Harris office does damage control over student's Israel comment
By: Alex Thompson and Sam Stein (MSN)
Guess gaffes and OOPS are contagious
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Vice President Kamala Harris' office is working behind the scenes to mend relationships with pro-Israel Democrats after not pushing back on a student who, in asking her a question, accused Israel of "ethnic genocide."
© Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images On Thursday, Harris' senior staff contacted the influential Democratic Majority for Israel to clean up remarks she made Wednesday at George Mason University where Harris was visiting a classroom of students. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
On Thursday, Harris' senior staff contacted the influential Democratic Majority for Israel to clean up remarks she made Wednesday at George Mason University where Harris was visiting a classroom of students. "We were pleased Vice President Harris's senior staff reached out to us today to confirm what we already knew: Her 'commitment to Israel's security is unwavering,'" said Mark Mellman, the president of the group.
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A senior adviser to Harris also reached out to Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fl.) the co-chair of the Bipartisan Anti‐Semitism Taskforce, a source familiar with the outreach told POLITICO.
Deutch and his office did not respond to a request for comment. But the source said it was "fair to say that the group of House Democrats that super care about this noticed it and talked about it."
The incident involving Harris took place on Wednesday, when a student attending an event with the VP to promote voting, said that Israel was conducting an "ethnic genocide" in Palestine and felt that the U.S. was ignoring protests even though Harris had been discussing the power of democratrating. Harris responded: "Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard."
Israeli news outlets jumped on the comments. "VP Harris to student who accused Israel of 'genocide': Your truth must be heard," went the headline in The Jerusalem Post. The Times of Israel also chimed in: "Kamala Harris doesn't reject US student's 'ethnic genocide' claim against Israel."
Mellman quoted Harris' senior staff as reassuring them that the vice president "strongly disagrees with the George Mason student's characterization of Israel."
Mellman also signalled that he wanted to move on from the dust-up, saying: "The Biden-Harris Administration, as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris personally, have exemplary pro-Israel records, for which we are immensely grateful."
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You must be heard? I think she may have been confusing the comment with "something else".
What nonsense. Unfortunately, this kind of political boilerplate is common because politicians would rather not get in a fight they weren’t ready for. The problem with that - besides being cowardly - is that if you don’t push back on the outrageous bullshit people say, then it becomes a tacit endorsement.
So most politicians either say what they think they are supposed to say or they pretend they didn’t hear it, or they do like Harris did and give us that old progressive standard “Your voice/truth must be heard.” Yeah, whatever. That’s the same as saying nothing.
I feel like the last national politician I saw who would actually push back and say what he thought was probably John McCain.
As for this Israel thing, I honestly kind of doubt Kamala Harris gives a shit about Israel one way or the other. She may not even know where it is.
So they contacted George Mason University and ask them to lie.
Unless you speak out against certain politicians. At any rate, this student and the VP were heard claiming Israel was conducting an "ethnic genocide"
I don't think this student will be at George Mason very long.
At one time in human history we didn't believe this sort of nonsense. The younger people were basically told to shut up and stand at the back and let the elders decided. This was because elders were expected to know a thing or two because they'd lived long enough to experience a thing or two and learn from it. But not today. Today we are all about validating feelings. It doesn't matter that the individual might be a functional idiot. It's all "you've got to speak your truth", as if truth were some malleable thing that can be whatever you want it to be.
This isn't an attempt at sarcasm. This is a serious problem. Right this minute, the public education system is teaching this sort of crap to our children. This isn't incidental but an intentional push to teach our kids that fulfillment comes from emotionally satisfying yourself. Whatever one feels is valid it is your truth, no matter how preposterous. We've all seen the results of it. Some person is giving a lecture and a bunch of activists stand up and start shouting them down. Rather than get involved in a debate, they just spew their "truth" all over everyone in a fit of emotional extacy. We see it in the transgender movement's push where supposed adults encourage children who couldn't possibly understand the issue into going with their feelings of the moment to make decisions about their bodies that may last forever.
Of course, it has to be the right kind of "truth", though. Can you imagine Harris saying that to someone who doesn't believe in wearing a mask?