During Harris’s short campiagn Israel was hunting Hamas and indicrimantly bombing Gaza….
Images and media reports showed suffering....
While the US supports Isreal in general?
The Biden/Harris Admin seems to have misred a critical part of their base…..
Top Democratic officials who worked on the party’s still-secret autopsy of the 2024 election concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration’s approach to the war in Gaza, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The Democratic National Committee’s research on what went wrong in 2024 has been under lock and key since party leaders decided last year to hide it from the public — a reflection of how explosively it could resonate within the party and beyond.
- Progressive and moderate Democrats are particularly divided over Israel, with the left more critical of that nation’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza and many questioning the U.S.’s unwavering support for Israel.
Zoom in: During her brief campaign Harris sought to strike a balance, showing strong support for Israel while calling for a ceasefire and expressing sympathy for Palestinians under attack in Gaza as well as the hostages being held by Hamas.
Driving the news: DNC aides putting together the report on Harris’ loss to Donald Trump had a closed-door conversation with a pro-Palestinian group about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
- Activists from the IMEU Policy Project told the DNC that the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel was a factor in the party’s losses because it drained support from some young people and progressives.
- Hamid Bendaas, a spokesperson for the IMEU Policy Project, said that during the meeting “the DNC shared with us that their own data also found that policy was, in their words, a ‘net-negative’ in the 2024 election.” Two other senior aides at the pro-Palestinian organization also said the DNC had drawn that conclusion.
- Axios independently verified that Democratic officials conducting the autopsy believed the issue harmed the party’s standing with some voters….
…
Asked for comment, a Harris aide pointed to the former vice president’s recent comments about the war in Gaza on a tour stop for her memoir, “107 Days.”
- “We should have done more as an administration,” Harris said at the event, adding “we should have spoken publicly about our criticism” of how Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu executed the war.
Flashback: Harris said in her book that President Biden’s unpopularity, which she argued was partly because of “his perceived blank check” to Netanyahu, harmed her in 2024.
- Harris wrote that she privately “pleaded” with Biden to show more empathy for civilians in Gaza. But during her campaign, she declined to publicly break with him over Israel.
First of all, it is of course interesting that this tidbit is what gets leaked, while the DNC refuses to release the entire report.
Democrats did not lose in 2024 because they were not far enough to the left. They lost because people thought they were too far to the left. The election was ultimately decided on the economy, immigration, and for many, a belief that Democrats were too “woke” and not responsive to the everyday concerns of Americans.
It is also definitely true that many Jewish-Americans, who had never voted for Trump before, and in many cases might have never voted for any Republican Presidential candidate before, did so in 2024, because they viewed Democrats as weak on Israel. Still, Harris easily won the overall Jewish vote, but in a close election, every little bit matters.
Now, did some “pro-Palestinian” voters either vote for Trump out of spite or otherwise cast a protest vote or stay home? Probably, and of course that might have hurt Democrats, but doing what those people would have wanted would have hurt Democrats even more.
What does it say about those people that they were fine with letting Trump back in the White House because they disliked Israel? It says they are dumb as hell. How are things working out for them now? As I have said before, it is the political equivalent of being a suicide bomber, which of course has been tactic widely used over the years against Israel by those who believe their own death is preferable than the other religion living.
Of course, Democrats would be dumb to feel like they need to placate those voters but just like the MAGA base has co-opted the “old” Republican Party and has been holding the political class hostage for over a decade now, Democrats face a similar problem with their base, especially over Israel. Just like support for Trump is the key point for many in contested Republican primaries this year, the need to be perceived as opposed to Israel is playing similar roles in contested Demoerat primaries.
All of those shows that *if* Democrats are able to vanquish Trumpism, they are going to have a host of other political problems still remaining, such as an extreme cultish base that demand purity.
Over the long-term, mainstream Americans, who no longer recognize either party, will clamor more for a new political party.
No ‘NEW’ political party can survive…..
If you check the Wiki linked piece in this post you will remember that the situation in Gaza WAS FUCKED Up…..
The Hamas Oct 7 attack where uncalled for…
And WRONG….
But the images of that time was also of defenceless other people having to pull bodies out the rubble….
As I HAVE said here?
There are NO Hero’s in the fight between Hamas and Israel….
BUT?
Democrats DO have a group of people who DID react STRONGLY to the events in Gaza …..
Include even OTHERS from around the planet….
We ARE talking about single issue voters….
You ARE correct….
And while they tend to get overlooked for the greater number of voters?
Even Harris says she KNEW Biden handled this WRONG….
For Vance?
The SAME situation will be recreated in the next 2 1/2 years…
It IS Vice President’s running off their boss’s handicap….
Honestly I’m done analyzing the 2024 results. Republicans lost by a bigger margin in 2020 yet our supposedly liberal mainstream media didnt agonize over it 15 months later.
That was then this is now. I’m focused on 2026. And Democrats are in good shape to win big.
Good to hear from ya Scott!