Who knew that when Kirsten Gillibrand was nominated in 2009 to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, she would go on to be as bad of a presidential candidate as the former secretary of state?
It is remarkable, really, just how bad Gillibrand is at this.
Late Wednesday evening, after she bombed hard at the Detroit Democratic debate, the New York senator assured voters that she can be whoever they want her to be.
“I really got to show the American people that it is a false choice,” Gillibrand said in a post-debate interview with ABC News.
Like the other three primary debates, the one in Detroit Wednesday illustrated the sharp divide in the Democratic Party between the progressives (i.e. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren) and the moderates (i.e. former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan). Wednesday evening, after she tried and failed to land an attack on 2020 front-runner Joe Biden, Gillibrand attempted to appease both camps, claiming she can be both moderate and progressive.
“You don’t need someone who’s just a progressive, who has big ideas, or someone who’s a moderate who can win those Obama-Trump voters. You need someone who can do both and that is who I am, and that’s why I’m running for president, and that’s why I believe I can win,” Gillibrand said.
In other words: I will be whoever you need me to be. Just vote for me!
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: “I really got to show the American people that it is a false choice. You don’t need someone who’s just a progressive, who has big ideas or someone who’s a moderate…you need someone who can do both and that is who I am” https://t.co/jmZFjGKdxl #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/iVCPr6rJYj
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 1, 2019
What is funny is that Gillibrand said nearly the exact same thing during the debate itself, assuring viewers that she can adopt several opposing positions simultaneously.
“We need a president who is not afraid of the big challenges, of the big fights,” she said. “There is no false choice. We don’t need a liberal or progressive with big ideas or we don’t need a moderate who can win back Trump-Obama voters. You need someone who can do both. And that’s who I am.”
In a weird way, I respect her decision to come right out and tell voters she will adopt whatever position is necessary to win. That is bold. That is also a brutal amount of honesty. If only she were so honest about the rest of her career in the Senate and her reasons for adopting positions diametrically opposed to the ones she held when she served as a more moderate member of the House.
Remember: Gillibrand used to be a big ally of the National Rifle Association. She also used to be an immigration hawk, whose views were not that far off from President Trump. She even had the lowest rating of any New York Democrats from the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign when she served in the House, back when she opposed measures to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
However, all that changed when she got to the Senate. Her policy positions changed the moment career advancement required it.
It’s like what Biden said Wednesday evening about Gillibrand, with whom he had a warm working relationship with no quarrels up until the debate: “I don’t know what’s happened except that you’re now running for president.”
