Keep in mind all of the kvetching about Vice President Kamala Harris not doing sufficient interviews?
Nicely, prepare to maneuver the goalposts, as a result of regardless of Harris’ media-heavy week forward, the kvetching continues.
Crew Harris-Walz is doing plenty of media appearances this week.
- Monday: Harris will seem on CBS’ “60 Minutes”; operating mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will cease by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
- Tuesday: Harris will seem on ABC’s morning present “The View,” Howard Stern’s “Stern Show,” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
- Thursday: Harris will take part in a Univision city corridor.
A Harris interview with the favored podcast “Call Her Daddy,” which holds its personal with Joe Rogan on Spotify, dropped Sunday evening. The podcast averages about 10 million listeners per episode, and host Alexandra Cooper simply signed a $125 million deal with Sirius XM to distribute the present.
So now that Harris is getting the phrase out, all these well-meaning critics ought to be correctly sated, proper? After all not. As an alternative, they’re all furiously shifting the goalposts.
On Sunday, The New York Occasions sniffed that “Harris Will Appear in a Whirlwind of Interviews, Most of Them Friendly.”
To begin with, why would any candidate do unfriendly interviews? They’re attempting to win elections, not play a sport of gotcha. The actual query campaigns face is how finest can they improve their probabilities of profitable the election. Going to struggle with a hostile reporter, fairly frankly, can be idiotic.
However then once more, are Harris’ interviews this week actually “friendly”?
Would anybody severely take into account “60 Minutes” a “friendly” interview? It’s simply concerning the most-respected information journal in tv historical past. Heck, Donald Trump was too chickenshit to do ”60 Minutes” for precisely that purpose: The present wouldn’t agree to not fact-check him.
Is the “Call Her Daddy” podcast “friendly”? The Occasions’ proof that it could be pleasant was to explain the present as “a popular podcast about sex, dating and relationships. The interview, which focuses on abortion rights and other women’s issues, is set to be released on Sunday evening.” Ah, okay—it’s hosted by a lady who cares about ladies’s points, ergo it should be “friendly” to the woman candidate.
The Occasions doesn’t even trouble backing up its “friendly” declare about “The View,” however on condition that it’s hosted by a bunch of ladies, possibly the friendliness is simply implied. Stern endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, ergo he should be “friendly” to the Harris-Walz marketing campaign. However “Stern Show” is an ideal instance of the precise type of media Harris ought to be doing. In accordance to Howard Stern’s radio community, “74% of his audience are between 25-54 years of age with an average household income of $160k. 73% Male and 27% female. 34% college graduates, 85% white.”
Who do Democrats battle with most? Males, non-college graduates, and whites. The present couldn’t be a extra tailored alternative for Harris to maybe convert some persuadable voters. So what if Stern offers her an help with an endorsement or variety phrases? Her job is to go the place the votes are, and Stern has them.
As for Stephen Colbert, as he as soon as mentioned, “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” His late-night present averages almost 3 million nightly viewers, plus who is aware of what number of extra individuals who gobble up cllps on social media the subsequent morning. Once more, stopping by “The Late Show” is a brilliant transfer by Harris, regardless of how a lot the Occasions needs to heap scorn on the transfer.
After all, the Occasions isn’t alone in shifting the goalposts. Conservative messaging guru Frank Luntz is so involved about Harris’ prospects that he can’t cease attempting to present her unsolicited (and insincere) recommendation.
“How many watchers of The View, Stephen Colbert, or Howard Stern are undecided voters?” he tweeted Sunday afternoon. “Although kudos to Tim Walz for going on Fox News this morning,” he added
Luntz isn’t silly, which makes this effort notably obnoxious. His blatant intent right here is to goad Harris into occurring Fox Information, however is he actually going to assert that there are any “undecided” voters watching the suitable wing’s most outstanding propaganda arm? It’s patently absurd!
I’d enterprise to guess that Colbert’s late-night viewers has a higher share of undecided voters than just about every other outlet or program mentioned up to now. It’s not strictly a political viewers, in any case. It’s a pop culture-loving, entertainment-seeking one.
However the deeper flaw of Luntz’s argument is that the identify of the 2024 sport isn’t undecided voters. It’s voter engagement and activation. All of the outdated white males on the planet can’t save Trump if sufficient younger individuals vote, if sufficient single ladies vote, if sufficient Black and brown voters vote, and if sufficient college-educated progressives vote. Every thing Harris does for these final 4 weeks goes to be with one objective in thoughts: guaranteeing that her core base of assist seems and votes in as overwhelmingly a quantity as doable.
And it’s not simply Harris’ technique. Trump has spent a ton of time this cycle on Fox Information, Newsmax, and conservative and “bro” podcasts. He’s attempting to rally his base to the polls. His drawback is that he’s maxed out at 46% nationally. If anybody wants to contemplate Luntz’s recommendation, it’s his personal boy Trump, who has finished zero to increase his base of assist within the final eight years.
As for Harris, she has no want for hostile media. It will accomplish nothing. Fortunately, she has finished an incredible job tuning out all of the unsolicited “advice” lobbed her approach by individuals who don’t share her objective of profitable the election.
