The Knife
8.23.24
I first encountered Kamala Harris over 20 years ago when she launched her initial political campaign for D.A. in San Francisco.
Her opponent in that race, Terence (Kayo) Hallinan, was the incumbent from a storied left-wing Bay Area family. He was a colorful, no-holds-barred character out of the Old West, whose nickname stemmed from his former boxing career and a propensity to still get into fights even in the courtroom.
He also was a friend of mine. We’d occasionally meet for drinks at a dive bar in the Mission District, where I would connect him with other leading journalists and activists. When one of my kids was among those arrested in a peaceful antiwar demonstration downtown, he told me not to worry because he had no intention of pressing charges against any of the protestors.
During those years, I was teaching public interest journalism at Stanford and Kayo generously agreed to sit for a long meeting with my entire class of graduate students in his office.
The meeting was risky for him, as these students were already active journalists, so we agreed it would be off the record. Kayo was refreshingly frank about the ins and outs of San Francisco politics, the tensions between his office and the police, and how he made charging decisions.
For my students, this was an unprecedented educational opportunity to interact with an elected official, albeit an unusual one. (For me it was just pure fun.)
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris was a young assistant D.A. making her first foray into electoral politics. Running against Hallinan, her boss, as a relative unknown, she was the decided underdog in the race. But when I attended a debate between the two candidates, set in the Women’s Building in the Mission, I developed a sinking feeling about Kayo’s ability to win re-election.
Kamala was tough, smart, articulate and knew instinctively how to work the crowd. He seemed disorganized and a bit dazed by comparison. Honestly, I don’t think he knew what hit him.
These memories came back to me this week as I listened to Republicans brand Harris as a dangerous left-wing radical. Leaving aside the left-wing radical piece, which is nonsense (she is a moderate), these critics at least got the “dangerous” part right.
She represents a major danger to Donald Trump, especially at their upcoming meeting on the debate stage on September 10th. Harris is much smarter than Trump and she will very likely do to him what she did to my friend Kayo 20 years ago — slice and dice him into pieces like an onion on a cutting board.
Who knows what will happen in November, but I can tell you what happened after that debate in San Francisco.
Kamala won the election and she has never looked back.
(Read Kamala Harris’ full speech at the Democratic National Convention.)
HEADLINES:
Kamala Harris delivers forceful speech to close out DNC and accept 2024 nomination (CBS)
In Harris' ancestral village in India, people cheer her U.S. presidential bid (NPR)
Stunning Harris rollercoaster reaches new apex at Democratic convention (The Hill)
Gus Walz broke the internet with his tearful love for his dad. Then the bullying began (USA Today)
Watch: Fox News Shuts Down Trump’s Deranged Lie About Harris (TNR)
Company that sent AI calls mimicking Joe Biden to New Hampshire voters agrees to pay $1 million fine (AP)
America Hasn’t Valued Teachers Properly. Can the Walzes Change That? (Slate)
Ukraine Is Blowing Up Bridges In Kursk As Fast As Russia Can Build Them (Forbes)
The War in Gaza Is Making Thousands of Orphans (NYT)
Israeli demands for troops in Gaza blocking truce deal, sources say (Reuters)
Elon Musk was just forced to reveal who really owns X. Here’s the list (Fortune)
Only six of the 23 candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) endorsed won their school board races. [HuffPost]
The Taliban says it wants people to visit Afghanistan. Here’s what it’s like (CNN)
Congo has reported more than 1,000 new mpox cases in a week (AP)
Google Joins $250 Million Deal to Support Newsrooms in California (NYT)
Perplexity AI plans to start running ads in fourth quarter as AI-assisted search gains popularity (CNBC)
Silicon Valley Is Coming Out in Force Against an AI-Safety Bill (Atlantic)
The Year of the A.I. Election That Wasn’t (NYT)
Financial Advisor Recommends Fraud (The Onion)
Kamala gave a very strong and moving acceptance speech at the DNC, a mix of what she called her “unlikely journey” and one that was also strong on policy, both domestic and foreign. She tip-toed around the touchy question of the Israel/Hamas war in Gaza, by stressing both Israeli self-defense and Palestinian self-determination, which is more or less Biden’s position. But, unlike other DNC speakers, she at least she addressed the elephant in the room. Inviting a Pro-Palestinian march organizer to speak at the DNC would have been more progressive—as he or she would have likely called for an arms embargo of Israel. It’s something I and many others would have loved to hear.But it would have strayed away from Kamala’s positioning herself as a moderate, as well as have likely added a cacophonous note to what otherwise was a convivial convention. And Kamala made clear the difference between Trump’s campaign of smallness and ill will and hers of graciousness and goodwill. Her DNC speech made it clear that she’s ready to turn Trump into mincemeat on any debate stage.
Wow!!!!