Seven times in 26 seconds – That is how many times vice presidential-hopeful Kamala Harris used “it was a debate” as an excuse for putting her full support behind Joe Biden, a candidate she only last summer seemed to believe was a racist sexual abuser. The only thing worse about the repetitive, substance-lacking non-answer Harris gave to The Late Show host Stephen Colbert was the way she delivered it between near-hysterical laughter. No one can know what Harris was thinking at the moment, but it played as a nervous reaction – the kind of reaction you give when you have no good response whatsoever and want to cover the embarrassment of that fact as fast as possible by any means available.
Perhaps it’s like accidentally walking in on someone changing clothes, and the person dressing quickly reaching for something to use as cover. A fast grab probably produced something quite inadequate. It was likely too little too late, but it’s human instinct to make a valiant attempt at saving face.
Harris’ attempt to save face and cover her hypocrisy was no more than that – an attempt. And it fell flat. Anyone who takes the time to watch the 52 second clip of the Colbert-Harris exchange can see in her response what many have come to expect from politicians – duplicity. In former days, we knew there was dishonesty in politics, but it was something we supposed. Politicians used to at least try to convince us they told the truth and meant what they said. Harris has shown America that 21stcentury American politics is a whole new ballgame. I don’t know what to believe – whether she truly thought Biden has been wrong on race issues and truly believed his accusers – or whether that was all a lie to try and beat him in the Democratic primary. Does she now not believe those things are true about her running mate, or is she merely willing to overlook things about someone when it means it may land her a job in the second highest elected office in the land? Keep in mind, the same things she says she believed about Biden were things she said she believed about then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh – things over which she tried earnestly to end his career and assassinate his character. Why not treat Biden the same? What is the difference? If it’s political, Americans deserve to know.
There is a reason that so many support Donald Trump’s presidency even if they don’t agree with every word he says or every tweet he posts. In President Trump, Americans feel they have found a man they can believe. If he doesn’t like someone, he’s just going to say it. Americans do not have to guess where he stands or what he intends to do, and over the last four years, we have watched as campaign promises have turned into reality. This honesty, however brutal, is magnetic for an American populace wearied by lying politicians who will say anything and everything to get elected.
I, for one, loathe lies. In Proverbs 6, the Bible lists lying among seven things God detests. I do not respect a politician who lies and especially one who takes it lightly.
Merriam-Webster defines “debate” as “a regulated discussion of a proposition between two matched sides.” Harris seemed to think “debate” meant “a playful or non-serious use of rhetoric, not intended to be perceived as real; a joke.”
As the modern saying goes today, “You keep using that word. I don’t think you know what it means.”