Remember all the kvetching about Vice President Kamala Harris not doing enough interviews?
Well, get ready to move the goalposts, because despite Harris’ media-heavy week ahead, the kvetching continues.
Team Harris-Walz is doing a lot of media appearances this week.
- Monday: Harris will appear on CBS’ “60 Minutes”; running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will stop by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
- Tuesday: Harris will appear on ABC’s morning show “The View,” Howard Stern’s “Stern Show,” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
- Thursday: Harris will participate in a Univision town hall.
A Harris interview with the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” which holds its own with Joe Rogan on Spotify, dropped Sunday night. The podcast averages about 10 million listeners per episode, and host Alexandra Cooper just signed a $125 million deal with Sirius XM to distribute the show.
So now that Harris is getting the word out, all those well-meaning critics should be properly sated, right? Of course not. Instead, they’re all furiously moving the goalposts.
On Sunday, The New York Times sniffed that “Harris Will Appear in a Whirlwind of Interviews, Most of Them Friendly.”
First of all, why would any candidate do unfriendly interviews? They’re trying to win elections, not play a game of gotcha. The real question campaigns face is how best can they increase their chances of winning the election. Going to war with a hostile reporter, quite frankly, would be idiotic.
But then again, are Harris’ interviews this week really “friendly”?
Would anyone seriously consider “60 Minutes” a “friendly” interview? It is just about the most-respected news magazine in television history. Heck, Donald Trump was too chickenshit to do ”60 Minutes” for exactly that reason: The show wouldn’t agree not to fact-check him.
Is the “Call Her Daddy” podcast “friendly”? The Times’ evidence that it would be friendly was to describe the show 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 woman who cares about women's issues, ergo it must be “friendly” to the lady candidate.
Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Beth Ostrosky, and Howard Stern attend the Washington Wizards vs. New York Knicks game on Nov. 4, 2005.
The Times doesn’t even bother backing up its “friendly” claim about “The View,” but given that it’s hosted by a group of women, maybe the friendliness is just implied. Stern endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, ergo he must be “friendly” to the Harris-Walz campaign. But “Stern Show” is a perfect example of the exact kind of media Harris should be doing. According to Howard Stern’s radio network, “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 struggle with most? Men, non-college graduates, and whites. The show couldn’t be a more tailor-made opportunity for Harris to perhaps convert some persuadable voters. So what if Stern gives her an assist with an endorsement or kind words? Her job is to go where the votes are, and Stern has them.
As for Stephen Colbert, as he once said, “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” His late-night show averages nearly 3 million nightly viewers, plus who knows how many more people who gobble up cllps on social media the next morning. Again, stopping by “The Late Show” is a smart move by Harris, no matter how much the Times wants to heap scorn on the move.
Of course, the Times isn’t alone in moving the goalposts. Conservative messaging guru Frank Luntz is so concerned about Harris’ prospects that he can’t stop trying to give her unsolicited (and insincere) advice.
“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 stupid, which makes this effort particularly obnoxious. His blatant intent here is to goad Harris into going on Fox News, but is he really going to claim that there are any “undecided” voters watching the right wing’s most prominent propaganda arm? It’s patently absurd!
I would venture to guess that Colbert’s late-night audience has a greater percentage of undecided voters than pretty much any other outlet or program discussed so far. It’s not strictly a political audience, after all. It’s a pop culture-loving, entertainment-seeking one.
But the deeper flaw of Luntz’s argument is that the name of the 2024 game isn’t undecided voters. It’s voter engagement and activation. All the old white men in the world can’t save Trump if enough young people vote, if enough single women vote, if enough Black and brown voters vote, and if enough college-educated progressives vote. Everything Harris does for these last four weeks is going to be with one goal in mind: ensuring that her core base of support turns out and votes in as overwhelmingly a number as possible.
And it’s not just Harris’ strategy. Trump has spent a ton of time this cycle on Fox News, Newsmax, and conservative and “bro” podcasts. He’s trying to rally his base to the polls. His problem is that he’s maxed out at 46% nationally. If anyone needs to consider Luntz’s advice, it’s his own boy Trump, who has done zero to expand his base of support in the last eight years.
As for Harris, she has no need for hostile media. It would accomplish nothing. Luckily, she has done a great job tuning out all the unsolicited “advice” lobbed her way by people who don’t share her goal of winning the election.
You can help turn out the vote for the election by simply chatting to your neighbors. This is a cool one! Click here to sign up for Daily Kos/Indivisible’s Neighbor2Neighbor get-out-the-vote program.
