The Fox interview: how do you solve a problem like Kamala?
I’ve seen many clips of last night’s interview on Fox News with Kamala Harris, read excerpts and reactions, but haven’t been able to bring myself to watch the entire thing. I’m sure Harris’ fans have good things to say about her performance: she’s so feisty and brave, and that sort of thing. And those who have no intention of ever voting for her say it was a train wreck, which I think it was. More to the point, of course, is what that tiny but oh-so-important group of undecideds in the middle might think, if they’re even paying attention. From what I’ve read and seen, though, I can’t imagine it won many of those people over.
Bret Baier seemed surprisingly tough and also well-prepared. The critique from the left was, predictably, He was so mean he interrupted her! And even, from some, How dare a white man do that to a black woman! Those who say those things don’t seem to understand that you can’t claim to be strong and not be able to take challenging question and/or interruptions. But then again, Kamala Harris is accustomed to dealing with an obsequious press.
One thing I can say for Harris, however: she had a game plan and she stuck with it. The game plan was and is rather simple: don’t get pinned down in any actual answers except Trump BAD! Over and over and over.
There were some extraordinary exchanges. For example:
BAIER: Your campaign slogan is a new way forward and it’s time to turn the page. You’ve been vice president for three and a half years. So what, are you turning the page from.
HARRIS: Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other. Rhetoric and an approach to leadership that suggests that the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we all know the strength of leadership is based on who you lift up. The strength of an American president, which is one who understands that the vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us.
BAIER: More 70% of people…
HARRIS: That is about turning the page on rhetoric that people are frankly exhausted…
BAIER: …more than 70% of people tell pollsters the country is on the wrong track, they say the country is on the wrong track. If it’s on the wrong track, that track follows three and a half years of you being vice president and President Biden being president. That is what they’re saying. 79% of them. Why are they saying that? If you’re turning the page, you’ve been in office for three and a half years.
HARRIS: And Donald Trump has been running for office…
BAIER: But you’ve been the person in the office. Madam Vice President…
HARRIS: …both know what I’m talking about. You and I both know what I’m talking about.
BAIER: I actually don’t. What are you talking about?
Well he might ask. What she’s talking about is the only thing she feels comfortable talking about, which is that Trump is evil. Trumpety Trump Trump Trumpa-dump. Meanwhile, of course, as she goes on and on about the awfulness of Trump, she seems not to notice that it is she who thinks her own “strength as a leader is based on beating down Trump,” – or contnually attempting to do so.
Her next statement to Baier was this:
HARRIS: What I’m talking about is that over the last decade, people have…but listen, over the last decade, it is clear to me and certainly the Republicans who are on stage with me. The former chief of staff to the president, Donald Trump, former defense secretaries, national security advisor, and his vice president, one that he is unfit to serve…that he is unstable, that he is dangerous, and that people are exhausted with someone who professes to be a leader who spends full time demeaning and engaging in personal grievances and it being about him.
There’s that irony again: does she not understand that she has become the “someone who professes to be a leader who spends full time demeaning and engaging in personal grievances and it being about Trump”? Does she not even hear herself?
And then:
BAIER: Your campaign slogan is A New Way Forward and It’s Time To Turn The Page. You’ve been Vice President for 3.5 years. What are you turning the page from?
HARRIS: The last decade of Donald Trump.
Decade? He’s been in power for a decade? Who knew? He started in 2014? He’s been in power during the entire Biden/Harris administration? If he’s been so powerful for so very long, including during the nearly four years that Harris has been VP, why would he disappear if she were to be elected?
As time goes on and I hear more from Harris, I become more worried about what kind of president she actually would be if, heaven forbid, she won the election. Someone on some comment thread wrote, “She makes Hillary Clinton look like Dinah Shore.” And I have to add that she makes Biden look competent. Even in his addled state, he can draw on decades and decades of maneuvering in the political arena. The guy was never especially smart, but he had something on the ball – some sort of wily ability. I don’t know what Kamala has, and I don’t think she knows either, except identity politics and the demonization of Donald Trump. I certainly hope it won’t be enough to get her into the White House.
Here are two videos made after the interview. The first is from Baier:
The second is Ben Shapiro’s reaction:
More to the point, of course, is what that tiny but oh-so-important group of undecideds in the middle might think, if they’re even paying attention.
What got my attention were all the headlines from ABC, NBC, NPR, CNN etc, all lined up in a row declaring how well Kamala did confronting that awful FOX dude. If those ‘undecideds’ just read those headlines, there’ll be no change in the counts.
I become more worried about what kind of president she actually would be if, heaven forbid, she won the election.
I’m pretty sure she’d be a figurehead, like the current one is. The people who get paid to work in the government, that none of us voted for and who can’t be fired, think they are more than qualified to run things for us than we are to run things for ourselves. A President who actually did things would just be in their way.
For the no doubt several weeks it will take to “count” the votes in this year’s Presidential election, I plan to use some of that time to rewatch “Yes, Minister”. The refresher will be useful even if through some miracle they allow Trump to take office. Bureaucracy makes a science out of neutralizing their democratically elected superiors. Harris of course would just be a rubber stamp.
Insufficiently Sensitive:
That’s why I added the bit about if they’re paying attention. Reading headlines in the MSM is not paying attention. I don’t think most people who are still undecided at this point make their decisions quite that way, or they already would have decided some time ago to vote for Harris.
It was only last night that I realized that Kamala learned how to “discuss” politics from Obama. Really. The one enormous difference is that he’s got a very good and mellifluous voice, while hers grates. (Imagine the same words coming James Earl Jones and from Fran Drescher.)
There’s really no there there. Just a mass of words, never actually saying anything. But people find it uplifting, if they’re into that BS. I do note that Baier had said he “filibustered” back in the day. Now, the word is used by our side about Kamala.
And it’s why I cannot stand either of them. There’s nothing to think about.
There is one difference, which is poise. Obama’s ego borders on solipsism. (Remember the first Romney debate. He clearly thought he’d won. Michelle’s face showed that she knew better.) So Obama in not at all lacking in self assurance. Kamala, OTOH, screams insecurity.
One thing does trouble me about conservative coverage of the interview. It’s far too optimistic. We don’t know how it will go down with normies. I’m uneasy about how a small creep in the polls is being take as “WE WON!”
Eeyore:
Small creep is all that’s possible.
I don’t think the interview will have much effect on the race. The number of truly undecided voters who might have their opinions changed by this interview is exceedingly small. Millions of people have already voted and most will have voted before November 5th. I think the smart people in both campaigns are pretty sure who has already won based on the returns so far. Based on the available data I think that person is Trump but given our corrupt election system, I could be wrong.
I think Kamala would very much like to have been president but I think she has zero interest in actually carrying out the duties of the president. I think she is too insecure to make bold decisions that go against what her advisors tell her. If she wins, I think she will be a figurehead much like Biden but with perhaps even less actual input.
OK…sounds like Baier got better after the first 4-5 minutes.
I don’t think that this is her game plan (which is probably neo’s meaning)—more like she has the ‘Professionals‘ handling her now, and she is following it.
Yeah, I found it difficult to follow the first 4-5 minutes even, but thought Baier did a terrible job during that time – which made Harris look good, IMHO. I can’t say where the “undecideds” are at—at this point in the race, but suspect they are also burned out on it.
Internals must show she is behind or else her handlers wouldn’t subject her to such. I still think this is Trump’s race to lose…
he did a gentleman’s C. unlike almost every other interviewer which have plumbed the depths of inanity and malice, from tapper to brennan
If people are tired of the Trump era, one thing they’re tired of is all the anti-Trump rhetoric. Biden had over 3 years to “turn the page” to something new, and change the national discussion. His team couldn’t make it happen. Wanting to undo things Trump did only made things worse. Now Harris offers nothing definite, nothing significant, nothing workable, and nothing really new. If people really want to “turn the page” voting for Trump offers more than voting for Harris.
Harris has never had to deal with a journalist who wasn’t already favorable towards her and already on her side. At least not in the last ten years or so. She thinks journalists are there to help her get her message out: “You and I both know what I’m talking about.” It’s also clear that she didn’t do much (or any preparation) for the interview, apparently thinking she could b.s. her way through the event. But what does she really have? What could she promise that would make anything better?
Ben Shapiro does look a little older with his beard. He looks like one of NPR’s car guys looked when young, but somehow I don’t think he rebuilds carburetors, let along has them for breakfast.
Maria was a nanny.
Who (well, eventually, licitly) got schtupped (thrice!, at least) by the Pops of the house.
But apart from the “pinning clouds”, like “eating jello with chopsticks”, it’s hard to find another resemblance.
Wanted to see the interview but watched on YouTube Megyn Kelly review, Winston Marshall review and now the Body Language Guy review. Don’t think missed much from her
If you recall, Obama also tried to distance himself from what was happening. He would tell you he didn’t know anything about that until he read about it in the WAPO or the NYT.
Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other. — Kamala
Wow. That makes my blood boil. The Dems from Hillary through Obama and Biden have spewed THE most divisive rhetoric in their wedge politics drive. Black men don’t like Kamala because they are misogynists? What is that, and who said it?
I must say, Kamala is the emptiest of empty suits. She must be one of the most synthetically, media manufactured politicians ever.
I watched a documentary recently about Lou Pearlman and the rise of the boy bands like NSync and the Back Street Boys. Lots of grist in there, and yes those bands were manufactured after a fashion, but they actually worked pretty hard to bring their musical talents up to some decent level.
Has Kamala ever worked hard at her vocations? I am doubtful.
When she answered that Joe was still fine he should have followed with “Then why are you the candidate even though he was chosen democratically? I thought it was Trump who was a danger to democracy.”
Democrats say Kamala did just fine, standing up to the big bad conservative Fox guy. She’s proved her mettle.
Republicans say her interview was a trainwreck, and I objectively agree, though it wasn’t enough to sink her.
But the main takeaway IMO was that Harris didn’t do well enough to regain any momentum and she probably lost some undecideds.
That was Job One for Harris. Her campaign has lost steam, Trump’s whistlestop tour of the swing states is working, and barring the unforeseen, he will continue to pick up votes past the margin of fraud.
We can be sure that Kamala Harris will never do a Fox interview again.
I know the Boss disagrees with me when I say this, but now that the plagiarism business with Kamala’s book is bubbling to the surface and the interview went completely toes up and she never answers a question understandably…
I’m more convinced than ever that she’s just dumb and has never bothered to learn how to learn. She’s dumber than a bag of rocks and I have yet to see evidence otherwise.
https://x.com/Doranimated/status/1847017884025082153
Video clip of her 45 second statement at link. This woman is . . . well, y’know, kinda dimwitted.
She’s dumber than a bag of rocks and I have yet to see evidence otherwise.
John+Guilfoyle:
She got through law school and passed the CA Bar is evidence. Real bags of rocks don’t manage that.
Laziness and some psychological weirdness that I don’t quite grasp explain the rest.
_________________________
Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by laziness.
–huxley’s Razor
When she was saying Trump was going to jail people protesters Brett could have pointed out 2,000 Americans have been arrested for protesting tje election in 2020.
She likes being powerful, but isn’t willing to do the work required.
If there are any “undecided” voters at this point in time, it is because they are either psychologically damaged, chronic procrastinators, akin to the passenger on the Titanic who drowned because she couldn’t decide which lifeboat to board as the ship was foundering or they are simply paying no attention whatsoever. Either way, I doubt that this “interview” is going to make an impression. In fact, if such a hypothetical “undecided voter” exists, I suspect it would actually be more accurate to describe them as simply “undecided” because the likelihood of such person voting is nil. And to have expected Harris to respond specifically to any questions of substance is a triumph of hope over experience, as has been said. Democrats get elected on the “wink, wink; nudge, nudge” platform. They lie and pander to conservatives by pretending to stand with them on issues, but all their democrat voters know it’s a con and that, once elected, they will return to their leftist/communist/debauched roots and push forward all the agenda items they truly want, like taxpayer funded abortion on demand without constraints of any kind; elimination of police protection for citizens and establishment of a security state; open borders and unrestrained immigration (but only from third world hellholes); suppression of speech of which they disaprove; confiscation of all firearms in private hands (except for criminals); dismantlement of free enterprise and institution of collectivization of all production; confiscatory taxation; elimination of energy sources other than wind and solar; elimination of single family residences in favor of collectivized central housing and on and on and on. Obama was the first politician of national concern to implement this “bait and switch” style of campaigning, and with the complicity of a lapdog, lickspittle media, he was successful. His has become the template for all subsequent democrat candidates for public office. And until people awaken from their somnabulance, they will continue to be elected.
You know hux… you and the boss keep trotting out that old law school & bar exam business…but there’s part of me believes someone faked that for her too.
Lazy doesn’t get you very far. And she’s progressed pretty far on not much.
I’ll stick with “she’s stupid.” No offence.
https://x.com/kellytx2/status/1846897813948416376
I suppose Kamala Harris is smart enough to pass an IQ test at the midwit level. So let’s stipulate that she is not stupid. But she is dangerously ignorant, particularly of foreign policy.
I know how this person came to be the 2024 Democratic nominee (though we don’t have the back story on how and why FJB, or possibly “Dr.” Jill, or possibly some faceless flunky, endorsed Harris on X/Twitter, seemingly as an afterthought).
I understand the DEI of how this person came to be vice president.
What I cannot fathom is why, in 2019, it occurred to her in the first place that she should be president. Did she really think so? Is that much ambition really coupled with so much incompetence? Or has she been a puppet (and whose?) for much longer than we may have considered?
Judging by the summer of scandal, prudence would suggest that minority women’s academic records be viewed with suspicion to weed out the fakers.
We talk (write) as if there is some bit of normalcy somewhere (the notion of the impact of independents, e.g.). The DNC completely quashed any kind of primary election ( I would think this is illegal, but what the hell), including screwing over RFKJ (a telling action that few seem to understand). They said Biden and then they said Harris. A very large group of folks just went along and dutifully stuck the signs in their front lawns.
My town, Harrisville, NH is fulll of these folks. These are not dumb folks but they have abandoned all discussion and any acceptance of differing ideas. They just dutifully line up for Harris and plant their signs, some of which say how important voting is to democracy even though they were not able to vote for anyone in their primaries.
Trying to understand this lemming behavior is beyond me. Are they convinced that they will be better off? That they will be on the winning side for whatever that might be worth to them? That Vlad won’t push the button?
This is deeply troubling and very antithetical to all the notions of how things worked that i grew up with.
A stunning bunch of preprogrammed robots…
And the printing presses are already humming just in case…
And the DOD just approved the killing of American Citizens by military entities just in case…
What I cannot fathom is why, in 2019, it occurred to her in the first place that she should be president. Did she really think so? Is that much ambition really coupled with so much incompetence? Or has she been a puppet (and whose?) for much longer than we may have considered?
MollyG:
I understand what you’re saying. I agree she’s not all that ambitious — otherwise she wouldn’t have gone to Howard and UC-Hastings Law, given her elite academic parents.
But she was young, biracial and pretty, then Democrats like Willie Brown kept handing her opportunities. Now here we are.
As the philosopher Mick Jagger once sang:
_______________________________
Well now, what can a poor boy do?
‘Cept to sing for a rock-n-roll band
–“The Rolling Stones – Street Fighting Man (Official Lyric Video)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUt0dZXPFoU
_______________________________
Well now, what can a poor girl do?
‘Cept to run for President in a Democrat Machine.
Kamala Harris is a testament to the Amazing Possibilities of the American Dream!