Michael Ejercito
2019-12-04 17:30:23 UTC
http://reason.com/2019/12/04/kamala-harris-fans-blame-billionaires-sexists-and-racists-for-her-campaigns-collapse/
Harris Fans Blame Billionaires, Sexists, and Racists for Her Campaign's
Collapse
Plus: Twitter terms seem to permit "shadowbanning," the case for Craigslist
sex ads, and more…
ELIZABETH NOLAN BROWN | 12.4.2019 10:15 AM
harrisforthepeople
(Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Press/Newscom)
Blaming everyone but Kamala Harris for her presidential campaign's collapse.
The conversation surrounding Kamala Harris' exit from the 2020 presidential
race has been reaching some ridiculous places since the California senator
announced she was dropping out yesterday. Harris herself blamed
billionaires, basically, while supporters and pundits expanded the blame to
also include sexism, racism, biased media coverage, and other issues beyond
the candidate or her campaign's control.
If you're wondering whether Democrats picked up any introspection since
Hillary Clinton's 2016 loss was chalked up to sexism, racism, third parties,
Bernie bros, and such…the signs aren't looking so good.
On social media and cable news, commentators keep coming back to alleged
advantages enjoyed by other candidates—personal wealth, less scrutiny of
their criminal justice records, etc.—to supposedly explain why Harris was
forced to exit early (and to complain how unfair it is that folks like
Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar remain in the
race).
Sam Sanders
✔
@samsanders
Watching Kamala Harris drop out of the presidential race to avoid going into
debt the same month Michael Bloomberg shoved his way into the competition
with his billions means we should probably have a conversation about money
in politics. But we probably won’t.
7,586
10:13 PM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,360 people are talking about this
But all of these explanations fall apart with the slightest scrutiny.
Whatever setbacks Harris may have faced based on her race and sex, they pale
in comparison to the challenges she and her campaign staffers brought upon
themselves.
Staff and supporters have cited the senator's strategy, debate performances,
and the flaws of her top advisors for why the campaign failed to sustain
either popular or establishment liberal support.
The campaign certainly got its share of support from corporations and rich
donors to start with, sustaining Harris through several Democratic debate
cycles. So, the fact that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may
be able to "buy his way in" to the upcoming debate by blasting the nation
with a concentrated bout of self-funded campaign ads hardly seems like the
stinging indictment that some want it to be.
Get back to me if Bloomberg and all his cash have any shot at getting near
the White House—or even a second debate stage. But for now, Bloomberg's
brief moment in the spotlight means nothing, and it's especially absurd to
suggest he somehow knocked Harris out of the polls. Her numbers had been
steadily declining for months before Bloomberg entered the race.
Some people have taken to blaming the "Kamala Harris is a cop" meme and any
criticism of the former prosecutor and state attorney general's criminal
justice record, while positioning these things as unfair gotchas, and maybe
even racist. The Independent offers a particularly bad example of this, one
that characterizes "Kamala is a cop" criticisms as springing forth in
response to her surging popularity and not something that many leftists and
libertarians had been saying for a long time.
Others complain that Harris isn't the only former drug warrior and
tough-on-crime politician and yet, for instance, Amy Klobuchar, the senator
from Minnesota, hasn't seen the same level of scrutiny over her prosecutor
past. Former Vice President Joe Biden hasn't been hit constantly for the
1994 Crime Bill (though he has been hit some).
Samuel Sinyangwe
✔
@samswey
For all the (justified) critique of Kamala Harris record, Klobuchar was also
a prosecutor who hasn’t faced a fraction of that scrutiny, Biden still
leading despite writing the Crime Bill and Pete is up in the polls after his
police force killed a black man during the campaign.
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1201953232127442944 …
Keith Boykin
✔
@keithboykin
Pete Buttigieg is a 37-year-old mayor of the fourth largest city in Indiana
with no federal or state government experience. He was elected with 8,515
votes.
Kamala Harris is a 55-year-old US senator from California. She was elected
with 7.5 million votes.
16.1K
4:50 PM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
5,075 people are talking about this
Most of the candidates have some bad criminal justice points on their
records, of course. Klobuchar, Biden, and others should have to answer for
their carceral ways (with Biden's burden bearing more recent examples than
the crime bill, for what it's worth). But Harris is the only candidate who
explicitly positioned her campaign around law-and-order themes, running with
the tagline "Kamala Harris, For the People" (a callback to her time as a
district attorney) and repeatedly emphasizing her "progressive" prosecutor
past.
Harris all but wore a big sandwich board sign saying "ASK ME ABOUT MY
HISTORY AS A COP" and then was completely unprepared when anyone did, with
the campaign blaming bigotry for folks noticing the very things Harris
herself kept harping on.
A lot of Harris fans are holding out hope that she'll find a spot on
someone's ticket as a vice president. But this may be a bit delusional,
considering the spectacular flaming out of her campaign and the fact that
both Harris and her people seem to divide more than they unite.
Alex Thomas
✔
@AlexThomasDC
Harris allies have told me that they’re worried about her viability as a VP
pick because her sister seems to control so much of her operation and that’s
led to bad decision-making and that won’t fly on the bottom of the ticket
https://twitter.com/emmakinery/status/1202000945476976640 …
Emma Kinery
✔
@EmmaKinery
NEW: Harris exiting the race at this stage allows her to preserve her
viability as a VP candidate and prevents a potentially embarrassing defeat
in her home-state of California. From @sahilkapur &
mehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-03/harris-exit-preserves-viability-as-a-potential-vice-president
…
39
7:26 PM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
18 people are talking about this
Harris could have technically held on a little longer—as Anna Massoglia of
Open Secrets points out, she had more than $10 million in funds left.
There's still time for her to qualify for the next debate. A candidate with
her credentials and hype could, with the right messaging, still outlast the
likes of Tom Steyer and exit respectably closer to the top of the tier.
Choosing to leave now is a strategic decision—no more need to attack
potential future allies, no need to fumble around with wishy-washy messaging
any longer—since all those excess campaign donations can now go to Harris'
next senate race.
Anna Massoglia
✔
@annalecta
Dropping out of 2020, Kamala Harris says
"I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign."
FEC filings show her presidential campaign had $10.5M left on hand, which
she can use for her next Senate election.
Financial disclosure puts her net worth at $1.89 MILLION to $6M+
532
10:41 AM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
176 people are talking about this
Biden said he had "mixed feelings" about Harris' campaign ending. "She is a
first-rate intellect, a first-rate candidate and a real competitor," he told
ABC News.
FREE MINDS
Twitter's new terms of service (TOS) contain some cause for worry. "The
changes amount to about 10 lines scattered through the 12-page document,"
notes XBIZ. "While some of them are mere clarifications from the previous
TOS, and one paragraph concerns the Twitter Vulnerability Reporting Program,
there's one change in the terms of service that should concern those
interested in the company's control over the content that one's followers
see. In a nutshell: Twitter has explicitly reserved the right to shadowban,
under the legalese of 'limit distribution or visibility of any Content on
the service.'"
In the current TOS, Twitter reserves the right "to create limits on use and
storage at our sole discretion at any time" and to "remove or refuse to
distribute any Content on the Services, suspend or terminate users, and
reclaim usernames without liability to you."
The new TOS adds to this the right to "limit distribution or visibility of
any Content on the service."
Reason
FREE MARKETS
The economic case for sex work decriminalization. As the debate over
decriminalizing prostitution becomes louder and "part of a broader
rethinking of the criminal justice system," opponents still worry "that
prostitution is inherently violent and decriminalization would worsen the
exploitation of women." But "economic evidence—and theory" says otherwise,
writes Karl Smith at Bloomberg Opinion. Smith looks at a study from
economists Scott Cunningham, Gregory DeAngelo, and John Tripp:
Economists studied Craigslist, which from 2002 to 2010 gradually introduced
an "erotic services" section that allowed sex workers to advertise directly
and anonymously on the internet. The staggered rollout allowed the
economists to measure the impact on each market as the service expanded. As
expected, the market for sex workers expanded rapidly. More important,
according to the 2019 paper, the expansion of Craigslist into a market "led
to a 10% to 17% reduction in female homicides." To be clear, that figure is
not homicides among sex workers — which are difficult to measure in real
time — but homicides among all women in the area.
This result so astounded the economists that they performed some tests to
validate it. It passed them all. Moreover, effects have been demonstrated in
other studies. Decriminalization in even parts of a city is associated with
double-digit declines in sexual assault. A 2014 study of an inadvertent
decriminalization of indoor sex work in Rhode Island from 2003 to 2009 found
it resulted in a 30% drop in rapes. This isn't mere correlation: Both the
Rhode Island and Craigslist studies use several methods designed to identify
causation.
More here.
QUICK HITS
Kathryn Watson
✔
@kathrynw5
Trump on U.S. tech companies: “They’re not my favorite people because they’re
not exactly for me” but that’s OK, I don’t care
93
6:39 AM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
65 people are talking about this
Today, the House Judiciary Committee considering President Donald Trump's
impeachment "plans to hear from four constitutional scholars about the
historical underpinnings of the process," according to The Washington Post.
The long tail of responsibility for sex trafficking continues to grow, with
a new lawsuit attempting to hold the email marketing service Mailchimp
legally responsible for exploitation because it sent an email about a
website where an alleged trafficker would later post.
A Los Angeles police officer left his body camera on while fondling the
breasts of a dead woman.
"More than two dozen correctional officers in Baltimore were charged Tuesday
with using excessive force on prisoners at state-operated jails," the
Associated Press reports.
Harris Fans Blame Billionaires, Sexists, and Racists for Her Campaign's
Collapse
Plus: Twitter terms seem to permit "shadowbanning," the case for Craigslist
sex ads, and more…
ELIZABETH NOLAN BROWN | 12.4.2019 10:15 AM
harrisforthepeople
(Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Press/Newscom)
Blaming everyone but Kamala Harris for her presidential campaign's collapse.
The conversation surrounding Kamala Harris' exit from the 2020 presidential
race has been reaching some ridiculous places since the California senator
announced she was dropping out yesterday. Harris herself blamed
billionaires, basically, while supporters and pundits expanded the blame to
also include sexism, racism, biased media coverage, and other issues beyond
the candidate or her campaign's control.
If you're wondering whether Democrats picked up any introspection since
Hillary Clinton's 2016 loss was chalked up to sexism, racism, third parties,
Bernie bros, and such…the signs aren't looking so good.
On social media and cable news, commentators keep coming back to alleged
advantages enjoyed by other candidates—personal wealth, less scrutiny of
their criminal justice records, etc.—to supposedly explain why Harris was
forced to exit early (and to complain how unfair it is that folks like
Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar remain in the
race).
Sam Sanders
✔
@samsanders
Watching Kamala Harris drop out of the presidential race to avoid going into
debt the same month Michael Bloomberg shoved his way into the competition
with his billions means we should probably have a conversation about money
in politics. But we probably won’t.
7,586
10:13 PM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,360 people are talking about this
But all of these explanations fall apart with the slightest scrutiny.
Whatever setbacks Harris may have faced based on her race and sex, they pale
in comparison to the challenges she and her campaign staffers brought upon
themselves.
Staff and supporters have cited the senator's strategy, debate performances,
and the flaws of her top advisors for why the campaign failed to sustain
either popular or establishment liberal support.
The campaign certainly got its share of support from corporations and rich
donors to start with, sustaining Harris through several Democratic debate
cycles. So, the fact that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may
be able to "buy his way in" to the upcoming debate by blasting the nation
with a concentrated bout of self-funded campaign ads hardly seems like the
stinging indictment that some want it to be.
Get back to me if Bloomberg and all his cash have any shot at getting near
the White House—or even a second debate stage. But for now, Bloomberg's
brief moment in the spotlight means nothing, and it's especially absurd to
suggest he somehow knocked Harris out of the polls. Her numbers had been
steadily declining for months before Bloomberg entered the race.
Some people have taken to blaming the "Kamala Harris is a cop" meme and any
criticism of the former prosecutor and state attorney general's criminal
justice record, while positioning these things as unfair gotchas, and maybe
even racist. The Independent offers a particularly bad example of this, one
that characterizes "Kamala is a cop" criticisms as springing forth in
response to her surging popularity and not something that many leftists and
libertarians had been saying for a long time.
Others complain that Harris isn't the only former drug warrior and
tough-on-crime politician and yet, for instance, Amy Klobuchar, the senator
from Minnesota, hasn't seen the same level of scrutiny over her prosecutor
past. Former Vice President Joe Biden hasn't been hit constantly for the
1994 Crime Bill (though he has been hit some).
Samuel Sinyangwe
✔
@samswey
For all the (justified) critique of Kamala Harris record, Klobuchar was also
a prosecutor who hasn’t faced a fraction of that scrutiny, Biden still
leading despite writing the Crime Bill and Pete is up in the polls after his
police force killed a black man during the campaign.
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1201953232127442944 …
Keith Boykin
✔
@keithboykin
Pete Buttigieg is a 37-year-old mayor of the fourth largest city in Indiana
with no federal or state government experience. He was elected with 8,515
votes.
Kamala Harris is a 55-year-old US senator from California. She was elected
with 7.5 million votes.
16.1K
4:50 PM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
5,075 people are talking about this
Most of the candidates have some bad criminal justice points on their
records, of course. Klobuchar, Biden, and others should have to answer for
their carceral ways (with Biden's burden bearing more recent examples than
the crime bill, for what it's worth). But Harris is the only candidate who
explicitly positioned her campaign around law-and-order themes, running with
the tagline "Kamala Harris, For the People" (a callback to her time as a
district attorney) and repeatedly emphasizing her "progressive" prosecutor
past.
Harris all but wore a big sandwich board sign saying "ASK ME ABOUT MY
HISTORY AS A COP" and then was completely unprepared when anyone did, with
the campaign blaming bigotry for folks noticing the very things Harris
herself kept harping on.
A lot of Harris fans are holding out hope that she'll find a spot on
someone's ticket as a vice president. But this may be a bit delusional,
considering the spectacular flaming out of her campaign and the fact that
both Harris and her people seem to divide more than they unite.
Alex Thomas
✔
@AlexThomasDC
Harris allies have told me that they’re worried about her viability as a VP
pick because her sister seems to control so much of her operation and that’s
led to bad decision-making and that won’t fly on the bottom of the ticket
https://twitter.com/emmakinery/status/1202000945476976640 …
Emma Kinery
✔
@EmmaKinery
NEW: Harris exiting the race at this stage allows her to preserve her
viability as a VP candidate and prevents a potentially embarrassing defeat
in her home-state of California. From @sahilkapur &
mehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-03/harris-exit-preserves-viability-as-a-potential-vice-president
…
39
7:26 PM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
18 people are talking about this
Harris could have technically held on a little longer—as Anna Massoglia of
Open Secrets points out, she had more than $10 million in funds left.
There's still time for her to qualify for the next debate. A candidate with
her credentials and hype could, with the right messaging, still outlast the
likes of Tom Steyer and exit respectably closer to the top of the tier.
Choosing to leave now is a strategic decision—no more need to attack
potential future allies, no need to fumble around with wishy-washy messaging
any longer—since all those excess campaign donations can now go to Harris'
next senate race.
Anna Massoglia
✔
@annalecta
Dropping out of 2020, Kamala Harris says
"I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign."
FEC filings show her presidential campaign had $10.5M left on hand, which
she can use for her next Senate election.
Financial disclosure puts her net worth at $1.89 MILLION to $6M+
532
10:41 AM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
176 people are talking about this
Biden said he had "mixed feelings" about Harris' campaign ending. "She is a
first-rate intellect, a first-rate candidate and a real competitor," he told
ABC News.
FREE MINDS
Twitter's new terms of service (TOS) contain some cause for worry. "The
changes amount to about 10 lines scattered through the 12-page document,"
notes XBIZ. "While some of them are mere clarifications from the previous
TOS, and one paragraph concerns the Twitter Vulnerability Reporting Program,
there's one change in the terms of service that should concern those
interested in the company's control over the content that one's followers
see. In a nutshell: Twitter has explicitly reserved the right to shadowban,
under the legalese of 'limit distribution or visibility of any Content on
the service.'"
In the current TOS, Twitter reserves the right "to create limits on use and
storage at our sole discretion at any time" and to "remove or refuse to
distribute any Content on the Services, suspend or terminate users, and
reclaim usernames without liability to you."
The new TOS adds to this the right to "limit distribution or visibility of
any Content on the service."
Reason
FREE MARKETS
The economic case for sex work decriminalization. As the debate over
decriminalizing prostitution becomes louder and "part of a broader
rethinking of the criminal justice system," opponents still worry "that
prostitution is inherently violent and decriminalization would worsen the
exploitation of women." But "economic evidence—and theory" says otherwise,
writes Karl Smith at Bloomberg Opinion. Smith looks at a study from
economists Scott Cunningham, Gregory DeAngelo, and John Tripp:
Economists studied Craigslist, which from 2002 to 2010 gradually introduced
an "erotic services" section that allowed sex workers to advertise directly
and anonymously on the internet. The staggered rollout allowed the
economists to measure the impact on each market as the service expanded. As
expected, the market for sex workers expanded rapidly. More important,
according to the 2019 paper, the expansion of Craigslist into a market "led
to a 10% to 17% reduction in female homicides." To be clear, that figure is
not homicides among sex workers — which are difficult to measure in real
time — but homicides among all women in the area.
This result so astounded the economists that they performed some tests to
validate it. It passed them all. Moreover, effects have been demonstrated in
other studies. Decriminalization in even parts of a city is associated with
double-digit declines in sexual assault. A 2014 study of an inadvertent
decriminalization of indoor sex work in Rhode Island from 2003 to 2009 found
it resulted in a 30% drop in rapes. This isn't mere correlation: Both the
Rhode Island and Craigslist studies use several methods designed to identify
causation.
More here.
QUICK HITS
Kathryn Watson
✔
@kathrynw5
Trump on U.S. tech companies: “They’re not my favorite people because they’re
not exactly for me” but that’s OK, I don’t care
93
6:39 AM - Dec 3, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
65 people are talking about this
Today, the House Judiciary Committee considering President Donald Trump's
impeachment "plans to hear from four constitutional scholars about the
historical underpinnings of the process," according to The Washington Post.
The long tail of responsibility for sex trafficking continues to grow, with
a new lawsuit attempting to hold the email marketing service Mailchimp
legally responsible for exploitation because it sent an email about a
website where an alleged trafficker would later post.
A Los Angeles police officer left his body camera on while fondling the
breasts of a dead woman.
"More than two dozen correctional officers in Baltimore were charged Tuesday
with using excessive force on prisoners at state-operated jails," the
Associated Press reports.