Kamala Harris Goes Off Script

VP finally sits down for an interview and reminds Americans why she waited so long

Kamala Harris finally did an interview. It was pre-taped, even though the CNN chyron insisted it was live. She wasn't alone. Her running mate,Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, tagged along in an ill-fitting suit. They answered questions from Dana Bash, who touted the interview as a "watershed moment in the 2024 campaign." That's not normally the case, but it was on Thursday because of Harris's extreme reluctance to speak to the media unscripted, and because of her demonstrated proclivity for nonsensical word saladry.

Bash, the CNN anchor who in 2018 promoted false rape allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh peddled by convicted felon Michael Avenatti,asked reasonable questions about Harris's policy flip-flops and her tendency to elide the fact that, along with President Joe Biden, she has been running the country for nearly four years. Harris struggled to articulate a coherent response. "I believe the American people deserve a new way forward," she said. "Turn the page on the last decade of what I believe has been contrary to where the spirit of our country really lies."

When Bash politely mentioned how ridiculous that sounds, Harris claimed she was talking about "an era" in which Donald Trump has been a key figure in American politics. Her campaign spokesman, "defund the police" supporterBrian Fallon, posted helpful if somewhat generous translations of what Harris meant to say throughout the interview. Harris praised the "good work" of the Biden administration, but refused an opportunity to agree with Bash's suggestion that "Bidenomics is working." She outlined vague policy proposals to "strengthen and support the middle class" that the administration failed to implement since 2021 because they were too busy rescuing the economy during the pandemic.

Harris praised the Inflation Reduction Act, not for its success in reducing inflation, but for solving the climate crisis by applying "metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time," whatever that means. She was unable to explain why she suddenly supports fracking after pledging to ban it during the 2020 primary campaign. "I'm very clear about where I stand," Harris said. (She was not.) Asked to explain her previously expressed support for decriminalizing illegal immigration, Harris declined, but said she would "enforce our laws as president going forward." Asked if she had any regrets about repeatedly telling the American people that Biden was fit to serve another four years—contrary to all available evidence—Harris said she did not, and praised the "smart" president for his "transformative" leadership and "selfless" decision to step down. "I am the best person to do the job at this moment," she said.

In what was perhaps the most unpersuasive moment during the interview, Harris recalled her conversation with Biden about his decision to withdraw and endorse her. "My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you," she said. "My first thought was about him."

Walz mostly just sat there looking concerned and wishing he could answer the questions insteadof his running mate, but Bash also challenged him on his numerous misstatements, including the false claim that he carried a weapon "in war."Walz shrugged it off as an example of him speaking "exceptionally passionately" as well as "candidly," a word that doesn't mean what he thinks it does. "My grammar's not always correct," he said, implying he had meant to say "weapon of war," but that makes even less sense given the context. He promised to "make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is [sic] the only place that those weapons are at." Walz similarly dismissed his false claim to have had children by in vitro fertilization (IVF), pivoting to attack Republicans for wanting to "take those rights away from us." Hours before the interview aired, Trump vowed to support free IVF treatment for American families.

Following her performance on Thursday, it seems unlikely that Harris will agree to another (solo) interview before debating Trump on Sept. 10.There's a decent chance it won't happen until the election is over, given how badly most journalists want her to win. The race remains tight heading into September.Trump has regained the edge in data nerd Nate Silver's latest election forecast, which gives Trump a 52.4 percent chance of winning the Electoral College. Harris followed the interview with a rally in Savannah, Ga., where she warned attendees about the danger of electing Trump to another term. "He even called for termination of the United States supreme [incomprehensible] the supreme land of our nation," she said.

https://freebeacon.com/author/stiles/biden-harris-administration/kamala-harris-goes-off-script/