If Ronda Rousey had been on the debate stage Wednesday night she couldn’t have delivered a more potent blow than what Sen. Kamala Harris suffered at the hands of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

Harris may consider herself “top-tier” but she was left flat on the canvas after Gabbard launched a withering attack on Harris’ record as a California prosecutor.

The Hawaiian representative accused Harris of putting away 1,500 minor drug offenders then laughing about her own pot use. And keeping people imprisoned for longer sentences just to use them as cheap prison labor. Oh, and hiding evidence that would free an innocent man on death row.

Describing the take-down doesn’t do it justice. Let’s go to the tape.

Harris’s response was to try and defend her job as California Attorney General, dismiss Gabbard as someone giving “fancy speeches” and being only a legislator.

Well, actually, Gabbard is a war vet, and knows a thing or two about fighting off counter-attacks. Her return was withering:

The bottom line is, Senator Harris, when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people’s lives, you did not. And worse yet, in the case of those who were on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so.

The people who suffered under your reign as a prosecutor, you owe them an apology.

(I’d say that should include Harris trying to imprison the journalist who exposed the criminal baby part selling activities of her major supporter, Planned Parenthood. See The Stream story on Harris’ targeting of David Daleiden.)

Harris’ response after the debate to the drubbing was very telling. She ignored the substance of the charges, mocked Gabbard’s low (for the moment) poll numbers, accused Gabbard of being an “apologist” for Syrian president Assad and spitting, “I can only take what she says and her opinion so seriously.”

Gabbard parried that attack with ease Thursday, telling Hill.TV, “Honestly, it’s pathetic that when confronted with the facts and the truth about her record that she claims to be proud of as a prosecutor, as attorney general of California, all she can do is lob cheap smears.”

Even CNN’s Chris Cillizza wasn’t impressed. “What Harris is actually saying is, basically, this: The dork took a shot at the most popular kid in school. Big whoop. That is not a good look.”

Harris Showed More of Her True Colors

Cillizza is right. He is also right that “Harris’ inability to keep her cool is something to keep an eye on.”

(Sorry for the brief pause. I had to be revived after realizing I had agreed with something said on CNN.)

Donald Trump described Harris early on as “mean.” Say what you will, but Trump has an uncanny ability to sense an opponent’s weak spot — just ask “Low Energy Jeb” or “Pocahontas.” And certainly her post debate response to Gabbard provided a taste of the “mean girl” lurking.

Something else she said after the debate also caught my ear.

Right before the debate, Joe Biden told Harris, “Go easy on me, kid.” You know, a simple little ice-breaker. Genial Joe being Joe. Friendly acknowledgement that she cleaned his clock last time. A pre-game, sportsmanlike, nod. Not for Harris.

Harris was asked about the comment by Anderson Cooper. A healthy response would have been a laugh, a shrug, “That’s Joe.”

Instead, she replied, “If that’s what he really wanted me to do … I didn’t really think much about it, to be honest with you.” Cooper did a quick follow-up, and was ready to move on. But Harris jumped back into it. “We’re both on that stage running for president. And I’m pretty clear about who I am. So nobody’s going to define me on that stage.”

You could almost see the Angry Victim switch go off in her brain. “Stop. Wait. I have to find offense with what he said.”

When called out, she got nasty. When buttered up she got indignant.

Arrogance. A mean spirit. A thin skin. A glass jaw. A history of using every means in her power to punish foes … including trying to toss them in prison. Yeah, that’s someone we want in the most powerful position on the planet. And last night Harris was exposed like never before.

Thank you, Tulsi Gabbard, for once again serving your country.

Gabbard Again the Most Searched

For her second straight debate performance, Gabbard was the most searched name, according to Google Trends. And according to both Drudge and Breitbart polling, Gabbard was the clear winner of the debate over all.

Which means Gabbard can expect to again be targeted. After the first debate, Google inexplicably wouldn’t let her buy ads in the several crucial hours after her breakout performance. She’s filed suit against the tech behemoth. (I guess after taking on Google, Harris was small potatoes.)

Today, Gabbard is facing the truly bizarre claim that she is some sort of “Trojan horse” for Russia. Even some of the ladies on The View were spouting the gibberish that the excitement around Gabbard is being propped up by Russian bots. And why? Because Gabbard (like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul) opposed GOP hawks’ plan to install al Qaeda allies in Damascus, where they could persecute Syrian Christians. 

Keep trying, ladies of The View. The ten million people who tuned in for the debate and the millions more who have seen the now-viral debate clip know with their own eyes what they saw: The premiere episode of Hawaii K-O.

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream and co-author, with @JZmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl. And if you aren’t already, please follow The Stream at @Streamdotorg.