CNN: Say, Remember When Kamala Pledged to Prosecute Oil Producers Rather Than Praise Them?

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Sure, I do. That was around the same time that Kamala Harris proposed and backed a Medicare for All socialized-medicine bill. And for that matter, bragged about her role in ensuring that taxpayers covered the cost of transgender surgeries for prison inmates, opposed a border wall, wanted to defund ICE, and so on. 

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Most of the Protection Racket Media has refused to cover these previous positions, or pretend that Harris has addressed them. Give credit to CNN's Andrew Kaczynski for continuing to dig into Harris' record, practically alone in his field in doing so. This afternoon, the K-File reporter reminds everyone that Harris ran in 2019 on a platform of prosecuting oil companies for producing fossil-fuel energy -- production for which Harris now wants to claim credit:

When Kamala Harris ran for president in 2019, she repeatedly warned oil companies they should be prepared to face hefty fines and even criminal prosecution under a future Harris administration for their role in contributing to climate change.

Now, as the Democratic nominee, Harris is highlighting the country’s record oil and gas production. She rarely talks about climate change, and, despite having been a vigorous supporter of the Green New Deal, her campaign’s website is light on climate policy details.

It’s a stark shift that illustrates the delicate politics of energy — but also how Harris has abandoned a number of progressive positions she held before joining Joe Biden’s ticket in 2020.

Be sure to read it all. However, this is not really a new story, but rather an expansion on a common theme of Harris' campaign as well as the lack of media attention to it. Candidates can and often do change positions on specific issues depending on election cycles and constituencies being sought. As J.D. Vance explained this week, he has changed his position on a national regulation on abortion because he sees the wisdom of Donald Trump's federalist approach to it, and he is no longer running for a Senate seat where those issues would be debated anyway.

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However, the point is that the media has pressed Vance for that explanation on multiple occasions -- and on just that one issue. As Kaczynski has reported several times over the last two months, Harris has changed positions to diametric opposite stands from just five years ago on practically every issue. Not only has Harris not explained her reasoning for those changes, she herself has yet to confirm those changes personally. Her campaign has spent the last three months only suggesting she has changed her mind.

And yet, the media -- for the most part -- has circled the wagons around Harris. In fact, that's the topic of a new documentary at the Daily Caller: "Cleaning Up Kamala." It's paywalled, but here's the trailer:

In tomorrow's podcast, I speak with Daily Caller analyst Mary Rooke about the film. We discuss this CNN report as an anomaly in the Protection Racket Media's corrupt approach to this election cycle, as well as a couple of later-breaking news stories that add more context to the documentary.

All of this leads up to tomorrrow's big Fox News interview with Bret Baier, and the stakes involved for Harris and the rest of the media. Will Baier use just these issues covered by CNN to pin Harris down on her policies and her reasons for flip-flopping? And will she actually provide answers, or just word salads? Not coincidentally, that question looms large in the latest episode of The Ed Morrissey Show podcast, with Andrew Malcolm:

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  • Just what drove Kamala Harris to agree to an interview on Fox News with Bret Baier? 
  • Andrew Malcolm and I discuss the desperation apparent among Democrats as Harris begins to stall out and decline in battlegrounds. 
  • We also take a look at the CBS News/60 Minutes scandal, and wonder what CBS is hiding in its edits. 
  • Plus, are Joe and Jill quietly wreaking revenge on Democrats? 

The Ed Morrissey Show is now a fully downloadable and streamable show at  Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the TEMS Podcast YouTube channel, and on Rumble and our own in-house portal at the #TEMS page!

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