Mainstream media hosts and pundits have not only acknowledged that new Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign has prioritized style over substance, but have actively praised it.
Journalists and commentators at CNN, CBS News and elsewhere have suggested that Harris’s lack of formal interviews and her avoidance of offering detailed policy proposals since President Biden dropped out of the race more than a month ago is actually a good thing for her campaign.
“This is a tone election,” CNN anchor Casey Hunt said Thursday.
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Media pundits are touting US Vice President Kamala Harris’ substance-focused election strategy as effective. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On the final day of the Democratic National Convention, CNN showed Democratic leaders telling viewers that Harris didn’t need to articulate her positions on key issues because Americans “won’t vote” based on that information. In this context, the network’s hosts seemed comfortable with the idea.
CNN anchor Manu Raju began the discussion Thursday afternoon by saying some Democrats are “concerned about her actions.” [interviews] That could potentially undermine her and give Trump ammunition. In fact, many of the Democrats I spoke to today said, ‘We should avoid those policy proposals.'”
The outlet later aired a montage of Democratic lawmakers at the Democratic National Convention telling him this.
After his audio comments, Raju told the other hosts: “So, there may be a belief that putting ideas on paper is not a good thing. But the question is whether voters want to see some of those ideas.”
Anchorman Casey Hunt seemed to agree that this strategy was fine, saying, “Maybe. If we go by tone, this will be a tone election.” Colleague Erin Burnett agreed, saying, “Exactly.”
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Following her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage with vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, his wife, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
During a CNN report the previous night, Barnett asked radio host Charlaman “The God” whether Harris’s strategy of avoiding talking to the press about her policies was a good one.
“She hasn’t done any big interviews here in a while, and especially not since the announcement. Are you planning on speaking to her anytime soon? What do you think? What do you think she should do? Or should she just ignore all the calls to talk and carry on doing what she’s doing?” she asked.
The “Breakfast Club” host responded: “What she’s doing is successful because what she’s doing is successful.”
Ron Brownstein, a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior CNN political analyst, told CNN anchors on Friday morning that the content of Harris’ speech at the Democratic National Convention was less important than the sense of “change” he sensed from her during the speech.
“I think she could have done more in some areas, particularly talking about inflation and helping people cover the cost of living, but she had a great strength in embodying the message. If you talk about fresh starts and turning a new page, you hardly needed to listen to her. She radiated change last night in the way she presented herself,” Brownstein said.
Anchor Sarah Sydnor backed up his belief that there was nothing memorable about the speech other than the emotions felt.
“When I sit back and think about the lines of the speeches, I can’t remember the lines, but I can remember something. I remember Michelle Obama’s lines, but what do people take from that? I remember Barack Obama’s lines, but I don’t necessarily remember this speech. This one did something different. What was it?” she asked.
“It was energy, it was intensity, it was change,” Brownstein replied.
Tim Walz’s dog has been interviewed more than Harris since she was nominated for VP status
CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil seemed to sum up the style-over-substance nature of Harris’ speech Thursday night while reporting from the Democratic National Convention, as balloons floated around him and attendees cheered at the end of the vice president’s speech. The journalist reported“I’ll leave it to you to review the content. The emotions and feelings here are, how should I put it, a bit like a seventh-year birthday party.”
“There’s joy and not much thinking! It’s fun!” he told his colleagues back in the editing room.
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Fox News Digital’s Hannah Panrec and Lindsay Koenick contributed to this report.
