OPINION:
It took Kamala Harris 2½ months to agree to an interview with a national journalist. Bill Whitaker interviewed her on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” and her answers are not likely to help her with the few voters who say they are still undecided.
Asked by Mr. Whitaker to explain her economic plan and how it would be paid for, the vice president’s response bordered on the meaningless: “My plan is about saying when you invest in small businesses you invest in the middle class and you strengthen America’s economy. Small businesses are the backbone of America’s economy.”
Mr. Whitaker: “The question was, how are you going to pay for it?”
Ms. Harris: “I am going to make sure that the richest among us who can afford it pay their fair share in taxes. It is not right that teachers, nurses and firefighters are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations. And I plan on making that fair.”
“Fair” must be a poll-tested word, but it has no meaning unless it is defined. Democrats have been invoking it for years without saying what they mean. In some states, the successful are paying more than half their income to federal, state and local governments.
Is it fair when governments penalize success and subsidize its opposite? And who defines affordable? Mr. Whitaker should have asked Ms. Harris what she would do to cut spending, the main driver of debt, and how she would reform Social Security and Medicare, which will run out of money in the 2030s.
Mr. Whitaker asked Ms. Harris how she would get her plan through Congress.
Ms. Harris gave a customary nonsensical answer: “You know when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I’m talking about ’cause their constituents know exactly what I’m talking about. Those constituents are those firefighters and teachers and nurses.”
I don’t know what she is talking about.
In reporting on some of the same claims that President Biden made in his last State of the Union address, Reuters reported: “The average American worker paid about a 25% tax rate in 2022, the OECD reported. White House research found the wealthiest individuals paid about 8% from 2010 to 2018.”
White House “research”?
The Cato Institute says: “The 8 percent is a concoction by Biden political appointees at odds with data from the U.S. Treasury, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Internal Revenue Service and Joint Committee on Taxation. All these official sources find that tax rates on high earners are much higher than tax rates on lower- and middle-income folks.”
On another topic, Ms. Harris was asked about Israel and the attacks by Iran and its proxies. Ms. Harris defaulted to the familiar position that Israel “has a right to defend itself” but seemed to separate the Jewish state from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Whitaker: “Do we have a real close ally in Prime Minister Netanyahu?”
Ms. Harris: “With all due respect, I think the more important question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.”
The Biden-Harris administration, like the Obama-Biden and Clinton-Gore administrations, have repeatedly tried to impose their will on Israel to get the Jewish state to act in ways that would put it in greater peril. For Ms. Harris to try to separate Israel from its duly elected leader is to give aid and comfort to Israel’s enemies, which are also our enemies.
The question still waiting to be asked is why Ms. Harris and every Democrat who met with Mr. Biden engaged in what looks like a cover-up of his mental state that led to his withdrawal from the race.
After the “60 Minutes” interview, Ms. Harris decamped to more friendly territory, appearing on “The View” and Howard Stern’s radio program. It is unlikely any of these interviews will change the minds of entrenched voters.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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