CNN: Say, Remember When Kamala Pledged to Prosecute Oil Producers Rather Than Praise Them?
Sure, I do. That was around the same time that Kamala Harris proposed and backed a Medicare for All socialized-medicine bill. And for that matter, bragged about her role in ensuring that taxpayers covered the cost of transgender surgeries for prison inmates, opposed a border wall, wanted to defund ICE, and so on.
Most of the Protection Racket Media has refused to cover these previous positions, or pretend that Harris has addressed them. Give credit to CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski for continuing to dig into Harris’ record, practically alone in his field in doing so. This afternoon, the K-File reporter reminds everyone that Harris ran in 2019 on a platform of prosecuting oil companies for producing fossil-fuel energy — production for which Harris now wants to claim credit:
When Kamala Harris ran for president in 2019, she repeatedly warned oil companies they should be prepared to face hefty fines and even criminal prosecution under a future Harris administration for their role in contributing to climate change.
Now, as the Democratic nominee, Harris is highlighting the country’s record oil and gas production. She rarely talks about climate change, and, despite having been a vigorous supporter of the Green New Deal, her campaign’s website is light on climate policy details.
It’s a stark shift that illustrates the delicate politics of energy — but also how Harris has abandoned a number of progressive positions she held before joining Joe Biden’s ticket in 2020.
Be sure to read it all. However, this is not really a new story, but rather an expansion on a common theme of Harris’ campaign as well as the lack of media attention to it. Candidates can and often do change positions on specific issues depending on election cycles and constituencies being sought. As J.D. Vance explained this week, he has changed his position on a national regulation on abortion because he sees the wisdom of Donald Trump’s federalist approach to it, and he is no longer running for a Senate seat where those issues would be debated anyway.
Related: Harris Says If You Like Your Car, You Can Keep It. Her Record Says Otherwise.
This is the challenge of running a change election with a candidate who not only is the same party as the person she’s hoping to replace, but has also been around the block a few times — she has quite a record of leftism, and she can’t disown it all.