Harris Criticized Over More ‘Word Salad’ Responses During CNN Interview
Vice President Kamala Harris finally agreed to sit down for an interview more than 35 days after being effectively named the Democratic Party's presidential candidate by Joe Biden. However, even in the familiar setting of CNN, she struggled to provide clear answers.
Conservative activists and media outlets took to X (formerly Twitter) to critique a particular segment from the interview with CNN's Dana Bash. In this segment, Harris discussed the evolution of her policy positions since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
In the interview clip, set to air Thursday night on CNN, Dana Bash asked Harris, “Generally speaking, how should voters look at some of the changes that you’ve made? … Is it because you have more experience now, and you’ve learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?”
Harris responded, “Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed, and I’ve worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Conservative commentator Steve Guest took to X, labeling her response as "Gobbledygook." He added, “The definition of a deadline is ‘the latest time or date by which something should be completed.’”
Noah Rothman, senior writer at the National Review, called Harris’s response “rambling,” while British-American journalist Charles C. W. Cooke described the clip as an “instant classic,” quipping, “Undefeated. She’s still got it—even as the nominee.”
The Blaze's X account described her comments as “word salad,” a term frequently used by critics to characterize Harris's often convoluted responses.
Harris continued in the interview, “We have set goals for the United States of America and, by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border. That value has not changed.”
Harris was also pressed on her change of stance regarding fracking. Bash asked, “In 2019 you said, quote: ‘There is no question. I’m in favor of banning fracking.’ Fracking, as you know, is a pretty big issue, particularly in your must-win state of Pennsylvania. Do you still want to ban fracking?”
Harris responded, “No. And I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking as vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Bash followed up, reminding Harris of a 2019 town hall where she had unequivocally stated her support for banning fracking. Harris reiterated that her stance “changed in that campaign in 2020” and emphasized that she has remained consistent in supporting fracking into 2024.
However, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale challenged Harris’s claim that she made her position on fracking clear in 2020. “The fact check bottom line is that she did not actually make clear at a 2020 debate that she had changed her previous support for a fracking ban,” Dale said. He highlighted a 2019 CNN climate town hall where Harris clearly stated, “there was no question” she was “in favor of banning fracking.”
Dale further noted that Harris ended her 2020 presidential campaign in December 2019 and only participated in one general election debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence. During that debate, she did not clarify her abandonment of the fracking ban but instead reiterated that Joe Biden, the Democratic ticket leader, would not ban fracking.