(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . J. Rubin is Laying Groundwork for Harris [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-07 I’ve come to highly respect Jennifer Rubin, once she got over her Romney fixation. Since the debate, I’ve been waiting for her to chime in on whether Biden should drop out of the race. This morning she came close: The Kamala Harris calculus: What do Democrats gain or lose? One benefit of the public angst and media frenzy surrounding President Biden’s debate performance has been a growing consensus among elected Democrats and activist groups that Vice President Harris is the only plausible replacement. She isn’t pushing Biden out, but she is making a case that if he does, Harris can win. I have interviewed Harris as a candidate and vice president, watched her appearances up close, and witnessed her participation in the administration, especially her role in attacking the Supreme Court’s reckless decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The person I have seen bears little resemblance to the image critics have created. (Since her first year as vice president, many journalists frankly have stopped covering her, and simply recite that she has gotten bad press.) And Rubin concludes: The good news for Democrats: If Biden does decide to step away, the party has a solid chance to win and make history with Harris. Alternatively, if he remains and wins reelection, voters can be confident there is an able vice president ready to take over if needed. We routinely take the media to task here for their clear bias toward pushing Biden out and for ignoring Trump’s total unfitness for any office. The NYT is our prime target, and well deserving of it, but WaPo also gets a lot of bad press, so to speak. And yes, the WaPo has a lot of problems, but I want to point out a couple of recent items: Start with today’s editorial (a Sunday editorial, the one that gets the most notice): Trump doesn’t want Americans to know what Republicans stand for A group of Republican officials is to convene this week in Milwaukee to hash out what their party would try to do if given power. Former president Donald Trump’s campaign has pushed for their conclusions, in the form of a 2024 party platform, to be as anodyne and vague as possible. One could argue that this shows today’s Republican Party stands for nothing beyond fealty to Mr. Trump. Actually, the GOP has an ambitious agenda, and much of it is unpopular. That is likely why Mr. Trump doesn’t want it written down in an official document — and why the party’s platform committee also plans to meet behind closed doors, even though sessions have traditionally been televised on C-SPAN. They are also aware of the dangers of Project 2025. This column was posted two days ago, but stayed on the front page for a while: Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025 plan Former president Donald Trump sought Friday to distance himself from a conservative think tank’s plan for the next Republican presidency, as Democrats work to make it a political vulnerability for Trump in the November election. . . . “Project 2025 is the extreme policy and personnel playbook for Trump’s second term that should scare the hell out of the American people,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement on Trump’s effort to distance himself from the plan. “Project 2025 staff and leadership routinely tout their connections to Trump’s team, and are the same people leading the [Republican National Committee] policy platform and Trump’s debate prep, campaign, and inner circle.” This story from July 2 was still up a little while ago, though it comes and goes: Trump is already numbing us to the horrific images his plans would create Trump is referencing a hypothetical image of something that hasn’t yet happened, and encouraging Americans to harden their hearts against its emotional power. He is extending his frequent dehumanization of immigrants — as animals and criminals — into what might be called the photographic conscience, the visceral power of images to galvanize public sentiment and reorder the priorities of political life. My point is this: in dealing with the media, we need to use both carrot and stick. Beat them severely and repeatedly when they play up Biden’s weakness and play down or hide altogether Trump’s longstanding and increasingly obvious disintegration. But at the same time, acknowledge when they do show Trump as he really is and encourage them to do more of it. PS: Rubin has been one of the most persistent critics of the media for not reporting properly on Trump. She even once praised the New York Times for (finally) getting it right on Trump’s threat to prosecute rivals. 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