Biden says Kamala Harris is ‘smart as a devil’

‘Indian American Democratic VP nominee would be ready to step in if something happens to him.’

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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden hopes the question does not arise, but he believes his running mate Kamala Harris would be ready to step in if something were to happen to him.

“Number one: her values. Number two: She is smart as a devil. Number three: She has a backbone like a ramrod,” Biden told CBS’s “60 Minutes” episode aired Sunday when asked why he thought Harris would be ready.

“Number four: She is really principled, And number five: She is… has had significant experience  in the largest state in the union, running a Justice Department that’s only second in size to the United States Justice Department.”

“And — you know obviously I — I hope that never becomes a question,” added Biden.

Harris herself told host Norah O’Donnell that she believed having the first woman of color, the first woman, as vice president may change things.

“I do,” she said. “It helps change the perception of who can do what because that is still part of the battle after all… I don’t have to conform to whatever I’m — you know, supposed to do or relegated to do.”

Asked what kind of role she would play in a Biden administration,  Harris said, “Joe Biden’s partner. One of the first things he said was, ‘I want you to be the first person in the room and the last person in the room.’”

READ MORE: Road to the White House

Asked about President Donald Trump’s frequent attacks on her — calling her a “monster” and “nasty” — Harris said, “Well, this is not the first time in my life I’ve been called names and it — you know, it was predictable, sadly.”

Pointing to Trump’s interest in the “birther” conspiracy theories about his predecessor Barack Obama’s birthplace as evidence, Harris called him a racist.

“Yes, I do,” she said when asked if she believed “the president is racist?”

“Yeah. I do,” Harris responded, laughing. “You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first Black president of the United States.”

“You can look at Charlottesville, when there were peaceful protesters, And on the other side, neo-Nazis and he talks about fine people on either side,” Harris added, referring to the 2017 violence between white nationalists and left-leaning counterprotesters.

“Calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. His first order of business was to institute a Muslim ban. It all speaks for itself.”

Asked if Harris, ‘considered the most liberal US senator,’ would bring progressive policies into a Biden administration, the vice presidential nominee said she will do “what Joe wants me to do, this was part of our deal.”

“I will always share with him my lived experience as it relates to any issue that we confront. And I promised Joe that I will give him that perspective and always be honest with him.”

“No. No,” Harris responded with a laugh when asked if that was a socialist or progressive perspective.

“It is the perspective of … of a woman who grew up… a Black child in America, who was also a prosecutor, who also has a mother who arrived here at the age of 19 from India. Who also, you know, l… likes hip hop. (Laugh) Like, what do you wanna know? (Laugh).”

Asked if she was going to push socialist policies, for the left wing of the Democratic party as suggested by Trump, Harris said, “I am not gonna be confined to Donald Trump’s definition of who I or anybody else is. And I think America has learned that that would be a mistake.

On the issue of Medicare for All, Harris said, “our plan includes expanding on everything that Joe together with President Obama created with the Affordable Care Act.”

“By contrast, you have Donald Trump, who’s in Court right now trying to get rid of a policy that brought health care to over 20 million people, including protecting people with preexisting conditions,” she said.

“And he’s doing it in the middle of a pandemic that has killed over 215,000 Americans,” Harris added.