Vice President Kamala Harris took an implicit swipe at former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a major GOP contender for president, during a Monday visit to the Palmetto State to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Ms. Harris leaned into a kerfuffle over Ms. Haley’s recent stumble in explaining what caused the Civil War, making a broader point about conservative-led book bans and revised history standards in school.
“They even try to erase, overlook and rewrite the ugly parts of our past. For example, the Civil War which, must I really have to say, was about slavery?” Ms. Harris said at the NAACP South Carolina State Conference in Columbia.
Ms. Haley in December responded to a question in New Hampshire about what started the Civil War by mentioning “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do” and other matters, but not slavery.
She backpedaled hours later, saying, “Of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” though her main rivals — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump — said she flubbed what should have been an easy layup.
Ms. Harris rubbed salt in the wound Monday and then took a tacit swipe at Mr. DeSantis.
“All the while, they tell our children that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Ms. Harris said.
She was referring to updated Florida curriculum standards that say enslaved Black persons used skills they learned in captivity to earn a living in the same trades after their emancipation.
Mr. DeSantis defended the standards, saying they were drafted by experts and pointed out a simple fact, though the Biden administration and other critics objected to using the term “benefit.”
Ms. Harris knocked the GOP as part of a speech that hinted at a preview of her 2024 election stump speech. She says specific freedoms are under threat by the GOP, including rights for LGBT persons and access to abortion.
“In states across our nation, extremists propose and pass laws to attack a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body,” Ms. Harris said.
She also said some states are making it harder to vote instead of easier. Republicans object to those criticisms, saying many blue states have more onerous ballot-access rules than theirs.
“We are witnessing a full-on attack on hard-won, hard-fought freedoms,” Ms. Harris said. “In states against our nation, extremists attack the sacred freedom to vote, they pass laws to ban drop boxes, limit early voting and restrict absentee ballots.”
South Carolina played a key role in catapulting Mr. Biden to victory in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Democrats moved to put the South Carolina primary election ahead of New Hampshire this time around, saying the southern state reflected the diversity of the party.
New Hampshire leaders objected and forged ahead with the primary on Jan. 23, ahead of the South Carolina one on Feb. 3, meaning voters will have to write in Mr. Biden’s name because he is not on the ballot.
Mr. Biden’s main Democratic challenger, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, is hoping for a good showing.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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