Continuing their idea from the night before, when CNN anchor Erin Burnett floated the idea that Vice President Kamala Harris shouldn’t be doing interviews, a group of CNN “journalists” began the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday by arguing that she shouldn’t even release her policy positions for the public to scrutinize. And according to another anchor, the policy proposals don’t matter because it’s a “mood election” anyway.
They even joined with Democrats to warn that such action could help former President Donald Trump.
“And then you hear the criticism: ‘Oh, she needs to give more interviews. She needs to talk about politics.'” Burnett complained, similarly to Wednesday. Turning to the chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, she asked him to speak about the Democratic Party’s argument “Insiders” told him. “They said something like: ‘No. Absolutely not. There was no need to do this before. Why start now?'”
Raju explained the reasons and warned: “They fear that this could potentially trip them up and give Trump ammunition. In fact, many of the Democrats I spoke to today said, “Avoid these kinds of policies.”
“It’s a mood election!” announces Kasie Hunt.
CNN urges Kamala NOT to give interviews and NOT to talk about her “policy recommendations.”
CNN joined the Democrats in mocking the idea that Americans care about politics. pic.twitter.com/BHT7urKZQJ– Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) 22 August 2024
A montage then played of Democratic members of Congress desperately trying to justify why they should not be honest with the American people about what their vision for America entails:
REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-GA): I didn’t hear from many voters that they wanted white papers and policy documents; what they wanted here was their vision for this country.
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY: (D-VA): The American people do not vote on policy.
REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): I think the way the American people feel about this decision has less to do with policy details and more to do with the direction the country is going. And secondly, it’s about the person, the character. That’s important.
Raju, quoting Connolly, tried to warn that Harris could suffer the same fate as Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA): “He said, ‘Remember what Elizabeth Warren did when she ran again in 2020. She had a white paper on every policy position, and what happened? She collapsed in the primaries.’ So there is a belief that maybe putting more ideas on paper is a bad idea.”
Moderator Kasie Hunt ended the conversation, but rejected calls for transparency in Harris’ policies because “It’s a mood election!”
The transcript is below, click expand to read it:
CNN’s The leadership
22 August 2024
16:34:14 Eastern Time(…)
ERIN BURNETT: And then you hear the criticism: “Oh, she needs to do more interviews. She needs to talk about politics.” Interestingly, the insiders you talk to tend to say, “No.”
MANU RAJU: Yes.
BURNETT: “Absolutely not. It hasn’t been necessary before. Why start now?”
RAJU: And that’s exactly it. They’re worried that this could potentially trip them up and give Trump ammunition. In fact, many of the Democrats I spoke to today have said that these kinds of policy recommendations should be avoided.
(Cut to video)
REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-GA): I didn’t hear from many voters that they wanted white papers and policy papers; what they wanted here was their vision for this country.
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY: (D-VA): The American people do not vote on policy.
REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): I think the way the American people feel about this decision has less to do with policy details and more to do with the direction the country is going. And secondly, it’s about the person, the character. That’s important.
(Cut back to live mode)
RAJU: And Gerry Connolly, the congressman from Virginia. I asked him about it. He said, “Think about what Elizabeth Warren did when she ran again in 2020. She had a white paper on every policy position, and what happened? She collapsed in the primaries.”
So there’s a view that maybe putting more ideas on paper is a bad idea. But the question is: do voters want to see some of these ideas?
KASIE HUNT: Maybe. If you go by the mood, it’s a mood choice!
BURNETT: That’s right!
(…)
