The Labels Actually Part of the Problem

SAN FRANCISCO – One recent, drizzly afternoon, a standing-room-only crowd squeezed into Manny’s, a restaurant and meeting space frequented by politicians courting voters. Rep. Katie Porter sat on a softly lit stage in front of a brightly colored painting celebrating local housing advocates. “Where’s the whiteboard?” someone in the audience called out. Porter hadn’t brought her signature prop with her, but when the event got going, she and podcaster Kara Swisher discussed her use of it in congressional hearings to grill corporate executives about employee wages and the cost of drugs, a schtick that earned her a devoted following on…