Joe Biden<\/a> called to tell her he was dropping out, she pressed for his immediate endorsement. Her argument: She was \u201cthe most qualified and ready. The highest name recognition. A powerful donor base.\u201d Also she wouldn\u2019t betray him. She lists no other, more national concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe closest she comes to a political philosophy, a driving force that explains her career, is \u201cI want to keep people safe and help them thrive.\u201d But few enter politics to see constituents endangered and withering. She sees herself as generous in her concern for others\u2014\u201cI\u2019ve always been a protector\u201d\u2014and, again, loyal. But these are personal qualities, not beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without realizing it she comes close to a reason for her loss when speaking of illegal immigration. She refuses to call it that, insisting instead on \u201cirregular migration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
**********************<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head of a party, its presidential candidate, should, in a book, be able to explain her own philosophical beginning points. That she couldn\u2019t or wouldn\u2019t speaks of some of why she lost. But this is also a flaw now with many Democratic office holders of the nonsocialist left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In John Fetterman\u2019s \u201cUnfettered\u201d you have to infer his political philosophy but he doesn\u2019t make it hard for you. America is a \u201ccontradiction,\u201d a place of haves and have-nots; he wants the \u201cstruggling\u201d to know they have \u201can authentic advocate.\u201d He began his political career as a mayor in Western Pennsylvania steel country, with closed-down steel mills and boarded-up Main Streets. He says that since childhood he felt like a loser and became a loner and is drawn to those on the losing end. Government can play a role in helping destroyed small towns come back. He goes deep on his personal experience of depression following a life-threatening stroke and just after his election to the Senate. His portrait of his breakdown is harrowing and believable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He doesn\u2019t mind talking about where he stands and why, isn\u2019t afraid of big issues, and is most animated when speaking of his nonprogressive views. He stands with Israel, marshals his arguments, smacks those who imply that it \u201chas to do with impaired mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t take positions for my own self-interest,\u201d he writes. \u201cI take positions based on what I believe is right.\u201d His stand on Israel has cost him support \u201cfrom a significant part of my base, and I\u2019m well aware it may cost me my seat. I\u2019m completely at peace with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He broke with Democrats on illegal immigration. \u201cSome in our party assert that an open border is a compassionate policy but I don\u2019t agree. An open border . . . is chaos, both for those immigrants and for those citizens impacted by the overwhelming number of people coming in who need assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
**************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Democratic Party, he says, knowingly lied that the border was secure. He believes this was the deciding factor in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a relief to hear a major political figure speak of at least some of his beliefs and why he holds them. Moderate Democrats should do this more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zohran Mamdani knows exactly what he stands for. They\u2019d better, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The former Reagan speechwriter who has had a Wall Street Journal weekly column for decades. She is a thoughtful person (and no fan of Trump). I have not read either book (and won’t be). Excerpts below the link. Kamala Harris\u2019s memoir gives you little idea of what she believes. John Fetterman\u2019s is better. I spent the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics-and-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14887,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14830\/revisions\/14887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}