New York Times blasted over Harris description: ‘Pragmatic moderate’
The New York Times was knocked for calling Kamala Harris a 'pragmatic moderate' in its tweet alerting Joe Biden's choice; Fox News contributors Marc Thiessen and Jessica Tarlov react on ‘The Daily Briefing.’
A Washington Post political columnist was blasted on Wednesday for being the latest news outlet to suggest that Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif is more moderate than she actually is.
Columnist David Byler declared in the headline of his op-ed that Harris is a "small-c conservative, party-friendly pick" for Joe Biden as his running mate.
"In his vice-presidential search, Biden again took the safe route. Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) — his newly announced running mate — is a historic choice as a Black and Asian American woman, but she’s also a small-c conservative pick," Byler wrote. "Harris isn’t apt to cause any problems for Biden on the campaign trail, and her presence on the ticket will preemptively smooth over demographic concerns, bringing both relative youth and diversity important to a party increasingly reliant on people of color. Harris might not add many voters to the campaign, but she’ll help Biden run out the clock — and that’s exactly what he needs to do."
Later on, Byler acknowledged that Harris is "not the most moderate pick available to Biden" but argued that the "inevitable 'socialist' attack line won’t work quite as well as it would with someone like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)," adding that she is "far less liberal than Warren or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)."
According to a GovTrack analysis, Harris was ranked as the "most liberal" senator in 2019 outranking both Sanders and Warren.
The "small-c conservative" label for Biden's VP pick was slammed on social media.
"Are we just redefining words and terms on the fly now?" Washington Examiner commentator T. Becket Adams asked.
"They’re trying so hard to get the anti-Trump conservative voter. Harris is as radical as they come, and their presidency would be farther left than we can even fathom right now," conservative podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey wrote.
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"Is everyone to the right of Bernie Sanders a conservative?" Daily Wire contributor Harry Khachatrian pondered.
"Pushing for entirely gov’t run health care and higher taxes isn’t 'conservative,'" radio host Dana Loesch said.
"Look, ultimately I think a Biden-Harris admin will govern way more to the center than they'll campaign, but you can't base proper analysis on that kind of speculation. Kamala worked hard to try and rebrand herself as woke and now she's gotta deal with that," Tablet Magazine associate editor Noam Blum wrote.
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On Tuesday, The New York Times similarly raised eyebrows for chracterizing Harris as a "pragmatic moderate," despite her past support for the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-all, decriminalizing illegal border crossings and gun buybacks.