Good discussion on Fox News Media Buzz with Fox News Senior National Correspondent and Anchor Kevin Corke today about VP Kamala Harris!
The Washington Post quoted more than a dozen Democrats in key states who say Kamala’s “tenure has been underwhelming” and “marked by struggles as a communicator.” Those are all Democrats saying that!
The problem for Democrats is that Kamala is in fact a weak candidate. Her nomination would be a dream come true for Republicans.
Watch us here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Howard Kurtz
The Washington Post has a very harsh piece on Kamala Harris saying that if Joe Biden winds up not running, quote, many rank-and-file Democrats, mostly anonymous, are unpersuaded, that she has the force, charisma, and skill to mount a winning presidential campaign.
Jesse Waters
The reporter asked could Kamala be president? The Democrats said, I like her as a person, love that she’s a black woman, but no way, jose.
Clay Travis
Kamala is not a viable option. And if Kamala isn’t the nominee in 24 by Democrats own standards, given the fact that she’s the Vice President, it would be racist and sexist.
Howard Kurtz
Kevin Corke, the underlying theme of this Washington Post piece is that many Democrats would love to see a black woman run for President but think that this one would be a lousy candidate.
Kevin Corke
Yeah, I’m sure they would love it if it would be, say Michelle Obama. But you and I have both talked about this on many occasions. She just hates that sort of thing. So I’m not sure they’ll be able to convince her to run. If she did run, that would be the way to go. But the Vice President, for all of her faults and for all of her skill, such as it is, I do believe all Democrats, most Democrats believe is not the way to go in 2024.
Howard Kurtz
Gayle Trotter, is it possible to debate whether Kamala Harris is a good communicator, whether she would be a good candidate without getting drawn into a media brawl about her race and gender?
Gayle Trotter
Absolutely. Because who’s accusing her of these problems? If you look at that Washington Post article, it quotes a dozen Democrats saying that she’s underwhelming, that she has problems as a communicator. So this is coming from the party themselves. The problem for Democrats is that Kamala Harris is a weak candidate. That article also said something about a Georgia Democrat saying everybody’s ready to pounce on her and they’re trying to look for her missteps and gaps. But the problem is, that’s what politics is about. They’re looking for that. And Kamala, for whatever reason, is prone to these missteps and gaps all the time.
Howard Kurtz
Well, Kevin, we’ve seen many pieces like this before. They sort of die down when Joe Biden’s numbers improved, when the Democrats did better in the midterms, got a lot of legislation passed, and she seems to have less turnover on her staff now. But there seems to be a knee jerk reaction from her defenders that, oh, she’s treated differently because we’ve never had a Vice President that looks like this.
Kevin Corke
I’ve heard that, Howie. I’ve heard that not just in the press, but I’ve also heard that from people I talk to. I just don’t know that I buy that. And I’ll tell you why. Barack Obama, listen, we’ve seen in recent history that if you are someone who is charismatic, someone who has an idea of what you want to run on and how you want to lead people can or they can choose to or choose not to rally behind you. I think she is awkward in her speaking manner and style. Can she be trained out of it at this late date? I just don’t think so. And I’m not so sure Democrats think so either.
Howard Kurtz
Well, Barack Obama is a good example given what happened in 2008. Gayle, people forget journalists sometimes just glossed over her 2020 campaign. Kamala Harris, including her state of California, just imploded. She never made it to the early primaries. So it’s not like the media having criticized her as a political player before.
Gayle Trotter
That’s right. I think with the Washington Post article, you’re going to see more of that because there was this Politico piece talking about the midterms, how that freed her up to be a normal Vice President……
Howard Kurtz
Because she doesn’t have to be a tiebreaker.
Gayle Trotter
Right, exactly. Exactly. So now they’re trying to tee her up to give, I think, give her a second chance. But I think the Democrats realize how weak she is, but they don’t want to be hoist by their own petard and have that idea that the racism and sexism is really what’s compelling them to remove her from her position, even though they would prefer to have someone else be the Vice President for 2024.
Howard Kurtz
And Kevin, it seems to me that when you look at her, she’s probably not going to end up running because probably Joe Biden is going to be the nominee and she will be on the ticket. Biden says he’s going to run. There’s talk about an announcement sometime after the State of the Union. His numbers are on. Great. But they’ve improved. I wonder why we in the press spend so much time on the 2024 presidential election. Is it because it’s a lot more interesting than another round of endless stories about the debt ceiling and whether Kevin McCarthy and Joe Biden can get along enough to keep the country out of default?
Kevin Corke
Ladies and gentlemen, you have your answer. Knock it out of the park there, Howie. Let’s be honest, this is a lot more interesting than what we’re seeing going on right now. Sort of the drone of Washington, if you will. I think what will be interesting is trying to figure out what, if anything, the Democrats can do to lift up Joe Biden, because while his numbers are improved, they are still underwater. And no one, and I mean almost no one, thought that this Octogenarian would be running for president again in 2024. They thought this was going to be a set up for Kamala. It doesn’t look like it’s going to play out that way. So can they get him over the finish line is the real question.
Howard Kurtz
Both candidates are not necessarily winning by acclamation. I mentioned the poll earlier. So do you agree with the notion that we’re covering this because it’s more fun than the business of government?
Gayle Trotter
I think Kevin has an excellent point and where there’s personal drama, I think that’s where people really relate to and numbers are a little bit less interesting. Tax policy is a little less interesting and certainly when you have sort of the friction that the media is really driving home, that makes it way more interesting.
Howard Kurtz
I try to make tax policy interesting but it’s hard. But you guys have made this interesting. Kevin Corke, Gayle Trotter, thanks.
