{"id":125837,"date":"2019-07-26T06:32:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T10:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=125837"},"modified":"2019-07-26T07:17:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T11:17:08","slug":"cat-fight-alert-war-in-the-democratic-party-breaks-out-as-a-pitched-battle-between-2-female-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=125837","title":{"rendered":"CAT FIGHT ALERT: War in the Democratic Party breaks out as a pitched battle (under the radar) between 2 female candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"> Kamala or Tulsi<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->by Renee Parsons<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It has been decades since a bona fide anti-war candidate ran for US President; that is, a candidate who \u2018felt\u2019 peace in their bones rather than a political calculation to be exploited.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>By my reckoning, that last campaign would be Sen. George McGovern\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.4president.org\/brochures\/mcgovern1972brochure.htm\"><span class=\"s2\">1972 peace candidacy<\/span><\/a> which came at the height of the Vietnam war.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Post 911, there have been no comparable Presidential peace candidates although an alternative on economic issues in 2016, Bernie was not considered a \u2018peace\u2019 candidate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A WWII hero who knew the horror of war firsthand like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hi), McGovern would be able to relate to how the DNC and its media toadies sabotaged Bernie\u2019s campaign in 2016 as the Democratic party and media establishments thoroughly undermined his own peace candidacy back in the day \u2013 just as they are doing today against Gabbard. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">McGovern would scarcely recognize the Democrats today as it scarcely recognizes itself as the same political party prior to the 2016 election. Since election of the Orange One, the Dems have morphed into an identity politics regime with no rhetorical deviation allowance and a stern authoritarian edge as personified by the <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/national-security\/350524-antifa-activists-say-violence-is-necessary\"><span class=\"s2\">Antifa<\/span><\/a> mob who appear confused by their own propaganda making it is easy to lose sight of which side the fascists are on.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If there seemed to be little difference between the Democratic candidates at the debate in June, that is because <i>there is little<\/i> difference between them.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As one MSNBC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qJ4HGNiZRfs&amp;feature=em-uploademail\"><span class=\"s2\">sycophant<\/span><\/a> put it, <i>\u201cthis is not an issues campaign.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is who is the bully who can beat the bully.\u201d<\/i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It is true that the DNC\u2019s manufactured extravaganza, with its heavy hand in favor of those most simpatico to the party line, offered a series of semi-trivial \u2018questions\u2019 as if they<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>represented the most urgent, the most pressing problems the country needs to address.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The two-night burlesque was awkward to watch as the party of quibbling dinosaurs unraveled before our eyes, approaching near total collapse just as the American Empire itself teeters between irrelevance and calamity. The upcoming 2020 election is enough to imbue any Pollyanna with a dread of the future. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As if the purity of the Democratic party is beyond reproach, the Dem establishment would prefer to avoid any mention of foreign policy because <i>that is where there is near-unanimity<\/i> with the Republicans as both are dominated by the deep state\/neocons\/illuminati.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Every bobbing head on the stage in June acquiesced until Gabbard dared to speak up.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Given the dominance of foreign policy as a daily preoccupation in the Oval Office, the topic was mostly an outlier other than the ever-present Iran.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>What the majority of candidates seem unable to grasp is that <\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i>foreign policy dominates domestic policy<\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> including the People Programs.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In case they had not noticed, American infrastructure continues to crumble as $4 billion a month is diverted to the war in Afghanistan and saving the poppy fields.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s3\">Kamala<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">All of which brings us to Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Cal) whose star has shone brightly since the June debate as she portrayed herself<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201c<i>as the only <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/mfamediagroup.com\/kamala-harris-claims-shes-a-black-woman-but-she-is-far-from-it\/\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>black person<\/i><\/span><\/a><i> on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race.\u201d<\/i> <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Initiating a premeditated skirmish with former vice president Joe Biden, Harris played the race card under the guise of her personal life experience.\u00a0<i> <\/i>It seemed presumptuous at the time to claim to be black as if to infer that she had been raised as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bizpacreview.com\/2019\/07\/01\/don-lemon-argued-fiercely-kamala-wasnt-african-american-don-jr-asks-if-its-true-and-gets-pulverized-770453\"><span class=\"s2\">Afro American with an inner city black experience<\/span><\/a> or to imply that she had been emotionally scarred by busing. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The public record does not bear out Harris\u2019 self-assertions yet she would have us believe otherwise as she recounted to Biden \u201c<i>it\u2019s personal and<\/i> <i>it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country<\/i>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/kamala-harris-says-she-was-a-victim-of-bidens-racial-policies\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>I was that little girl<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The truth is that Harris is the daughter of a reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Indo-Jamaicans\"><span class=\"s2\">Indo-Caribbean<\/span><\/a> Jamaican father with <a href=\"https:\/\/fellowshipoftheminds.com\/tag\/reflections-of-a-jamaican-father\"><span class=\"s2\">Irish ancestors <\/span><\/a> who was a Stanford University economics professor and a Tamil Indian mother who was a cancer research scientist; neither of which can be equated with being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IdL1mRBq1Xo\"><span class=\"s2\">black Afro-Americans<\/span><\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Born in 1964 into an affluent family who lived in the Berkeley hills, Harris was bused for three years until her parents divorced when she and her mother moved to Canada where she attended private schools.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Presumably Berkeley was not a hot-bed of racial strife or turbulence as her account of being \u2018black\u2019 came across as disingenuous, not unlike Barack Obama who was also a product of elite schools and mixed race parentage; neither with roots in the inner city urban experience.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Like many ambitious politicians, Harris can count the demographic vote within the Democratic party as she regularly over-states her ethnicity in a thinly veiled attempt to identify with African-Americans who are a potent voting bloc.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>She would have been more accurate to refer to herself as a woman of color, like mocha or latte but that would not have had the same political payback or brought her the bump in the polls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Harris\u2019 self-identity as \u2018black,\u2019 however, is in direct conflict with her record as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2019\/7\/2\/kamala_harris_not_a_progressive_prosecutor\"><span class=\"s2\">California AG<\/span><\/a> which indicates an insensitivity, even a hostility to the needs of <a href=\"https:\/\/afropunk.com\/2019\/01\/kamala-harris-has-been-tough-on-black-people-not-crime\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Afro-American black<\/span><\/a> community, especially as they process through the criminal justice system. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Assuming that Harris believes she has black roots (just as I believe a morsel of Mary, Queen of Scots flows in my veins), it is questionable how a truly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediamatters.org\/video\/2019\/01\/23\/msnbcs-chris-matthews-questions-whether-sen-kamala-harris-seen-african-american\/222598\"><span class=\"s2\">black Afro-American<\/span><\/a> State AG could consistently treat their own with such disdain, indifference and cruelty. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">As Attorney General it was her job as the State\u2019s top legal officer to assure justice for all, not just to pursue convictions or increase incarcerations but to act as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jacobinmag.com\/2017\/08\/kamala-harris-trump-obama-california-attorney-general\"><span class=\"s2\">guardian<\/span><\/a> of the legal rights of all California citizens.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/01\/31\/kamala-harris-and-the-myth-of-a-progressive-cop\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Harris hypocrisies <\/span><\/a>on criminal justice issues are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/editorials\/kamala-harris-the-democrats-dishonest-authoritarian-candidate\"><span class=\"s2\">widespread<\/span><\/a> as her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationofchange.org\/2019\/07\/03\/kamala-harris-says-she-was-a-progressive-prosecutor-her-record-tells-another-story\/\"><span class=\"s2\">record<\/span><\/a> speaks for itself and belies her claim to have been a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.talkleft.com\/story\/2019\/1\/27\/201638\/441\/elections2020\/Kamala-Harris-Was-Not-a-Progressive-Prosecutor\"><span class=\"s2\">progressive<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2019\/7\/2\/kamala_harris_not_a_progressive_prosecutor\"><span class=\"s2\">prosecutor<\/span><\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The product of a fawning MSM, Harris opposed body cameras, was responsible for a state lab scandal with tainted evidence, failed to endorse an effort to reduce certain felonies to misdemeanors, criminally pursued parents whose children were truant and then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2019\/jan\/31\/kamala-harris-laughed-jailing-parents-truancy\"><span class=\"s2\">laughed about it<\/span><\/a>, defended the state\u2019s three strikes law including a last strike of life imprisonment and supported the death penalty after a judicial determination of its unconstitutionality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">On foreign policy issues and as a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Intelligence Committees, she has easily identified herself as a <a href=\"https:\/\/mobile.twitter.com\/maxblumenthal\/status\/1145575260810633221\"><span class=\"s2\">lackey<\/span><\/a> for Israel, otherwise known as the \u2018power behind the throne\u2019 directing <a href=\"https:\/\/original.antiwar.com\/michael_byrne\/2019\/01\/24\/kamala-harris-has-an-israel-problem-that-is-a-deal-breaker-for-me\/\"><span class=\"s2\">American foreign policy<\/span><\/a> in the middle east since 911 that is now infecting local US politics with their anti-BDS campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s3\">Tulsi<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">From the outset, Gabbard\u2019s has been an underdog campaign, alternately ignored or harassed by the DNC as its agents dismiss her as \u2018unelectable\u2019 with the added<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>frustration of notoriously unreliable \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/why-you-should-care-about-the-nate-silver-vs-nassim-taleb-twitter-war-a581dce1f5fc\"><span class=\"s2\">polls<\/span><\/a>\u2019 that have cleverly used their algorithms to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OD_RGbHXI8U&amp;feature=youtu.be\"><span class=\"s2\">deny<\/span><\/a> her true standing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Routinely dealing with hostile, in-her-face MSM interviews from Morning Joe, the Colbert Report, the View and others, their entrapment tricks presented an intense learning curve during her initial rollout as a cautious candidate.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As Gabbard represents a new emerging political consciousness, she has more than earned her place on stage unlike any candidate since 1972. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>She has forthrightly looked the pro-war aficionados in the eye, and without flinching or a waiver in her voice, has spoken consistently and clearly for peace, for negotiation, for diplomacy and civility. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In case you are too young to relate or haven\u2019t seen it since 1972, Gabbard\u2019s actions were once described as political courage and speaking truth to power.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">At the first June debate, the most notable moment came when Gabbard clashed with Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Oh) who is aligned with the old-guard pro-war Democrats.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Claiming his moment of fame as Chuck Todd gave Ryan a second shot to answer, Ryan expected to put the Aloha Girl in her place with a bright, shiny face but that did not happen.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Gabbard had already come too far to allow the moment to slip away as she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w6d9-kn3U3o\"><span class=\"s2\">pushed back<\/span><\/a> multiple times, not allowing Ryan the last word to justify \u2018<i>staying engaged<\/i>\u2019 in Afghanistan.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Having remained calm and poised during the first hour, Gabbard bided her time with an inner knowing that an opportunity would come and when it did, she seized the moment.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>After watching her, in a measured display of back-and-forth, she did not let Ryan off the hook.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>During the upcoming 2020 campaign, there is no other Democrat who would dare confront Trump on the issue of war where they themselves are severely compromised.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>There is no doubt that when confronted with his betrayal of a non-interventionist promise, his failure to end the wars in Syria and Afghanistan and his appalling rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, it is Gabbard alone, as a combat veteran, who could reduce the Orange One into a Blubbering Blob of Nothingness, <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As she takes the stage next week full of the confidence that her message resonates with the American people and committed to distinguish herself, this debate is another opportunity to show what moral leadership is about and to display the depth and breadth, the maturity, the integrity and the heart it would take to be a true Commander-in-Chief. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As she takes the stage, all eyes will be on Tulsi as the establishment toadies lie in wait to bring her down, perhaps early in the proceedings.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>After her take-down of Ryan, she cannot be allowed to talk the peace talk or to challenge one of the party\u2019s prominent shining stars.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It may come as an overt attack or a personal query such as \u201cSince you voted for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/116th-congress\/house-resolution\/246\/text?q=%257B%2522search%2522%253A%255B%2522H.Res.+246%2522%255D%257D&amp;r=1&amp;s=2\"><span class=\"s2\">HR 246<\/span><\/a>, will you support sanctions against the BDS movement?\u201d or \u201cHow does the Equality Act (<a href=\"https:\/\/concernedwomen.org\/house-votes-on-inequality-act-and-rejects-efforts-to-save-womens-sports\/\"><span class=\"s2\">HR 5<\/span><\/a>) protect the rights of women in sports?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I am certainly not suggesting that Tulsi is being set up or that the DNC would ever stoop so low as to sabotage one of their own candidates\u2026.would they.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><i>Renee Parsons<\/i><\/b><i> has been a member of the ACLU\u2019s Florida State Board of Directors and president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, an environmental lobbyist with Friends of the Earth and staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC. She can be found on Twitter @reneedove31<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kamala or Tulsi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}