The Patriot Post® · Chicken Kamala Dodges the Al Smith Dinner

For most of his 50 years in politics, Joe Biden was an accomplished backslapper — a somewhat dim-witted guy who at least understood the power of rapport and relationship-building.

Kamala Harris, though, isn’t even that.

The deeper we go into this election cycle, the more we realize just how desperate her handlers are to keep the real Kamala Harris hidden from the American people. The real Harris isn’t the one we saw in that brief interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, or in that rigged ABC debate with Donald Trump, or in that friendly sit-down with Oprah Winfrey. In each of those events, she was tightly scripted, thoroughly rehearsed, and protected by surrogates.

No, the real Kamala Harris is the leftist loose cannon who can’t think on her feet. It’s the one who thinks “I grew up in a middle-class household” is a sufficient answer to every question about inflation or the economy. It’s the one who has no idea just how thoroughly out of touch her San Francisco progressivism is with the American people. It’s the one who helped post bail for those murderous George Floyd rioters and who actually urged them on:

They’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop. This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware. Because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before election day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after election day. And everyone should take note of that. … They’re not gonna let up, and they should not. And we should not.

They’re not gonna let up, and they should not. Who says that?

Answer: Kamala Harris says that. And that’s why they’re hiding her from a press conference and hiding her from any events at which she can’t read from a teleprompter. Indeed, you might say her campaign is unburdening her from what has been.

Here are four straight minutes of Kamala Harris being “unburdened” pic.twitter.com/S4X5mfGKRm

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 17, 2023

The latest example of this is the Harris campaign’s decision to duck the Al Smith Dinner on October 17 in New York City. Apparently, she’s too busy. Or maybe she and her ilk just hate Catholics.

The traditional event is a bipartisan Catholic charity fundraiser named in honor of the first Catholic to be a major party’s nominee for president. It’s been regularly attended by both parties’ nominees since 1960 when Richard Nixon ventured onto John F. Kennedy’s Catholic turf. Harris thus becomes the first major-party presidential candidate to skip it since Walter Mondale in 1984. (In fairness, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole weren’t invited to the event in 1996, ostensibly because “legal, safe, and rare” Clinton had just vetoed a bill banning partial-birth abortion.)

Could it be that Harris is afraid of how Trump might roast her on her abortion extremism? Or is she really just that terrified of speaking off the cuff?

A little publicized piece from Axios on July 22, titled “Biden doubted Harris’ election chances,” gives us a remarkable insight into the vice president’s fear of the unscripted: “Harris was the guest for a dinner at D.C. news mogul David Bradley’s home — a salon-style event Bradley hosts with Washington journalists and newsmakers. Harris’ anxiety about the dinner was such that her staff held a mock dinner beforehand, with staffers playing participants. … Harris aides even considered including wine in the mock prep so Harris could practice with a glass or two. They ultimately decided against it.”

As for the Al Smith snub, the New York Post editorial board sees the same thing: “The candidates are supposed to deliver light jabs at each other in their dueling addresses, which plainly can be written in advance — but the program apparently has too many risks of being called upon for spontaneous reactions for Harris to agree.”

It’s been 65 days since Joe Biden ended his reelection bid and “endorsed” Kamala Harris to replace him. So far, her Praetorian Guard has kept her out of harm’s way. If they can keep it up for just 42 more days, they’ll have run out the clock.

Harris is a train wreck in the making. She’s the ultimate Not Ready for Prime Time player. But if her handlers have their way, the American people won’t learn the truth until it’s too late.