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“Vice President Harris is making a number of high-profile media appearances this week on some of the most popular news and entertainment programs in the country.” NPR
“The Democratic presidential nominee appeared in New York with the women of ‘The View,’ spoke with radio host Howard Stern, and taped a show with late-night comedian Stephen Colbert. The trio of appearances comes after Harris granted interviews to CBS’ ‘60 Minutes,’ which aired Monday night, and Anderson Cooper’s podcast, which was released Sunday.” AP News
Both sides were underwhelmed by Harris’s performance:
“How positive was the treatment Harris received [on The View]? Well, it started with the host asking the audience to welcome ‘the next president of the United States.’ Early in the program, one of the co-hosts, Sunny Hostin, gave Harris an easy question wrapped in a compliment. President Joe Biden had appeared on the show, Hostin told Harris, ‘and he said there wasn’t a single thing that he did that you could not do.’… ‘If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the last four years?’…
“‘There is not a thing that comes to mind,’ Harris answered. ‘And I’ve been part of most of the decisions that have had impact.’ In that moment, Harris blew up her very delicate strategy of running as a candidate of change who is also the incumbent vice president of the United States. It was never clear how that would work exactly. And in one sentence on The View, Harris showed that she cannot make it work at all.”
Byron York, Washington Examiner
“Even while talking to generally sympathetic hosts in most of these interviews, Harris reinforced the idea that she can create problems for herself in these unscripted settings. The primary example may be her answer about President Joe Biden. Asked on ‘The View’ what she might have done differently from Biden, Harris responded: ‘There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of — and I’ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.’…
“That’s undoubtedly not how her campaign drew it up. It’s not an easy question, given that Harris is still serving with Biden. But it’s also clear she needs to carve out some distance between herself and Biden, given how unpopular he is… Harris seemed to recognize that stumble Tuesday, emphasizing later in the show that unlike Biden she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.”
Aaron Blake, Washington Post
Other opinions below.
“The toughest question for her is ‘Why didn’t you guys start controlling the cross-border flow earlier?’ and she doesn’t have a good answer for it, even at this late date. It’s a problem!… She needs a catchy policy idea. Something as succinct as ‘build the wall’ but responsible and relevant.”
Charles Lane, Washington Post
“When Whitaker asked how she planned to pay for all of her new policies, Harris said she’d tax the rich. Whitaker then pressed her on how she would expect Congress to go along. Harris responded with a less-than-effective answer that there are lots of good people in Congress whom she expects to work with…
“Here was a missed opportunity. She might have said: ‘That’s why I need you to vote for a Democratic Congress when you vote for me. President Biden was far more effective in his first two years, when Democrats had narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. That’s when we passed the Child Tax Credit, the Inflation Reduction Act, and other measures to help working families. Since Republicans took the House in 2022, they’ve used their majority to obstruct and bicker among themselves.’”
Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
“One explanation for Harris’s reluctance to offer more concrete details about her plans is that her campaign believes that she simply doesn’t have to. The contrast between Harris and Trump is already clear, and her campaign is focused almost solely on making that distinction as clear as possible. Policy rollouts and interviews are inherently risky and, if bungled, would only distract from that message… But with Election Day fast approaching, there’s a growing sense that she could—and should—be doing more.”
Alex Shephard, New Republic
“Even with a sympathetic questioner in CBS’ Bill Whitaker and a lot of editing, her pre-recorded ‘60 Minutes’ sit-down that aired Monday didn’t go well… Whitaker talked up the economy, but even with his encouragement, Harris could only say she had ‘a plan’ to bring down prices. But she still can’t explain what that plan is…
“When pressed on her many apparent flip-flops on fracking, immigration and health care, Harris claimed she had shifted after traveling the country as vice president and had discovered — shockingly! — that America is a big, diverse country in need of common ground. Of course, she still has no regard for letting thorny issues be decided at the state level, as she would if she truly respected our differences…
“Asked why the administration reversed course on Trump’s policies and let so many people into the country, Harris blamed Congress for not passing a bill in 2024 — ignoring the fact that her own administration had unilaterally acted without Congress for three years to create the problem… Harris is running a campaign of slogans, not ideas or proposals.”
Dan McLaughlin, New York Post
“The View is an out and proud progressive daytime therapy session for Democratic audiences… [Howard Stern] has basically become everything he used to hate about establishment one-thought media…
“Stephen Colbert’s late-night variety program has become little more than a late-night group therapy session for libs… The problem for Harris in all of this is not necessarily her incomprehensible word-salad answers that offer nothing about the policy of governing the country, but that she’s not talking to any audience she already hasn’t captured.”
Stephen L. Miller, Spectator World
