Kamala Harris finally submitted to an interview after 39 days as Biden's sudden replacement. Pundits said this long-running boycott of the press raised the stakes of this interview, but Bash wasn’t chosen because she would punish Harris for her avoidance. Bash made a few attempts to capture her slippery moves away from radical stands she took during her failed campaign in 2019. But Harris was allowed broad freedom to explain it away.
Jorge Bonilla sat through it all and has thoughts. Harris was largely allowed to talk at length with what were probably well-rehearsed answers she had worked on for days. It could be seen as preparation for the September 10 debate.
Bash's worst question was the open-ended one about President Biden's mental decline: "Right after the debate, you insisted that President Biden is extraordinarily strong. Given where we are now, do you have any regrets about what you told the American people?" Harris was able to say she had no regrets and then tout Biden and his record.
Afterward, CNN analyst Scott Jennings responded: "I also thought it was interesting that she didn't take any responsibility at the end for telling the American people that Joe Biden was fine and he was strong when we all know that's not true. That's why he's out of the race and she's still standing by the idea he was fine and he's strong and then he's fine today. Nobody believes that…"
Journalists are still worrying that they're crowding Harris too much with demands. CNN pundit and former NPR host Audie Cornish said she's "a little nervous" that too many "in the media" are "preoccupied with, like, how much access, how many" interviews Kamala Harris should do because we should be saying "I don't how much that matters." This is the exact opposite of Jim Acosta forcing himself onto President Trump during press conferences, demanding CNN get their questions answered because Trump criticized CNN.
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