Vice President Kamala Harris faced mockery online Thursday for telling CNN that despite flip-flopping on policy, her "values have not changed."
In her first sit-down interview as a presidential candidate, with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz by her side, Harris was asked to explain her many major policy shifts.
"Generally speaking, how should voters look at some of the changes that you've made?" CNN host Dana Bash asked Harris. "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?"
"I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed," Harris told the news host. "You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed, and I have 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."
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"We have set goals for the United States of America, and by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," Harris continued.
"That value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the Attorney General of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the passage, illegal passage, of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed," she said.
Many online commentators argued that Harris’ claim she retains the same values means she is as radical as she was in 2019 while trying to act moderate to win the election.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kans., said, "Kamala Harris’ San Francisco progressive values have not, and will not ever change. A zebra doesn’t change its stripes."
"Kamala didn't even remotely pretend she was explaining why the things she pretended to believe when running in 2020 are now things she pretends she no longer believes," independent journalist Glenn Greenwald declared. "And from all appearances, there was zero attempt to insist an on answer. They picked Dana Bash for a reason."
Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks suggested that "When @KamalaHarris says, ‘My values have not changed,’ what she means is ‘I'm only pretending to moderate to win the election.’"
"Kamala Harris is STILL a radical San Francisco liberal!" Gilmartin Strategies president Chad Gilmartin proclaimed.
Former Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes responded, "Wow. Kamala Harris says she stands by every single radical policy position she’s ever held."
"KAMALA HARRIS IN HER OWN WORDS: ’My values have not changed,’" conservative commentator Vince Dao wrote. "So yes, EVERY 2020 policy she has proposed is fair game in the 2024 Election. "
Conservative social media strategist Chuck Callesto said, "Kamala Harris reminds everyone that she will vote radically as always.. ‘MY VALUES HAVE NOT CHANGED.’"
Breitbart’s senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak suggested Harris’ statement ultimately translates to "So, not ‘moderating’ her radical left views."
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Other commentators focused more on the interview itself, arguing it was a textbook case of a news personality offering leading questions to a candidate.
"Incredible to watch Bash offer a complete softball question and then offer Harris different options in how to answer it," Power the Future spokesman Larry Behrens noted. "It's the pathetic setup we all knew it would be."
Author and news contributor Andy McCarthy scorched the CNN interviewer, "In a courtroom, I'd object: Leading the witness!"
"This doesn't bode well for the rest of the interview," Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Chuck Ross said. "Dana Bash poses a softball question to Harris about her shifting stance on issues, rather than directly pointing out and quoting her flip flops on border, fracking, etc."
Conservative columnist T. Becket Adams jokingly parodied the interview: "Dana Bash: ‘Why have you [insert euphemism for flip-flop]? Is it because you are more wonderful now than you were then?’" he quipped. "Kamala Harris: ‘Time is a subject in which we believe we are the holders, holding time to events such that we know what time it is.’"
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Other commentators argued that all things considered, Harris struggles to express herself well in unscripted media appearances.
"Giving up the cover. This is why she won’t talk to reporters!" Glenn Jacobs, otherwise known as WWE legend Kane, said as he mocked Harris online.
DC Examiner editor Kaylee McGhee White derided the interview as one that went "terribly" for the vice president. "Even with Dana Bash trying to set Harris up with an easy excuse, this comes across terribly for Harris. Her campaign literally just claimed it doesn’t support EV mandates, and here she is acknowledging she supports the timelines laid out by those mandates. Yikes."
"This interview will leave vulnerable House Democrats longing for the Biden post-debate days," NRCC national press secretary Will Reinert joked.
In one salient example of Harris' policy flip-flops, a recent campaign ad featured the Trump-era border wall, the very same wall she previously condemned as "un-American."
Fracking is another prominent example, as Harris' campaign announced last month that the vice president did not support a ban on the oil extraction technique that enjoys broad support in battleground states like Pennsylvania. That position, however, is the opposite of her remarks as a primary candidate during a 2019 CNN town hall event, when Harris said there is "no question I’m in favor of banning fracking."
Harris has also distanced herself from "Medicare for All" and semiautomatic rifle buyback programs, after publicly touting both programs during her failed primary campaign during the 2020 cycle.
