News & Brews August 19, 2024
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(Sort of) 1st presidential debate will be in Philly
The first debate in the newly configured presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (so, not counting the June 27 disaster) will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on September 10. Hosted by ABC News, the debate is slated to be moderated by World News Tonight anchor David Muir, alongside ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis. The debate will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Harris, Walz campaign in Pa. ahead of DNC
Ahead of today’s kickoff of the Democratic National Convention, VP Kamala Harris and running-mate Tim Walz made six campaign stops in western Pa. yesterday “in an effort to build momentum” ahead of the convention. The Tribune-Review reports that Harris spoke “with liberal supporters, high school football players, service workers and diners on a tour focused on inspiring her base, while also exuding joy about the future America.” This ‘joy’, however, is more fantasy than reality in Harris’ economic world. And shockingly, even the far (far) Left Washington Post Editorial Board came out lambasting her economic plan as full of “gimmicks.”
Fetterman v. Shapiro?
NBC News tries to offer ‘exclusive’ news on a “rift” between U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro. The story suggests the “dispute” between the two “could roil state and Democratic politics for years.” (I don’t see that quite happening to the degree NBC suggests—but my political predictions are often wrong.) Neither man commented for the story, so take that into account. But here’s what’s making national news about Pa.
Battle over RFK, Jr. ballot access heading to court
PennLive reports that the Democrat-backed effort to keep Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., off the Pennsylvania ballot will head to Commonwealth Court tomorrow, where a judge is slated to “weigh evidence.” in the case. It wouldn’t be the first time Dems have kicked a third-party candidate off the ballot for fear that he’ll hurt the Democrat candidate. In 2020, the Inquirer reported that Pa. Dems “may have saved Biden by knocking the Green Party candidate off the ballot.” You know, “saving democracy” and all…..
‘How to really end the reign of Johnny Doc’
The Philadelphia Citizen Co-Founder Larry Platt writes regarding the corruption case of former Philly labor leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty that “[t]he Dougherty corruption machine has been abetted by a weakened and stenographic media, by a timid business and nonprofit leadership class that turns a blind eye to public transgressions out of narrow self-interest, and by a shoulder-shrugging citizenry that figures this is just the way things are.” Platt suggests reforms are possible (although he seems to endorse some questionable ones). But he says they’ll require non-governmental action, concluding, “Change doesn’t come via government so much as through the petitioning of it.”