DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES NOT HAPPY:
Fed up Reporters Blow Lid off Kamala’s Limited Availability, One Says It ‘Has a Foul Stench of Insecurity.’
Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden’s handlers are keeping him
sequestered in the basement as often as possible from the mainstream media and feeding him answers via prompter.
Tuesday, many members of the mainstream media broke their silence on social media regarding the lack of access to Kamala Harris.
NBC News reporter Deepa Shivaram, who is embedded with Harris’s traveling press corps, took to the Twitter machine last night to vent about how the Democrat vp nominee “has not once formally taken questions from the press” since becoming the nominee:
Deepa Shivaram
@deepa_shivaram
A reminder that it has been 42 days since Harris was tapped as the VP pick. There are 42 days until election day. The senator has not once formally taken questions from the press.
5:48 PM · Sep 22, 2020
Odd, as it was a open mouth that got her political start.
Replying to @AndrewDesiderio
Just to be clear, she's taken questions -- but it's us shouting them out as we're moving in and out of rooms, or as she's walking in and out of events. Nothing more established than that.
In spite of Harris’s apologists spinning like tops to try and refute Shivaram’s claims, she pressed on:
Deepa Shivaram
@deepa_shivaram
Good question. She sat down for two interviews, ones with NBC and CNN. She has done local press interviews in the states she's traveled to. But besides the few shouted questions, no - there has not been a gaggle where reporters who are on the ground can ask questions.
https://twitter.com/eschildge/status/1308571994917666818
Once that dam was broken, other reporters also weighed in, including Jonathan Martin from the New York Times:
Jonathan Martin
@jmartNYT
A streak that’s as remarkable as the comments from people doing volunteer rapid response are predicable
@deepa_shivaram is right to keep pressing on this. Harris should take Qs from the reporters traveling w her.
Andrew Desiderio from Politico:
Andrew Desiderio
@AndrewDesiderio
Sen. Harris hasn’t taken questions from reporters since being named as the VP nominee — but tomorrow she’ll be at the Capitol for an Intelligence Committee briefing, where she certainly will not be able to avoid us.
Ed O'Keefe from CBS News:
@edokeefe
·
Sep 22, 2020
Doesn’t speak to the traveling press pool, doesn’t do local interviews when traveling nor interviews beyond the friendliest of national, niche outlets. Her debate with
@mike_pence, who frequently sits for interviews, is in 15 days.
“The Hill” media reporter Joe Concha:
Joe Concha
@JoeConchaTV
There hasn't been a more invisible vice presidential candidate in history than Kamala Harris. Probably have to go back to Dan Quayle in terms of a campaign essentially hiding a candidate. Can't even point to one major moment, interview or soundbite from Harris to this point...
The Daily Beast’s political editor Sam Stein, formerly of HuffPo infamy, said the quiet part out loud about how the Biden-Harris campaign’s penchant for hiding from the press “has a foul stench of insecurity” about it:
Sam Stein
@samstein
The Biden campaign’s reluctance to talk to the press is not just annoying (though it’s that), it’s bad for our system of governance (especially during COVID) and has a foul stench of insecurity.
Gee.
Ya think?
Meanwhile, the Daily Caller
is reporting on how many times Biden’s handlers have called a “lid” on his campaign this month alone:
Alec Sears
@alec_sears
This is every day so far in the month of September that the Biden Campaign has called a full lid before Noon
For those wondering what a “lid” is:
Jake Schneider
@jacobkschneider
Replying to @jacobkschneider
A "lid" is called by a campaign to signal that the candidate is done making news for the day. Meaning Joe Biden is in his basement to stay for the day.
President Trump skewered Biden over his lack of availability during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania Tuesday night:
Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022)
@TeamTrump
President
@realDonaldTrump rips Joe Biden for calling a lid early this morning: "Lid means he's not going to be anywhere today. I'm working my ass off. I'm in Ohio, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin."
