Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 48 days because the presumptive, and now, official Democratic nominee for president with out holding an official press convention.
Below strain to sit down down for a substantive interview after weeks of stonewalling, Harris lastly ended her interview drought final week when she was joined by working mate Tim Walz for a pre-taped piece with CNN’s Dana Bash final Thursday in Georgia that was a far cry from a standard press convention.
“She should absolutely hold regular press conferences. Americans have the right and need to know what her policy stances are,” conservative influencer Tim Younger advised Fox Information Digital.
“Anyone who wants to lead the free world should be able to handle questions from the press,” Younger continued. “If Kamala can’t handle real questions from the press, she absolutely can’t handle negotiations with foreign leaders.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris in her first sit-down interview with the media since rising to the highest of the Democratic ticket. (CNN)
In the course of the CNN interview, Harris defended a few of her famous coverage flip-flops on points like fracking and immigration, saying her “values” hadn’t modified. She was additionally pressed on whether or not she had regrets about defending President Biden’s psychological acuity after his debate, given he dropped out of the race lower than a month later. She additionally mentioned she wished to “turn the page on the last decade of what I believe has been contrary to where the spirit of our country really lies.”
Bash identified Harris had been vice chairman for three-and-a-half of these years, however Harris countered she meant shifting on from this “era,” seemingly referring to the political rise of Donald Trump that started in 2015.
Harris additionally sat for 2 radio interviews this week that aired on Friday.
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As to when she’ll really do a proper press convention, that day might by no means come, at the very least whereas she’s nonetheless a candidate.
“You will not see one press conference from her in the next 75 days until Election Day,” Fox Information contributor Joe Concha predicted earlier this month.
Conservative Radio Libre host Jorge Bonilla feels Harris ought to do a press convention however mentioned it’s virtually “irrelevant” as a result of she continues to get a move.
“She is highly unlikely to do a press conference because the media have enabled and encouraged her ‘plexiglass basement’ strategy, wherein she preserves the illusion of being out there while remaining wholly inaccessible to the press and therefore unaccountable,” Bonilla advised Fox Information Digital.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck feels the vice chairman “obviously owes it to the American people to hold free-wheeling press conferences where reporters can, unlike what happened [Thursday] with CNN’s Dana Bash, ask follow-up questions.”
“For every softball from, say, ABC or NPR, you’ll hope a liberal journalist will show some courage to do the right thing,” Houck advised Fox Information Digital.
“The interview itself had a positive atmosphere. From the get-go in the hype video-like opening by Bash, CNN put forward a perception that this was an event, not a grinding fact-finding mission,” Houck continued. “She missed a litany of topics with Harris. Allowing death row inmates to vote, closing ICE, defunding the police, ending private insurance, girl’s sports, the filibuster, Jussie Smollett, the Minneapolis bail fund, systemic racism… those were just a few of the areas she could have touched on.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in CNN interview.
Former President Trump has sought to focus on the distinction in media availability between the 2, sitting for a number of prolonged interviews in latest weeks and in addition holding a pair of press conferences.
Harris obtained blended evaluations for her exhibiting with Bash, the place she took nearly all of the questions however however had Walz there for help.
One level that obtained reward from liberals was her pointed dismissal of a query about Trump’s suggestion that she did not embrace being Black till maturity. Calling assaults round race from Trump a drained “playbook,” she advised Bash to maneuver on to the subsequent query.
However conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings mentioned the Trump marketing campaign must be “salivating” over one of many revelations from the interview, which gave the impression to be her embrace of so-called “Bidenomics.”
HUCKABEE SANDERS BLASTS HARRIS FOR DOING JOINT INTERVIEW WITH WALZ: CAN’T DO IT ‘BY HERSELF’
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks as she visits SandFly Bar-B-Q in Savannah, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Picture/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Picture/Jacquelyn Martin)
By doing the interview, Harris met the bar she set three weeks in the past that she wished to schedule one by the top of the month. Whether or not strain will develop for her to do extra, and in addition her first solo interview as a candidate, stays to be seen.
“My fear is, because Bash wasn’t like, say, CBS’s Steve Kroft or NPR’s Steve Inskeep salivating at the sight of Barack Obama, the liberal media will claim this and the upcoming ABC debate are sufficient interview time for the campaign,” Houck mentioned.
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Fox Information Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
