Vice President Kamala Harris was in the classroom via videotaped segments from her interview with Robert Costa. The first part was about mass shootings, and how conversations with first responders and families of victims always turn to assault weapons.
Harris said those weapons "were specifically and intentionally designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly," and said
the fact that we can't get Congress to renew... the assault weapons ban is outrageous.
It's OK to support the 2nd Amendment, as she does, and be against assault weapons, too. Costa wondered why so many legally get these weapons and "slip past red flag laws like those in Illinois." Harris pointed to the availability of the weapons, but didn't touch on the red flag laws.
Costa didn't follow up, unfortunately. Instead, he moved to abortion. While he mentioned President Biden's recent Executive Order, he also said that many Dems "remain very angry" with the decision in the Dobbs case, and he played a clip of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) asking
Where is the Democratic Party? Where's the party? Why aren't we calling this out? This is a concerted, coordinated effort. And, yes, they're winning.
He asked Harris if Newsom is right, and again we got half an answer. She said "all of us share a deep sense of outrage" about the Supreme Court taking a recognized right away from women. And, she said,
You don't have to agree that you want to or would advocate that you or a loved one would have an abortion to agree that the government should not be making that decision for any individual woman.
Costa followed up, asking "Did Democrats fail, past Democratic presidents, congressional leaders, to not codify Roe v. Wade over the past five decades?"
I do believe that we should have rightly believed, but we certainly believed that certain issues are just settled. Certain issues are just settled... And that's why I do believe that we are living, sadly, in real unsettled times.
Harris used voting rights as an example. This was settled, back in the 60s, but now states are "intentionally making it more difficult for people to vote." It's the same with choice, she said. And while the administration is doing what it can, such as the Executive Order, they can't do it alone.
...we also need Congress to act, because that branch of government is where we actually codify, which means put into law the rights that, again, we took for granted, but clearly have now been taken from the women of America.
Referring to the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights act as examples of Congressional action, Harris said, "That's what we need to do with Roe and the principles behind Roe."
Another question she didn't answer? Whether Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh should be impeached for statements made during their confirmation hearings.
I start from the point of experience of having served in the Senate. I never believed them. I didn't believe them. It's why I voted against (them).
She said it's all about the elections this November, and that "we need a pro-choice Congress." She also noted, correctly in my opinion, that it's not just Congress people need to worry about.
It means state offices, governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general. It means local races. Who's going to be your DA, who's going to be your sheriff enforcing laws that are being passed to criminalize medical health providers, and maybe even the women who seek the service?
Costa gave her a fill-in-the-blank question: "Americans need to vote for Democrats in November because____________?"
Our democracy is on the ballot, truly, truly. If you look at an issue like choice, it's on the ballot, a woman's right to make decisions about her own body and potentially what can happen in the not-too-distant future around issues like access to and making decisions about contraception or same-sex marriage. Elections matter.
Costa wondered how they were going to counter polls showing that "support for this administration among Black Americans has softened," and that people are frustrated about police reform being stalled. Harris said that Americans in general, not just Black Americans, should demand legislation addressing key issues is passed, whether it's police reform or anything else.
I mean, but, again, there is a connection between what we are -- what we want to have happen and the power of Congress to actually make it happen, when it comes to changing the laws, when it comes to writing and then putting in effect, laws that create accountability and greater fairness in our system, be it our criminal justice system, be it our health care delivery system, all of that.
And, she added
What we have also seen is that Black Americans and all Americans said -- look at the United States Supreme Court. There has never in the history of that court been a Black woman to serve. There now is, because people stood in line in 2020 for hours demanding that, of the things that they would stand in line to see happen... Ketanji Brown Jackson on the United States Supreme Court. So, there are demands that were made by voters, saying these are the things we want out of this administration. And a lot of those demands have been met in the first year-and-a-half. There's still more work to do, without any question.
Finally, when it came to the big question, she said that Joe Biden plans on running in '24, and if he does, she'll run with him.
See you around campus.
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