WCS 51: Willie Brown & VP Kamala & getting 'put on'
w/: Drake’s Super Bowl odds + Seattle streetwalker donnybrook + Sept SF eats
It was far from obvious to me that VP Kamala Harris would become the Democrats’ nominee for President. In 1994, she wasn’t on my San Francisco Bay Guardian beat—health—and was little more than a name to me, a part-time political reporter. Okay, I did note that she was a fine Assistant City Attorney, in my age range, but I didn’t instantly associate her with rising to tip-top.
In that early Clinton era, it was hard to envision the local political talent like the Vice President and Nancy Pelosi reaching the heights they achieved. They were women doing their Bay Area government jobs. Anyway, the idea of a Democrat from California getting the Presidential nomination was pretty far fetched.
VP Kamala may have hardly been on my radar, but I knew Willie Brown.
To deny her professional worthiness manages to be equally misogynistic and racist.
Who didn’t?
Once upon a time—before the 1996 telecommunications act—there was this thing called “coverage of state capitals.” Media outlets didn’t make money from state politics coverage, but the companies provided this coverage for the greater good. Once upon a time, before deregulation... Brown was one of the most visible Black men on the West Coast. A short, bright Sacramento power broker, Brown was Speaker of the House in 94, was out of his marriage for practical purposes, and—as I understand things—beginning his romantic involvement with VP Kamala Harris.
During this time, Harris was put onto a couple of relatively minor commissions by Brown.
Asserting that the Assistant City Attorney slept her way to the top is the next phase of Trump’s Presidential campaign. This talk is on Former Twitter. The Murdoch-owned papers have begun dipping into the Brown narrative. Every time I look in on Jesse Watters and Fox News I hear some new innuendo or single entendre spilling from the comedian’s sharp-lipped smirk.
The insinuations are about to get fleshed out.
Fact is, becoming involved with one of the nation’s power brokers at the height of their powers hasn’t ever hurt a career. Not once.
Having said that, the Vice President has known Gavin Newsom forever, too. She would have moved up fine without Speaker Brown. More than connections—which mediocre White men at the top can’t imagine being without—the woman owns both tangible gifts and timely cultural charisma. To deny her professional worthiness manages to be equally misogynistic and racist.
Tuesday might have been the last cleanly enjoyable moment that Harris people feel for a long time. With support from Elon Musk’s tech minions, Trump will use our social media-driven news set-up to make the rest of the campaign resemble the Fani Willis embarrassment.
This campaign is going to get dirty. It will be a different kind of challenge.
Time now to do that big, round, multiple-of-five thing!
10 In a stacked NFC West, where do the Seahawks fit?
With a suffocating defense, sufficient offensive playmaking, and a steady vet at quarterback, the 1-0 Seahawks are clearly good. But how good?
Does first-year coach Mike MacDonald have a 12—5 squad on his hands, or does having to play the Niners and Rams twice mean that Seattle is destined to finish the regular season a lackluster 9-8?
The Seattle Times / ESPN
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