After watching Kamala Harris give non- and nonsensical answers on "60 Minutes", who could ever vote for her?
Kudos to CBS’ Bill Whitaker for being the first newsperson to try to get a straight answer from Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. You’ll see from the transcript of the interview below that he didn’t succeed. At times he returned to the question two or three times to get a simple answer. Didn’t work.
I’ve posted most of the transcript, with Whitaker’s questions in italic and Harris’ in bold face. My comments and Whitakers remarks outside of the actual interview are in brackets. The full transcript is here.
Whitaker: “What can the U.S. do at this point to stop this from spinning out of control?”
Harris: “…This war has to end.”
“Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?”
“The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles.”
But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.
We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.
“Do we have a--a real close ally in Prime Minister Netanyahu?”
“I think, with all due respect, the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people. And the answer to that question is yes.”
[Having asked the same question three ways without getting an answer and getting tired of the run-around, Whitaker moves on to a new topic—the economy.]
“…Groceries are 25% higher and people are blaming you and Joe Biden for that. Are they wrong?’
:…Part of my plan is what we must do to bring down the price of groceries.”
[Whitaker moves on to ask whether she supports the child tax credit, tax breaks to first-time home buyers and help for “people starting small business.” She replies that she supports it all.]
But it is estimated by the Nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Federal Budget that your economic plan would add $3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade. How are you gonna pay for that?
[Me: Now it gets interesting as Harris jumps all over the rhetorical landscape to avoid answering the critical question about how to pay for it.]
“OK, so the other econ- economists that have reviewed my plan versus my opponent and determined that my economic plan would strengthen America's economy. His would weaken it.”
“But--”
“My plan, Bill, if you don't mind, my plan is about saying that when you invest in small businesses, you invest in the middle class, and you strengthen America's economy. Small businesses are part of the backbone of America's economy.”
“But—but pardon me, Madame Vice President, I-- the-- the question was, how are you going to pay for it?”
“Well, one of the things is I'm gonna make sure that the richest among us, who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes. It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a har-- a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations.”
“But—but:
“And I plan on making that fair.”
“But we're dealing with the real world here.”
“But the real world includes—”
“How are you gonna get this through Congress?”
“You know, when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I'm talking about, 'cause their constituents know exactly what I'm talking about. Their constituents are those firefighters and teachers and nurses. Their constituents are middle-class, hard-working folk.
“And Congress has shown no inclination to move in your direction.”
“I-- I disagree with you. There are plenty of leaders in Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up our federal deficit. None of us, and certainly I cannot afford to be myopic in terms of how I think about strengthening America's economy. Lemme tell you something. I am a devout public servant. You know that. I am also a capitalist. And I know the limitations of government.”
[Whitaker moves to another topic—her failure to frankly discuss her agenda.]
“A quarter of registered voters still say they don't know you. They don't know what makes you tick. And-- and why do you think that is? What–what's the disconnect?”
[Me: Now comes the most laughable non-answer.]
“It's an election, Bill. And I take-- it seriously that I have to earn everyone's vote. This is an election for president of the United States. No one should be able to take for granted that they can just declare themselves a candidate and automatically receive support. You have to earn it. And that's what I intend to do.”
“Lemme tell you what your critics and the columnists say.” [Whitaker mentions her reversals on fracking, etc.] “So many that people don't truly know what you believe or what you stand for.”
[Me: Her lengthy response is all over the place. She tells us she’s been all over the country listening to people, She believes in building a “consensus” about “common-sense solutions. But she says nothing about the disparity of her views. Next up: Immigration.]
The administration recently reduced the number of border crossings. So, “…why didn’t your administration take those steps is 2021?
[Me: She reviewed the bipartisan immigration bill she supports and accused Trump of killing it.]
“But I've been covering the border for-- for years. And so I know this is not a problem that started with your administration.”
“Correct. Correct.”
“But there was an historic flood of undocumented immigrants coming across the border the first three years of your administration. As a matter of fact, arrivals quadrupled from the last year of President Trump. Was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?”
“It's a longstanding problem. And solutions are at hand. And from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions.”
“What I was asking was, was it a mistake to kind of allow that flood to happen in the first place?
‘I think-- the policies that we have been proposing are about fixing a problem, not promoting a problem, okay? But the--’
“But the numbers did quadruple under your--”
“And the numbers today--
“…under your watch--”
“-because of what we have done-- we have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half. We have cut the--”
“But should you have done that--”
“--flow of fentanyl—"
“--should you have done that--”
“--by half. But we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem.”
“You have accused Donald Trump of using racist tropes….Yet Donald Trump has the support of millions and millions of Americans. How do you explain that?”
“I am glad you're pointing these comments out that he has made, that have resulted in a response by most reasonable people to say…."It's just wrong. It's just wrong."
“With so many people supporting Donald Trump, a man you have called a racist. How do you bridge that seemingly unbridgeable gap?”
“I believe that the people of America want a leader who's not tryin' to divide us and demean….”
[Whitaker joins Harris at a campaign stop in Wisconsin. After that, the interview continues.]
“What does success look like in ending the war in Ukraine?”
“There will be no success in ending that war without Ukraine and the UN charter participating in what that success looks like.”
“Would you meet with President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a solution to the war in Ukraine?”
“Not bilaterally without Ukraine, no. Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine.”
[Finally a direct answer to a question!]
“As president, would you support the effort to expand NATO to include Ukraine?”
“Those are all issues that we will deal with if and when it arrives at that point.”
[Me: In other words,”I don’t know.” What follows is a discussion about Harris owning a gun and an interview with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. You can read it here.]
I’ve seen a lot of press conferences and interviews going back to John Kennedy, and I’ve never seen as much obfuscation, dodging and intellectually empty answers from a candidate.
Have you learned anything from this interview?
What I learned just reinforced my opinion that she isn’t up to being a president.
The full transcript is here.