In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., snatched the coveted mantle of wokeness away from Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., to crown himself progressive champion yesterday.
It didn’t matter that his big overture — making public documents marked committee confidential — was a stunt. It turned out that the White House emails of Judge Brett Kavanaugh were already accessible, were legally sound, and completely uncontroversial. But it made Booker look like a progressive warrior, and that was very, very bad for Harris.
The two appear to be on the same team for now, but that won’t last. In the next year and a half, both are expected to launch bids for the Democratic presidential nomination. And so Harris needed something bold to slow the Booker momentum in these 2020 auditions. Instead, Harris offered the weakest political play in an effort to keep up with Booker — she sent out another fundraising email.
In what looks more like rambling email with your aunt than a statement from a serious candidate, Harris replayed her greatest hits from her interrogation of Kavanaugh and then asked for money. It was, to say the least, lackluster.
[Also read: At Kavanaugh hearings, it’s Kamala vs. Cory]
Harris highlighted one particularly unserious exchange in particular in her 372 word, 13 paragraph fundraising email:
It was boilerplate Women’s March messaging. There was no fire, only recycled talking points. Harris hasn’t captured the imagination like Booker. Again, never mind that his stunt was dishonest. Remember instead how he rallied his Democratic colleagues, how he threatened Senate Republicans to kick him out of the chamber, and how he told the whole world to “bring it on”?
Booker got people excited, if only momentarily. Harris asked a couple of questions that led nowhere and then sent the liberal base a chain email.
