New York Times Calls Kamala Harris a ‘Pragmatic Moderate,’ Without Evidence

Kamala Harris and Al Sharpton (Bebeto Matthews - Pool / Getty)
Bebeto Matthews - Pool / Getty

The New York Times described Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as a “pragmatic moderate” in its report on her selection to be the running mate for former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday.

As Breitbart News reported Tuesday, Harris was rated the 4th most liberal Senator by the non-partisan GovTrack.us website, based on her support for left-wing legislation. She has no bipartisan legislative achievements to her name.

Harris was an early supporter of the Green New Deal, a utopian scheme that aims to eliminate fossil fuels by 2030. She also backed the “Medicare for All” bill of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), even though it would eliminate private health insurance.

Still, the Times wrote that Harris is a “pragmatic moderate,” without providing any examples or evidence, other than her service as a prosecutor in far-left San Francisco and deep-blue California:

A pragmatic moderate who spent most of her career as a prosecutor, Ms. Harris was seen throughout the vice-presidential search as among the safest choices available to Mr. Biden. She has been a reliable ally of the Democratic establishment, with flexible policy priorities that largely mirror Mr. Biden’s, and her supporters argued that she could reinforce Mr. Biden’s appeal to Black voters and women without stirring particularly vehement opposition on the right or left.

While she endorsed a number of left-wing policy proposals during her presidential bid, Ms. Harris also showed a distinctly Biden-like impatience with what she characterized as the grand but impractical governing designs of some in her party.

Harris has also backed reparation for slavery and led Democratic opposition to the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, earning rare disapproval from the major newspapers in her home state for her over-the-top performance.

The Times endorsed Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in the Democratic Party primary.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Correction: an earlier version of this article erroneously identified Harris as “(I-VT)” instead of “(D-CA).”

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