When I was on the city council and mayor of Lake Elsinore, California I helped people I thought would be good for the city to get elected.

Sometimes I was right, but sometimes I was wrong.

And in two cases I was very wrong.  One engineered the removal of a dedicated city manager for her political advantage and the other became twisted by power and all of the "new friends" you get after you get elected (hint for people thinking about running for office: you will get new "friends" – trust your old friends more.)

But that other one had a strategy that – as an ex-reporter at the time – I could never have conceived of:  just refuse to talk to the press or anyone else for that matter.

As he slipped into even greater unconscionable corruption, he just stopped answering questions and, he realized, more than likely he would not be held accountable.

Saying words can be turned against you – shutting up cannot, at least so specifically. And it worked.

And that's exactly what is working for Kamala Harris…so far.

But, unlike Harris, both of those council people it turned out were the kind of folks who could not forgive a favor – they had somehow convinced themselves of their own worth and value and honesty (they were wrong, but it is a very convenient psychologically to think that way.)

Harris' shutting up does not involve not forgiving a favor, but is actually worse.  Her refusal to talk to the press unscripted is more than a tic, a deft campaign strategy.  It is her at least tacit agreement that she understands how badly speaking people in public has gone and can go.

Imagine you are potentially 11 weeks from becoming the most powerful person on the planet and your advisors tell you to shut up because they do not trust you not to make an absolute mess of  speaking extemporaneously.

Imagine how you would feel about that kind of "advice."

An intelligent person who worked their own way – no one actually (entirely) does that but it most certainly does not take a village –  to (potentially) the top of the greasy political ladder would be infuriated.