Kamala Harris' handlers have been carefully curating all of her public appearances since Joe Biden was forced off the ticket and the vice president became the presumptive nominee. For the most part, that's meant heavily scripted rallies with high-level entertainers (in popularity, not quality) doing the heavy lifting.
On Thursday, she was put in a different position, though. Appearing in Houston, Harris gave the eulogy for recently passed Democrat politician Sheila Jackson Lee, and things got really weird.
At one point, Harris started touting her own political record. She then called herself "the president," which led to the room bursting out in applause. Remember, this is a funeral
To make things even more uncomfortable, as all the rapturous applause is happening, the camera shot changes to a wide shot of Jackson Lee's coffin. Harris then begins laughing as she stumbles through the rest of her statement.
In response, many cited the Paul Wellstone memorial back in 2002 which turned into an anti-Republican event, complete with cheers and jeers. Those were simpler times when the press tried to maintain some facade of fairness, and the Democrat choice to turn a funeral into a campaign rally turned into a bonafide scandal. The blowback was so severe that it may have tipped the scales toward Republicans in an election they were predicted to lose.
Kamala Harris accidentally calls herself ‘the president’ during late Dem Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s eulogy — causing crowd to go wild https://t.co/eoD5XTAQVu pic.twitter.com/vAmOOuPl09
— New York Post (@nypost) August 1, 2024
