2020 Vice Presidential prospects: on Principles & Values
Howie Hawkins:
Picked actual progressive woman of color as running mate
As a woman of color, Kamala Harris kills two birds with one stone by ticking both the gender and race boxes. But she's overwhelmingly spent her career fighting for reactionary policies that completely obliterate the credibility of her claim to be
any kind of progressive.Harris represents the kind of empty, tokenistic brand of identity politics that this establishment uses to give its major figures political cover.
There is someone who is both a woman of color and an actual progressive.
Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins picked longtime grassroots activist Angela Walker as his running mate. Democrats will tell us that we'd be "throwing away our vote" by casting our ballot for the Hawkins/Walker ticket.
But now that two major parties compete with each other on the far right of the political spectrum, it's time that we give up on the Democratic Party en masse and prove them wrong.
Source: Counterpunch.org political e-zine on 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 17, 2020
Kamala Harris:
OpEd: Checks gender and race boxes, but not a progressive
Joe Biden's pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate will surely satisfy Democratic Party insiders who were hoping for him to balance the ticket. As a woman of color, Harris kills two birds with one stone by ticking both the gender and race boxes.
But the prospect of her becoming vice president is nothing to look forward to. She's overwhelmingly spent her career, both before and after entering politics, fighting for reactionary policies that completely obliterate the credibility of her claim to
be any kind of progressive.But there's something deeper going on here. Because Harris represents not just the center-right policy positions of the Democratic establishment.
She is also an illustrative example of the kind of empty, tokenistic brand of identity politics that this establishment uses to give its major figures political cover.
Source: Counterpunch.org political e-zine on 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 17, 2020
Tammy Duckworth:
Calls herself a deist; would not infringe on other beliefs
Her mother is an active Buddhist, her father was Southern Baptist--but she describes herself using a term rarely used by modern politicians. "I think of myself as a deist," she told a group of constituents in 2012.
Asked by an atheist how she would treat them if elected, Duckworth responded: "I think that's my personal belief. That's not anyone else's. And I'm not going to infringe my belief on yours or anyone else."
Source: Religion News Service on 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 5, 2020
Susan Rice:
Against divisiveness; Americans sink or swim together
"One of the critical reasons why we are in such a difficult spot, whether with respect to the pandemic or economy, national cohesion, racial justice issues is because we are now burdened with leadership in the White House
that thrives on dividing us and pitting Americans against each other," she said. "We absolutely have to move past that to a point of a recognition that we are all in this boat together, we sink or swim together."
Source: NPR news website on 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 4, 2020
Stacey Abrams:
Joined corporate wing of Democrats, rather than Bernie wing
Abrams stepped onto the national stage while signaling her embrace of the Democratic Party's corporate wing. She joined the board of directors at the Center for American Progress (CAP), which is second to none as a powerful political operation for
the party's Clinton-aligned forces, fiercely hostile to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. Abrams doubled down on throwing her lot in with the corporate wing of the party when she joined the board of a major big-money organization, Priorities USA.
Source: Counterpunch.org political e-zine on 2020 Veepstakes
May 28, 2020
Stacey Abrams:
If I didn't speak up for myself, no one else would
I'm the daughter of two ministers. I was raised to tell the truth. When I'm asked a question, I answer it as directly and honestly as I can. As a young black girl growing up in Mississippi, I learned that if I didn't speak up for myself,
no one else would. My mission is to say out loud if I'm asked the question, "Yes, I would be willing to serve." I know that there's a process that will be played out, that Joe Biden is going to put together the best team possible.
Source: NBC Meet the Press interview for 2020 Veepstakes
Apr 26, 2020
Susan Rice:
Trump has displayed utter lack of leadership, incompetence
She continued, "He has demonstrated utter lack of leadership, utter incompetence. And he's been profoundly dishonest about the nature of the threat to the American people by downplaying it, by dismissing it, by you know comparing it to the flu and
having his senior officials do the same, having Fox News do the same. He has misled the American people to such an extent that lives have been lost in the process."
Source: Breitbart.com blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Apr 6, 2020
Amy Klobuchar:
A passion for political compromise
Klobuchar's theory seems to be that the polarization of the United States is overstated and that there's a middle ground to recapture, powered by distaste for the other options on offer. "If you are tired of the extremes in our politics,
of the noise and the nonsense, you have a home with me," Klobuchar said in New Hampshire. If there's a base out there with a passion for political compromise, she'll find it.
Source: Slate e-zine on 2020 Veepstakes
Feb 22, 2020
Amy Klobuchar:
OpEd: Reputation for screaming & demeaning staff
Klobuchar developed a reputation for the consistent and extreme abuse of her staff. Her rages "regularly left employees in tears," BuzzFeed News reported. Former staffers say she screamed at them, demeaned them, threw objects at them.
Before she revised it, her parental-leave policy forced new parents to "remain with the office for three times as many weeks as they had been gone," sources told the New York Times.
Source: WorldNetDaily blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Feb 14, 2020
Susan Rice:
Learned if you're knocked down, how to get back up
I'm the descendent of slaves from South Carolina on the one hand, and of immigrants from Jamaica who moved to Portland, Maine on the other hand. Both sides of my family prioritized education, and prioritized service, and worked to bring each subsequent
generation a little bit higher. I learned a fair bit from my experiences being part of that family. If they've been knocked down, as I have on a couple of occasions, then to know how to get back up.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations on 2020 Veepstakes
Nov 14, 2019
Susan Rice:
Give your honest and best advice to whom you're serving
You shouldn't be serving if you're not willing to give your honest and best advice. You probably shouldn't be serving if he or she doesn't want your honest and best advice. I've been privileged to serve secretaries of state in the younger part of my
career and presidents who I think genuinely wanted and expected the best unvarnished advice from their advisors. At the end of the day they'd take their own counsel, make their own decision, and in my experience own their decisions.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations on 2020 Veepstakes
Nov 14, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Deliver on issues but address threat Trump is to democracy
If we don't deliver on those issues that restore dignity to the lives of our fellow Americans, then we have not only failed them, we have provided fertile ground for the kind of demagogue that Donald Trump is.
But we also have to call out the existential threat that Trump represents right now. Not only are we going to lose more lives, I'm confident that we will lose this country and our democracy, the longer he stays in office.
Source: Meet the Press interview for Democratic 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 18, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Trump espouses racism & division, but problem predates him
Anyone who describes those who do not match the majority of this country as somehow inherently dangerous or defective, sows fear. But it is also something that is much larger than this President and persisted here before his administration.
It's up to all of us to put an end to this racism and make sure that we don't just tolerate our differences, but we embrace them as the very source of our strength and our success. And, yes, also our safety and our security.
Source: CBS Face the Nation interview for Democratic 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 4, 2019
Julian Castro:
President should bring people together, not divide
We need leadership at every level, starting with the president, that will be big enough to try and bring people of different backgrounds together, because we know that this shooter and his bigotry does not reflect the vast majority of Americans of any
background. So with leadership we can try and unite and heal our country and tamp down this kind of bigotry and acting out among a few people.
Source: ABC This Week interview for Democratic 2020 Veepstakes
Aug 4, 2019
Keisha Lance Bottoms:
Don't just go along with what I say; push back
During one of her first cabinet meetings as mayor in 2018, she met with her department heads, nearly all of whom were holdovers from the Reed administration. It quickly became clear that the new sheriff in town was not like the old one. "If
I tell you to jump off a bridge, don't just do it," she said, according to an official who was there. "Somebody needs to stop and ask questions. You're all here to give me advice. Don't just go along with what I say. Push back."
Source: Atlanta Magazine on 2020 Veepstakes
Mar 7, 2019
Sally Yates:
Promised not to obey an unlawful order; that's what I did
Senator CORNYN: I find it enormously disappointing that you somehow vetoed the decision of the Office of Legal Counsel with regard to the lawfulness of the president's order and decided instead that you would countermand the executive order of the
president of the United States because you happen to disagree with it as a policy matter.YATES: I appreciate that, Senator, and let me make one thing clear. It is not purely as a policy matter. In fact, I'll remember my confirmation hearing.
You specifically asked me if the president asked me to do something that was unlawful or unconstitutional would I say no? And I looked at this, I made a determination that I believed that it was unlawful.
I also thought that it was inconsistent with principles of the Department of Justice and I said no. And that's what I promised you I would do and that's what I did.
Source: Esquire magazine on 2020 Veepstakes
May 8, 2017
Sally Yates:
Change doesn't happen with people sitting on their behinds
If there's any message, whether it's for my kid who's this one, who's too young to vote, or those that are able to vote, you gotta be part of this. You can't sit on the sidelines and read your iPhone and be on social media and expect everything to be
cool. You have to be part of this. You have to make change. Change doesn't happen with people sitting on their behinds, getting lazy. And I think that's a very important lesson to come out of this election.
Source: Buzzfeed blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Dec 28, 2016
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021