AP Wonders: Golly, How Is Kamala Getting Away With 'New Way Forward'?

Somebody

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Kamala Harris talked repeatedly in her acceptance speech about "charting a new way forward." For some reason, the media has promoted that message even while Harris doesn't have a "chart," or a "way," and none of what she's been promoting so far is "new." Most of her speech focused on her "personal story" and attacks on Donald Trump, and none of it on any policy substance whatsoever.

Today, the Associated Press marveled at how Harris gets away with running as an outsider and a Change! candidate while being an incumbent. Who wants to tell them?

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She’s the sitting vice president who has been in office for 3 1/2 years. She’s also the presidential candidate of just five weeks promising a “new way forward.”

Kamala Harris is having it both ways as she hits the campaign trail after the Democratic National Convention, taking credit for parts of President Joe Biden’s record in rallies staged in front of Air Force Two while casting herself as a new leader who rails against “the politics of the past.”

In every presidential cycle candidates run on experience or freshness, but Harris so far appears to be successfully harmonizing two seemingly competing messages, much to the frustration of former President Donald Trump and his allies.

She's successfully harmonizing those messages because no one in the media has called her out on them. The interview yesterday between ABC's Jon Karl and Senator Tom Cotton provides the clearest case in point for this phenomenon. When Cotton pointed out Harris' position on eliminating private insurance in health care -- a position she has repeatedly staked out and never publicly repudiated -- Karl literally made up the notion that Harris has moved to the center for this campaign.

Let me repeat that: Karl literally made it up. Harris has not answered any questions about policy, and the only policy statement she has made since getting anointed as nominee pushed Bidenomics further to the Left. "Price Gauging" legislation is so extreme that Democrats on Capitol Hill are disavowing it, sotto voce

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However, the Protection Racket Media has refused to hold Harris accountable for her earlier positions, nor for her refusal to take any questions or set out any policy positions with less than 75 days before Election Day. Time Magazine, for instance, ran a tongue-bath profile of Harris shortly after the anointment, complete with hero picture on their cover, while Harris refused to comment for the article. Rather than report on Harris' refusal to talk or explain her positions, the media just keeps creating a Fantasy Kamala that doesn't exist in reality.

What's more, the Harris campaign has strategized her silence with the express assumption that American media outlets -- the AP included -- are nothing more than lapdogs for the Democrat/progressive establishment. "We all know how this works," Democrat strategist Kaivan Shroff told ABC News last week from the convention:

In fact, I think Vice President Harris has been incredibly brave to roll out an ambitions economic agenda, because we all know how this works. The more details you share, the more your policies are going to get picked apart. But she's saying, I trust the American people, I trust the journalists to explain these policies and our values to folks. And I think when that happens, that will be successful for Democrats.  

Yes, that's exactly how it works in this cycle. Harris says nothing, sets out no policy agenda, and the media spin a propaganda campaign to ignore Harris' record on policy in the past as well as the performance of the Biden-Harris administration over the last three-plus years. 

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And when Republicans actually point out Harris' positions on the issues, how do American legacy media outlets cover it? The New York Times provided a great example nearly a month ago when they declared that the GOP had "weaponized" Harris' record on policy. Other outlets use "seize," "pounce," and other verbs to suggest that scrutinizing records and policy positions is somewhat illegitimate in presidential elections. 

Bear in mind too that Harris has a press pool traveling with her that could demand that she address policy and performance on the record. Instead, they're too busy schmoozing Kamala in off-the-record bull sessions and then pushing her messaging without any accountability whatsoever. If that pool of reporters took their jobs seriously, they could force Harris to start taking responsibility for her positions and the outcomes of the policies of her administration. But they have apparently chosen to operate as part of the strategic campaign rather than as actual reporters. 

In short, Harris succeeds at "harmonizing" an oxymoron because of the moronic coverage she gets from the Protection Racket Media. It's gaslighting all the way down -- and the AP damned well knows it, despite their admiration for Harris' harmonizing. 

There's only one way to fight it, and that's to make sure that independent platforms and voices remain viable to hold the media and the establishment accountable. That’s why we extended the massive 60% discount on VIP/VIP Gold memberships when you use promo code FIGHT at checkout. You know how this works!

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 22, 2024
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