Originally published at: Kamala Harris's excellent answer to a very stupid question - Boing Boing
…
15 Likes
I’m waiting for the day she responds to questions about TFG with, “If you don’t have any questions for me that aren’t all about my opponent, we’re done here. Let me know when you have any questions about what my team is doing.”
38 Likes
I know I’m not the only one, but I keep trying to think of some way to grab (almost) the entirety of our current media and shake them by the shoulders while screaming, “WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO TREAT TRUMP AS A SERIOUS PERSON WITH SERIOUS THOUGHTS? WHY??!??!??”
Next up, probably: “Harris refuses to discuss Trump’s disgusting remarks about her race. What is she hiding?”
35 Likes
“You’re running to become the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world. How do you respond to what that weird old man in the corner is screaming to himself about?”
Ugh, the media.
28 Likes
I’m of the opinion that Harris and Walz need to do no more interviews with elite media. Nothing more for CNN, nothing at all for the WaPo or NYTimes. Do interviews with local media, do interviews with Teen Vogue, do interviews with anyone else. But no interviews with Trump-supporting or fascist-supporting media.
35 Likes
TV news searches for sound bites and short videos. They were the original click-bait and still program news for customers that lap it up. And for at least the last twenty years journalists have been led by the nose by Republicans. Whatever ridiculous take the GOP has, journalists use it to frame every question to Democrats in “fairness.” Democrats have been just shitty at countering this. The way they cover Cheeto Mussolini is not new. It’s just the most recent extension of this “news format,” if I can call it that, and taken advantage of by a master bullshitter.
11 Likes
Wasn’t even a question really. “Your opponent said some dumb racist shit… sooo?”
14 Likes
There’s the cowardice answer. After years of being told they were liberal biased they’ve internalized this to an extreme. They’ll bend over backward to avoid being called biased no matter what. With one side making this claim no matter what, there is no end. Until they actually are completely biased to the side complaining they will never meet the standard, even then.
No matter that they can see the rain falling, they must report the weather is inconclusive least the side that will call them biased calls them biased.
There’s the cynical answer. To drive clicks. Anything that drives clicks is good. Crazy bad governance and chaos drives clicks. Bad news drives clicks. Boring stable governance doesn’t drive any clicks. Nobody watches the news to hear that things are just fine and boring, working as they are supposed to. While world in turmoil, disaster looming, chaos everywhere, are exactly what people turn to the media to hear what is going on.
No matter that they can see the rain falling, they must report that maybe it’s hail or a tornado, perhaps there are really pigs falling from the sky. Tune in to find out what crazy thing is happening. Never mind that it is just a normal drizzle.
There’s the extra cynical answer. Either the media owner or the direct person makes enough money to be in the 0.1% and just doesn’t want to pay more taxes. No matter any other impact. So they steer everything in that direction.
No matter that they can see they’re peeing on your leg, they’ll keep reporting that it is just raining.
12 Likes
I’m firmly in the extra cynical camp. That’s because it is the GOP (and their wealthy donors/foundations) who’ve been pushing certain narratives as part of their playbook for a long time:
GOP members/supporters tend to claim systems that work in their favor are biased in some way against them, as another way to cast themselves as victims. In addition to crying about what they called the “liberal media,” they also spent decades demonizing “liberal Ivy League colleges,” which trickled down into grade schools. That turned into charges of indoctrination, opposition to free speech (when they failed to promote hate speech on campuses), and claims that schools were hotbeds of DEI. How many college presidents and other leaders in education did they drag into hearings or pressure into resigning? I’ve lost count. 
There’s also a long history of GOP complaints against “liberal elites,” the “Left Coast,” protestors for “liberal causes,” and etc. Now that GOP supporters own so many media outlets, they’ve been able to push the message that all of those things they’ve described as liberal are a disaster, not part of “real America,” and the reason that average people can’t have nice things. They claim they’re justified in making anything they’ve demonized into targets to be controlled or eliminated in pursuit of their MAGA goals.
The GOP also embraces the phrase “fake news” and Bannon’s zone-flooding misinformation techniques, while engaging in this:
I’m not only looking forward to reform in government and business after a Harris/Walz victory, but also in the press. We need more independent and unbiased local news sources. I hope those billionaire media owners and political donors who tried very hard to mislead the public and destroy democracy for very little personal gain face real consequences. Heavily taxing them no matter where they live (or try to run) sounds like a good start.
17 Likes
I missed the interview because this old dude fell asleep at 7:30 because the heat has been kicking our behinds.
But, I was listening to CNN in the car, they had on a republican senator who said she just rambled word salad and never answered the questions.
Was he watching Kamala or that moron trump?
10 Likes
FTFY. Otherwise implying that Harris is likewise limited, which she is clearly not.
9 Likes
… that’s not even actually a question, is it 
10 Likes
Don’t know if there’s a better topic for this but it showed up in my news feed and has me scratching my head.
Hasn’t every candidate sat for an interview with their running mate for every election?
10 Likes
While I wasn’t thrilled with every answer she gave, I didn’t really see any big “gotcha” moments there. She answered everything coherently and didn’t seem particularly evasive or anything.
Despite all this, it didn’t stop CNN’s rightoid talking heads from going through the usual laundry list of criticisms: “why isn’t she giving more interviews”, “she’s a far left ultra-liberal Californian”, “her policies are nonsense and will tax Americans into oblivion”/“she didn’t talk substantively about policies”, “what about Afghanistan?”, “what about the border?”, “she flip-flopped and we can’t trust anything she says!”, and so on. It’s always them moving the goal posts.
When it came to the Trump questioning her racial identity question, she condensed, “really, Dana, you have limited time with me, you have a highly visible and golden opportunity to really put me through the ringer with tough questions, and this is what you choose to ask me?” into the perfect response. She both brushed the question aside with ease, and also signalled to Trump that she wasn’t the slightest bit rattled by that nonsense.
The media asking Harris what she thinks of Trump’s personal attacks versus asking Trump why he’s such a racist fuckwit really shows how fucked up the fourth estate is in this day and age.
17 Likes
Elise Stefanik is offensive to all women. These interviews with presidential nominees and their running mates have ALWAYS been joint interviews, for like decades.
12 Likes
Do an interview with that kid who dunked on the pillow guy. He’s quick and probably would ask better questions.
As for this?
Someone needs to ask CNN and other MSM news outlets why they give time to Donald Trump’s race-baiting, misogynistic, and quite frankly stupid statements that aren’t worth the American people’s time.
Well, that’s easy.
10 Likes
“Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)”
8 Likes
When he doesn’t get a rise out of her he just keeps trying.
At his recently rally
“Look at Kamala … every place she has touched has turned to shit!”
— President Donald J. Trump
6 Likes
I would like to watch that. Knowa De Brasco seems like an interesting person. I’d also like to see her give an exclusive to Teen Vogue. They do some serious journalism over there
Kamala’s response to the Trump question almost perfect. Needed more Spock-brow.
11 Likes
Same guy who recently said San Francisco was “the best city in the country, one of the best cities in the world” 15 years ago… which is when Harris was San Francisco’s DA and Gavin Newsom was the city’s Mayor.
12 Likes
