CBS Announces Harris Pick With Triumphant Music, Hope She Scares Pence

August 11th, 2020 11:09 PM

Interrupting Tuesday’s edition of Dr. Phil on D.C. affiliate WUSA-9, CBS News broke in to announce that their candidate for president, former Vice President Joe Biden, had finally made up his mind and selected Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) to be his running mate. CBS was so excited by the breaking news that they cued up triumphant music to celebrate the completion of their 2020 ticket. At one point, they noted Democrats hoped she would make Vice President Mike Pence “nervous.”

“This is a CBS News Special Report....We are coming on the air with breaking news. The wait is over. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate,” anchor Margaret Brennan beamed as the music played (as the video below shows).

Missing the tacit admission, Brennan noted: “The announcement was made just moments ago via a text message to supporters.” At one point, she even held up her phone to show the camera the message (pictured above and in the video tweet below). After doing that, political correspondent Ed O’Keefe nodded in agreement and then reached for his own phone off camera.

“The choice of a running mate is arguably one of the most important decisions that he has made to date,” Brennan added before hinting that Harris could take over. “He turns 78 years old shortly after election day and would be the oldest person to become president if elected.”

 

 

Later, O’Keefe refuted others who had called Harris the “safe pick” and insisted she was the “bold move”:

And so, there's been an understanding ever since election night 2016 that a lot more had to be done to motivate and draw out minority voters, younger voters who want to see this kind of a bold move. And it is a bold move. She's been described by many as a safe pick compared to some of the others. Let's not lose sight of the history.

Shifting to CBS chief congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Brennan teed her up to gush about the Senator.

“Well, she is viewed, Margaret, as a very formidable interrogator, a legacy from her role as California's attorney general. As soon as she got here, she was placed on a quartet of very high-profile Senate committees,” Cordes boasted, “a reflection of the fact that she was very adept at grilling major players in the Trump administration, and clearly from the very beginning, also had higher ambitions.”

Claiming she was quoting something a Democratic Senate staffer told her, Cordes pushed the false narrative that Harris was a moderate:

And so I spoke to a Senate aide a short time ago who described her this way: She's someone who can excite the base without upsetting moderates and someone who combines a prosecutor's skill with the passion of an advocate. That gives you a sense of why she made the cut at the end of the day.

As NewsBusters has documented, Harris’s own words at two CNN town halls last year proved she’s a far-left radical.

Cordes wrapped up her comments by touting how “Democrats are hoping that she will make Vice President Mike Pence nervous when she goes up against him in their one and only debate.”

Between the triumphant music, the text messages, and hoping Pence gets scared, CBS made it obvious they were in the tank for Biden.

There were no commercial breaks during CBS’s break in, but you can visit the Conservatives Fight Back page to see which advertisers show up on other CBS News programs.

The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:

CBS News Special
August 11, 2020
4:17:18 p.m. Eastern

MARGARET BRENNAN: This is a CBS News special report. I'm Margaret Brennan in Washington. We are coming on the air with breaking news. The wait is over. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Harris is 56 years old a former federal prosecutor, a former attorney general of the state of California, and she has represented that state in the Senate since 2017.

The announcement was made just moments ago via a text message to supporters.

Some 83 days are left between now and election day, but even before Joe Biden officially clinched the Democratic Party's nomination for president back in early June, he had made clear he wanted a woman on the ticket beside him. And in receipt weeks, he's interviewed a number of possible candidates, including a number of women of color.

The choice of a running mate is arguably one of the most important decisions that he has made to date. He turns 78 years old shortly after election day and would be the oldest person to become president if elected.

(…)

ED O’KEEFE: And so, there's been an understanding ever since election night 2016 that a lot more had to be done to motivate and draw out minority voters, younger voters who want to see this kind of a bold move. And it is a bold move. She's been described by many as a safe pick compared to some of the others. Let's not lose sight of the history.

(…)

BRENNAN: I want to go to capitol hill to get the perspective from our correspondent there, Nancy Cordes, who has covered Senator Harris ever since she was sworn into office in 2017. She is the sitting junior senator from the state of California. Nancy, what is her reception on the hill like? How is she viewed? What do you see as her main sort of legacy item as a lawmaker?

NANCY CORDES: Well, she is viewed, Margaret, as a very formidable interrogator, a legacy from her role as California's attorney general. As soon as she got here, she was placed on a quartet of very high-profile Senate committees-- the Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security, Intelligence, Budget-- a reflection of the fact that she was very adept at grilling major players in the Trump administration, and clearly from the very beginning, also had higher ambitions.

And so I spoke to a Senate aide a short time ago who described her this way: She's someone who can excite the base without upsetting moderates and someone who combines a prosecutor's skill with the passion of an advocate. That gives you a sense of why she made the cut at the end of the day.

And Senator Chris Coons, who like former Vice President Joe Biden, is from Delaware, he's very close to Biden, just told me a couple of minutes ago how excited he is about this pick. He says, “Senator Harris is a great friend and colleague whom I’ve gotten to see in action on the Judiciary Committee. She's smart, tough, warm, and engaging. And I've seen her take on leading Trump officials from Jeff Sessions to Bill Barr. She'll be a terrific partner.”

So, that's some of the early reaction, Margaret.

In fact, when she grilled Jeff Sessions a couple years ago, he famously told her that she made him nervous. And certainly, Democrats are hoping that she will make Vice President Mike Pence nervous when she goes up against him in their one and only debate.

(…)