Team Kamala's Hail Mary Speech

October 30, 2024–Tuesday evening Kamala Harris took to the stage and delivered possibly the best speech of her entire career. It was well-written, fairly well-delivered (kudos to the teleprompter operator!) and it began with the following words:

“One week from today, you will have the chance to make a decision that directly impacts your life, the life of your family, and the future of this country we love. And, it will probably be the most important vote you ever cast. And, this election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates. It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”

I completely agree! Now, as for the rest of it?

Kamala’s speech was one of the finest examples of creative semi-truths, misrepresentations, blatant lies, empty promises and pure political chicanery I’ve ever heard.

As an occasional writer of political speeches myself, I’ve got to give props where props are due. Kamala’s writing team outdid themselves on this one. Ditto to whoever chem’d her up for it—they obviously gave her some of the same Good Stuff they juiced old Joe with before the last State of the Union speech.

So, yes; if you didn’t know any better, you might have thought it was a good speech.

I’m not going to dissect the speech—there are already dozens who’ve done that. I’m not going to point out how she parroted the usual Democrat lies about the J6 Patriots, mis-labeled President Trump's tariff plan a “national sales tax,” or misrepresented her radical socialist agenda as a fight against price gouging and high medical costs.

I will mention that while she talked about the housing shortage, she and Alejandro Mayorkas caused most of the problem by facilitating the invasion of our country on multiple fronts. That this invasion also directly led to the deaths of American citizens is why you’re one of those “Enemies Within,” Kamala—you and your partner in treason, Mayorkas, both.

What’s the penalty for treason, again? Can somebody remind me? I forgot….

It was especially rich when she said, “For too long, we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust.” Excuse me, Kamala, but who’s been calling whom “enemies of our democracy” and “Nazis?”

Instead of listening to one speech, let’s look at what Kamala and her nominal boss have given us these last four years: cumulative inflation of 20%, anemic job growth with most jobs going to immigrants, a border invasion with “newcomers” getting lavish benefits while Americans (especially Veterans) were and are homeless, a FEMA that has become a de facto migrant settlement agency and left disaster-stricken Americans to suffer, and dumpster fires (plural) both at home and abroad.

Let’s talk about how Kamala came to be the nominee in the first place. Just a few short months ago she was arguably the least popular Veep in history, and people were openly speculating how Joe could scrape her off the ticket. Then, after a closed primary that would make a banana republic blush, old Joe crashed and burned during the first debate. Rather than actually being elected, Kamala was selected by the Democrat Party elites and megadonors.

Her record prior to 2016 began scandalously and was generally lackluster, at best. When she actually ran for President in 2016, she was the first candidate to withdraw from the primaries despite the support of luminaries like Obama and Diddy. Kamala was the first DEI-hire Veep pick in history (based on Joe’s promise to only pick a Black woman), and in four years she accomplished pretty much diddly-squat—except to set a new record for “highest staff turnover” at 92%.

Kamala is only the nominee because decades of Democratic divide and conquer, intersectional privilege baiting made it impossible for her party to ditch her after the facade of Biden’s competence came crashing down June 27th.

Now, with millions having already voted, and the polls showing very little chance she’ll win, Team Kamala arranged this one last, desperate attempt at a “closing argument.” It had to be a tightly controlled speech, because she’s shown time and again she can’t handle any kind of semi-open format. She certainly couldn’t pull off a three hour Joe Rogan interview without completely imploding, which is why her Team dare not let her do it.

If the Kamala we saw Tuesday night had bothered to show up two months ago, she might be poised to be our next President. Thank God that didn’t happen. What we did see was exactly what her handlers needed us to see.

Here’s the great secret of Tuesday’s speech: it wasn’t to deliver a “closing argument." It wasn’t to convince any MAGA supporters to jump ship—all of the Bush/Cheney/Romney RINO Never-Trump Neo-clowns are already on board with her, good riddance to them! There aren’t any significant numbers of independents left to persuade, because the last two months they've seen the same Kamala we’ve seen for four years—stumbling, bumbling and bringing the word salad.

No, Tuesday’s speech was intended to counter the feelings of sheer despair and hopelessness that have rolled over the Harris campaign these last couple of weeks. The more Harris has been forced to be out in front of the people, the more apparent it’s been to anyone who owns fewer than six cats that she’s just not “Presidential.” There are still a lot of votes left to be cast (and even more to be stolen), and the Democrats can’t afford to have their base give up and stay home on Election Day.

Tuesday’s speech did exactly what Team Kamala needed it to do. It inspired their base, who don’t care it was a bunch of lies and empty talking points. It gave the legacy media sound bites to gush over for the next three or four days. The crowd gave the Dems a tiny taste of what a MAGA Trump rally is like, even if it was as small and as fake as every other one Kamala’s had this cycle.

Joe Biden showed us in late June how one bad night can wreck a candidate. Team Kamala obviously hoped her Tuesday speech would do the same, only in reverse. In some ways, it succeeded. But, here’s the thing: when you’re down by three touchdowns, even a successful Hail Mary at the last second won’t win the game.

One decent speech can’t fix weeks of disastrous interviews, town halls and appearances. It can’t hide the fact that your candidate is sub-par. It certainly can’t make up for fours of “fundamental transformation” of the country into something most of us don’t like or even recognize.

Team Kamala needed a miracle Tuesday night. I think what they got was too little, too late.

If you absolutely must watch Kamala’s speech, here’s a link: https://youtu.be/kaE6FhbWVxM?si=scx1udgPGv0xmYXy

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

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