... Kamala Harris' better choice for running mate. Or so we thought.

Josh Shapiro clearly didn't intend to kneecap the Democrat anointee for president when he appeared on PBS' Firing Line yesterday. The governor of Pennsylvania tried to defend Harris on energy production as a means to distract from her previous hard-line opposition on fracking. When Margaret Hoover asked Shapiro to explain why Harris' position changed, however, he couldn't come up with any specifics:

PA Gov Josh Shapiro is asked why Kamala Harris flipped her energy positions

He tries to invent reasons why she changed her views, but when asked if there's a "believable" reason she changed other than political expediency, he says that Harris has to explain herself@ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/SezKBUAlkT

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 20, 2024

“We have not had a direct conversation about this issue in particular,” he said. “I think what is clear to me, this is my interpretation, is that she’s listened and she has seen the power that natural gas, the power that our energy sources domestically here in the United States have in strengthening our economy, in strengthening our national security, just as Joe Biden in ‘87 talked about.”

Hoover noted that the worry and concern from voters is that “she’s just changed for political reasons.”

“Whereas if there was a real clear national security rationale or reason that felt believable, that that would make it more believable,” she said.

Shapiro responded by saying: “Well look, I think that’s on the vice president to explain her rationale on this.”

Yes, indeed. It is the nominee's responsibility to explain not just her current positions but also why she's changed nearly all of them for this campaign. In fact, we still don't really know that she's changed any of them. Harris herself has not confirmed most of these policy reversals; they have come to us mainly through leaks from anonymous campaign aides. 

And let's not forget that it's also the media's job to press candidates for these explanations. Bret Baier has thus far been the only journalist to attempt that. CNN's Dana Bash made a half-hearted effort to get Harris to explain her flip-flops before deciding to move on to other topics. Democrats and media outlets -- but I repeat myself -- heaped vitriol on Baier for refusing to get filibustered with non-sequitur responses to his specific policy questions. Hoover just did the same with Shapiro in this interview, in fact, and Shapiro got forced into admitting that Harris never has offered any real explanations for reversing practically all of her previous positions over the last three months. 

Because the media let Harris get away with it, we now only have 16 days before a presidential election for Harris to "explain her rationale" for massive shifts across nearly the entire policy spectrum. So when will Harris offer that explanation? Does Shapiro know? Has he even bothered to ask? 

And why haven't other reporters bothered to ask, too -- and keep asking until they get answers?