By Dave Andrusko
Every few days, somebody in the Legacy Press gets on their high horse and complaints about how little pro-abortion Vice President Kamala Harris interacts with reporters on the national beat. It doesn’t last, of course, but at least they can say that they [half-heartedly] tried. The same holds true for pro-abortion Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz who also is MIA.
Most of the time, reporters don’t press her too hard because they recognize, as did the New York Times reporters Reid J. Epstein and Michael M. Grynbaum when they wrote
During her 2020 campaign and early in her vice presidency, some of Ms. Harris’s biggest missteps came during unscripted encounters with journalists. To avoid taking chances, she has granted only six interviews in the 58 days since President Biden withdrew from the race, three with friendly radio hosts. Even the press-averse Mr. Biden took more questions in the final two months of his campaign than Ms. Harris has in what is nearly the first two months of hers.
And, of course, they are constantly told things will soon be different:
Her team says this is about to change, promising a series of appearances across an array of media venues, including local and national outlets, podcasts, radio stations and daytime talk shows.
Ed Morrissey of Hot Air, is not pacified by vague reassurances. He asks
Okay, but when? It has been 59 days since Biden withdrew. We have only 48 days to Election Day, and less than that before most states open early voting for the presidential election. Harris and her team want to run out the clock with this empty-suit strategy, and the media is letting them get away with it.
Two other quick points. First, Harris retains her lead in the popular vote—which is nice but not definitive—and Trump/Harris are tied in the seven battleground states—which is all-important to ultimately deciding the winner.
Second, the Times makes a pass at accusing former President Trump of the same avoidance strategy, as if anyone would believe that. Epstein and Grynbaum concede
Mr. Trump has, however, held three recent televised news conferences with the mainstream reporters covering his campaign, who posed challenging questions on numerous fronts.
Harris’s strategy is to do short interviews with local television and radio stations personalities in battleground states where she knows she will rarely be pressed. Even if she were asked about specific issues, Harris has honed a strategy of filibustering until time runs out.
If you recall, that’s what Harris employed in the one debate with Trump. Promise to come back to answer the question but then spend virtually the whole time on a sound bite she wants to make. The moderators, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis, were all too happy to allow her to get by with this sophomoric ruse.
More on Friday.