‘We Need You’ as ‘Mamala’; Here’s the Worst Moments From Drew Barrymore’s Kamala Chat

April 30th, 2024 11:26 AM

Vice President Kamala Harris’s taped interview with actress-turned-daytime-talk-show host Drew Barrymore aired Monday and while it was a brisk watch, it nonetheless remained a gag-tastic abomination as Barrymore sat Indian-style on her curvy couch and held hands with Harris as she gushed over the awkward far-left politician as America’s “Mamala” and someone the country “respects so much” who can be “a great protector”.

Well, unless you’re talking about unborn babies, (real) Christians, or those who possessed marijuana back when she was San Francisco district attorney. Because, in those cases, forget about it.

 

 

At the end of the first block, Barrymore almost broke down as, after Harris talked about her blended family with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and his daughters from his first marriage and that his girls call her “Mamala”, she proclaimed Harris should adopt the title for the whole country:

Well, that’s a great segue to say that I keep thinking in my head that we all need a mom. I’ve been thinking that we really all need a tremendous hug in the world right now, but in our country, we need you to be Mamala of the country. 

Amid raucous cheers and applause, Harris awkwardly drank it in like a villain receiving new powers: “I know. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, no.”

Barrymore kept laying it on thick: “And as a woman who respects so much and wants to share and wants to be confident and has no ounce of meat that has competitiveness. When we lift each other up, we all rise.”

Harris’s bizarre infatuation with herself was on display as she responded to these compliments with, “that’s exactly right. That’s right, that’s right.”

She finally said more than words of affirmation (for herself) after Barrymore called her “a great protector (click “expand”):

Well you know, part of it is, I think that sadly over the last many years, there has been this kind of perverse approach to what strength looks like, which is to suggest that the measure of one’s strength is based on who you beat down, instead of what we know the true measure of your strength is based on who you lift up...You know, and — and if you ever want to measure, if you ever just want some indication — objective indication of your individual power, see what you can do to help other people, people in need. 

What — and it could be, you know, just a simple act, including just taking some interest and actually listening to how people are feeling and to sincerely — sincerely have some interest and care and concern about their well-being or their suffering. And I think we all know that’s what we want in each other. That’s what we want from leaders, but let’s be intentional about it and open about saying, you know, that’s really what strength looks like. And that’s the kind of strength that we want.

In the next block, Barrymore sounded off about her ongoing but futile life on the dating scene and asked if Harris could help find her a man because “you are Mamala” and Harris’s marriage to Emhoff was thanks to a friend setting them up.

After a block with taped questions from Emhoff about their dating history, the show was almost over and, with the time left, Barrymore told Harris, “I appreciate you more every single day. Not only thank you for going out and championing on behalf of all of us, but thank you for being the mother, the woman, the sister, and the daughter.”

Once again, Harris couldn’t seem to accept a compliment (even attributing her to being a mother when she has no children of her own) without being weird:

And friend and I love my — and I just — it’s really important. I think most of us — I — I will speak for myself. I could not do anything that I do on a daily basis, much less have arrived at this point, without an extraordinary network of friends. I mean, my best friend from kindergarten is still one of my best friends.

Harris added she “mentor[s] a lot of young women mostly, but young men also, and I say...choose to be around people who love you, who care about you, who are going to be honest with you.”

The Vice President then brought up how “my staff, for example, sometimes they’ll show me little things that just amuse me” such as “apparently, some people love to talk about the way I laugh”, but it was clearly Harris brought up not because it amused her, but it leaves her seething.

Barrymore cheered her up: “Oh, yes! I love your laugh!”

Harris defended her awkward, Disney villain-like cackle by saying she has her “mother’s laugh and I grew up around a bunch of women, in particular, who laughed from the belly”.

“I think it’s really important for us to remind each other and our younger ones, don’t be confined to other people’s perception about what this looks like,” she concluded.

With time running out and brain cells having been destroyed long before this, Barrymore gushed as she wrapped before signing off, “I love your laugh and I love that message.”

To see the relevant transcript from April 29, click “expand.”

The Drew Barrymore Show [via WJLA]
April 29, 2024
3:06 p.m. Eastern

DREW BARRYMORE: Well, that’s —

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: You have to sort that out.

BARRYMORE: — a great segue to say that I keep thinking in my head that we all need a mom. I’ve been thinking that we really all need a tremendous hug in the world right now, but in our country, we need you to be Mamala of the country. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

HARRIS: I know. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, no.

BARRYMORE: And as a woman who respects so much and wants to share and wants to be confident and has no ounce of meat that has competitiveness.

HARRIS: Yeah.

BARRYMORE: When we lift each other up, we all rise.

HARRIS: That’s exactly right.  [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] That’s right, that’s right.

BARRYMORE: However, we need a great protector.

HARRIS: Yeah. Well you know, part of it is, I think that sadly over the last many years, there has been this kind of perverse approach to what strength looks like, which is to suggest that the measure of one’s strength is based on who you beat down, instead of what we know the true measure of your strength is based on who you lift up.

BARRYMORE: Yes.

HARRIS: Right?

BARRYMORE: Yes.

HARRIS: You know, and — and if you ever want to measure, if you ever just want some indication — objective indication of your individual power, see what you can do to help other people, people in need. What — and it could be, you know, just a simple act —

BARRYMORE: Yes.

HARRIS: — including just taking some interest and actually listening —

BARRYMORE: Yes.

HARRIS: — to how people are feeling and to sincerely — sincerely have some interest and care and concern about their well-being or their suffering. And I think we all know that’s what we want in each other. That’s what we want from leaders, but let’s be intentional about it and open about saying, you know, that’s really what strength looks like. And that’s the kind of strength that we want. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

(....)

3:13 p.m. Eastern

BARRYMORE: However, getting to know each other first through questionnaires felt really exciting to me.

HARRIS: Yeah.

BARRYMORE: And we’ve lost the art of that. So there’s a college that has a blind questionnaire.

HARRIS: Mmmm.

BARRYMORE: [A]nd then they match you up with one person and you meet. And the success rate apparently is phenomenal. We just did a story about it.

HARRIS: Have you tried it?

BARRYMORE: I would like that opportunity. I never really got to go on a blind date, funny enough. I know. If someone set you up to — to I never have asked anyone to set me up. I never want to burden anyone with that, but you are Mamala. [LAUGHTER] If anyone comes to mind.

HARRIS: Okay, okay.

BARRYMORE: I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve never asked anyone.

HARRIS: I’m going to about it.

BARRYMORE: Oh my goodness.

HARRIS: I’ll think about it.

(....)

3:26 p.m. Eastern

BARRYMORE: I appreciate you more every single day. Not only thank you for going out and championing on behalf of all of us, but thank you for being the mother, the woman, the sister, and the daughter

HARRIS: And friend and I love my — and I just — [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — it’s really important. I think most of us — I — I will speak for myself. I could not do anything that I do on a daily basis, much less have arrived at this point, without an extraordinary network of friends. I mean, my best friend from kindergarten is still one of my best friends.

AUDIENCE: Awww.

HARRIS: And I think — and again, I mentor a lot of young women mostly, but young men also, and I say to them, you know, it’s really important — and I say this to everybody — choose to be around people who love you, who care about you, who are going to be honest with you. Like, girl you need a mint, you know? [LAUGHTER] People —

BARRYMORE: Deb!

HARRIS: — who will be like, you know, if you if you trip and fall, they’ll laugh with you, but then they’ll pick you back up and push you back out there. You know, you were asking me earlier about what it means to be, like, the first woman, and you know, it’s funny because people still got to get used to this, right? I mean, my staff, for example, sometimes they’ll show me little things that just amuse me. Like, apparently, some people love to talk about the way I laugh.

BARRYMORE: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: Ok.

BARRYMORE: I love your laugh.

HARRIS: Well, let me just tell you something. I have my mother’s laugh.

BARRYMORE: Awww!

HARRIS: And I grew up around a bunch of women, in particular, who laughed from the belly. They laughed. They would sit around the kitchen and HAD — drinking their coffee telling big stories with big laughs. You know, I’m never going to be hahahaha. Like, that’s just — [LAUGHTER] — I’m not that person and I think it’s really important for us to remind each other and our younger ones, don’t be confined to other people’s perception about what this looks like and who you — how you should act in order to be, right? It’s really important. It’s important. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

BARRYMORE: I love your laugh and I love that message.