Following President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election bid and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, CBS’s Krstine Johnson welcomed journalist Ed Gordon of fellow Paramount property Black Entertainment Television. Gordon wasted no time playing the race card in defense of Harris while hyping her “brilliant” record on abortion.
Johnson asked, “I know you are close to the vice president. You mentioned earlier that you said, 'Is the nation ready to elect its first female black president?' Is Kamala Harris, in your opinion, ready for the road that's ahead of her?”
Gordon, who interviewed Biden just last week, was not a fan of the question, “Yeah, I think, and I’m bothered sometimes by that question. I think African-Americans in these positions get that question far more than we give others.”
Apparently, no vice president has ever been asked if they were ready to assume the duties of president before Harris.
As it was, Gordon went on to give Harris a long and gushy endorsement, “I think, you know, three-and-a-half years in the White House has certainly readied her more than any other person on the Democratic side. She is a bright woman. She's been in politics for a long time. She certainly, I believe, has the ambition now. She stood stalwart next to Joe Biden, but someone in her position would certainly, I think, rise to this occasion, and I think she's ready, able, and willing to say ‘I want to take this task on.’"
Johnson then put the ball on the tee, “What are some of those personal qualities that you know about her that you feel will help in the road ahead?”
Gordon hyped Harris’s record on abortion, urging viewers to forget about the border chaos because that wasn’t really her fault:
Well, I think what we've seen her do at the outset when she was given the idea of handling reproductive rights, a lot of people have suggested, you know, that she stumbled and failed on the border issue, but I think that that's one of those issues that everyone who's been front and center of that, and I'm talking about presidents who were seated in office have had the opportunity to use the bully pulpit, but haven't been able to get their arms around the best way to handle that, but she, as many people have suggested, found her footing around reproductive rights.
Confusing making a scene at Senate hearings in order to go viral with being substantive, Gordon continued, “She's a brilliant woman, a great orator, and the energy that she's going to bring to this if, in fact, she becomes the nominee is extraordinary. We've seen her in debates before. We've seen her during Senate hearings. She's quick on her feet. I think she'll be a formidable opponent.”
With press coverage like that, who needs a communications team?
Here is a transcript for the July 21 coverage:
CBS News Special
7/21/2024
2:41 PM ET
KRISTINE JOHNSON: Well, he did put the word out that he is, in fact, endorsing his vice president. So, I do wonder if that was meant for everyone in the Democratic Party to hopefully just fall in line. I know you are close to the vice president. You mentioned earlier that you said “is the nation ready to elect its first female black president?” Is Kamala Harris, in your opinion, ready for the road that's ahead of her?
ED GORDON: Yeah, I think, and I’m bothered sometimes by that question. I think African-Americans in these positions get that question far more than we give others. I think, you know, three-and-a-half years in the White House has certainly readied her more than any other person on the Democratic side.
She is a bright woman. She's been in politics for a long time. She certainly, I believe, has the ambition now. She stood stalwart next to Joe Biden, but someone in her position would certainly, I think, rise to this occasion, and I think she's ready, able, and willing to say "I want to take this task on."
JOHNSON: What are some of those personal qualities that you know about her that you feel will help in the road ahead?
GORDON: Well, I think what we've seen her do at the outset when she was given the idea of handling reproductive rights, a lot of people have suggested, you know, that she stumbled and failed on the border issue, but I think that that's one of those issues that everyone who's been front and center of that, and I'm talking about presidents who were seated in office have had the opportunity to use the bully pulpit, but haven't been able to get their arms around the best way to handle that, but she, as many people have suggested, found her footing around reproductive rights. She's a brilliant woman, a great orator, and the energy that she's going to bring to this if, in fact, she becomes the nominee is extraordinary. We've seen her in debates before. We've seen her during Senate hearings. She's quick on her feet. I think she'll be a formidable opponent.
