Republicans’ case against Kamala Harris is off to an ugly start

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Three days into the transformed 2024 presidential race, how is the Republican Party’s case against Vice President Kamala Harris coming along? While pondering the question, consider the headline on one of The Associated Press’ overnight reports: “Republican leaders urge colleagues to steer clear of racist and sexist attacks on Harris.” From the article: Republican leaders are warning party members against using overtly racist and sexist attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, as they and former President Donald Trump’s campaign scramble to adjust to the reality of a new Democratic rival less than four months before Election Day. On the one hand, Republican officials believe this will be the year in which they break through with voters in communities of color. On the other hand, GOP leaders feel the need to remind their members that targeting Harris with racism isn’t a good idea. That said, the reminders have merit. A political sprint is obviously underway — Election Day is just over 100 days away — and it stands to reason that Republicans are going to take on the likely Democratic nominee in every possible way. But it’s also hard not to notice that the GOP’s case against the incumbent vice president is off to a rough start. Over the course of the last 72 hours, the American public has seen Republicans target Harris with: • racism; • sexism; • false claims about her serving as a “border czar”; • complaints about her laugh; • complaints that she has served the public for too many years; • complaints about her hometown of San Francisco; • complaints that she likes Venn diagrams too much; and • complaints about plastic straws. For good measure, let’s not overlook the fact that Republican Sen. JD Vance — a year before getting elected to Congress, and two years before receiving his party’s vice presidential nomination — took rhetorical aim at Harris during a Fox News appearance, emphasizing the fact that she does not have biological children of her own. As part of his Senate campaign in Ohio, Vance specifically referred to Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” The Republican added that this included Harris. The GOP will need a winning message against the likely Democratic nominee. This isn’t it.