On Wednesday’s New Day, co-host John Berman and guest host Erica Hill colluded with senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, political correspondent Abby Phillip, and political producer Jasmine Wright to gush over Joe Biden choosing Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate. Phillip praised Harris’s “broad appeal” and Henderson stumped for the Democratic ticket by stating that Harris will “certainly be an asset for what Joe Biden's overarching campaign message is. Healing the country, uniting the country, and making everyone feel like they're a part of this broad and diverse country.”
Henderson began the Democratic campaigning with woke garbage:
I've been on the record talking about how absurd the idea is that picking an African-American woman, picking an Asian-American woman is safe, because that is -- you know, history just doesn't bear that out. This is an historic pick, if you look throughout history. Very few African-American women have ascended to these heights in politics. Senate seats, for instance, a governor's seat, no black woman governor in the history of -- of this country. So I don't think it's a safe pick. I think it's a smart pick for Joe Biden for all sorts of reasons. It's a bold pick, but it's also a risky pick in some ways if you think about where we were in 2016, and the ways in which we know what Donald Trump likes to do. And that is play on white anxiety, stir up white fear of -- of a -- of a rising demographic. And -- and obviously, somebody like Kamala Harris embodies this kind of new America that everybody is -- is talking about. And you saw him sort of relying on some of that language yesterday when he talked about Kamala Harris, called her, I think, one of the most powerful people and very mean and nasty and they're clearly going to try to frame her as this sort of radical, dangerous threat to the country. The person on the ticket who was really wearing the pants on the ticket and not sort of Uncle Joe, the nice -- the nice white man who's at the -- the top of the ticket. So in -- in that way, you know, it's both -- it’s -- it’s a bit risky.
Phillip praised Harris’s “broad appeal” and ignored Joe Biden’s history with women: “And -- and I think what Joe Biden wants to say is that this ticket is about the future of the country, the future of the Democratic Party, and -- and he wants to really double down on this idea that women are going to be the heart and soul of the campaign going forward and have -- and have been a key weakness for President Trump throughout his presidency.”
Tara Reade might contend that Biden’s “key weakness” is women. It is extremely doubtful that the hacks at CNN will bring up that Harris said she believed Reade’s accusations towards Biden.
Berman salivated over a Facebook post that Harris made after being chosen:
And I was struck by a Facebook post from Senator Harris yesterday that really received almost no attention in the midst of everything else and the selection and I want to read from this because I think gives us a sense of the framing of the pick. This is what Senator Harris wrote: “My mom and dad like so many other immigrants came to this country for an education. My mother from India and my dad from Jamaica. And civil rights movement of the 1960's brought them together. Some of my earliest memories are from that time: My parents being attacked by police with hoses, fleeing for safety, with me strapped tightly in my stroller. That spirit of activism is why my mother, Shyamala -- Shyamala will always tell my sister and me, don't just sit around and complain about things, do something. I know that winning this race will be tougher than anything I've faced before, but I've never been more ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. Donald Trump thinks this country belongs to him, but Joe Biden knows it belongs to all of us, to the people. And together the people are going to take it back.” So that was the message clearly written in a direct way from Senator Harris.
Henderson ended the segment by campaigning for the ticket:
And yes, I -- I think if you think about what Joe Biden has said he wants to do, unite the country and restore the soul of America. That is a message that Kamala Harris can carry, that is a message that -- that Kamala Harris has fought for her entire life. She talked about her parents being involved in the civil rights movement, being in some of those rallies out in -- in California, a fight for social justice that goes back decades in this country. So this is the language she knows native to what she has done her entire life. So she'll certainly be an asset for what Joe Biden's overarching campaign message is. Healing the country, uniting the country, and making everyone feel like they're a part of this broad and diverse country.
Later on during the show, Berman and Hill bashed Trump's attack on the allegedly moderate Harris:
BERMAN: And they will appear together for the first time in a few hours. And, Erica, one of the things that's very interesting, I think you learn a lot about the type of pick that one ticket makes by the response from the other. And it's clear that this is a complicated pick for the Trump campaign. Donald Trump doesn't know how to respond. This is not the easiest pick for them to attack. Why? Well, because Kamala Harris is not, was not the most liberal possibility that Joe Biden could have picked. She's more in the middle. Why? Because she has experience as a prosecutor, as well. So on the whole law and order idea that the President's been out there, it's a complicated thing. It's hard for him to lay a glove on her. So what has he resorted to, the type of slurs and -- and things that he hurls at people, calling her nasty and the like.
HILL: Yeah, he goes back to the same, you know, bag of tricks that he's always used, specifically with women, right, "nasty," we know, always comes out there. And, of course, with women of color. The other thing that's interesting is they've had plenty of time to prepare for this. So it's also kind of fascinating that on day one that's all you're coming with. Not that we don't have a long road ahead.
CNN has long been propping up Biden’s campaign and now it will do it’s best to help his vice presidential choice as well.
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Read the full August 12th transcript here:
CNN New Day
08/12/20
6:05 AM ET
JOHN BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip, and CNN political producer Jasmine Wright, who was embedded with Senator Harris during her presidential campaign. Nia, I want to start with you because I'm fascinated by the coverage of this pick this morning, because it is being portrayed as historic, groundbreaking, and safe. How can it be all three things at the very same time?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER): Right -- yeah -- I mean, I've been on the record talking about how absurd the idea is that picking an African-American woman, picking an Asian-American woman is safe, because that is -- you know, history just doesn't bear that out. This is an historic pick, if you look throughout history. Very few African-American women have ascended to these heights in politics. Senate seats, for instance, a governor's seat, no black woman governor in the history of -- of this country. So I don't think it's a safe pick. I think it's a smart pick for Joe Biden for all sorts of reasons. It's a bold pick, but it's also a risky pick in some ways if you think about where we were in 2016, and the ways in which we know what Donald Trump likes to do. And that is play on white anxiety, stir up white fear of -- of a -- of a rising demographic. And -- and obviously, somebody like Kamala Harris embodies this kind of new America that everybody is -- is talking about. And you saw him sort of relying on some of that language yesterday when he talked about Kamala Harris, called her, I think, one of the most powerful people and very mean and nasty and they're clearly going to try to frame her as this sort of radical, dangerous threat to the country. The person on the ticket who was really wearing the pants on the ticket and not sort of Uncle Joe, the nice -- the nice white man who's at the -- the top of the ticket. So in -- in that way, you know, it's both -- it’s -- it’s a bit risky. And we'll see how voters respond. It's a smart pick, because they also know, they have focus grouped this and they have seen from Kamala Harris' own campaign that she does appeal to a broad range of voters. Not only African-Americans, but -- but white suburban women, as well. College-educated women. And we know that those folks are going to be so important to Joe Biden, the coalition that he's going to need to put together in order to beat Donald Trump.
ERICA HILL: And just to pick up on that point, Abby, what -- what I think is also fascinating as we look at the pick in 2020 versus what we’ve seen in the past is, this wasn't really about a geographic need for Joe Biden, right? It's not about the state of California. It was more about, what does Kamala Harris bring to this ticket and how does she better reflect what the country actually is in 2020?
ABBY PHILLIP (CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT): Yeah -- yeah. Joe Biden does not need help winning California, but it does tell you something about whether or not the map is the -- the dominant issue here for Joe Biden in picking his running mate that he picked someone from the west. From the western part of the country, from a very liberal part of the country. He went ahead and did that for a lot of other reasons and Nia hit on one of them. One of them is her -- her broad appeal. It is not just that she is a black woman and black women, specifically, are the cornerstone -- stone of the Democratic electorate, powering Joe Biden into the nomination in the first place. But it's also that throughout the primary, and I -- and I watched this as I covered her in the primary and -- and saw her campaign operating on the ground in places like Iowa, that -- that they believed that she had really a -- a more resonant appeal also with suburban white women, middle -- middle -- middle -- aged suburban white women, who are also part of this coalition Democrats are trying to put together. So it is not, obviously, just about electoral concerns. And I think most people know, at this point, that vice presidential picks, you -- the impact on the electoral map is really kind of a wash at -- at that point. It's really more about doubling down on some kind of narrative about what this ticket is about. And -- and I think what Joe Biden wants to say is that this ticket is about the future of the country, the future of the Democratic Party, and -- and he wants to really double down on this idea that women are going to be the heart and soul of the campaign going forward and have -- and have been a key weakness for President Trump throughout his presidency.
BERMAN: Lyndon Johnson in 1960 was the last running mate in all likelihood that did anything to deliver a state. It’s been a long time since that was an issue. So obviously this pick is meant to do more or something different than that. And I was struck by a Facebook post from Senator Harris yesterday that really received almost no attention in the midst of everything else and the selection and I want to read from this because I think gives us a sense of the framing of the pick. This is what Senator Harris wrote: “My mom and dad like so many other immigrants came to this country for an education. My mother from India and my dad from Jamaica. And civil rights movement of the 1960's brought them together. Some of my earliest memories are from that time: My parents being attacked by police with hoses, fleeing for safety, with me strapped tightly in my stroller. That spirit of activism is why my mother, Shyamala -- Shyamala will always tell my sister and me, don't just sit around and complain about things, do something. I know that winning this race will be tougher than anything I've faced before, but I've never been more ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. Donald Trump thinks this country belongs to him, but Joe Biden knows it belongs to all of us, to the people. And together the people are going to take it back.” So that was the message clearly written in a direct way from Senator Harris, I'm sure with the help of the Biden campaign. Jasmine, along those lines and you have a job I think which is the best job in America. You were the embedder -- the off air reporter with the Harris campaign when she was running for President. I had that job for George W. Bush in 2000. You see things that no one else sees. You saw how Senator Harris interacted with people on the campaign trail. How did she connect with people? Who did she connect with the most?
JASMINE WRIGHT (CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER): That's exactly right. And Senator Harris has that raw political talent that can command a stage on a -- on a debate stage, but also in small rooms in Iowa or in large auditoriums in New Hampshire. And when I traveled with her during the primary, I saw how she would gravitate to women of color, to people who looked like her, how she would grasp their hands, how she would look them in the eye, while they were describing their experience in America. While they were describing their experience of being immigrants, being black, being this type of other in this country. Things that she can relate to, as a black woman, as a woman of south Asian descent, as a daughter of immigrants. And so you really saw her both connecting to the folks, you know, I -- I also covered Senator Klobuchar, and I never saw more people of color than at Senator Harris' rallies. So you really saw her connecting to the folks in those rooms, but also she was actively seeking them out. She actively created content for Indian Americans. She actually created content for black women, to engage with them in their campaign. And they would gravitate to her and she would gravitate to them, really by offering her own experiences as a woman of color in this country, but also by accepting and acknowledging and listening. Truly, truly listening while looking them in their eyes, while they described their own experiences in this country. And that will prove to be helpful to Joe Biden, as they seek, as Abby said, to make women an essential part of the campaign and make the person -- people of color’s experience an essential part of the campaign in November.
HILL: And -- and Nia-Malika, I think we see some of that too, just in the Facebook post that Don -- that John just brought up, right? At the end when she talks that about that this country belongs to all of us, to all the people, that together the people are going to take it back. We know that's the message here, right? To counter what we’re seeing from Donald Trump and the Republican ticket. But it's remarkable too that it’s not just that she's the first black women. She’s an Indiana American woman. She’s the daughter of immigrants. Her age is also important here. She's young. And that is going to make a difference as she is out there engaging with people in the ways that Jasmine just reflected on.
HENDERSON: And -- and -- and listen, we're going to have a different campaign because we're in the era of COVID. She's likely not going to be able to make those kind of connections, kind of hand-to-hand hand shaking with -- with -- with voters out there because of where we are. But she can break through on television too. I think she understands social media. She understands viral moments, how to create those viral moments, unlike a lot of people we've seen in -- in this role before. So I think that is going to be to her credit and do some good. And yes, I -- I think if you think about what Joe Biden has said he wants to do, unite the country and restore the soul of America. That is a message that Kamala Harris can carry, that is a message that -- that Kamala Harris has fought for her entire life. She talked about her parents being involved in the civil rights movement, being in some of those rallies out in -- in California, a fight for social justice that goes back decades in this country. So this is the language she knows native to what she has done her entire life. So she'll certainly be an asset for what Joe Biden's overarching campaign message is. Healing the country, uniting the country, and making everyone feel like they're a part of this broad and diverse country.
6:35 AM ET
BERMAN: And they will appear together for the first time in a few hours. And, Erica, one of the things that's very interesting, I think you learn a lot about the type of pick that one ticket makes by the response from the other. And it's clear that this is a complicated pick for the Trump campaign. Donald Trump doesn't know how to respond. This is not the easiest pick for them to attack. Why? Well, because Kamala Harris is not, was not the most liberal possibility that Joe Biden could have picked. She's more in the middle. Why? Because she has experience as a prosecutor, as well. So on the whole law and order idea that the President's been out there, it's a complicated thing. It's hard for him to lay a glove on her. So what has he resorted to, the type of slurs and -- and things that he hurls at people, calling her nasty and the like.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, he goes back to the same, you know, bag of tricks that he's always used, specifically with women, right, "nasty," we know, always comes out there. And, of course, with women of color. The other thing that's interesting is they've had plenty of time to prepare for this. So it's also kind of fascinating that on day one that's all you're coming with. Not that we don't have a long road ahead.
BERMAN: Yeah.
HILL: But it will be interesting to watch.
