OPINION:
Farewell, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose faith dare not speak its name.
Perhaps Vice President Kamala Harris passed over Mr. Shapiro because he is Jewish. Perhaps she passed over him because she does not trust him. Perhaps she passed over the popular governor of the must-win state because he struggles under self-serving dual loyalty.
Whatever the case, Ms. Harris instead picked the voluble yet vapid governor of a blue state who rolled out the red carpet in his state for anarchists whose wife left the windows of their home open so she could smell the tires burning during the George Floyd riots.
The phrase “you can’t make this up” is highly overused. It should be reserved only for describing the outlandish case of Kamala Harris running on a ticket with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Mr. Walz — a professional politician for the past two decades — and Ms. Harris — a career politician since 2004 — are running for higher public office to really shake things up, claiming to somehow be a change from the past four years.
Ms. Harris refuses to explain her policy positions beyond claiming that she has changed her mind on a host of highly unpopular positions that have been ruining the country the past four years under her leadership. This is why she refuses to take any questions — even from the fawning political media.
Maybe she picked Mr. Walz because, at the very least, he appears willing to do interviews on her behalf — however ridiculous the words that come out of his mouth may be. (He made a weird sexual “couch” joke about J.D. Vance in his first public appearance.)
But the truly absurd thing about the whole Kamala Harris veepstakes coverage has been watching the political press twist themselves into pretzels to avoid suggesting that Ms. Harris refused to pick Mr. Shapiro because he is Jewish. Or that an alarming number of Democrats in the party openly pressured Ms. Harris not to pick Mr. Shapiro — again, because he is Jewish.
Normally, these are the people who see racism and bigotry around every corner. They are the same people who were quick to believe a few years ago that racist Republican thugs beat up a Black actor in Chicago in the middle of the night while taunting, “This is MAGA country!”
The coverage of Ms. Harris’ Shapiro-ghosting includes the highly sanitized.
“Shapiro faced public pushback on a number of issues that some Democrats felt could prove a liability as the party was projecting unity following President Biden’s decision to drop out of the race,” was how one national newspaper described the situation.
CNN’s John King was a bit more blunt.
“He’s certainly under consideration,” Mr. King said of Mr. Shapiro earlier this month. “He’s a first-term governor. He’s Jewish — there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket. But, certainly, some of our voters here in Pennsylvania said, ‘Hey, we like Governor Shapiro — give him a look.’”
Yikes.
Observers have pointed out that Mr. Shapiro’s position on Israel and the war in Gaza — despite his groveling apology for volunteering in Israel as a teenager — is not all that different from the non-Jewish Democrats who were under consideration for Ms. Harris’ No. 2.
In New York, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said: “Antisemitism is un-American. Not picking Governor Shapiro because he is observant Jewish is wrong.”
Finally, however, the political press has found a case of “antisemitism” or “racism” that they are not willing to make a big story out of.
“Contrary to the wish-casting of the left and the sinister claims of the right,” declared a columnist in Politico, the political media’s hall monitor, “Harris didn’t select Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota because she is beholden to her party’s base or, more absurdly, uneasy with a Jewish vice president.”
Well, there you have it. Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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