CNN panel gangs up on GOP strategist for dumping on Kamala Harris' acceptance speech
CNN's Scott Jennings conceded that Kamala Harris effectively introduced herself to voters in her acceptance speech, but his fellow panelists jumped all over his claims that Donald Trump remains in a strong position heading into next month's debate.
The conservative commentator credited the vice president for her improved political skills and agreed the Democratic National Convention had been a success, but Jennings argued that she did not accept responsibility for the attacks Republicans have leveled at her tenure alongside president Joe Biden.
"She seemed plausible, this speech I agree, it did portray her as someone who sounded like a reasonable person," Jennings said. "Now, what she did not do was take any amount of responsibility for her current job, which is vice president of the United States for the last three-and-a-half years under Joe Biden. It was not an ounce of humility about the inflation gripping the country. She talked about immigration without talking about all the things that happened right up until this border bill that they had hung all their hats on over at the Biden White House."
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"So, to me, where the Republicans are going to be headed is all the pablum, all the platitudes," Jennings added, "all that aside you cannot leave the same people in charge if you believe that country's on the wrong track, if you believe they made all the mistakes on the economy and on immigration, you cannot leave the same people in charge that have run the country off into the ditch until she comes up with a good answer for that, which I suspect will have to be litigated at the debate on Sept. 10. Donald Trump is still in a very good place."
Former lawmaker Bakari Sellers disagreed, saying that the Republican nominee was no longer an effective candidate.
"The problem that you have, however, is that, respectfully, to you and my brother, Shermichael [Singletone], who are oftentimes on that side of the table at this hour, is that you all are more disciplined of a messenger than Donald Trump is," Sellers said. "Donald Trump has an inability at 78 years old to prosecute any message similar to what you're talking about, and we can debate, we can debate the merits of that, and I would love to debate the merits of immigration with you or inflation with your economic policy with you ... but Donald Trump is not capable of that. He's a diminished individual."
Former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams jumped in next, saying that Trump had his own record as commander-in-chief.
"I think your point's well taken, Scott, that by being in power for any number of years, oh, you're holding the bag," Williams said. "The problem with that is that you'd be getting the bag back to the person who had the bag before and part of the message was, do you wish to go back to that chaos and disorder?"
Jennings pushed back, saying that Trump was as popular as he's ever been and the view of his presidency is as positive as it's ever been, but Biden's former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield argued that Harris had effectively defended her own record.
"She didn't address [GOP criticisms] in the way that you, as a Republican strategist, would like to see her address them, but she did talk about immigration and she said, 'Hey, Donald Trump blew up our best option to make progress on this issue,'" Bedingfield said. "So if you're an independent voter and you're trying to sort out left from right in this race you say, 'Oh, well, that seems like actually she's making a good point here.' Like, it's not that she didn't address these issues, it's that she actually took them on in a way that was smart and on the offensive."
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