Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

T R E 4 5 O N

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

No one could have predicted…

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Not all heroes wear capes.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Let me file that under fuck it.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Late Night Open Thread: Early Responses to That CNN Interview

Late Night Open Thread: Early Responses to That CNN Interview

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It seems — and this is probably a net positive — to have been a disappointment to Our Most Public Media. The NYTimes is disappointed that Harris didn’t give them any actual ‘gaffes’ they could use against her…

The main reason CNN’s interview with Vice President Kamala Harris turned out to be remarkable was that it was the first one she had done since President Biden bowed out and tapped her as his successor.

Seated alongside her running mate, the quietly supportive Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Ms. Harris parried questions from Dana Bash on Thursday without causing herself political harm or providing herself a significant boost.

She was methodical and risk-averse in the 27-minute interview, performing like a top seed in the early rounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament trying to hold serve, survive and advance to the next round — in this case, her Sept. 10 debate with former President Donald J. Trump…

Meanwhile, Fox News is pissed that Dana Bash didn’t work hard enough to make Harris, and Walz, look bad. (Always blame the woman, it’s the Fox News creed.)

Here’s some snippets. Remember: Sharing is caring!


Note from a random normie:

CNN’s got a three-part video of the interview on its site, starting here. And they’ve got a clip version up on YouTube, here:

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  2. 2.

    Ishiyama

    They are incredible to watch together. Both of them talented, experienced, empathic, each parrying the poisoned thrusts of the foe with a seemingly effortless ease.

  4. 4.

    steve g

    So the NYT, WaPo, and all the pundits will be posting about how the Harris interview takes care of the “no interview yet” problem and we’ll be hearing no more nonsense about it, right?

  5. 5.

    piratedan

    @steve g: yeah well, neither Harris or Walz chose to self-sabotage their campaign or fully embrace the knowledge that the questions that the media asks are in no way representative of the questions that everyday Americans would ask.

    Getting tired of the media believing that their job is to somehow be the “gatekeepers” of Democracy instead of being the educators of citizens.

  6. 6.

    Gloria DryGarden

    It sounds amazing, although kind if a waste of their time. She didn’t go on the defensive, she volleyed back any stupid questions, they stood up for themselves gently, her on values stayed the same, him on if it’s not this attack, it’ll be something else, and standing by his son, his family, the military,mall in pretty neutral language. That takes some skill, and prep.

  7. 7.

    hitchhiker

    Questions I wanted to hear:

    The Supreme Court’s credibility is at an all time low; many citizens see the court as openly partisan. What specifically do you think could help restore its integrity?

    The Senate has had a lot of trouble passing meaningful legislation, mostly because it can require a 60-40 vote whenever one senator wants that to be the rule. How do you think this ought to be resolved?

    Questions I did hear:

    What made you change your mind about fracking? No but really, what? No but really, was there data or something?

    How can voters ever trust you after you misstated your military record?

    —————-

    In short, fuck you, CNN. This is why you don’t get interviews — because you ask stupid questions that do nothing for anybody. And then you HYPE THE FUCK OUT OF THEM in commercials even as you’re airing them! Insulting waste of time, which, dear sweet suffering jeebus, you then try to milk for another hour with a PANEL to “analyze” the back and forth.

    Annoying nonsense is not what we need, for the love of god.

  9. 9.

    agorabum

    Damn, the NYTimes seems real mad that she didn’t fail.  The entire tone is “we, the press, are against her, but she was able to get past us.  However, Bash is a rookie; we the NYT would have gotten her.”  Strong hater vibe.

  10. 10.

    Gloria DryGarden

    The heather cox Richardson letter for tonight addresses the Arlington cemetery shenanigans, and some closing loopholes for money laundering via real estate and big finance.

    It is indeed quite rare for military to make a statement, like they have done about this situation.

    i don’t have a way to link it, sorry

  11. 11.

    Gretchen

    I thought it was maddening. The media has been whining for weeks that they need to talk to the candidates to vet them and allow the American People to know their Candidate’s positions. Bash had 45 minutes. She used it asking about whether Wals was lying when he said they used IVF when they really used IUI ( how many people know or care what IUI is and how it differs from IVF?), whether he claimed to carry a weapon IN war rather than a weapon OF war when clearly talking about how weapons OF war shouldn’t be available to civilians, how Harris felt about Trump questioning her race and how she felt about the photo of her niece, badgering her about how she changed her position about fracking in 2020 has has held that 2020 position ever since. It’s like she was working at doing a bad job. I’m surprised she didn’t accuse Harris of lying about working at McDonald’s since nobody can confirm that summer job from 45 years ago and for some reason she didn’t put it on her resume when applying for a law job. Harris/Walz should limit their interviews for the rest of the campaign to podcasts and Hot Ones.

    They go after these miniscule discrepancies from Democrats, and Trump asserts that Democrats are in favor of murdering babies and they’re all, yeah, fine.

  12. 12.

    TS

    @piratedan:

    Getting tired of the media believing that their job is to somehow be the “gatekeepers” of Democracy  the Democratic Party.

    Minor correction. They do not do this to republicans.

  13. 13.

    Jesse

    Is the issue with Walz that he implied that he’d been to war? It seems that all he said regarding assault weapons is “I’ve carried weapons of war”, referring to his service in the MN National Guard. Which is correct: “weapon of war” refers to weapons that the military (and only the military) has, or should have. You wouldn’t call e.g. a handgun a weapon of war because this is available to normal police officers as well as the general public, and that’s fairly uncontroversial, I’d say. The controversy is, of course, over the availability of “weapons of war” to the general public. And Walz has had a clear, documented position on this, for a long time, both as a representative and as governor.

    How anyone could infer from this that Walz falsely implied that he served on an active battlefield (which he never says, and when asked explicitly, always says “no, I’ve not done that”) is beyond me. This is just looking to cause a fight. This isn’t even a gaffe or misstatement or ambiguity. It’s the bad-faith extraction of statements that don’t exist.

  14. 14.

    Chet Murthy

    @Jesse: I won’t claim to have followed this particular …. kerfuffle, b/c geez, so minor.  But from what I understand, there is some dispute as to whether Walz said “I’ve carried weapons of war” or “I’ve carried weapons in war”.  At least, that’s what I remember seeing in some of the articles I glanced over.  I think this is ridiculous.

  19. 19.

    TBone

    I’m honestly not sure why anyone would be upset about The Interview.  I watched the whole thing and I expected the questions to be a lot stupider than they were (they were only mildly stupid IMO). I thought Kamala might have gone a little harder on offense instead of defense once or twice, but on the whole it wasn’t earth shattering at all.  I went right to sleep feeling good afterwards.  Vibe: Next! (moving forward)

  20. 20.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    MSNBC had a “reporter” from Reuters on tonight and he was upset the interview went well. But he got really excited over Kamala pledge to appoint a republican to the cabinet.

  28. 28.

    WV Blonde

    OT (sort of): I almost never watch CNN, and I couldn’t identify Dana Bash in a police lineup. My very first thought when she came on screen was that she has The Joker’s mouth. I told my spouse that and he started laughing about it every time the camera cut to her.

  29. 29.

    Bobbo1

    Perhaps the least believable thing Kamala Harris has said, about when Biden told her he was dropping out: “My first thought was not about me, to be honest with you. My first thought was about him.”

    Empathy, how does it work? Or: EAIAC

  31. 31.

    JWR

    @David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:

    But he got really excited over Kamala pledge to appoint a republican to the cabinet.

    I may be missing some snark in your comment, (highly likely), but didn’t Harris say something like, “yes I would consider appointing a Repub”? I thought she qualified her answer in a this-is-not-a-pledge sort of way. But Hell, if she can pull off a now dead tradition, it might help in the restoration of our fragile Democracy.

  32. 32.

    Shalimar

    Hoe does one hit it out of the park in a 27-minute interview?  Compared to what?  I don’t get it.  She’s been in politics for 2 decades.  Nothing she could possibly say would be revalatory.  We already know her, and any journalist preparing properly for an interview should already know her well enough to guess the answer to almost any question.

  34. 34.

    TBone

    Some cheerful comments from elsewhere (very lightly edited by me) 😄

    “After Donold leads the GQP to complete destruction, there may be a whole bunch of GQP cowards more than willing to see his ass locked up.”

    “…Yer gonna feel this one, Lumpy. Depend on it.”

    ~>XD

  35. 35.

    Shalimar

    @David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch: I don’t think she should appoint a Republican to her cabinet,  but I will say she has a better group of Republicans to select from than any other Democrat in history.  Pretty much every decent person in the party has endorsed her.

  36. 36.

    Jay

    I can make you scared, if that’s what I do
    If you’re prepared, and if I have to
    If I make you scared, and you pay me to
    That’s the deal, now here’s what I can do for you

    Now there’s a focus group that can prove
    This is all nothing but cold calculation

    Tests have shown that suspicious are hostile
    Their lives need not be shortened
    Truth be told, they can live a long, long while
    Tickled to death by their importance

    youtube.com/watch?v=u-WAWFc9B3Y

  37. 37.

    pthomas745

    All these things (debates, “interviews”, even the conventions)  are just TV shows now. Not “interviews” or serious news.  Just  a show to dissect like “Law and Order, Ottumwa” or whatever.   A chance for CNN to appear to be “savvy” and to talk and talk and talk. And I’m sure they are horribly disappointed that there were no “gaffes” (whatever that may be these days).

    Jay Rosen had this “savvy” style of political journalism called out 15 years ago.  And, now, it is the dominant position.  pressthink.org/2022/01/the-savvy-turn-in-political-journalism/

  39. 39.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Didn’t watch it. We don’t have a TV subscription, and we found it incredibly annoying to try to watch it in the two-minute, one-question clips CNN released. So we gave up and decided to see if they’d air the whole thing today.

    If not (shrug), doesn’t sound like I missed much.

  40. 40.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Shalimar: Nothing she could possibly say would be revalatory.

    You’re obviously not paying attention to our media betters. Why, without sitting down to an interview with cnn or the nyt, we don’t even know what she looks like, let alone her biography or values. That’s probably still the NYT’s position this morning.

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    Didn’t catch the interview last night, but most of the reactions I’ve seen from credible sources are encouraging. Hope to see it for myself later if I have time!

    Meanwhile, on the objectively evil side, it looks like the Arlington story isn’t going away. Good.

  43. 43.

    satby

    Box ticked, one criticism of her “avoiding the press” defanged in normal people’s minds, while also showing once again how out of touch mainstream press is. Moving on, like Harris and Walz are.

    For the record, Bash and CNN are getting no love for their efforts online. They only reinforced why they’re irrelevant. The real heat is continuing over the Arlington desecration.

    Ah, great minds Ms Betty!

  44. 44.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Shalimar: This is another example of the media putting their hands on the scale. If dozens of Democratic officials from the last three campaigns had endorsed the Republican candidate for POTUS – not just said I can’t support my party’s nominee but said I support the OTHER party’s nominee – the moans from the political press’s bipartisanship orgasms could be heard on the moons of Saturn. The Democratic candidate would be hounded about it non-stop. But when it’s Republicans endorsing a Democrat they just move on. Nobody asks Trump about it, or talks about how it’s a bad sign for his campaign, nothing.

  45. 45.

    waspuppet

    “The first 10 minutes of Kamala Harris’s CNN interview with Dana Bash is already more serious and substantive than any interview Donald Trump has ever given in the nine long years since he rode down his golden escalator in 2015.”

    ”Yes, but was it serious and substantive enough for The American People? Before you answer, remember that we will tell them for the next two months that it wasn’t. And besides, they’re up against a domestic abuser who is in buy-her-flowers mode and is just promising to do things that are great and everyone will like.‘“ — Peter Baker et al

  48. 48.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Baud: This is probably part of the reason they focus all their energies on gatekeeping Democrats… they’ve discovered that they lost the ability to police Trump but think their shit still matters to the Democratic electorate. So why bother policing Trump when it won’t matter? Let’s instead focus all our energies on looking for angles to pick the Democrat apart because this stuff still matters to their voters. The thing is it’s becoming so obviously biased that we’re starting to tune them out too.

  49. 49.

    MomSense

    They did really well in that interview.  Avoided the traps. Stayed on message.  Showed warmth and humor.

  50. 50.

    Princess

    Even if you don’t like the questions Bash asked, they are all the same questions I see floating around on social media, in memes etc. it was a good thing, not a bad thing, that Harris had a chance to address them on national television. And she did fine.

    This race is incredibly close. Effectively, it’s tied. I saw a commenter last night say there was no way we would lose PA. We definitely could lose PA. Harris has very few chances to break through to a bigger audience now the convention is over, and aside from the debates. Since she is bright and smart and knows exactly where she stands, it is worth her while to engage with critical even hostile media. She won’t get trapped. She’s too good at this. Have a little faith.

  51. 51.

    Princess

    @Gretchen: As I said at the end of the previous thread, these are precisely the questions I see floating around on social media, and in mainstream media all the time. It was good, not bad, that our candidates had a chance to address them directly and publicly on a major network.

  56. 56.

    Princess

    @Baud: Oh sure. But I’m seeing people suggest this was a waste of time. It wasn’t! And the things that make us say yuck like appointing a Republican make squishy Independents’ hearts glow.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Princess:

    Yep, I bet their polling says they’re weak with moderate voters. Liberals are going to have to grit their teeth a little between now and election day.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Yep. I’m prepared to quietly grind my molars for the greater good. Maybe Harris will keep up Biden’s distinction between “MAGA Republicans” and regular old Republicans. Personally, I think that’s bullshit since the entire party is a cult now and the non-MAGAs have been excommunicated. But I’m willing to countenance the dodge if it helps us win. We have to keep in mind that the election will be decided by the most uninformed voters in the country.

  60. 60.

    K-Mo

    @TBone: agreed.  Kamala could sharpen some of these answers but she did what she had to do. A lot of meh questions but these are the questions they’ll be getting so buckle up.

    Kamala continues to get her 2 main points across: I am a capable leader, and I am a real person just like you.

  62. 62.

    Ken

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: That’s probably still the NYT’s position this morning.

    Harris and Walz should sit down for their next interview with Teen Vogue, or perhaps Rolling Stone. Strictly in the spirit of Miracle Max’s “Why don’t you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it”.

  63. 63.

    Suzanne

    but this take is hindsight at best or the sort of sociopathy that makes someone a republican to begin with at worst

    I’m going to go with Door Number Two!

    I’m increasingly convinced that Republicans don’t have typical human reactions to things. They’re so clouded by extreme selfishness.

  65. 65.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Harris showed in spades the training and expertise from being a good prosecutor.  Sure, Bash lived down to the general reputation of her and her contemporaries in the media but if anyone’s able to handle that on the fly, it’s a former prosecutor.

  66. 66.

    sdhays

    That FYFNT excerpt reads like someone wanted to be a sports reporter and the only jobs hiring were for the politics desk. The only thing it tells you is the writer’s reaction to the interview, as if anyone should give a 💩 how it made them feel.

  67. 67.

    satby

    Best tweet I’ve seen this morning (about the bombshell that Harris didn’t include a summer p/t job at McDonald’s on her resume)

    Roy Edroso. @edroso  22h

    I am not surprised that these rightwing journo chucklefucks would be unaware that a gig at McDonald’s is not something you put on your “resume” when you’re looking for a desk job. These people are grown in fucking vats.

  68. 68.

    Princess

    @K-Mo: She’s extraordinarily self-disciplined. I love that.

    @Betty Cracker: I see her target voter as a white women who thinks she’s independent, usually votes Republican, loves tax cuts, fears “those people” as a group but isn’t closed- minded about a particular individual, loathes Trump, never thought Roe would be overturned. I think that voter will be comforted by a potential gop cabinet pick and will be glad Harris didn’t engage in the “are you Black” question.

  69. 69.

    Betty

    @Baud: Have we had many chances to form this habit? We have elected several different women as Auditor General and have elected several women as Supreme Court judges. Just sayin’.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    New (to me) meme:

    “They messed with little brother Gus Walz and the whole Democratic Party went from ‘When they go low, we go high’ to ready to meet Ann Coulter in the parking lot at the Waffle House.”

  71. 71.

    cmorenc

    Last night’s BJ commenters bashed Bash for her questions she asked.  Seems in the light of morning, the result of how Harris and Waltz handled the interview is clearly net positive.  Harris/Waltz got good experience successfully handling exactly the sorts of semi-pejorative questions the MSM has been pining to throw at her, and also got the “hasn’t sat for an interview with the media MSM” monkey off her back.  Bash was actually a much more complatible choice of MSM interviewer for Harris than a long list of alternative possibilities – e.g. compare with Stephanopolis’s interview with Biden when Biden was still trying to parry the negative impressions from the debate.

    So, get a breath folks.  Someone was going to get to do the interview and ask those sorts of pejoratively laced questions, and Harris handled it with flying colors.  And, FTNYT doubtless has a big sad that they didn’t get to do it, so there’s that.

  75. 75.

    K-Mo

    @satby: This episode reminds me of trying to hire people for a Federal job.  If the job posting says, must have HS diploma they need to include their HS diploma.  You could have an esteemed professor from Harvard apply and if they don’t attach their HS diploma you won’t be able to hire them.

  76. 76.

    satby

    Another good one (may be stepping on an AL future post here 😘):

    Dan Froomkin (PressWatchers.org) @froomkin

    14h

    CNN gets it. WaPo is weak. NYT is a joke. CNN: “Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery” WAPO: “Army defends cemetery staffer who was ‘pushed aside’ by Trump aides” NYT: “At Arlington, Trump Returns to the Politics of the ‘Forever Wars’”

  77. 77.

    Anyway

    @Princess: her target voter as a white women who thinks she’s independent

    Good description. One of these said she’s concerned about Harris’ (and Ds) plans for Social Security?!  Say what? I thought RThugs were the ones trying to get their mitts on that lovely pot of SS money.  What are the scary Ds trying to do to SS – I’ve been out of the loop for a bit.

  78. 78.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @sdhays: It’s an old problem. We used to live in the DC area and the WaPo was our daily paper. 20+ years later, I’m still holding a grudge that they kept assigning Tom Shales, an entertainment critic, to review political events on TV such as the State of the Union. It was not a one-time thing.

  79. 79.

    Ramalama

    @TBone: As the resident ABBA fan in these here parts I saw a note that the band was suing Trump’s campaign for using their music without getting a license. ABBA tends to be incredibly protective of who can play their music.

  80. 80.

    satby

    @K-Mo: but he doesn’t have his HS diploma on his resume and no one expects it. They’re looking back at old stuff from way before she was even a Senator for shit to dig up because they have nothing, and when they try stuff like this it highlights how much nothing they have, especially to normies.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    @satby:

    They’re trying to create bad “vibes.” You can do that with nothing. Doesn’t mean they’ll succeed, but that’s their strategy.

  83. 83.

    satby

    @Baud: The Army putting out a statement and the DoD affirming it are clickbait to vets and their families. This has really outraged a lot of those people. Like this story from USA Today.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @satby:

    Good. Better late than never. Trump’s been insulting veterans since day 1.

    Funny how Tuberville holding up promotions doesn’t matter to anyone anymore.

  85. 85.

    satby

    @Baud: They’re trying to create bad “vibes.” You can do that with nothing. Doesn’t mean they’ll succeed, but that’s their strategy.

    Agree. The difference is that a lot of people, including non- political junkies, are wise to the game now. My low info voters friends even, which amazes me because they’re borderline allergic to politics. They humor me out of kindness.

  86. 86.

    MomSense

    @cmorenc:

    Bash asked the questions that people are talking about and Harris and Walz answered them well.  It was a good showing.
    I mean she didn’t get into the batteries vs sharks or what happens when the wind stops blowing but otherwise it was really good!

  87. 87.

    BritinChicago

    @David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:  Was that a pledge? She said she would appoint a republican, in the subjunctive, meaning in certain circumstances. Those circs might just be: If I were elected I would…. But they might be: if I could find a republican who… then I would appoint her/him.

    Wiggle room if ever I saw it, and that’s appropriate. She’d need to find a republican with whom she agrees about a certain relatively area of policy (Defense, maybe? Transport, if Pete B wants to move on?)  and who is competent and won’t use her/his position to sabotage the Administration. She might, but I wouldn’t put money on it.

    ETA: to be clear, this is not a criticism. I think it’s fine that she left herself that wiggle room, indeed I think it would have been a mistake not to have done so.

  88. 88.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @satby: what fucking “forever wars”?!?

    it REALLY pisses me off that people blame BIDEN for putin invading ukraine (or more specifically, MORE of ukraine) and hamas breaking the ceasefire on 10/7!

    the only “boots on the ground” we have getting shot at now are our houthi-adjacent sailors.

    fibberache lost soldiers and marines under enemy fire. over the length of his term, lost FAR more than the 13 he yokes on biden in afghanistan during the withdrawl. (after dropping force numbers to half of the taliban soldiers pompeo set free).

    yeah, fuck that “forever wars” shit.

  89. 89.

    MomSense

    @Baud:
    You might not get out much because of the whole not wearing pants thing, but have you met Americans?  At least half of us are stupid and a third are crazy. Depending on how the Venn diagram looks in any given election year – that is what we are dealing with.
    Harris is going to have to deal with a lot of BS.

  90. 90.

    Baud

    @satby:

    That’s good to hear. For much of our lifetime, the right wing view of liberals is what influenced normies. Hopefully, we’re finally seeing the pendulum swing back.

  91. 91.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MomSense: Bash asked the questions that people are talking about

    And why are they talking about these things? Would it be wrong of me to speculate that concerns over Harris picking a Republican for a position or whether Walz is a fake are strongest among consumers of Fox, CNN, NYT, et c.?

  92. 92.

    MomSense

    Just saw a really cool post.  DNC invited 227 content creators who made 7,000 posts that received more than 400 million views.  Worth 800 million in ad buys.

  93. 93.

    Bupalos

    Overall both of them seem too buttoned-up in this venue. I don’t think this particular interview is going to move things either way, but this is the kind of political persona I think she needs to steer away from- the careful politician talking a different language.

    The “day 1” question you can go a lot of ways with. It’s essentially “what’s your single highest priority, exemplified by a specific presidential action.” Just repeating the complete list of all your priorities from that part of your stump speech with no action attached is the kind of “typical politician” move that plays especially badly against Trump.

  94. 94.

    MomSense

    @The Audacity of Krope:
     Most people are barely paying attention.  They like the idea of the parties working together.  The ratings and subscriptions for news are soooo low.  Seriously most people know just enough to be dangerous.  

  96. 96.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MomSense: DNC invited 227 content creators who made 7,000 posts that received more than 400 million views.

    CNN tends to get half a million viewers on a typical day. Pikers.

  97. 97.

    Starfish

    @Baud: She is a southern woman so I would expect her to be Republican. I remember that folks spoke to her after her word salad answer, and she felt bad about it. Why are we so open to making fun of women after something they did 17 years ago while George W Bush still gets off for getting us into the Iraq War? Is it just because we hate them?

    Here are some details on her life that don’t mention political affiliation.

    I believe that the discussion of her political affiliation may be conflating Caitlyn Upton with Kate Upton (a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model), but I am not sure.

  98. 98.

    TBone

    A lot of us libs, though we might not have personally served, have loved ones who did.  Some of us were raised by vets.  Both hubby’s dad and mine were Marines.  We let the rumpy people here in Pennsyltucky know that about us immediately and they automatically thought we were MAGA (hubby’s flag and eagle shirts help 😆). They were surprised that libs can be strongly pro-USA.  They Found Out.

    We libs represent true patriotism and I am so glad that the nation can now very clearly see that.

  99. 99.

    satby

    @MomSense: and this is one of them:

    Florida Chris @chrislongview

    remember: if we’re getting rid of trump forever, we need a very big tent to do it. when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz say things you don’t like, they’re not talking to you. they’re doing what they can to get enough votes to make trump go away forever. pull an Elsa and let it go

  101. 101.

    cmorenc

    @Princess:

    @Betty Cracker: I see her target voter as a white women who thinks she’s independent, usually votes Republican, loves tax cuts, fears “those people” as a group but isn’t closed- minded about a particular individual, loathes Trump, never thought Roe would be overturned. I think that voter will be comforted by a potential gop cabinet pick and will be glad Harris didn’t engage in the “are you Black” question.

    This is exactly the tactic NC’s D candidate for governor, Josh Stein is using in one of his principal ad buys = in which he’s getting positive kudos from a middle-age woman who “usually votes Republican” but will vote for Stein because of how effectively he dealt with fentanyl as AG (she lost her son to fentanyl OD).

  102. 102.

    Starfish

    @Baud: Did she say, “Go ask The Rock. Do you ask white people if they are white? I went to an HBCU. Get lost.”

    We need a media that understands that multiracial people exist and quits asking them dumb things.

  103. 103.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MomSense: Seriously most people know just enough to be dangerous.

    That’s just the issue. All these half-informed, dangerous views are being pushed by these supposedly mainstream outlets.

    I can see in an abstract sense where there may be value to making a public response to the bullshit. Elevating platforms like CNN who seem committed to disseminating bullshit just validates their “esteemed” place in our culture and, long term, makes damn certain the bullshit continues.

  106. 106.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MomSense: We are major consumers of news on this blog.

    Wait. People still publish news? Who?

    I can only find salacious gossip.

  107. 107.

    MomSense

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    It was a good interview.  Harris and Walz knew the kinds of questions that would be asked and they answered them well.
    Most people know there are two parties and not much more.

  108. 108.

    Kristine

    @p.a.:

    Again: anyone else have to use the “Text” tab to paste a link? No-go in the “Visual” tab. iPad, Safari, up-to-date version.

    Yes. Usually on laptop (2020 M1 Air). Latest version of Safari.

  109. 109.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @agorabum: Additionally, the article (or the segments presented here) does not report the interview. It’s all conjecture or commentary.  You are not reporting the news when your entire piece is based on an analogy comparing the event to the US Tennis Open.

    Fuck the fucking New York Times.

  110. 110.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @MomSense: So what exchange during this interview would you, personally, see as something that may legitimately help inform a potential voter?

  111. 111.

    SFAW

    @MomSense:

    Harris and Walz knew the kinds of questions that would be asked and they answered them well.

    So you’re saying they were “over-prepared”?

  112. 112.

    TBone

    @Ramalama: 👍 as noted in the meaww article I posted (also mentions Foo Fighters) – it’s not a coincidence that our  college radio in the heart of Pennsyltucky doubled down on ABBA this morning.  The kidz continue to bolster my ever lovin’, hopeful heart.

  113. 113.

    hueyplong

    We were not the target audience.

    She’s making Princess’s described demographic comfortable.  We’ve lost the ability to be comfortable.

    Because she was in fact non-threatening and blandly acted like a grown-up, a line of attack was sort of blunted for the time being.  Therefore, I’d guess the interview will be forgotten soon, and its best deployment will be as a subconscious counterpoint to Trump’s next outrage.

  114. 114.

    SFAW

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    So what exchange during this interview would you, personally, see as something that may legitimately help inform a potential voter?

    “If you’re elected, would you deport Donald Trump to Russia? Or just send him to Guantanamo?”

  115. 115.

    lowtechcyclist

    @eclare: ​
     

    We’re debating prepositions now?

    Hey, we’ve already debated pronouns into the ground, it’s time to move on to another part of speech.

    Not sure when they’ll get to conjunctions, but I’m sure the time will come.

  117. 117.

    Eolirin

    @cmorenc: Yes, but this is still an indictment of our media, and that media is a large part of why we keep having terrible electoral outcomes. It’s not even about how well Harris did. It’s just about the media being garbage, and that being a problem.

    We shouldn’t normalize this. They’re failing and their job matters.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    And Bill Madden should kindly STFU with his “Harris is going to be the next president” idiocy. Say that after the votes are counted, numbskull. Or were you born in 2017, and don’t know anything about the 2016 election?

  119. 119.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    We are sooooo past the “appoint somebody from the other party to a Cabinet position” crap that the media loves.  As noted above, if it’s an (R) president, the positions are “meh”, if a (D) president, then we need a daddy figure appointed as SecDef or some shit like that.

    I’ve experienced it personally in DOT.  For a period, it was an unwritten rule that such an appointment would be for DOT.  But, cross-party appointees typically had extensive transportation background in some manner, for example Ray LaHood.

    Last night I said how Obama was quoted as saying “Elections Have Consequences” vis a vis the dumbass concept of cross-party Cabinet nominees and yet, he stuck with that with LaHood and Gates as SecDef.

    Those days should be long past (Obama abandoned that nonsense in his second term) and I hope Harris, while saying something along the lines of “she’ll consider it”, is simply doing that as an operational tactic with no intention of every actually doing it.

    We talked about Kinzinger given his high profile collaboration with we icky Dems.  Fine, make his Sec of the Air Force (given his background) but nothing higher.

    Stoopid concept to being with.  No wonder the media loves it.

  120. 120.

    TBone

    On the day of the campaign transition, our college radio station played Bobbie Gentry, the first woman to compose and produce her own music.

    youtu.be/VUjNbeAFal8

    Like producing your own narrative instead of letting anyone else do it for you.

  124. 124.

    EarthWindFire

    @Suzanne: Republicans don’t have typical human reactions to things

    I’m convinced of this too. This whole thing Trump’s tried to pull at Arlington is completely horrible. But one of the worst things for me is that Trump had supporters smiling and giving the thumbs up and whatever other hand signals with him over a gravesite and this was supposed to be some big gotcha as far as Republicans are concerned. Standing over a gravesite and getting your party face on is not normal human behavior, let alone the flex they think it is. It’s gross. And weird.

  125. 125.

    Geminid

    @strange visitor (from another planet): The US still has a ground presence in western Iraq and across the border in Syria, around 1500 hundred troops between the two countries. President Obama began these operations in 2013, as a response to the Islamic State.

    This is dangerous duty, and Iran-sponsored militias in both countries have harrassed US bases on and off with rocket fire especially since October 7.

    This Spring, when one of a series of attacks injured several of our soldiers, the US launched reprisal airstrikes on weapons bunkers etc., but we telegraphed the plan to Iran so they could pull their IGRC advisors out of harm’s way. That weekend a US drone killed the commander if the most obnoxious militia as he drove into his Baghdad headquarters.

    I think the US is planning on pulling these two missions out next year, but a 3rd mission based near Erbil in northwest Iraq will stay. It supports the Kurdish Regional government.

    The US has another military mission in Jordan, stationed next to the southern Syrian border. Three of our soldiers there were killed this Spring by an Iranian-made drone that was fired by one of their Syrian proxies.

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    @TBone: ​

    Intentionality has nothing to do with it. Prediction and intentionality are orthogonal (for lack of a better word) at best

  127. 127.

    SFAW

    @jonas: ​
     
    Not a bad choice, but I’d go with whoever is the current heir to the Broderism throne. [Maybe that’s Cillizza? I don’t really know.]

  128. 128.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @lowtechcyclist: We don’t give enough attention to articles.

    A Russian friend told a story on herself and wrestling with English articles: coming out of a meeting with the boss, she now knows that what she meant to express was “what the f**k?” But what she actually said was “what a f**k”.

  130. 130.

    jonas

    She was methodical and risk-averse in the 27-minute interview

    What did they want? For her to say she was going to establish an orbiting colony around Jupiter by 2030?

  131. 131.

    hueyplong

    @jonas: Might be a compliment.  Normies, if they’re being honest with themselves, have as two of their favorite descriptors for a president, “methodical and risk-averse.”

  132. 132.

    Eolirin

    @jonas: They wanted her to say something that was either controversial or could be twisted to seem controversial, so that they could create click bait headlines about it and drive views.

    They’ve got a business to run, dontcha know?

  133. 133.

    EarthWindFire

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: We are sooooo past the “appoint somebody from the other party to a Cabinet position” crap that the media loves.  As noted above, if it’s an (R) president, the positions are “meh”, if a (D) president, then we need a daddy figure appointed as SecDef or some shit like that.

    I don’t know. Maybe Harris could take Trae Crowder’s advice and appoint RFK Jr. Secretary of Lunatic Bullshit, then just ignore the department. Everyone could get their both sides on, with no real damage done. Win/win for everybody!/s

  134. 134.

    SFAW

    @TBone:

    “Word salad” has nothing to do with it. And “intentionality” applies to one’s own actions, not the actions of the political candidate one favors.

    It’s OK for Madden to be all-in on supporting Harris. I am, as are most of us here. But having seen more “President Hillary” counting-one’s-chickens-before-they’re-hatched smugness in 2016 — when her polling was (until Comey in late October) much better than Harris’s current polling — Madden should focus on something other than thinking he’s Dave Wasserman.

  135. 135.

    SFAW

    @EarthWindFire:

    That is one of the more excellent suggestions I’ve seen. Of course, were that to happen, the Partei of Traitors would ask the ISCOTUS to declare it null-and-void.

  137. 137.

    jonas

    @Baud: That poor young lady was completely humiliated by her flubbed answer, but owned it and later picked up and recovered. Fuck Vance for being such a shitweasel both to her and Harris.

    I think at the time, Trump owned the Teen USA pageant and she did some promos with him or something, so that may be where the MAGA association comes in. No idea if she’s out there shilling for Trump politically now, though.

  138. 138.

    hueyplong

    @SFAW: What you call smugness TBone might call declining to be miserable before an event (Trump victory) that might not even happen.

    Neither of you is likely to fail to vote for Harris.  You’re both doing your most important jobs.  You’re probably both going to do more than that to help her win.  The rest kind of seems like style points to someone who doesn’t closely follow sports that include those as part of the score.

  139. 139.

    lowtechcyclist

    @EarthWindFire:

    But one of the worst things for me is that Trump had supporters smiling and giving the thumbs up and whatever other hand signals with him over a gravesite and this was supposed to be some big gotcha as far as Republicans are concerned. Standing over a gravesite and getting your party face on is not normal human behavior, let alone the flex they think it is. It’s gross. And weird.

    This. I’ll add in ‘creepy’ for good measure.

    I mean, if Osama bin Laden had a gravesite, instead of sleeping with the fishes, I might be like that there, because the world is unquestionably improved by his absence, and our troops were the ones that took him down – and even better, after President Obama put them back on the hunt, which Shrub didn’t even regard as important, let alone necessary.

    But being like that at the gravesite of anyone whose death deserves to be mourned, let alone someone who died in defense of this country – no fucking way.  And it’s weird, gross, and creepy that they can be like that there.

  140. 140.

    hueyplong

    @lowtechcyclist: I’ve only been to ANC once, but grinning at any point would have felt wrong, to say nothing of doing so in front of a camera, posing with a clown, making frivolous gestures.

    And it isn’t just impulse control.  There is no point at which you feel like grinning.  It’s more like, “Man, I’ve been taking shit for granted.”

  141. 141.

    Eolirin

    @lowtechcyclist: Trump always does this though. So Amazing + Will never forget, in the guestbook at Israel’s Holocaust museum, thumbs up posing with an infant orphaned in a mass shooting event.

    He fundamentally doesn’t know how to do somber and respectful. If there’s a camera pointed at him he’s going to mug for it.

  143. 143.

    Harrison Wesley

    “Madam Vice President, due to your dishonest attachment to female parts, we cannot ask you the traditional Presidential interview question: boxers or briefs?  Your opponent’s response was forthright – it Depends.”

  144. 144.

    hueyplong

    @Eolirin: Such a person, a stranger to impulse control and devoid of anything remotely connected to the concept of empathy, should be not just president but dictator of the world’s foremost superpower.  Makes sense.  Let’s do it.

  145. 145.

    SFAW

    @hueyplong: ​
     

    What you call smugness TBone might call declining to be miserable before an event (Trump victory) that might not even happen.

    It’s not binary, meaning there’s a continuum along the “Harris is definitely going to win”/”Trump wins (or definitely will)” … spectrum(?). [Not putting it in the same category as autism (for example), vis-a-vis “spectrum.” Just seemed to be the most applicable word.]
    In a country with a rational electorate, it would be a very different story. But we don’t have that, and getting to “President Harris” is going to take a lot of work, and I really get tired of numbskulls declaring electoral victory before September.

    “I like her chances”
    “I’m optimistic”
    “I’m feeling good about this” etc. all work. “It’s over” does not.

  147. 147.

    different-church-lady

    The press seems really really disappointed Harris won’t help them undermine her.

  148. 148.

    RaflW

    Turgid, thy prose is NYTimes

    “She was methodical and risk-averse in the 27-minute interview, performing like a top seed in the early rounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament trying to hold serve, survive and advance to the next round”

    Dunno if risk-averse is thought to be neutral journalistic writing at the red lady (she ain’t gray no more), but also, Duh with a capital D, of course she’s going to be risk averse! Part of the point of Harris-Walz is that people are exhausted with all-risk, all-chaos DJT.

    FTR, I did say last night I was unhappy about the nod to bipartisanship inasmuch as any R cabinet member has to be ironclad loyal, and I have a hard time believing that’s possible. But beyond that, I am satisfied with the campaign’s work last night. FTFNYT can caterwaul that she or they both have to sit for their very special exclusive interview, but tough darts Joseph Kahn. Do better and maybe you’ll get rewarded.

  149. 149.

    jonas

    @hueyplong: Absolutely agree. I’ve only been there once, too, and the last thing that crosses the mind of any halfway decent person looking at the Tomb of the Unknowns or the quiet sea of white markers is to pose for a picture in front of them with a big grin and a thumbs-up. What a fucking psychopath.

  150. 150.

    RaflW

    @different-church-lady: The print press used to have a leg to stand on when they’d sniff that teevee interviews aren’t the same quality or thoroughness.

    But yeah, nowadays the NYT isn’t covering itself in glory, and I’m glad to see Harris understands that the purported gatekeeper is in the tank for horserace bullshit and clicks, so why bother.

  153. 153.

    MomSense

    @The Audacity of Krope:

    I don’t think many of the people we need to persuade watched that interview.  They may see clips.  I’m just glad she didn’t take the bait on the trump race nonsense.  He was hoping to make that an issue.

  154. 154.

    K-Mo

    FWIW I thought she did great on inflation.  Not when she talked about prices per se and targeted gouging (which is not a major driver), but when she talked about the Biden administration rescuing 10 million jobs and (after a bout of privet increases) bringing inflation currently under control.  That’s the real answer, even if she had weave it into something else.

    BTW I have this recurring dream where Trump babbles about bacon prices tripling during the debate and she says, “where are you getting your bacon? At my store bacon prices have risen by a dollar or so, but they’re nothing like 3x the price.   And not for nothing, but these  prices also grew a lot when you were president.”

  156. 156.

    Geminid

    @strange visitor (from another planet): Yes, I do not think these missions arise to the level of “forever war.” They are in a very hazardous area though, especially on the Syrian side where they operate against the will of Bashar Assad’s regime and among Iranian-backed militias. The Pentagon keeps these missions out of the public eye as much as practical, and you have to go to Middle East sources to learn much about what they’re up to.

    The Syrian mission has caused a lot of friction with Turkiye, because they regard the YPG militia we work with as a branch of the PKK they have been fighting for forty years. Despite Turkiye’s diplomatic griping, our forces have managed to avoid direct conflict the ladt ten years. Our militaries “know” each other through joint Nato operations and that helps. Still, this is another reason the Pentagon would like to withdraw that mission.

    But the main reason, I think, is that these missions have reached the end of their useful lives. Had it not been for the Gaza war we’d probably be in the process of ending them already. That is already the case with the western Iraq mission, but we and the Iraqis seem to be slow-walking the process for now.

  159. 159.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: are you a paying member of heathers letter? I just get the free one in my email, or I find it on Facebook, but I don’t see anyway to forward a link. What am I missing? The sub stack app? I don’t have that.

    it’s so great that you can post it here for folks; she is so clear and well written.

  161. 161.

    Dave

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Certainly if you feel you must appoint a Republican stop giving them Defense and stop putting them in charge of the FBI; give them them secretary of the most boring and stable department possible. Or even better Secretary of puppies or some BS.

  162. 162.

    Dave

    @jonas: It fits their entire vibe just generalized unnecessary shittiness that uses others in the most crass and banal ways possible for even the possibility of the smallest gain.

  163. 163.

    Ramalama

    @TBone: There are definitely many Yoots listening and liking the old tunes. One of our nieces is into records, though when I said, “Vinyl,” she did not know what I was talking about.

    There were plenty such people in London at the ABBA Voyage show last year. Surprisingly a very mixed crowd of all kinds.

  165. 165.

    Another Scott

    @David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch: Transcript from TheHill:

    “I think it’s important to have people at the table — when some of the most important decisions are being made — that have different views, different experiences,” Harris said. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

    I don’t see a pledge there. I see her musing about the best of all possible worlds. I won’t be surprised one way or the other. She obviously can’t force someone to join the cabinet.

    I didn’t watch the interview.

    I did hear some BBC reporting about it. Something like 80% was about her “flip flopping” fracking views, and another 15% was repeating GQP criticism of her. They’re as bad as Tony Jay says and leave listeners stupider afterwards.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  166. 166.

    MinuteMan

    Appointing a token GOPer to her cabinet as a sign of good will is fine but it shouldn’t be in key area such as defense, state, dhs, etc. This pernicious habit has helped fuel a general perception that Dems are weak on defense, foreign policy, etc.

  167. 167.

    Another Scott

    @MinuteMan: +1

    A clunker, of either party, can do a lot of damage (e.g. that guy who was in charge of some home loans under Obama).

    Harris and Walz and their people can see the big picture and they know who they’re dealing with on the other side.  They know that making noises about – and believing – that bipartisanship is important, but they also know that getting the job done is vital.  They’re not going to appoint MTG or Bannon to some office to appeal to the Broders and Limbaughs of the US polity and political press.

    Chaos at Harris cabinet meetings!!  Why doesn’t she compromise with the MAGA members of her own administration??!!

    [ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  169. 169.

    Bill Arnold

    @MagdaInBlack:

    in 2003 Harris used the word “tried” when she should have used” prosecute”

    Re that, has anyone yet found the internet archive link for her 2003 campaign website where she did, indeed, use the word “prosecuted”?

  170. 170.

    matt

    Stefanik said that Harris and Walz going to be interviewed as a ticket is offensive to all women.

  172. 172.

    H-Bob

    @strange visitor (from another planet): ” over the length of his term, lost FAR more than the 13 he yokes on biden in afghanistan during the withdrawl.”

    What about all the people who died from COVID — why isn’t there a daily post — “On August 30, 2020, ____ people died from COVID”!  Bet it’s more than 13 per day through Election Day 2020.

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