Josh Shapiro Is a Terrible Choice for VP
Josh Shapiro Is a Terrible Choice for VP
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is perhaps the top contender to be Kamala Harris’s running mate. But Shapiro would be an awful selection, with a history of alienating and antagonizing core party constituencies and caving to pressure on major issues.
He definitely has more baggage than the other choices:
Except if you read the editorial he wrote, he’s mainly critiquing Arafat and the PLO. He literally says he supports peace but doesn’t think it’s realistic (edit: and closes the article by saying that he hopes he’s proved wrong). He also mentions how Israel won’t relinquish sufficient land to Palestine for peace to be made.
There are many legitimate criticisms of Shapiro (your first link, for example, as well as his flip-flopping on school vouchers), but claiming he’s significantly more pro-Israel than any of the other candidates is misleading. I’m not aware of any other candidates who called Netanyahu the “biggest barrier” to Middle East peace.
I'm sorry, but progressives are a wing, not a core. If you want us to become the core, we need to convince people of the importance of simple progressive policies, and how they can benefit people out in their day-to-day life. Not just assume we already are something we're not.
This is especially important these days, when so many independents are fleeing Trump, and applying pressure to the dem party to move closer to the center to court them. We need to convince some of them to become more of us, increasing our numbers.
Then we actually will be core. We can't just lie about the dem voters not leaning more neo-lib than progressive, though, that accomplishes nothing.
What is the top issue among dem voters this cycle? It isn't Gaza or the climate, it's the economy. Again. 63% of dem voters said it's the top priority as of Feb. That's a majority, a core, and not a particularly progressive position.
They're just people, though, they can be convinced of the primary importance of sustainability.
What is the top issue among dem voters this cycle? It isn’t Gaza or the climate, it’s the economy. Again. 63% of dem voters said it’s the top priority as of Feb. That’s a majority, a core, and not a particularly progressive position.
Since when is the economy not a progressive issue? IMO the primary failing of the Democratic Party has been its utter refusal (probably due to the influence of corporate donors) to apply any progressive solutions to economic issues.
Perhaps, at the same level as all our other issues, in specifically an income inequality framing. Though usually we'd specifically say "income inequality", where when a typical American says "economy" they mean unemployment rate, stock market and these days, inflation.
Shapiro is an argument to sacrifice MI and WI for PA, and it doesn't even come close to guaranteeing PA.
You have no path to the white house with our MI and WI.
The more folks on Lemmy complain about this guy, the more I am convinced he might be the right choice. It worked for Harris, after all.
On Wednesday, he continued his sentiment noting that protesting is a right that should be protected, but that a Jewish-owned business should not be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.
That’s from their linked article about how he tried to stifle free speech by condemning protestors. Yet the article says he said they should protest elsewhere and not attack Jewish businesses.
These articles critiquing him on Israel always seem to omit that Shapiro has called Netanyahu the “biggest barrier” to peace in the Middle East. They also omit that his college editorial focuses on his personal views on Arafat. Even though he opines that both sides should set aside their differences for peace, the point of that article is that he doesn’t think it’ll happen.
The article goes on to say he made “a false equivalence between criticism of Israel and antisemitism.” Again, he literally said they should protest not in front of businesses, as well as one other comment where he said the encampments were unsafe.
I also think it’s laughable that these same people continue to hold up Walz as some sort of example of perfection. He has refused to engage with the BDS movement and actively engaged with AIPAC (more than Shapiro has, from my understanding). He even stated “Israel is our truest and closest ally in the region, with a commitment to values of personal freedoms and liberties, surrounded by a pretty tough neighborhood.” The only thing he’s done that is remotely in support of Palestine is to say that Democrats shouldn’t ignore the uncommitted activists if they want to win. That’s a logical statement about the math behind winning an election, not a support of Palestine.
I gotta say, I didn't know much about Shapiro before this so started, and frankly I still don't.
But nothing is more suspicious than seeing someone go from limited mention to being called a zionist constantly, 0 to 100 like I've seen with Shapiro.
But nothing is more suspicious than seeing someone go from limited mention to being called a zionist constantly
I think that’s a pretty natural consequence of:
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Reports that he is the front-runner to be Harris’s vice-presidential pick (which pretty naturally takes someone from “who?” to the topic of national discussion); and
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The Philadelphia Inquirer digging up an old op-ed where he says that the Palestinians are incapable of governing themselves.
I’m going to skip over everything else that has been reported about that op-ed and focus on that one line. Because that is bonkers.
I do believe people’s political opinions can change, and that’s why I’ll forgive most of the op-ed (my opinions have certainly changed since I was 20, and I’m not much younger than Shapiro). But that one line speaks to a bigoted, colonialist mindset that would have been more at home in the 1860s than the 1990s.
I honestly think it’s disqualifying. For someone to think like that at age 20 points to such a lack of empathy, it’s probably the sign of a sociopathic personality.
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Makes zero difference for me. I'll vote for Harris no matter who the Vice is.
Then you are not the target audience for a vp pick.
Correct. But each potential VP has it's advantages and disadvantages. It's utterly impossible to predict which one will gain and lose more. It's like timing the markets. Can't be done. At the end of the day, Harris is at the top going up against Trump, and that will be the deciding factor.
Oh good, I was worried for a minute that we needed more than your vote.
There is one functional question for a VP pick. Can they give me the state I need?
And Pennsylvania is it folks. Georgia is nice, but not a dependable thing. From the Campaign's POV, if Shapiro can secure Pennsylvania and he doesn't have a literal serial killer body dump in his backyard, they're going to smash that button.
A) It's not a given that Shapiro will deliver PA. B) Even if he does, he makes Michigan a loss. C) Bad VP picks lower enthusiasm. Hillary chose to ignore the progressive voters that were energized by Bernie's campaign and instead picked boring centrist Tim Kaine. It turned out to he a bad strategy, even if it did deliver Virginia.
we had this discussion when people said Biden dropping out would mean certain defeat. people are severely underestimating the danger of depressing voter turnout countrywide. this is not much of an issue for the GOP but for Dems it's their main antagonist.
i think they're going to take PA anyway. it's not worth risking losing on other states showing that there's nothing new and everything is actually the same as the democrats you always hated for never listening. Biden dropping out was the first time this image has cracked, mending it right back would be a liability; falling into the Hillary trap there imo.
To be honest, this is why they leak the names early in every campaign. They're running internal polling on them, doing focus groups, and waiting to see if any skeletons toss open a closet door. If there was a red flag in that polling they'd pull him out of consideration.
There's also the art of political theater to consider. Say they did flag Shapiro for exactly the thing you're worried about. They might bring him along to stuff like the meet and greet just to make people in Pennsylvania feel more included.
All this is to say they have a ton more data on this than we do. What little we have shows Kelly and Shapiro as the most well known and liked of the names that were put forward. I have a bit more faith that they're getting good data since they flushed the Biden group out of the campaign. And her campaign is noticeably better run.
Because Michigan and other states don't matter at all. The entire election revolves around who wins Pennsylvania.
Of course they matter. Pennsylvania however, matters far more. Because of the way the electoral college works Pennsylvania is a must win for the Democrats. If they lose there then Michigan won't matter at all because Trump will have 270 votes.
We made sure that he hasn't fucked any furniture, right?
I think there is a playbook for vetting any inanimate object fucking at this point after the Vance thing.
Good news lol
How can it be anyone other than the astronaut?
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Isn’t Shapiro one of those conservative influencers, similar to Tucker or Alex Jones? Why would Kamala choose Ben Shapiro?
She is not considering Ben Shapiro. The one being considered is governor of PA.
lol, you didn't even read the headline, nevermind the article
I honestly think the unfortunate name association is enough of a reason not to go for him, but it would be really hilarious if Kamala actually chose Ben Shapiro and everyone just had to try and rationalize it.
If Harris picks Shapiro, then I guess I’m back to voting third-party.
That's a weird position to have.
Things would become only worse for Palestinians under an administration of TFG.
Not an issue