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Democrats keep trying to offer explanations for why Kamala Harris didn’t choose Josh Shapiro as her running mate . and keep failing to convince people. The popular Pennsylvania governor seems poised to deliver the one state Democrats can’t afford to lose while expanding the potential appeal of the ticket elsewhere. Two narratives emerged yesterday in the damage control effort:
None of these explanations really sound convincing, especially given the context of how the Biden-Harris campaign spent the last several months pandering to the anti-Israel Left.
CNN’s Abby Phillip tiptoed toward the truth yesterday during the live coverage of the Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia. Phillip suggested that the real reason was Shapiro’s criticism of the demonstrations on college campuses, and that Team Harris decided to go the “do no harm” route.
That brought an immediate objection from Jake Tapper:
What a moment on CNN:
Abby Phillip wonders if picking Josh Shapiro would “antagonize those voters” who voted “uncommitted” in Minnesota over the Gaza war.
Jake Tapper tries to cut in and say that Shapiro’s policy on Israel is the same as Walz, but “he is Jewish.”
Audie Cornish… pic.twitter.com/3D1Dlm8E0R— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) August 7, 2024
PHILLIP: . Would it help in Pennsylvania? Absolutely. But there’s more to this than that.
And I think, ultimately, Shapiro I think fit is important but, you I also think that when you look at the principle of do no harm, maybe they did say it in a state like Minnesota. Do we want to those 100,000 on I’m committed voters who came out about the Gaza war. Do we want to antagonize those voters? Those are all parts of, part of the questions as well.
TAPPER: So can I just say?
CORNISH: Tim Walz also spoke conciliatory towards those people. He said, look that uncommitted vote is significant and those people should be heard so having that kind of response, I think is probably more of an open door to the parts of the party that had been very frustrated with the Democrats.
TAPPER: So, but just to — just one point on the — on the — on the Gaza War, Shapiro has the same position on Israel that Governor Walz, that Senator Kelly has. He’s actually been more critical of Netanyahu, then the other two.
