George Clooney and Kamala Harris (File pics)
Actor and Democratic donor George Clooney has said the Democratic Party made “a mistake” by nominating Vice President Kamala Harris as its presidential candidate, arguing that she faced an “impossible task” of running against her own record. Clooney, however, reiterated his earlier stance that President Joe Biden should have stepped aside for a new nominee, adding the party should have held a proper primary instead of confirming Harris through a virtual delegate vote.“We had a chance,” Clooney said in an appearance on CBS’ Sunday Morning. “I wanted there to be, as I wrote in the op-ed, a primary. Let’s battle-test this quickly and get it up and going. I think the mistake with it being Kamala is she had to run against her own record… She was given a very tough task.”Clooney described the decision to nominate Harris as “a mistake,” adding, “We are where we are.” Further defending his stance against Harris’ election bid, he added, “I think it was a mistake, quite honestly. But we are where we are. We were gonna lose more House seats, they say. So I don’t know. To not do it would be to say, ‘I’m not gonna tell the truth’.”His opinion piece, titled “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee,” published last year, had captured growing unease among Democrats about Biden’s re-election prospects following his weak debate performance against Donald Trump. “We are not going to win in November with this president,” Clooney wrote at the time. “We won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion — it’s what every senator, congress member, and governor I’ve spoken to in private has said.”The renewed remarks have revived tensions within Democratic circles, particularly after Hunter Biden lashed out at Clooney in a Channel 5 interview in July. “F*** him! F*** him and everybody around him,” Hunter Biden said of Clooney. “What right do you have to step on a man who’s given his life to this country and take out a full-page ad in The New York Times?”Asked about the outburst, Clooney responded mildly, saying he had seen the interview but did not wish to escalate the feud. “I could spend a lot of time debunking many of the things he said,” Clooney told CBS. “But looking backwards isn’t helpful — particularly to him or to the Democratic Party. I wish him well on his recovery.”Meanwhile, in her September book “107 Days,” Harris acknowledged her initial hesitation over Biden’s re-election bid, writing that she was “in the worst position to make the case that he should drop out” and feared appearing “self-serving” if she advised against his run.
