Democrats pride themselves on being the party of civil and human rights, despite some progressives like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian in Congress making so many anti-Semitic remarks she was actually censured by Congress Dec. 8, 2023. Rashida said “form the desert to the sea,” an anti-Semitic Palestinian adage referring to pushing Israel from the Jordan River into the Mediterranean Sea.
When it comes to why Kamala picked Walz over Penn. Gov. Doug Shapiro, the Harris campaign denies that it was due to anti-Semitism. CNN host Dana Bash, who happens to be Jewish, thought that Shapiro had too much “top-of-the-ticket, not VP energy,” raising questions about Kamala’s willingness to share the limelight. “I don’t think he was excluded for that reason. I’m not sure he was excluded at all. I think there were mutual meeting of the minds as to whether this was the right fit for him with her,” said 69-year-old former chief strategist for former President Barack Obama, a regular CNN pundit. Axelrod was asked by Bash why Harris opted to bypass Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Az.), another finalist for Harris’s running mate. Axelrod tried to smooth over any differences with Harris campaign about who to pick as her 2024 running mate.
Nothing would look worse for Harris than voters thinking she didn’t pick Shapiro because of his Jewish faith. Shapiro is unapologetic about his support for Israel, something opposed by some progressives who think the Democrat Party needs to show more sympathy to Palestinians. Axelrod tried to dismiss the decision to bypass Shapiro as a mutual one with Shapiro telling Harris in his vetting interview that he didn’t want, as vice president, to play a passive role. What Bash said Shapiro has “top-fo-the-ticket” energy, he’s talking about Shapiro’s charismatic campaign style, something that Bash said didn’t mesh with Kamala. “Even going into this election, Josh Shapiro had some, let’s just say, hesitancy or questions about whether he wanted to be the No. 2,” said CNN special correspondent Jamie Gange, believing Shapiro has future presidential ambitions.
Axelrod and Bash skirt around the real issue that the Harris campaign didn’t want to go to the DNC convention in Chicago with pro-Palestine demonstrators rioting in the streets. Democrats have a real problem with Squad members like Tlaib, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y), Ayana Pressley (D-Mass) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), all blaming Israel for the destruction in Gaza. If Kamala picked Shapiro, it would have caused riots in Chicago, creating dissension at the convention designed to coronate Kamala as the Democrat Party’s consensus candidate. For nearly a month between the June 27 CNN debate and July 21, the day Biden threw in the towel, the party was in chaos, with Biden rejecting any calls for him to step aside. Axelrod was the first Democrat pundit to question the advisabilityin 2023 of Biden running for a second term because of his known cognitive impairments.
Once the public saw firsthand Biden’s cognitive issues at the June 27 CNN debate, they realized he couldn’t run a competitive campaign. It took former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) nearly a month to pressure Biden to get out of the race. Democrats continue to tout Vice President Kamala Harris, despite her low approval ratings over the last three-and-a-half-years. Campaigning in Philadelphia yesterday, Harris and her running mate Minn. Gov. Time Walz talk only about helping working people, not about the economy, border or foreign policy. Kamala and Walz can only run so long on typical Democrat issues, like women’s rights and health care before voters realize they have no plan for ending the Ukraine War, improving relations with Russia and China and promoting U.S. and global economic growth.
Kamala didn’t pick Shapiro because she was afraid of riots at the DNC convention from the Democrat Party’s anti-Israel wing. Rep. Cory Bush (D-Mo.), fresh off losing her primary, vowed she would make the American-Israeli Public Affairs Council pay for supporting a candidate without anti-Semitic views. Former President Donald Trump will use Kamala’s decision to highlight anit-Semitism in the Democrat Party. CNN’s Bash did everything possible to ignore anti-Semitism in the Democrat Party, saying that Shapiro was too alpha to serve as vice president. Anarchists masquerading as pro-Palestine demonstrators would have started riots at the DNC convention in Chicago. Harris’s strategists couldn’t see that more controversy before the Nov. 5 election would have helped her chances. Harris took the easy way out picking a Lutheran school teacher as her running mate.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
