Following her tussle in Thursday night’s 2020 Democratic presidential debate with former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) was promptly touted as a hero on MSNBC’s set by the assembled motley crew of characters, boasting that the “brave” and “powerful” candidate was someone who created “some extraordinary exchanges” and provided “vision” for African-Americans that she could win.
Lyin’ Brian Williams was first off the boat, gushing that “the most indelible picture of the evening may be a photo we've never seen of a young girl in Berkeley, California, named Kamala at the bus stop on her way to school.”
“That is to say, it was on that point that she forged a moment against the front-runner Joe Biden who was careful to begin with Donald Trump. He was careful to try to end strong, but that is likely our plot line tonight,” Williams added.’
Failed Republican strategist-turned-liberal MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace swooned as if she had been a Democrat her whole life, declaring that the candidates on stage Thursday “were all much more closer to the beating pulse of the hopes and desires of really the most sort of urgently desperate to beat Donald Trump wing of the Democratic Party.”
To single out her love for Harris, Wallace proclaimed that she “has not yet been showcased in a moment that did not elevate her” and thus “[s]he changed the dynamics of this event and perhaps the Democratic primary tonight.”
A few segments later, Wallace went all out (click “expand”):
It was an amazing moment. It’s described perfectly by The New York Times, but it wasn't the first time she made this argument. When he made these comments with a print pooler in the room at a fund-raiser, she responded essentially along these lines. And to all of your points, he has had days to prepare. Maybe he didn't know she was going to say it in such a dramatic and powerful and effective way, but he knew the thrust of what she might say and so I think it as much as a — it's not a trouble sign for Biden, but for people in his campaign who would like him to spend more time preparing for what they can reasonably predict, this was a line of argument from her, of attack from her, if you will, that they could have predicted.
AM Joy host Joy Reid was similarly enthralled, dubbing the “brave” Harris at the onset of her first comments as “the one person who gave us that very clear picture of what it would look like for them to go up against Donald Trump head to head” because “she had the strategy” and “courage to actually attack Joe Biden” by “destabiliz[ing] him on the race question.”
Not surprisingly, Reid added moments later that “Harris presented herself essentially as a front-runner tonight.”
After the first commercial break, Reid came back with such fervor for Harris that it came within perhaps the same state as Chris Matthews’s affection for Barack Obama, calling her “a preparer” and that she has attempted to “break [the] nostalgia” of Biden by “position[ing] herself right at the fulcrum of the past and future.”
Reid continued on, fawning over Harris as someone who was “direct,” “performative,” “succinct,” and gave African-American voters “the vision” that she could win (click “expand”):
She said “I myself when I was young, this — we were at that leading edge of trying to desegregate these schools.” My sister is a little older than Kamala Harris — or a little younger, I’m sorry, than Kamala Harris and was in that leading edge of little kids who had to try to be bussed and got horrible reaction from white kids. She has not put herself in that story, but as a kid where he was a man saying busing isn't a good idea. She's now opening that door and the thing that hurts Kamala Harris the most and reason she hasn't been able to really move, being a prosecutor raises suspicions among young African-Americans but the very thing that hurts her, helps her in a debate, she's able to do the performative aspects of being a prosecutor where she's prepared, where she’s succinct, and where she’s direct. She can be respectful because there’s a judge usually in a courtroom, but she goes out you with just pincher moves and she just kept hitting him and hitting him and hitting him. That does two things. That makes black people doubt. Black voters now say “maybe he's not the guy. If she can take him on, maybe he's not the only guy who can win and it says, “wait a minute. Maybe she could take on Trump. Maybe I can picture this. I can —” African-American voters need to see the vision. She gave them the vision tonight.
Fresh off his tussle with Donny Deutsch almost 24 hours before, Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell hailed Harris as a planned attack that “she did...very well” with “some extraordinary exchanges there, was very, very powerful on immigration, very powerful on other issues, so if the candidate in this group tonight who I think helped herself the most was Kamala Harris.”
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s post-debate coverage on June 27, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Democratic Debate: Post-Debate Analysis
June 27, 2019
11:00 p.m. Eastern
BRIAN WILLIAMS: We saw some divisions on that stage very visible. You could hear them, and a big one was generational and listening to it, watching it, it occurs to me the most indelible picture of the evening may be a photo we've never seen of a young girl in Berkeley, California, named Kamala at the bus stop on her way to school. That is to say, it was on that point that she forged a moment against the front-runner Joe Biden who was careful to begin with Donald Trump. He was careful to try to end strong, but that is likely our plot line tonight. Nicolle Wallace.
NICOLLE WALLACE: I agree with that. I believe what happened tonight will erase in most peoples mind what happened last night. That's not to take anything away from any of the men and women who stood on that stage, but I think there was a very different feeling about tonight. From Joe Biden's very first response in which he invoked an attack, Donald Trump which was something our friend Joy Reid said the Democratic Party is hungry for. I think they were all much more closer to the beating pulse of the hopes and desires of really the most sort of urgently desperate to beat Donald Trump wing of the Democratic Party and I think we talked about it a lot leading into this debate. Kamala Harris has not yet been showcased in a moment that did not elevate her and we talked about the Barr hearings where she didn't just stand out, she changed the dynamics of that event. She changed the dynamics of this event and perhaps the Democratic primary tonight.
WILLIAMS: Joy Reid?
JOY REID: Well, I'm actually looking at who's crowding around these candidates at the end. A throng of black women flocking around Kamala Harris. A good thing for her. Pete Buttigieg's throng not as diverse. I think tonight, these candidates had two jobs. There are 22 people in the debates, 24 people running. Job number one, start eliminating some people, start to take down some of the other candidates. It's a game of Survivor. I know they’re friends and colleagues now, like each other and marginally agree, but you've got to start trying to eliminate people and others in the minds of these voters who are really struggling to pick someone and I think the second job, show us, give us a vision in our minds of what it would look like for you to debate Donald Trump and I think the one person who gave us that very clear picture of what it would look like for them to go up against Donald Trump head to head was Kamala Harris. She had the strategy. She went the courage to actually attack Joe Biden. She was one of the few who went after him head on, she destabilized him on the race question. He didn't seem to know how to answer, and she took on Donald Trump directly, including back to Biden, a bank shot off of Barack Obama, which is like hearsay in the Democratic Party. She did a bank shot off Barack Obama's deportation policy to hit that man, Joe Biden, on immigration. That was brave and it went very well for her.
WALLACE: You keep talking about survivor, though. Is this an urgent thing or just something that has to happen? So that the front runners get more attention?
REID: Absolutely. This isn’t, you know, in 2016 in the Republican field, there were 17 people running but only one celebrity. In this instance, you have a lot of voters who kind of like them all, right? I know people who are like a little bit about Buttigieg, I like a bit about Biden. I kind of think Biden may be the one who can win, so I — he may not be my favorite but I have to go with him. I like a little bit about Kamala Harris but I also like a little Warren. People are trying to make up their minds and 24 of them, you've got to stand out in a way people start to separate somebody from the field and tonight, you know, Kirsten Gillibrand, kudos for staying in it because she was the other woman there, but Kamala Harris presented herself essentially as a front-runner tonight.
WILLIAMS: Former Democratic colleague of Kamala Harris in the senate Clara Mccaskill.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Yeah. I — I think Kamala obviously had a big night tonight. I do think — so did Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I thought he handled himself I thought he showed that he deserves some of the attention he's getting. You compare his purchase to Beto's last night, I think his was substantively better. I think he delivered in a calm way.
(....)
11:05:37 p.m.
49 secondsLAWRENCE O’DONNELL: And so Senator Harris decided, and it was clearly a decision to go straight at Joe Biden. There — it was very clearly something she knew she was going to do. She did it very well. She did it very strongly using Joe Biden's history on school busing in the United States Senate, which is hard to imagine you're in an election in the 21st century that refers back to the 1970s in the United States Senate, but that's what you get when you have this kind of longevity in a candidate and so she really, I think, had some extraordinary exchanges there, was very, very powerful on immigration, very powerful on other issues. So if the candidate in this group tonight who I think helped herself the most was Kamala Harris.
(....)
11:26 p.m. Eastern
JOY REID: [Kamala Harris is] a preparer. And here's the thing, Steve talked about African-American voters particularly black women right now being the base of Biden's support. Black voters are super. pragmatic. It's not about love.
WALLACE: Head voters, not heart voters.
REID: They’re head voters. They say who can win. They only pivoted to Barack Obama when they showed white voters in Iowa would vote for him. Kamala Harris needs to get past that hope gap where African-Americans say, “oh, this country is not the country we thought it was. Maybe only Biden can win.” That is why he's ahead and they know he's a nostalgia candidate. How do you break nostalgia. You pivot — you position Biden as a candidate of the past, and she positioned herself right at the fulcrum of the past and future. She said “I myself when I was young, this — we were at that leading edge of trying to desegregate these schools.” My sister is a little older than Kamala Harris — or a little younger, I’m sorry, than Kamala Harris and was in that leading edge of little kids who had to try to be bussed and got horrible reaction from white kids. She has not put herself in that story, but as a kid where he was a man saying busing isn't a good idea. She's now opening that door and the thing that hurts Kamala Harris the most and reason she hasn't been able to really move, being a prosecutor raises suspicions among young African-Americans but the very thing that hurts her, helps her in a debate, she's able to do the performative aspects of being a prosecutor where she's prepared, where she’s succinct, and where she’s direct. She can be respectful because there’s a judge usually in a courtroom, but she goes out you with just pincher moves and she just kept hitting him and hitting him and hitting him. That does two things. That makes black people doubt. Black voters now say “maybe he's not the guy. If she can take him on, maybe he's not the only guy who can win and it says, “wait a minute. Maybe she could take on Trump. Maybe I can picture this. I can —” African-American voters need to see the vision. She gave them the vision tonight.
(....)11:36 p.m. Eastern
WALLACE: It was an amazing moment. It’s described perfectly by The New York Times, but it wasn't the first time she made this argument. When he made these comments with a print pooler in the room at a fund-raiser, she responded essentially along these lines. And to all of your points, he has had days to prepare. Maybe he didn't know she was going to say it in such a dramatic and powerful and effective way, but he knew the thrust of what she might say and so I think it as much as a — it's not a trouble sign for Biden, but for people in his campaign who would like him to spend more time preparing for what they can reasonably predict, this was a line of argument from her, of attack from her, if you will, that they could have predicted.
