Friday, August 30, 2024

Kamala Sat Woozy In The Kiddie Chair

I was a little worried before Kamala's big interview that it would turn out like Joe Biden's first debate against Trump in 2020: he exceeded expectations by giving a mediocre performance that nevertheless had no obvious gaffes. This was a major hurdle, and he got over it. What if Kamala had an equivalent performance? It turns out I didn't need to worry.

The first thing that struck me was something a lot of people noticed, but nobody really followed through:

Well, it turns out that Kamala is 5'4". Walz is 6'2". But Dana Bash is 5'2", so this doesn't explain why Kamala appears to be so much shorter between both Walz and Bash in the photo.

When I looked more carefully, I saw that both Walz and Bash are in ordinary dining room style chairs, which force both into upright posture, while the seat back behind Kamala looks like she might be in a swivel chair, and that in turn is letting her sit hunched over. I wouildn't be at all surprised if Kamala demanded the swivel chair as appropriate to her being the most important person in the room, and there you are.

But this brings us to the just-concluded negotiations with ABC over the rules for the September 10 debate. The focus had been on muted mics, but the basic assumptions were that the rules for the CNN debate on June 27 would continue, and this included:

Both Biden and Trump will stand at identical lecterns, with their positions on stage determined by a coin toss administered by CNN.

But here's the rub: Joe Biden is 6'0"; Trump is 6'3". As long as they aren't precisely side by side in a shot, this isn't noticeable. But if Kamala is 5'4" -- almost a full foot shorter than Trump -- and is standing behind a lectern identical to Trump's, this is going to be a problem. Even if she wears heels and stands on a box, it's going to be awkward. I'm sure this is why the Harris campaign is said to have tried to get ABC to change the rules to allow a seated debate -- but ABC didn't budge.

There's another, less noticeable problem that a few people have pointed out. What is that white object under Kamala's chair? One mentioned "dirty dishes" in he backgtround, and Dana Bash has a mug of either coffee or water next to her, while neither Kamala nor Walz has any sort of cup at hand. But one or two others have ventured the theory that the white object under Kamala's chair is a mixed drink, set aside just before filming.

Nobody can say for sure, but a few people, like Mark Dice, have taken note:

At 4:45, he says,

I casn't help but notice that she looks like an absolute train wreck, and there are rumors that she may be sippin' a little bit too much of the sauce.

A TikTok commenter on the stream asked flat out, "Are you drunk?" All I can say is that she does look like she's got a pretty good buzz going, the sort of woozy vibes I used to see when Aunt Matilda got really serious and started explaining why she's a genius. I got the same vibes from this moment in a speech she gave the same day in Savanna: I did a web search for images on "kamala interview woozy" and got a lot of results, for instance:
As I keep saying,, the important points are subliminal.