Harris shows her stuff on CNN … and it benefits Trump

Vice President Harris could not have asked for a better opportunity to make some gains with the American voters than her CNN townhall meeting with Anderson Cooper.  She had a friendly moderator and a friendly audience.  And she had mostly Harris cheerleaders for the post appearance analyses. 

Was it a CNN bias or just bad management, but it was clear that the audience was pro-Harris.  Of course, Cooper claimed otherwise – calling the audience a mix of uncommitted voters who wrote their own questions.  Oh, wait.  Did Cooper say that the questioners were pre-selected and the subject matter of the questions was provided by CNN?  Yep!  That means that the questions were not impromptu.  Questioners essentially played stenographer for CNN producers. 

While the audience was described as “undecided,” their “lean” was indicated by Cooper in each introduction.  All but one of the questioners were already leaning toward Harris — and even that one indicated he was not leaning to Trump.  Based on years of experience in analyzing voting, I will say with confidence that anyone claiming to lean at this time in an election is already a locked in voter.

Of the five questioners interviewed by CNN’s John King after the event, two said they are now confirmed Harris voters.  Surprise!  Surprise!  Three remained officially undecided, but said they were not leaning to Trump.  So, what is the logical conclusion?  The selected questioners – if not the entire audience – were Harris voters … period.

That was evident in softball questions like “Do you pray?”  Cooper noted that Harris’ father died a year ago, and asked if she was still mourning. 

BUT … with all those built-in advantages, Harris still flubbed.

The most notable deficiency was that she avoided answering questions – but simply repeated campaign narratives and talking points no matter the question.  She said she is not a second Biden administration but could not name a single thing that she would do efferently.  Democrat operative David Axelrod called her answer on immigration another “word salad.”  She dodged on the question from Cooper as to whether she would be more pro-Israel than Trump.

Not only did she NOT give direct and specific answers to key questions, but she also segued into long reiterations of her well-rehearsed narratives – often having nothing to do with the question.   And her deflections and distractions were allowed to run on and on.  A more competent moderator would have cut her off.  Of course, that would prompt her iconic scold Iine, “I’m talking.”   She did get in a variation when she told Cooper to “let me finish.”

Much of her narrative was demonizing Trump.  In that, she was very repetitive in her virtue signally and voter shaming.  She demonstrated that her entire campaign is based on Trump hatred.  That is the ONLY issue upon which she was perfectly clear.  Her most concise and specific answer came from Cooper’s question as to whether she believes Trump is a fascist.  She responded, “yes, I do”.

Demonizing Trump may be Harris’ only campaign issue, but that does not mean it is a good one.  No matter how many times Democrats and their media cronies press that argument, the public seems to tune out.  At least four of the five post-event interviewees recommended that Harris stop the trash talk.  One referred to it as engaging in nothing more than gossip.  Another said such attacks have no relevance to the issues that concern voters.

Perhaps the most notable reviews of Harris’ performance were from the cheerleaders on CNN.  They were not cheering.  They gave her mixed reviews.  They said she tends to avoid specifics.  Duh! 

The only rock solid Harris zealot was Van Jones — of course.  He angrily said he was “pissed off” by what he considered uneven coverage of Harris.  (Jones looked like he was on the verge of one of his increasingly frequent temper tantrums.  That is why I was curious why he was replaced without explanation by at different panelist after a commercial break.  But I digress … or did I weave?)

If voters were hoping to learn more about Harris’ policies, they had to be disappointed.  In terms of issues, her town hall meeting was nothing other than a game of political dodgeball.  And if Team Harris were hoping to break Trump’s mini-momentum in polls, they would have to be very disappointed … and VERY worried.

So, there ‘tis.