Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
August 30, 2024
Smiling and nodding dutifully like an adoring and approving father, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) joined Vice President Kamala Harris (D) on CNN Thursday night (08/29) in what should have been her first live real sit-down, one-on-one interview with a member of the press. Instead, for the duration of the hour-long program, Harris spoke for 16 minutes and 47 seconds according to multiple sources, in what can only be considered a scripted infomercial, pre-recorded and edited.
Dana Bash, who conducted the interview, is a rather capable reporter, and actually asked a couple of good questions. She failed, however, to jump on myriad opportunities for obvious follow-up questions. And, Bash did begin the program with two lies before even asking her first question to Harris. Viewers were told the interview was coming live from Savannah, GA and that they would see the interview in its entirety. Neither notion carried an ounce of truth with it - see above.
Bash tossed an obvious softball to begin the proceedings, asking what Harris would do on Day One. That is a disingenuous question, as Harris has been in the White House as Vice President since January 20, 2021 and thus, has had three and one half years to work with Joe Biden to accomplish anything she might want to do starting January 20, 2025. To be fair to Harris, she did say that the middle class would be her priority on Day One, that “people are ready for a new way forward,” without defining that new way. If based upon previous statements Harris’s “new way forward” include price controls and increased government interference in the lives of the American people, that “new way forward” more likely than not, will bankrupt the United States.
When Bash again asked about Day One, Harris said there would be “an opportunity economy,” a mantra oft repeated on her television campaign ads. Harris neither defined nor explained what an opportunity economy looks like with Bash or in the advertisements.
Harris said she would bring down the cost of everyday goods, invest in small businesses, and invest in families. Price controls will never bring down the cost of goods and services. There will be shortages leading to price gouging, the thing Harris hopes to prevent. How will she invest in small businesses or families? A question neither asked by Bash or explained by Harris when she mentioned it the first time. The closest Harris came to answering that question came when she called for a $6,000 child tax credit for a child’s first year. Will that be just for the first child, or every child a woman chooses to have? As a tax credit, money the government will not collect, what spending cuts did Harris propose to offset those tax credits? None.
Bash does get credit for responding to Harris about how the country is not going back, presumably to the Trump era, by reminding the Democratic nominee for president that the cost of groceries and housing were lower under President Trump.
Another possible economic policy proposed by Harris seemed to confuse her as much as it must have confused viewers at home. Harris talked about bringing the cost of housing down. She initially suggested a $25,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Harris also suggested such a tax credit could be used for the down payment on said house. What will prevent the cost of housing to rise by that same $25,000, and how will a tax credit cover the actual down payment? If a new home buyer is relying upon a $25,000 tax credit, they probably can’t afford the house - the monthly mortgage (which thanks to Biden-Harris could have an interest rate upwards of nine percent), the property taxes, and all that encampasses home ownership.
Bash asked a good question wanting to know why haven’t Biden and Harris implemented any of these changes during the past three-plus years. Harris said “we had to recover as an economy.” Doesn’t the country still have to recover from the failed Biden-Harris economy? If those plans would not have worked then, why will they succeed now? “I’m very proud of the work we’ve done… brought inflation down to three percent,” said Harris ignoring the fact that when Biden-Harris entered the White House in 2021, inflation was 1.4 percent, and shot up to over nine percent during this term - something upon which Bash did not call out Harris.
Another mathematical quandary emerged during the Harris-Walz infomercial. Harris took pride in claiming to see insulin prices capped at $35 per month for seniors. Then Harris went on to say the cost of insulin for seniors has been capped at $2,000 a year. The trusty calculator says 35 X 12 = 420; so how does Harris get to $2,000? When it came to the impact of the child tax credit, Walz said it would reduce child poverty by one-third, while Harris put the reduction at 50 percent. Seems the left hand doesn't know what the other left hand is doing.
During the CNN program Harris claimed her administration would bring business back to America. How does that mesh with Harris calling for corporate income tax rates to increase from 21 percent to 28 percent? Two things could happen here. Corporations will move their headquarters overseas, to a country like Ireland that imposes a friendlier tax rate. Corporations willing to “accept” the proposed tax increase will simply pass that increase on to their clientele and customers, thus raising taxes on the very people Harris claimed would not have their taxes raised - the middle and lower socio-economic rungs of the ladder in America. Oh, taxes will be raised on the rich; they just won’t feel its impact as badly. Harris has no economic acumen of which to speak. Bash neither pursued the tax issue nor the faulty math regarding insulin.
Bash turned her attention to fracking - yet another issue on which Harris has flip-flopped. In 2019 Harris said, “No question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” Since the DNC and during the Bash infomercial Harris claimed she will not ban fracking. “My values have not changed… I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far,” said Harris.
There’s quite a bit to unpack in that confusing statement fit for a vegetarian, as it is a classic Kamala Harris Word Salad. Either she’s against fracking because she thinks there is a climate crisis that would be negatively impacted by fracking, and that runs contrary to her immediately stated support to defend fracking, or, and this is more likely, Harris’s values are whichever way the wind blows.
When Bash pivoted to the border crisis, Harris immediately blamed Trump for killing a so-called bipartisan bill that would allow for more fentanyl to be seized. Why didn’t Biden-Harris issue an executive order three-plus years ago if this is such a serious issue, and it is terribly serious. But the Biden-Harris open border policies since taking office is the main reason for the astronomical influx of the fatal drug. An open border Harris supports, as Bash noted Harris raised her hand during a 2019 Democrat debate calling for the decriminalization of illegal border crossing. Bash asked Harris if she still took that position. “I believe there should be consequence - we have laws - they have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequences.” It again begs the question why the laws already on the books failed to be enforced as record numbers of illegal aliens invaded the United States during Biden-Harris. When Harris said she recognized the problem, there was no follow up from Bash asking why, after three-plus years the problem still remains unchecked.
From there, Harris offered up another word salad. “My values haven’t changed. You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed and I have worked on it - that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter, to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States, and by extension the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of certain greenhouse gasses, as an example. That value has not changed,” said a convoluted Harris with Walz sitting there nodding like a stooge.
When Bash asked Harris about her experiences as a district attorney and attorney general, Harris said,”Let me be clear, in this race, I am the only person who has prosecuted transnational criminals who traffic in guns, drugs, and human beings. I recognize the problem.” If Harris recognized the problem, why is illegal immigration rampant in her state of California, and at its worst in the United States as a whole? Harris then turned to her mantra of the campaign, that this is “the prosecutor versus the felon,” expecting that to be the be-all-end-all path to the White House.
Harris didn’t sound much better talking about the war between Hamas and Israel. Bash noted how Biden-Harris has failed for months and months to secure a ceasefire. “Let me be clear. I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not gonna change. But, let’s take a step back. October 7, 1,200 people were murdered, many young people who [sic] simply attending a music festival. Women were horribly raped - as I said then - I say today, Israel has a right to defend itself - we would - and how it does matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed and we have got to get a deal done. This war must end and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out…. I’ve been committed since I’ve been on October 8 to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution,” said Harris, in yet another garbled response. In this two-state solution Harris envisions, how much more land does she expect to be stolen from Israel?
Harris wasn‘t the only one to struggle verbally during the interview with Bash. Walz dodged the question, referring to him lying about carrying weapons of war into combat, calling it an attack on him. He was not asked about his lying about his military rank. First he said people are just getting to know him, then a minute later said, the people know him. Which is it? And in response to his lie about IVF versus IUI, Walz said, “I don’t think they’re cutting hairs on IVF or IUI. I think they’re cutting hairs on is an abortion ban and the ability to be able to deny families to have a beautiful child.”
Walz is most certainly not battle-tested for the rigors of a national campaign, which with 10 weeks before Election Day, is now a sprint to the November 5 finish line. Harris, while she has experience in a national campaign having run in 2020, still lacks the capability to string together coherent sentences to explain whatever makeshift Marxist policies she is conjuring up. She’s walking a tightrope - a balancing act of remaining loyal to her boss, Joe Biden, who gave her the chance of a lifetime - twice - once by naming her his choice for vice president, and again when he announced he would be dropping out of the race for president and endorsing Harris, and paving her own way by moving away from the Biden-Harris record.
Regardless how fast or far Harris runs, she will not be able to shed the stink of the Biden-Harris administration, nor avoid questions about Biden’s mental health. During the infomercial with Bash, Harris doubled-down in her defense of Biden, saying he has the abilities to serve another four year term, that Biden was “extraordinarily strong” following his disastrous debate with Trump in June. Harris said she has no regrets about what she told the American people about Biden. “I have spent hours and hours with him, whether in the Oval Office or the Situation Room - he has the intelligence, the commitment, the judgment, and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president. In contrast, the former president has none of that,” said Harris, adding she has been proud to serve with Biden.
The next set of whoppers delivered by Harris were even more shocking. She bragged about having invested in “new economies.” Such as, Bash should have asked, but did not. “I think history is going to show not only has Joe Biden led an administration that achieved extraordinary successes, but the character of the man is one that he has been in his life and career, including as a president, quite selfless, and put the American people first,” said Harris, offering up yet another word salad.
Is this the best Kamala Harris has to offer? After shunning the media for 40 days and 40 nights, with a campaign website bereft of policy issues, it is apparent Harris is trying to run the clock out, hoping as many people as possible vote early. Harris is attempting to hide in plain sight among the American people saying nothing of value or substance. It is up to the American people to see through the Harris facade, remember this election is not about personality, but the damage done to our collective pocketbooks and wallets. Trust your own eyes and ears, not the pandering Democrat’s campaign ads, not the Harris word salads or the Walz lies.
Ronald Reagan asked, in 1980, if the American people were better off then in 1980, than they were four years prior. The American people are intelligent enough to know what is in their bank account, how much their groceries, gas, and lodging cost, how few vacations they can afford compared to the four years of the Trump administration. The American people are smart enough to know who stands for the American people, not illegals, and who will work hard for the American people to Make America Great Again.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
