A Former Journalist’s Thoughts on the Oddities of the Harris/Walz Interview Tonight

CNN has been attempting to raise the profile of low-rated evening host of ‘The Source with Kaitlin Collins’ Kaitlin Collins by having her do some west coast talk shows.? It hasn’t gone particularly well.? Appearing on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’, Colbert commented that CNN was ‘objective’ to which his mostly liberal audience laughed out loud.? When Collins asked if that was a laugh line, Colbert could only respond by saying, “I guess it is.”

Collins then found herself getting peppered by liberal Bill Maher on his show ‘Real Time’ about the “gushing” convention coverage of Harris by CNN.? Maher may be liberal, but he doesn’t pander to the left and doesn’t like being pandered to, and so he wondered why CNN in its post Harris speech coverage had only one Republican commentator on their panel.? “It looks like five-to-one” liberals versus conservatives he told her.

Perception equals reality, which is why I suspected that Kamala Harris’ first one-on-one interview would be with CNN.? It’s the friendliest liberal harbor she can go to which brings any sense of credibility.? She couldn’t do it on Harris cheerleader cable network MSNBC.? Her last interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt was a disaster.? ABC and CBS News would offer tougher questioners such as David Muir, George Stephanopoulos or John Dickerson, who will soon become one of the network’s new ‘CBS Evening News’ anchors.

CNN’s Dana Bash is not a pushover and did a good job on the CNN Presidential Debate, but the Harris camp probably thought this was the best setup they could hope for their first mainstream media interview. After all, Bash was one of the most effusive commentators about Harris in CNN's coverage of the DNC which Maher complained about.

And it appears CNN was also willing to make a big concession to get the interview.? They would allow Harris’ running mate Tim Walz to appear with her.

My sense is that is a mistake for both sides.? For Harris, it conjures the image of someone who cannot do an interview without someone there to hold her hand.? For CNN, it looks like a capitulation to a request to which no news network should agree.? Proof is in the pudding, and so we shall see what happens tonight, but if Harris appears to need help from Walz to answer straightforward questions, she’ll end up looking weak and not up to a very important job.? The best candidate for a big job doesn’t bring dad to the interview.

And Harris does have a lot of explaining to do.? She co-sponsored Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for All’ bill eliminating private insurance.? She publicly pushed for a ban on fracking.? She called the border wall a ‘vanity project’ and wanted to ‘rethink’ southern border enforcement with the possibility of eliminating ICE, and her work on the southern border crisis at President Biden’s direction achieved nothing. ?She once vocally supported the Green New Deal and pushed for all vehicles to be electric by 2045. If her positions on all of those have changed, she’ll look less like a serious candidate and more like a political opportunist. It's John Kerry 2004 "I'm not as liberal as I used to say I was" all over again.

Bash can salvage a strange situation by focusing on Harris, asking tough questions with pointed follow-ups, and not letting Walz attempt to bail her out.? Bash’s reputation is on the line just as much as CNN’s. The Harris calculation is that Bash also understands that CNN's audience of liberals and 'Never-Trumpers' will compel her to proceed with some caution.

Harris has a new campaign ad on the air where I live in North Carolina centered around her ‘courage’.? And yet, this will be the first interview since she was named the nominee more than a month ago, she is bringing her VP with her for it, has yet to commit to any more interviews, and Harris has not held a single news conference.? That doesn’t sound like courage to me.? If she really wants the biggest, toughest job in the world, I believe she needs to show more courage when it comes to dealing with the Fourth Estate.

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