Fox News contributors Marc Thiessen and Mollie Hemingway ripped Vice President Kamala Harris for dodging the media and failing to fully articulate her policies to voters with less than two months to go until election day.
“Kamala Harris is afraid. Truly afraid to talk to the media. Which is a weird situation. Because the corporate press are already with her. They want her to win. And she is afraid to even talk to them,” senior editor of The Federalist, Mollie Hemingway said on “The Ingraham Angle” on Thursday.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham played a MSNBC clip of former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett denying that Harris was running to win on her race and gender. Jarrett said the VP’s campaign had energized the Democratic Party because she had injected “joy and laughter” into politics.
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen asked why Harris hasn’t been more forthright with her policies if she wasn’t running a shallow campaign.
‘YOU GOT TO ANSWER THE TOUGH QUESTIONS’: KAMALA HARRIS’ MEDIA DODGING IS IRKING VOTERS
Fox News contributors Mollie Hemingway and Marc Thiessen call out Vice President Harris for avoiding the media, arguing she hasn’t articulated her policies to Americans. (Fox News/Screenshot)
“If she is not running because of gender or race, then what is her agenda? She won’t tell us what it is,” he reacted.
“You say how it’s like an 80’s sitcom. It’s more like a 90’s sitcom, ‘Seinfeld,’ a show about nothing. That’s the better analogy for the Harris campaign,” he joked.
Harris has faced criticism for taking just a handful of interviews in the 47 days since she emerged as the Democratic presidential nominee. She broke her media drought last week, sitting down for her first interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, which some critics complained was a softball interview. She taped two more radio interviews this week that aired on Friday.
Thiessen criticized Harris for giving a “word salad” when asked “the most simple and obvious question” about what she would do on day one, in that CNN interview.
HARRIS CONDUCTS RADIO INTERVIEW WITH COMEDIAN RICKEY SMILEY AND SPANISH-LANGUAGE SHOW IN PHOENIX
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, U.S., August 29, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz (Reuters)
“And she just gave a word salad,” he continued. “Every person running in a primary knows what they would do on day one. She is the nominee of the party. And she couldn’t answer what I will do on day one.”
Hemingway argued that Harris should be doing much better than she is at this point because of the media’s soft treatment of her, yet the race remains tight between her and former President Trump.
“The problem, I think, is that Democrats and their media have pulled out every stop to help her get to this point and her polls are not where they need to be. This is going to be a close race because of how divided the country is. But she should be doing much better with the level of propaganda that she has been getting from her allies in the press,” Hemingway argued.
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have sat down for at least 39 interviews since the Harris-Walz ticket was formed, compared to just six non-scripted interviews for the Democratic presidential ticket thus far. That total from the Harris-Walz campaign includes two interviews taped this week that will air on Friday.
Harris still has not held a formal press conference since replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee, opting for quick “gaggles” lasting a few minutes and off-the-record sessions with reporters on her campaign plane.
Former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have different media strategies than Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz. (Tom Williams/Rachel Jessen/Erin Schaff/Andrew Harnik/Emily Elconin/Getty Images)
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Trump and Harris will meet Tuesday at a debate hosted by ABC News.
Harris-Walz campaign senior spokesperson Ian Sams defended Harris’ interactions with the media while on “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.
“She’s done about 90 interviews this year as the vice-president,” Sams told host Dana Perino. “Maybe people weren’t paying attention or listening.”
“She’s taken questions from reporters on the campaign trail,” he continued, adding that she would continue to take questions as November nears.
Fox News’ Brian Flood and David Rutz contributed to this article.
