The Praetorian Guard
The presumptive presidential nominee of the Democrat party, Joe Biden, finally announced his selection as Vice President, Senator Kamala Harris of California. The media, print and broadcast gushed over the selection, calling it historic and game changing, describing her as a “pragmatic moderate” when in fact she is one of the most leftist liberals in the Democrat party. The media eagerly embraced their role as the Praetorian Guards for the nominees.
What are Praetorian Guards? They were founded by Augustus, the first Roman Emperor as his personal security detail and served various Emperors for next 300 years. Over time they became well known for their scheming and interference in Roman politics, overthrowing Emperors and choosing their successors.
It is not a stretch, when one looks at the fawning coverage of the Biden-Harris ticket, in the media, that they are “Praetorian” indeed. One of the most obvious examples are the softball questions lobbed at Biden during his infrequent press appearances. It has been estimated that President Trump has answered over 300 questions in the last 2 months while former Vice President Biden has answered less that 25 in the same period. The President gets the prominent national media scribes asking questions while Joe gets his from the “Wilmington Delaware Bugle”. The contrast is astonishing.
With the addition of Senator Kamala Harris, the media is over the moon. The flattering coverage she is getting now is nowhere near what she got as a Presidential candidate. As one of the 20 plus candidates she made a big splash initially and then drowned in a sea of campaign ineptitude and mismanagement. Never got her sea legs as her positions on everything changed to suit the moment. Eventually she had to drop out before one primary vote was cast.
When New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, a notable press honk for Kamala, wrote about another woman who had Presidential aspirations, Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole, she described her as “Nurse Ratched” and an “Oprah Dominatrix”. During the 2008 election MSNBC commentator, Ed Schultz said that Governor Sarah Palin set off a “bimbo alert.” Donny Deutsch, a regular on MSNBC’s Moring Joe program stated that Palin had “sex appeal” when she ran with McCain in 2008. Finally, there’s Joe Biden who referred to her as “good looking” in that same campaign.
Can you imagine the cacophony of angst if one conservative or Republican referred to Senator Harris in any of the forgoing terms? The poor soul that uttered any of those descriptive phrases about the Senator would be immediately keel hauled with gusto by the Praetorian press guards. Whatever the opposition puts out to critique the Senator, they better not go near her salacious relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, her political mentor. That will create a media firestorm rivaling Hiroshima.
Most savvy political observers know that Joe Biden has lost some velocity on his fastball. Some will admit it readily and others are in a denial fantasy. He is an old 77 and doesn’t have the vigor of his one-time opponent Bernie Sanders, who has heart issues. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt picked Harry S. Truman as his vice-presidential running mate, has a nominee had a better chance of becoming President than does Harris, something not lost on every political reporter or keen observer.
From now until November, keep this fact in mind as you read and see reports about the campaign. The Praetorian press commentary will have an abundance of puff pieces and pulled punches with respect to Joe and Kamala. They will ruthlessly pound Trump and Pence enhancing their Praetorian reputation for “scheming and interference” rather than maintain a modicum of objectivity.