Time to close the tabs before final call for the weekend ...
Truly the most incredible clip of the night is when Kamala was asked why she’s hasn’t done anything as VP to improve the economy and her response was that she lowered inflation to a level that was still higher than under President Trump
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 30, 2024
pic.twitter.com/E7QSMdLqUs
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Less positive: She was vague to the point of vacuous. She struggled to give straight answers to her shifting positions on fracking and border security other than to say, “My values have not changed.” Fine, but she evaded the question of why it took the Biden administration more than three years to gain better control of the border, which it ultimately did through an executive order that could have been in place years earlier. It also didn’t answer the question of why she reversed her former policy positions — or whether she has higher values other than political expediency.
Harris also relied on a few talking points that may not serve her well in the next two months.
Ed: Bret Stephens is a master of understatement. "My values haven't changed" does not explain 180-degree policy flip-flops on nearly every issue from five years ago. Harris seems to not realize that the only believable reason for those reversals would be if her values HAD changed. Speaking of which ...
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COMRADE KAMALA: "MY VALUES HAVE NOT CHANGED." pic.twitter.com/ZjYR02wFBe
— Trump on 𝕏 (@trump_repost) August 30, 2024
Ed: Yes, I ran this earlier today too, but the tab was still open!
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“My overall take — can I tell you? Is that this is what happens when you have a meek person interviewed by a meek journalist — that’s what we saw. I don’t wish to personally offend her, but that’s what I saw. She didn’t have the stones to really press Kamala Harris and I think that’s because she knew Kamala Harris couldn’t take it,” Kelly continued. “So she went very gently with her and as a result we didn’t get Kamala Harris really pressed on any answers and we didn’t see her in any uncomfortable position — which is your job.”
Kelly continued to call out Bash by stating she “failed the profession and the country” as she’s been the only person to interview the potential next president of the United States.
Ed: I'm pretty much where Kelly is on this, too. Bash didn't go complete sycophant and did ask a couple of tough questions, but she also let Harris off the hook, too. And in the end, Harris didn't even take advantage of the openings Bash did leave her.
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"I felt a little bad for her": JD Vance said Kamala Harris did not appear "sure-footed" throughout her CNN interview pic.twitter.com/qdexaceQ6Z
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 30, 2024
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After watching Harris for a few of these pre-packaged segments, it is obvious that the weeks of bubble-wrap treatment insisted on by her team and supported by the mainstream media have not served her well.
One thing that is becoming clearer? Why Kamala’s team has been so disagreeable to the terms of the September 10 debate on ABC. I don’t think the live microphones or notes or podiums are the issue. The root cause of Team Harris’s hesitancy is something else entirely.
Ed: I'm not convinced that she will show up for the debate on September 10.
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SENATOR KENNEDY:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 30, 2024
Kamala Harris is "AOC without the bartending experience." pic.twitter.com/i5xUWvZOSS
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At the 2020 vice presidential debate, Harris said, “Joe Biden will not ban fracking, he has been very clear about that I will repeat and the American people now that Joe Biden will not ban fracking.”
Dale said, “So it makes perfect sense that at the time she was speaking on behalf of Biden, the president, not the vice president, sets administration policy, but maybe other people feel differently. I certainly did not hear anywhere in there Kamala Harris saying she personally had abandoned her 2019 view rather she was speaking for Joe Biden.”
Ed: If a Republican flip-flopped on just one major policy, the media would eat them alive over it. They did with Mitt Romney on abortion, for instance, and they're doing it with abortion on Trump now for much less of a change. Harris has changed all of her previous positions, and all we get is chin-stroking from the same media outlets.
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President Trump is right: because of @GovTimWalz, Minnesota is one of just 7 states (plus DC) with ZERO limits on abortion.
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) August 30, 2024
When @NPR reported on this, they claimed @realDonaldTrump had "no evidence."
Shame on NPR for covering for Walz and failing to report the truth
🧵/8 pic.twitter.com/duTY7EIB3p
#BREAKING: Former President Trump is "no" on Florida's abortion Amendment 4, saying the amendment is too extreme
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 30, 2024
"I'll be voting no." pic.twitter.com/YoGuIVMR1o
Ed: Case in point!
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CNN: “You said you carried weapons in war, but you’ve never deployed in a war zone…”
— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) August 30, 2024
Walz: “I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves…”
CNN: “You said that you were in war. Did you misspeak?”
Walz: “My grammar is not always correct.”
pic.twitter.com/U5nR4SH6ZJ
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Walz was scarcely more impressive. When Bash asked about apparent false statements he has made about his military service, he guiltily replied that "my record speaks for itself" before meandering into a weird digression about how much he cares about school shootings. When Bash pressed him on the specific issue of whether he had made misstatements about having served in a war zone, Walz even less comfortingly replied that "my grammar is not always correct." His answers on his DUI arrest and family fertilization treatments were equally petty and evasive.
The baleful results are already trickling in. Betting odds on the presidential election's outcome shifted on Friday from a slight advantage for Harris to parity with Trump. The pollster Nate Silver shifted his forecast from a slight Harris lead in the electoral college results to a slight Trump lead. Harris' bounce in swing states seems to be receding. If Republicans want more movement in that direction, all they need to do is to keep Harris talking. She will almost certainly avoid that as much as possible, but American voters deserve to hear her.
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Trump event packed here in Cambria County where in 2020 Democrats still dominated voter registration. Today Republicans make up 57% of the voter registration pic.twitter.com/ozLAnmUnb0
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) August 30, 2024
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