Harris Handlers' Hubris Will Be Tested Thursday Night
Kamala Harris has finally chosen CNN's Dana Bash for her first one-on-one interview (Thursday night, 9 PM ET).
The Harris campaign's handlers, full of hubris, believe that she is so well known to Americans that they can dictate with whom and in what format she can talk to America in a sit-down. Why engage with the media on the media's terms, which may expose Harris to making a Freudian slip?
CNN granted many concessions to help prevent Harris from making gaffes. The interview will not be live but recorded. Although CNN has promised to air the interview in its entirety, one can never be sure. CNN also agreed to have Tim Walz, the Vice Presidential nominee, sit in with Harris.
Isn't the campaign risking portraying Harris, an independent Black woman, as someone too scared to appear by herself, so she has to take a white man with her to the interview? Will Walz be more like Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick, who would always agree with Harris? Is this the unity message of joy that the campaign wants to convey?
One risk for the handlers is that Bash may not be the liberal sympathizer they expect. Following the Atlanta debate on June 27, Bash, who was joined by colleague Jake Tapper, earned kudos from all wings of the political spectrum for being professional and bringing laurels to old-style journalism. Even President Trump complimented the duo after he delivered a knockout blow to President Biden, causing him to quit the race altogether three weeks later. Would Bash, basking in the limelight as a fair journalist, be tough on Harris and Walz? Or will she cave like Jonathan Karl of ABC News, who gallantly defended Harris's positions on healthcare when he interviewed Tom Cotton, or Kirsten Welker of NBC News, who played all-out defense for Harris regarding immigration?
Despite their confidence, the handlers were shocked when reliable former CNN journalist Don Lemon reported that Harris was not well known. The disgraced Black star made a name for himself by pushing an extreme Left-Wing ideology on his show, "Don Lemon Tonight," but fell out of favor with management and was let go. Lemon, who has tried to resurrect his career by becoming an independent freelance journalist, had been visiting multiple battleground states, talking to voters, especially Black, en route to Chicago for the convention.
"What did they think about Harris? Did they have anything to say about her?" Jen Psaki asked Lemon on her show, "Inside with Jen Psaki."
There's an old rule in politics and the courtroom. Never ask a question to which you already do not know the answer. Lemon's answer stung.
"It depends on where you are ....we went to a number of battleground states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, on our way to Illinois on our way to Chicago. It depended on where you were. Pennsylvania, I shouldn't say Pennsylvania, but Philadelphia was a bit more liberal in that the answers to questions about her and [former President Donald Trump] were quite different. For the most part, in Pittsburgh or at the Jersey Shore and Atlantic City, in Ohio especially, many people didn't know who she was. They were not familiar with her. So I think she has to reintroduce herself to the public."
Reintroduce herself to the public? But didn't George Stephanopoulos already rave about her on his highly-watched show? Didn't Anderson Cooper of CNN glowingly talk about "Harris's leadership on critical issues like climate policy and economic equity?" Didn't Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post cast Harris as a formidable leader in the Democratic Party who could take on significant national and international responsibilities? How could America not know who she was?
Before Biden dropped out in July, Kamala Harris was a relative unknown for nearly all of the Biden-Harris administration's term. Biden insiders considered her a political lightweight when she ran for President in 2020 because she dropped out before any votes were cast. Even to this day, she has never won a delegate through the electoral process.
The truth is that Harris has distinguished herself not as the second most powerful person in the executive branch by leading on policy but primarily as a legislator serving in her Constitutional role as the presiding officer of the Senate.
Harris has been remarkably effective and transformational as the Senate has been closely divided during most of the Biden-Harris term - but all in a negative sense. As of August, Harris has cast 31 tie-breaking votes - each time to advance the Biden administration's terrible policies when bills went 50-50 on a floor vote. Many were on matters crucial to the country, including advancing legislation, blocking it, or confirming nominees. Will Bash quiz her extensively about these votes?
Harris's tie-breaking vote on three massive bills that collectively spent nearly $4 trillion of borrowed money proves she single-handedly sent America into the country's worst inflationary spiral in 50 years as excessive dollars chased scarce goods.
Would Bash ask her about each of these votes and its disastrous effects on America today?
- American Rescue Plan Act of 2021: Harris cast a tie-breaking vote to advance this significant $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
- Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021: She cast a tie-breaking vote to help pass this $1.2 trillion boondoggle dedicated to infrastructure legislation.
- Inflation Reduction Act of 2022: Harris cast a tie-breaking vote to advance this $740 billion climate and economic policy package.
In the few cases where Harris was involved in developing policy and strategy, she was an utter disaster - on immigration policy (of which she was the czar), the economy, inner-city crime, and forever wars. Our TIPP surveys have consistently said that America has been on the wrong track on all of these issues.
With only 68 days left before the election, Harris's handlers are privately nervous about exposing her to a serious journalist who can challenge her record.
Bash again has a chance to make history. Let us see if she serves the American people by harshly probing Harris like the venerable Tim Russert would have done or if she bends to her primal leftist instincts by joining the rest of her mainstream colleagues who cannot stop fawning over Harris.
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