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Kamala Harris brutally mocked for 'weak' choice to do interview with Tim Walz: 'She cannot be left unattended'
Kamala Harris is facing pushback from Republican strategists for decision to bring along her sidekick Tim Walz for her first sit-down interview since her astonishing move to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
'I think it’s incredibly weak, weak sauce to show up with your running mate,' former George W. Bush White House official Scott Jennings told CNN, where he serves as a commentator. He said the move showed a 'troubling lack of confidence in her political ability.'
'The fact that they don't have enough confidence in her to let her sit herself, the actual top of the ticket and do a single interview,' he continued, speaking on Anderson Cooper's evening program on the network. 'In fact, I think the handwringing and the gyrations over this, over the last month show a troubling, lack of confidence in her political ability,' he added.
'I think Republicans are going to think it's pretty week to show up with effectively someone to take up half the time,' he said.
Harris had been under increasing pressure to answer sustained questions about her plans since President Joe Biden stepped back from his own reelection bid July 21. Then, as the weeks passed without such an event, she faced demands to do so with an outlet that would subject her to rigorous questioning.
Team effort: Vice President Kamala Harris is being criticied for bringing along her running mate Tim Walz in her sit-down interview with CNN, her first since Joe Biden ended his campaign
After promising to do an interview by the end of the month, Harris' campaign settled on an interview airing Thursday night on CNN with the network's chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash.
Although some commentators have called the venue friendly territory, former President Donald Trump has praised the questioning by moderators Jake Tapper and Bash during the June debate that helped push Biden out of the race.
Trump told supporters he shouldn't knock the network because 'they treated me very fairly last' at the debate. 'Very professional, both of them,' he added.
Conservative commentators who had pushed Harris to go on camera pounced at the format. '"LOL, a joint interview. She simply cannot be left unattended, wrote Jeff Behar of the National Review.
Jennings' co-panelist Maria Cardona disputed his analysis, saying the selection reflected a 'compressed time frame' and said viewers wanted to hear from Walz.
'Doing an interview alongside her alongside her vice presidential nominee is going to give voters the chance that they want, I believe, to not just listen to her but to listen to the vice presidential nominee, and what will they do as a team,' she said.
Harris is holding the interview while riding a jump in the polls since taking over from Biden as the candidate. She holds narrow leads in a string of national polls, but is yet to be seen what kind of 'bounce' she got from her convention and whether it will linger.
She has also seized narrow leads in some of the battleground states and pushed others into the 'toss-up' column. The Cook Political Report on Tuesday moved North Carolina over into toss-up status, the latest indication of how Harris has expanded the battlefield compared to Biden.
Republican strategist Scott Jennings called the move 'weak sauce' in his own appearance on CNN
Host Anderson Cooper quizzed commentators, including Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, about the move, which has not ended calls for Harris to conduct a solo interview
In that environment, Harris runs the risk of upsetting what has been a successful strategy and a gain from her convention if she veers off script, as she did in her 2021 interview while fielding questions from NBC's Lester Holt about about whether she would go to the border.
'We've been to the border,' she told him as he pressed, adding: 'And I haven't been to Europe.'
It isn't just Harris who can use Walz as a shield. Walz faces potential questions on how he has described his 24-year stint in the National Guard and his decision to retire to run for Congress months before his unit was deployed to Iraq. And although he spent a dozen years in Congress, he hasn't been immersed in all of the national policy fights and Harris' still evolving agenda.
The two traveled together before the Democratic convention in Chicago, and get ack on the campaign trail today in Savannah, Georgia – another state that Democrats believe is back in play with Harris and Walz on the ticket.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Harris camp on the format and whether she will sit for a solo interview in the future.