On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show,” former NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous, who supported Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the Democratic primary, and has yet to endorse presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, said that its “not clear” how Clinton’s VP selection, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), will help Clinton win.
Jealous said that Kaine is “a nice guy. He is not the most courageous politician. Just a couple of days ago, the Huffington Post, you know, pointed out that he’s pushing for greater deregulation of Wall Street, even though he was trying to become vice president, a time where people generally avoid controversial issues. He went right at one of the most controversial issues in our party right now. And so, you know, but he’s also quite frankly, he doesn’t inspire any clear — it’s not clear that he’s going to, you know, for instance, bring Virginia, He doesn’t bring any demographic. There’s going to be a lot of Latino voters who appreciate that he speaks Spanish, but know that they could have had Julian Castro, they could have had Tom Perez. He’s not going to bring the sort of fire of a [Sen.] Cory Booker (D-NJ). I mean, it’s just not clear, frankly, how he helps. And he — and there are some risks that he could hurt. And so, I think all of us who are clear, that if we want to beat Donald Trump, we’re going to have to vote for Hillary Clinton. The reality is, you know, she’s now, you know, at the center of the stage with the spotlight basically on nobody else having to convince the base of the Democratic Party, not just to vote for her, but to turn out, and to work, and to get excited, and to push unlikely voters. That’s where the challenge is going to be — you know, is going to come from. And Tim is a nice guy. He’s not the most courageous politician in the Democratic Party. He’s certainly not the most inspiring. It’s not clear how he helps.”
He added, “It’s not clear that Tim Kaine’s going to help her win, and that’s the part that frankly, really kind of pains me, frustrates me, is, I was hoping for somebody that would show us a sign that they were serious about taking on, you know, this moment and strengthening the ticket. [Sen.] Liz Warren (D-MA), Jennifer Granholm, there’s a lot of folks who could have helped her win more than Tim Kaine is going to help.”
(h/t Byron York)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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