When a professional athlete fails at a critical point of the game, they can't hide their collapse from the fans, the media, or their teammates.
Kamala Harris choked during her CNN town hall on Wednesday night. Members of her own party know it. The media knows it. And it's most likely that many voters know it as well.
“Even if the questions make her uncomfortable or piss her off, why can’t she answer them plainly and clearly and then pivot to the platitudes that put everyone to sleep?” one Democratic political consultant said. “Instead, it’s just all platitudes and BS … this constant evasiveness is exactly what voters hate about politicians, and her inability to communicate like a human being instead of like a politician is her greatest challenge.”
“Christ already, answer a damn question” the source added.
Harris didn't "freeze" during the town hall as much as she couldn't keep her mouth from running away with her brain.
“The thing that would concern me is when she doesn’t want to answer a question, her habit is to kind of go-to word salad city, and she did that on a couple of answers,” former Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod said Wednesday night on CNN.
Matt Bai points out that Harris had little to offer in the way of a closing argument: "I think I would summarize Kamala Harris’s closing argument from the night as: 'You really need to vote for anybody but Donald Trump. And I’m anybody.'"
That's so true. Try as she might, Harris can't close with anything but more blather about Trump the fascist or Trump the convicted felon. Jim Geraghty points out the utter stupidity and futility of that argument.
Besides calling Trump fascist, Harris repeated the line that Trump allegedly called fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers.” The Atlantic reported that back in September 2020. More than 74 million Americans voted for him two months later. I know lots of Democrats think that line should be disqualifying. And the Jan. 6 attack should be disqualifying. And Trump’s four indictments should be disqualifying. And his conviction should be disqualifying. But for those remaining undecided, they aren’t disqualifying. Stop making the argument that this crowd has heard and rejected a hundred times. Find another argument about Harris’s qualities.
Harris and the Democrats apparently shock themselves when they call Trump a "fascist." They're not shocking anyone else. And it's pretty late in the game to try to convince voters that they don't really know a former president of the United States, a man who's been in the national limelight as a celebrity for most of this century. It's crazy.
Matt Bai on Harris's inability to answer a straight question:
I was struck by the answers she doesn’t have at this late stage of the campaign. CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked about tax policy, and she responded: “We can’t have this conversation ... . It’s a very complicated situation.” She couldn’t answer a question about expanding the Supreme Court. She’s been asked about a thousand times about her shifting positions on fracking and health care, and somehow she hasn’t found a direct answer. I don’t really understand it. But I think if people are asking why she isn’t running away with this election, you saw the answer.
Donald Trump has been slowly pulling away (or drawing even depending on who you ask). I believe it to be the former. Matt has been writing about Harris's absence from the campaign trail to prep for interviews and the CNN town hall. She has to spend extra time prepping for these appearances because she hasn't been able to master the art of answering questions without saying anything. And having to take time away from campaigning just to prep for an interview that any other candidate would take in stride two weeks before election day is a sad commentary on her candidacy.
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