Vice President Kamala Harris went on 60 Minutes and attempted to answer some of the toughest questions she’s faced—a low bar—since taking over the Democratic nomination from 81-year-old Joe Biden, who is technically still the president. She was meandering and evasive throughout the interview with Bill Whitaker of CBS News, who had to politely repeat the question on several occasions. There’s no telling how confounding Harris’s answers must have been in real time. The network’s producers saw fit to liberally (and sloppily) edit the conversation. They included a considerable amount of overdubbed editorializing from Whitaker, as if he were translating Harris’s remarks into basic English. They made clear at the outset that Harris’s opponent, Donald Trump, declined to participate.
“Harris says she’ll press Congress to pass a federal ban on price-gouging for food and groceries, but details are yet to be defined,” Whitaker said in post-production remarks as Harris continued to ramble on screen at a low volume. He was attempting to translate Harris’s answer to his question about rampant inflation during the Biden-Harris administration. “We now have an economy that is thriving by all macroeconomic measures,” Harris bragged before struggling to articulate a plan that would help normal Americans who don’t follow macroeconomic trends. “Prices are still too high, and I know that. And we need to deal with it, which is why part of my plan—you mentioned groceries—part of my plan is what we must do to bring down the price of groceries.” Got that?
At one point Whitaker interrupted Harris’s talking points about how “small businesses are part of the backbone of America’s economy” to insist she explain how she would pay for all her spending proposals. She said it could all be paid for by raising taxes on rich people and rejected Whitaker’s suggestion that Congress was unlikely to approve new tax hikes. “You know, when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I’m talking about because their constituents know exactly what I’m talking about,” the vice president alleged. “I am a devout public servant, you know that. But I am also a capitalist.”
At one point Whitaker interrupted Harris’s talking points about how “small businesses are part of the backbone of America’s economy” to insist she explain how she would pay for all her spending proposals. She said it could all be paid for by raising taxes on rich people and rejected Whitaker’s suggestion that Congress was unlikely to approve new tax hikes. “You know, when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I’m talking about because their constituents know exactly what I’m talking about,” the vice president alleged. “I am a devout public servant, you know that. But I am also a capitalist.”
Obey