This is a big part of why many black people already didn't like her. It's not new. It came up in the first or second debate. I have no idea how she's still in the veepstakes, except for the fact that her politics are closest to Biden's There are various reasons Biden should strongly consider a woman of color, but there are no reasons for him to consider a candidate that black voters have good reason to actively dislike. And it's not just black voters that don't like her, it's progressive/liberal voters too. Those are two blocs he really needs to win.
For starters, she didn’t finish third in her own state on Super Tuesday Klobuchar delivered for Biden when it mattered the most. Many expected her to stay in the race, win Minnesota and then bow out. Minnesota was supposed to be a Bernie pickup. And as we all know: the path to 270 very likely goes through the Midwest. Her appeal with Trump’s base of non-college, white working class voters would be a tremendous asset in that region. For an election that will again come down to the margins, there’s something to be said for a targeted approach. That said, I don’t think he’s going to pick her (nor would I). As concerned as I am about another popular vote victory and narrow EC defeat, I do think the voter enthusiasm issue should supersede all other factors. Biden’s voter enthusiasm numbers are worse than Hillary’s and you simply cannot pick another Tim Kaine. Warren gets you there, and above all else, she’s a political heavyweight. People know who she is, recognize she’s passionate and committed to change. Some balance on the ticket would also be a good thing. She has some very terrible campaigning instincts that concern me, but she would be a net positive and would excite people in ways that a Klobuchar or Whitmer probably won’t. I wouldn’t get your hopes up, though. I think he’s very obviously going to pick a Black female. If it’s not Kamala, I think Susan Rice is the darkhorse.
Also, not to toot my own horn, but.... I may or may not have emailed the writer from a prominent online publication that dropped an article on this story tonight. And I may or may not have just received an apology message for accuracy and unfairly implying Klobuchar was far more connected to Chauvin than she actually was. Basically, echoing what I said in my previous message.
Trump has lost, he's now trying to hype up some sort of rebellion after he loses which isn't the point at all, the point is protecting his addled, deteriorated brain from suffering narcissistic collapse, and if it kills others whatever. The shame is on people who vote and support him. You are all doing this.
Joe Biden has a problem. Silicon Valley billionaires think they have a solution Long ass read but pretty informative www.vox.com/platform/amp/recode/2020/5/27/21271157/tech-billionaires-joe-biden-reid-hoffman-laurene-powell-jobs-dustin-moskovitz-eric-schmidt
Chauvin aside, she might still have some vulnerability because there are other police misconduct cases that she was soft on. Here is another article about her deafness to police brutality complaints from over a year ago: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/25/klobuchar-didnt-prosecute-controversial-police-killings. I think it all needs to factor into Biden's decision now that Minneapolis is on fire. If she's the choice and progressives start digging into her past and confronting her on her decisions that contributed to a culture of police impunity in Minneapolis, it is really going to dampen enthusiasm for Biden's ticket among minorities and progressives. On the other hand, assuming media doesn't hound her on it, her police-friendly track record might give comfort to white moderates who might actually flip an election. A VP candidate who actually had some bonafides of caring about police brutality could easily be vilified by the Trump campaign as being pro-rioter. Like with all things, Biden needs to weigh how much to enthuse the base to improve turn-out and how much to court wavering independent voters to keep them from voting Trump.
I can't imagine what so-called tough-as-nails Texans thought when they went to the booth and checked off his name during the 2018 elections after all that was known. I mean, they voted for a dude that won't stand up for his wife or father...not sure why they think he stands for them.
Overall, I agree the topic is fair game. Especially during the VP vetting process. Just saying, the article shared from last night attempting to connect her to Chauvin was crap journalism.
From the Washington Post: Why black voters don’t want Klobuchar as Biden’s running mate By Jonathan Capehart Opinion writer May 27, 2020 at 2:23 p.m. CDT When it comes to whom presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should choose as his running mate, you already know what I think: She should be African American and her name should be Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Still, I’m firmly rooted enough in reality to know that Biden might come to a different conclusion. And that’s fine. But he should know that the reaction could range from ennui to rage in the Democratic Party base depending on whom he selects. Let me be more specific: on the white woman he might select. Not all white women talked about as prospective Biden running mates are created equal in the eyes of black voters. Some have more standing than others. For instance, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has it. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) absolutely does not. Warren, who suspended her quest for the Democratic nomination in March, made a point of going after the African American vote. My Aunt Gloria wants Biden to choose Warren. The Massachusetts senator had a “working agenda for black America” that covered 19 areas. Last year, she was the standout favorite among the 1,000 women of color who heard her speak at the She the People presidential forum in Houston. And Warren has a very powerful advocate in “squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. In November, Warren spoke to Clark Atlanta University, the historically black institution in Georgia. “I’m here to make a commitment: When I am president of the United States, the lessons of black history will not be lost,” Warren said. Six months later, Warren’s words are even heavier with meaning. We are now a nation reeling from a global pandemic that is disproportionately affecting African Americans. We are also a nation where videos from Brunswick, Ga., New York City and Minneapolis show in vivid and horrifying color the racism and brutality that blacks have faced since, well, 1619. And the situation in Minneapolis only serves to highlight why Klobuchar as Biden’s running mate would be a bitter pill for black voters to swallow. George Floyd, suspected of forgery at a local food mart, was detained by police on a Minneapolis street Monday. His final moments of life were spent face down with a police officer’s knee pressing down on his neck. Police ignored his pleas and the shouts of concerned bystanders as they watched Floyd die. Thankfully, four police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were fired and the Justice Department is investigating. (cont'd)
Pt. 2 “Being Black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a Black man’s neck. Five minutes,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) wrote in an emotional Facebook post. “To our Black community, to the family: I’m so sorry.” “We heard his repeated calls for help. We heard him say over and over again that he could not breathe. And now we have seen yet another horrifying and gut-wrenching instance of an African American man dying,” Klobuchar said in a statement. She signed onto a letter with other Minnesota lawmakers calling on the U.S. attorney and the Hennepin County attorney to conduct a “thorough investigation into the events that led to this tragedy.” Nice words. But there is a reason many African Americans explicitly name Klobuchar as an unacceptablechoice for Biden’s running mate. She was Hennepin County attorney from 1999 until she went to the U.S. Senate in 2007. And what is happening in Minneapolis will bring renewed attention to her troubling aspects of her tenure. The Post headline on a March 2019 story examining her record was succinct: “As a prosecutor in heavily white Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar declined to go after police involved in fatal encounters with black men.” The report noted that after narrowly winning her election, Klobuchar went about fulfilling campaign promises to ramp up felony and juvenile prosecutions. The focus of the story was the 2002 death of Christopher Burns. Police arrived at his home in response to a domestic violence call. “The officers put him in a chokehold, and he died on the scene,” The Post reported. Burns was the third black person killed by the Minneapolis police department that year, and his death led to protests. One sentence in particular in that Post story no longer seems innocuous given what happened to Floyd. “Under Klobuchar,” The Post reported, “local prosecutors were assigned to police precincts to crack down on smaller offenses such as check forgery." The Post story came more than a month after the Associated Press reexamined Klobuchar’s “flawed” prosecution of Myon Burrell in 2002 in the death of an 11-year-old girl by a stray bullet. Burrell, who maintains his innocence, was 16 years old when he was arrested and indicted. Klobuchar has since called for an independent investigation into the case. Now that Klobuchar is seriously being considered by Biden as a vice presidential running mate, she must publicly address the Burrell and Burns cases. More importantly, Klobuchar must connect her stated quest for justice for Floyd to the larger issue of the disparate treatment of African Americans by law enforcement. “Every single person in every single community in this country deserves to feel safe,” Klobuchar wrote in her statement about Floyd’s killing. While her overall sentiment is right and true, it also totally ignores the more complicated reality African Americans face daily. That Klobuchar fails to even mention that Floyd was killed by police exemplifies the problem she has with African Americans, why they don’t trust her and why they don’t want Biden to put her on the ticket.
