Even Joe Biden cant stomach Harris fit of pique in hurricane spat with DeSantis

When was the last time you can remember a president rebuking his own party’s nominee to succeed him with less than a month to go until Election Day?As it turns out, for every 10 or so of his faults, President Biden does boast a virtue.A few of his old-school instincts have survived his half-century in electoral politics, and one of those instincts is an aversion to using a crisis — like the one brought about by Hurricanes Helene and Milton — to smear his rivals.That aversion has put him at odds with Vice President Kamala Harris.On Monday, NBC News reported that Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis had declined to take calls from Harris as he managed the Sunshine State’s recovery from Helene and preparations for Milton.While DeSantis himself professed to have been unaware of Harris’ efforts to reach him, the veep went scorched earth.“People are in desperate need of support right now.

And playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations, these are the height of the emergency situations,” she raged, deriding the governor as “irresponsible” and “selfish.”In response, DeSantis rightly noted that it was Harris who was playing political games with a natural disaster poised to threaten the lives and livelihoods of his constituents.“She has never called on any of the storms we’ve had since she’s been vice president until apparently now,” he pointed out.Biden has twice been asked about the dispute over DeSantis’ behavior.And to the world’s surprise, he’s now twice come to the defense of the arch-conservative governor, leaving Harris twisting in the wind.On Tuesday, Biden was asked whether DeSantis had been “cooperative” in coordinating with the federal government.Not only did the president reply in the affirmative, he said he had thanked DeSantis for doing “a great job.”Then on Wednesday, Biden was asked directly if DeSantis should be taking Harris’ calls.“All I can tell you is I’ve talked to Gov.DeSantis,” he replied...