Harris train wreck: Kamala ripped for 'word salad' softball CNN interview
Denying her previous positions on major issues by voicing Trump-like solutions to those problems, Harris also says 'My values haven't changed'
Kamala Harris is being ripped to shreds for her evasive and “word salad” answers in a softball liberal media interview Thursday on CNN — her first since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race 40 days ago.
Trying to sound like Donald Trump in addressing the major issues as defined by most voters, the Democratic nominee appeared beside her running mate Tim Walz for an hour-long broadcast — which in reality amounted to less than 18 minutes of actual asnwers in response to questioning by Dana Bash.
One of the most liberal members of the commentariat, Bash claimed that she had succeeded by following the tenet of “do no harm” during the pre-recorded broadcast from Savannah, Georgia. What she actually did was provide a forum for Harris to claim she has not just changed, but massively overhauled her poltical philisophy.
Such a reversal would be remarkable, particularly for a progressive Democrat, The mindset of the extreme Left is more government, paid for by more taxes, enforced by more restrictions while providing less freedom and and reducing individuality to a catch phrase.
It is the generally accepted wisdom that she has changed nothing but is merely pandering to the large portion of the electorate that are fed up with Biden/Harris policies. Further, Harris' critics said she failed to address three issues that plague her campaign: the border crisis, red-hot inflation and the Biden health cover-up.
Former Obama strategist David Axelrod gave a brutal verdict in CNN's post-game analysis, stating that Harris hadn't “moved the ball forward that much.”
Ex-Bush advisor Scott Jennings issued the ominous warning that Donald Trump will be “salivating” ahead of the presidential debate on September 10 — their first ever face-to-face meeting. That sentiment was echoed by GOP polling guru Frank Luntz who tweeted: “A lot of people think Kamala Harris has done well so far in this interview. I disagree – a good debater will find it easy to challenge her.”
He added: “If tonight's interview is judged not on policy but on performance, Kamala Harris will be found lacking.”
Bash, a CNN loyalist who has worked at the liberal network since graduating from college, was accused of failing to land any major blows, pitching only softball questions. Harris HQ spun the interview as a great triumph. Donald Trump told his Truth Social followers it was “BORING!!!”
Daily Mail columnist Andrew Neil said Harris was “let off the hook on her part in the cover up of Biden's cognitive decline” and added that CNN gave a “master class on how not to hold politicians to account.”
Former Trump aide Steve Cortes called it a “train wreck.”
Harris at times appeared nervous and hesitant in her responses which were branded “word salad” by many on social media.
Axelrod said Harris was forced to straddle the precarious position of taking “credit for the things that are good and to try and walk away from the things that are not.”
New York Times political reporter Astead Herndon agreed and conceded: “I don't think there's a policy separation that [the Harris campaign has] created with Biden.”
On the economy, Harris attempted to blame Trump for “price gouging“ on groceries — a line on inflation that has been rebuked by Wall Street as it ignores the huge increases across many commodities, not least of all gas, since Bidenomics, the president’s initiative that he and Harris claim has slowed inflation, took hold.
Jennings told CNN: “She had no additional thoughts on the economic situation in the country or what they've done, besides the idea that ‘me and Joe Biden have done a great job.’ ”
On immigration, Harris claimed that her work on the root causes had reduced the number of illegal migrants. But the vice president, who was appointed Biden's border czar — a position she now tries to deny holding — has presided over the illegal immigration of as many as 17 million people from all over the worldthat has seen American cities.
Perhaps most damning of all was Harris' defense of Biden's fitness to serve in the Oval Office. She took over the nomination from the 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief after the Democratic Party knifed him over disastrous polling — with voters deeply concerned by his apparent cognitive decline.
Harris told Bash: “I have spent hours upon hours with [Biden] — being in the Oval Office or the Situation Room — he has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president.”
Jennings told CNN's post-interview show that the American people would disagree with her characterization of the president and view it as dishonest.
“She didn't take any responsibility at the end for telling the American people that Joe Biden was fine and he was strong, when we all know that's not true, that's why he's out of the race,” he said. “I think most Americans know the truth and when you're running to be president and you're willing to look them in the face and tell them something that you know is not true, it speaks to your character.”
Harris has enjoyed a honeymoon period since taking over from Biden, buoyed significantly by generous reporting from the liberal media and polls which show her taking a lead in swing states where the Democrats had been facing wipeout under the outgoing president.
The Harris campaign now looks ahead to the presidential debate on ABC on September 10. Trump will provide the hostile environment which she has so far managed to avoid.
Jennings said Thursday night: “She's trying to skip a block of time, and at the debate, Trump [will] not allow it.”
It wasn’t just her efforts Thursday night at rewriting her personal political history while part of this this administration that drew criticism. She was also seen as evasive, disingenuous and uncertain during the Bash interview.
Many of her answers were given with her eyes downcast, looking at the table around which she, Bash and Walz were seated. A body language expert who analyzed Harris’ CNN interview said she believes Harris was "not confident in what she's saying" and lacked a presidential demeanor.
"When I look at her overall demeanor, she does not carry the confidence or the presidential appearance in her demeanor to command in her position," body language expert Susan Constantinesaid. "So for everything that I saw last night, she definitely needs to make some tweaks into her body language to appear more confident."
"The fact that she's looking down a lot removes a lot of the fluidity and the authenticity," she added.
Near the beginning of the interview, Harris was asked twice about her "day one" agenda but gave overarching answers instead of responding with a specific executive order or directive.
"When she struggles, you start to see a lot of the head bobbling. You know, the head bobbling is ‘what part of the file in my subconscious am I going to pull out? Which ones are my answers?’ " Constantine said about Harris. "She couldn't come up with a crystal clear answer, and that's why she tends to bobble."
"When you bobble and waffle like that," she continued, "that's another signal that she's not really ... prepared. She doesn't really have confidence in her own answers."
"When you're breaking gaze, that is a form of deflection," Constantine also said. "So when you're removing an eye gaze, not making good eye contact, it's just showing me that she's not confident in what she's saying."
Harris sat next to Walz during the interview in Savannah, Georgia, and Constantine said Harris was "consistently looking for acknowledgment" during the event.
"She is looking for that signal from Walz to see if he's on board. Many times when we see him, he's got the pressed lips — that tends to be a more serious, more collected, expression in his mouth," she said.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from We The People about Harris’ performance in the interview.
"Overall, you know, as one woman to another, I would say if you're going to be a woman in power, you have to look like a woman in power," Constantine said. "And she doesn't at this time."