Gov. Lamont Responds to Peggy Noonan in Defense of Kamala Harris - WSJ letter [View all]

I did not read Noonan's op-ed, rarely do, but I appreciate the governor's letter:

I love Peggy Noonan, but let me posit a counter to her column “Kamala Harris Is an Artless Dodger” (Declarations, Sept. 21). She says that Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris is a race between awful and empty. Columnists have belittled the purity of presidential candidates forever; the Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas Senate race was slammed as a choice between the better of two evils. Really?

I won’t opine on awful, but let me speak to empty. Ms. Noonan says that Vice President Harris lacks specifics because she doesn’t know, doesn’t care or doesn’t want you to know. On foreign policy, I know where she stands on arming the Ukrainian freedom fighters. Former President Trump says end the war on day one—whatever that means—but I would wait to find out if I were Vladimir Putin. Ms. Harris knows that working with our allies makes America stronger; Mr. Trump, not so much.

On trade, Ms. Harris wants to bring our supply chains closer to home, especially with national-security assets, and toughen our negotiating position with adversaries like China and Russia. Mr. Trump’s tariffs would punish friend and foe alike, and Americans will pay the price.

Ms. Noonan characterizes the Harris “economic opportunity tour” as an evasive dodge. I believe that most of us understand it to mean that the era of free money is over, but that the Harris administration will help you get the skills for a better job and make it easier to start a business or own a home. These are the building blocks of opportunity and wealth. Here in Connecticut, we pride ourselves on being the opportunity state, meaning more jobs, higher wages and more new business start-ups, led by entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

We know where Ms. Harris stands on immigration. She understands the value of legal immigration and wants more tools from Congress to fight illegal immigration. As with trade and our allies, where Mr. Trump doesn’t know the difference between friend and foe, he doesn’t like immigration—period. “They’re poisoning the blood our country,” he said.

Are we better off today than four years ago? Four years ago, the economy was in the ditch and stores were boarded up, with sage brush blowing down empty streets and big unemployment. Blame it all on Covid, then acknowledge that some of the comeback inflation was Covid-related as well, but we are better off than four years ago, and Ms. Harris can argue that we are only getting started.

I think we know the difference between awful and not-so-empty.

Ms. Noonan argues that Ms. Harris spends too much time on biography—who she is, why she is and why she believes what she does. I still make a laundry list of candidates’ positions on everything from tax rates to prescription-drug prices, but as the years march on, I put more and more emphasis on character. Teddy Roosevelt is reputed to have said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” We know a lot about both candidates on the issues and on character. Let’s vote.

Gov. Ned Lamont (D., Conn.)

Hartford, Conn.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/gov-lamont-peggy-noonan-in-defense-of-kamala-harris-240c3037?st=cKLezF&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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Noonan's oped

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/kamala-harris-is-an-artless-dodger-she-evades-every-question-of-substance-7cd0d26b?st=sYdMGy&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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