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440392 |
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Date: August 29, 2024 at 09:00:11
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Why is Harris bringing Walz to her first major interview? |
URL: Why is Harris bringing Walz to her first major interview? |
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Why is Harris bringing Walz to her first major interview?
2 hours ago
Holly Honderich
BBC News
Three weeks ago, just days after being formally chosen as the Democratic
presidential nominee, Kamala Harris was pressed on her plans for a sit-
down interview.
“I’ve talked to my team,” she told reporters on the airport tarmac in
Detroit. “I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the
month.”
On Thursday night, Ms Harris will - just barely - make good on that
promise, sitting down with CNN’s Dana Bash for her first major interview.
But Ms Harris will not be there by herself. The vice-president will be
joined by her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, for the prime-
time appearance, airing at 21:00 EDT (02:00 BST).
Ms Harris may have answered the question of when she would conduct an
in-depth, substantive discussion of her candidacy and agenda - standard
procedure for all major party presidential candidates.
But with Mr Walz in tow, the decision to make this a joint appearance may
also fuel growing criticism that after escaping the rigours of a months-
long presidential primary, she is now dodging the scrutiny that comes
with a solo interview.
“I think it’s incredibly weak, weak sauce, to show up with your running
mate,” said Scott Jennings, a former special assistant to President George
W Bush, on CNN, adding that Harris had a “troubling lack of confidence"
in her own political ability.
Still, supporters of Ms Harris insist that given the unprecedented nature
of her candidacy following President Joe Biden's sudden departure from
the race, she is taking things at a smart pace.
“I think the cadence has been right,” said Peter Giangreco, a Chicago-
based Democratic strategist. “Win the nomination, pick your nominee, lay
out your economic plan, do your convention and now do some sit-downs
and amplify that.”
Joint interviews featuring both members of a presidential ticket are not
unusual.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden sat for an interview with 60 minutes after Mr
Biden was selected as the vice-presidential nominee in 2008. Eight years
later, Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine did the same. For Ms
Harris and Mr Biden in 2020, they picked ABC’s 20/20. And less than a
week after Trump announced JD Vance as his running mate, the pair were
jointly interviewed on Fox.
But since Mr Biden passed the torch to her late last month, Ms Harris has
limited most of her engagement with the press to scripted and highly-
controlled environments. Her last formal sit-down interview was on 24
June, more than two months and a political lifetime ago.
Her occasional interactions with reporters - brief answers to shouted
questions on her way to and from campaign events - have done little to
quell Republican claims that she is shirking any opportunity to have her
record and agenda put under the microscope.
The harshest criticism comes from her Republican opponents, who have
both given several interviews in the past month.
“She’s not smart enough to do a news conference,” Mr Trump told media
earlier in August. “She won’t do interviews with friendly people because
she can’t do better than Biden.”
The Democratic nominee has enjoyed a surge in momentum since entering
the race. Now, after her whirlwind introduction to American voters, she
needs to "reinforce" that energy, said Republican strategist and Trump
critic Chip Felkel.
“She’s gotta get out there,” he said. “She’s got to show that she can think
under pressure, because that’s part of what the president has to do.”
Since she campaigned in the Democratic presidential primary in 2019, Ms
Harris has switched her stance on several key policy positions, backing
off some of her more liberal promises.
She has abandoned pledges to support Medicare for all (giving all
Americans access to government-funded healthcare) and to ban fracking.
And the vice-president now supports a bipartisan border bill that includes
hundreds of millions of dollars on a border wall, something Ms Harris once
called "un-American".
These apparent changes could open her up to questions about being a
policy flip-flopper - an unwelcome label for a candidate still trying to
define herself.
But by doing a joint interview, the Harris campaign may have calculated
that the pressure - and the difficult questions - will at least be shared
between the two of them. And it ensures both are in lockstep when it
comes to explaining policy.
Mr Giangreco, the Democratic strategist, predicted Ms Harris and Mr Walz
will try to turn the focus onto their economic plan, an agenda to lower the
cost of living and provide economic security that she first announced at a
rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, two weeks ago.
Mr Giangreco also pointed to another potential benefit of a joint interview:
drawing a contrast between Mr Walz and his Republican counterpart JD
Vance who he has labelled as "weird".
Still, the real impact of Ms Harris and Mr Walz’s sit-down won’t be known
until it is done.
Ms Harris’s record with high-pressure interviews is mixed. A 2021
conversation with NBC’s Lester Holt, in which she fumbled through
questions about her role in the administration’s border policy, was widely
regarded as a failure.
But in a more recent appearance, a one-on-one with CNN’s Anderson
Cooper, in which she defended Mr Biden’s calamitous debate
performance, Ms Harris looked calm and confident amid a political
firestorm.
If this high-stakes CNN joint interview falls into the latter category, then
the Harris campaign will hope much of the criticism will fall away, said Mr
Felkel, the Republican strategist.
“They just need to be able to say ‘See, we told you,’” he said. “And then
keep moving.”
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Responses:
[440418] [440423] [440425] [440426] [440397] [440434] |
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440418 |
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Date: August 29, 2024 at 16:32:16
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: If Trump sat for an interview w/Vance would you be questioning why?(NT) |
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Responses:
[440423] [440425] [440426] |
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440423 |
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Date: August 29, 2024 at 18:17:03
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: If Trump sat for an interview w/Vance would you be questioning... |
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i didn’t question anything, the bbc did. but i think they are asking the
question because she hasn’t had an interview since biden stepped aside
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Responses:
[440425] [440426] |
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440425 |
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Date: August 29, 2024 at 18:18:33
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: If Trump sat for an interview w/Vance would you be questioning... |
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yeah, you never do anything...lol...
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Responses:
[440426] |
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440426 |
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Date: August 29, 2024 at 18:31:53
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: If Trump sat for an interview w/Vance would you be questioning... |
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been sharing news articles that are relevant yet would never be posted
by you yellow dog democrats
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Responses:
None |
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440397 |
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Date: August 29, 2024 at 10:04:56
From: mitra, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Why is Harris bringing Walz to her first major interview? |
URL: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-vances-divide-conquer-strategy-232102311.html |
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To highlight Democratic coordination, unity, harmony.
Because Trumplicans promote chaos, different messages
to different groups. Trump/Vance are not seen together.
Trump? strategy of divide and conquer, say anything to
anyone to manipulate them.
Weak sauce? nah. That's more desperate phantom
invention. There is inherent strength in cooperation,
beauty in respect.
Clear choice.
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Responses:
[440434] |
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440434 |
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Date: August 30, 2024 at 08:50:31
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Why is Harris bringing Walz to her first major interview? |
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to me, the bbc just had to figure out something to write
about and..there's not really anything there lol.
Two relatively new candidates, and they've been asked
for interviews. Two birds with one stone.
Waltz made himself available for questions. CNN's focus
was obviously more on Harris, so he ended up answering
few questions. Talk to CNN about that.
Moving on
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