Dan Pfeiffer: Why the Press is Mad that Kamala Harris went on "Call Her Daddy"

[Dennis Donovan]

The Message Box - Dan Pfeiffer - Why the Press is Mad that Kamala Harris went on "Call Her Daddy"

The media environment is changing and campaign strategies are adjusting with it

Dan Pfeiffer
Oct 07, 2024

Democratic operatives and the Beltway media rarely see eye-to-eye these days, but in recent weeks there has been “agreement” that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz should be doing more interviews. Now, of course, they didn’t really agree. The media wanted Harris and Walz to talk on their decaying platforms and to their declining audiences (Okay, I’m being a little harsh). Democrats wanted our candidates need to be more aggressive in reaching out to local media, non-traditional media, and online influencers.

To be fair to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, their schedule was packed. Harris had to pick a VP, hire a campaign team, plan a convention, and prepare for a debate in rapid succession. Walz needed a crash course in Harris’s positions and national politics while preparing for the biggest speech and debate of his life. All the while, they were barnstorming the battleground states. So, they can be excused for not doing a ton of interviews.

That concern is fading. The Harris campaign dramatically increased the tempo of its media interactions. Last week, Kamala Harris sat down with 60 Minutes, a local Pittsburgh TV station, and the All the Smoke and Call Her Daddy podcasts. Yesterday, Tim Walz was on Fox News Sunday. This week, Harris will do interviews with The View, Stephen Colbert, and Howard Stern as well as participate in a Univision townhall. Simultaneously, Walz will be on Jimmy Kimmel and a “major podcast.”

The media — and Politico Playbook in particular — are fuming over the Harris-Walz media strategy. However, Kamala Harris is adapting to the changing media environment and strategically targeting the voters they need.

/snip

There was a time when President Clinton was criticized for going on Arsenio Hall and playing his sax. Times - and media - changes.

[Wild blueberry]

1. Great points

Thank you.

[RAB910]

2. The media has a clear bias in favor of the convicted felon

why should VP Harris play into that?

[FlyingPiggy]

6. Exactly this!!!

[Orrex]

20. You're only saying that because they've been lovingly kissing his ass for most of a decade

[uponit7771]

28. +1, only reason she's not ahead of a convicted felon rapist racist is because of M$M Illusionary Effect on US population

[Charlie Chapulin]

3. Remember when...

…Jimmy Carter did an interview with Playboy?

[Baltimike]

4. We. Don't. Need. Them. AND they just help the right. Period. nt

[agingdem]

5. legacy and cable networks only have themselves to blame

Last edited Mon Oct 7, 2024, 01:22 PM - Edit history (1)

for their dive into irrelevance in the age of Fox and Trump...the most obvious sign the MSM traded trust for screaming headlines was the 2022 midterm absolutely-gonna-happen Republican "red wave"..Trump's anointed candidates were guaranteed to decimate their Democratic rivals culminating in the House flipping with a MAGA super majority...and MSNBC and CNN bought into the supposed GOP takeover with their hosts and guests wailing "the sky is falling"...and when the dust settled, Trump's toxic crazies went down in flames (with the exception of JD Vance)..and the House did, in fact, flip but with a slim majority, rendering it useless..

as for the networks and Trump...reporters, in their zeal for access, were swallowed up with Trump's sea of lies and personal insults..never any pushback or follow-ups to their unanswered questions..Trump was a rock star...and the networks cashed in..

as for print media, Peter Baker and his fellow cronies devoted columns to parsing Trump's verbal vomit, giving his spewed bilge gravitas and trashing Biden..omg his age/walk/talk/gaffs, ignoring Trump's mental decline, his Hitler speak, his hate for "the other"...and then Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Kamala Harris, an intelligent, young, politically savvy woman, and suddenly the MSM found themselves in OH SHIT territory ignored by millennials and GenZ...thoughts and prayers and a colossal FUCK YOU legacy media...

[FlyingPiggy]

7. They mainstream media doesn't get to show biasness towards TFG & expect Kamala to show them support for their ratings.

They’re not paying attention: we’re DONE being abused by them. The media can go suck on eggs.

[gristy]

8. Howard Stern!!

This week, Harris will do interviews with The View, Stephen Colbert, and Howard Stern as well as participate in a Univision townhall

[hauckeye]

9. What does the podcast title "Call Her Daddy" mean?

I’d never heard of it before

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. It's a twist on bedroom talk.

[hlthe2b]

16. I heard as Whiskey Grinder mentions, a raunchy take on bedroom talk. Also that it supposedly is a twist

on female empowerment, given I suppose that "Mommy" would not have the same resonance.

Either way (and the masses can call me whatever you like or come and string me up if you so desire), but I really do not like the name. And, yes, I get that it is a really popular podcast, something that is fine in my book. It is the name I don't like, not the podcast.

[lame54]

10. They're calling them "safe interviews"...

A term never used for Trump and Hannity

[dchill]

12. Exactly.

[Zilli]

11. I'm hoping that Kamala and/or Tim

do a Meidas Touch interview. Unapologetically pro Democracy......
Mainstream media will clutch their pearls and have the vapors.

[progressoid]

23. I suspect they might not see that as a good use of time.

Meidas' audience is already going to vote for her.

They need to get the word out to those on-the-fence voters and apathetic voters.

[Mad_Machine76]

13. Goal post moving

for Democratic candidates only. Meanwhile, Trump gets to just coast and give crazy speeches at rallies and the press will clean everything up for him.

[Macrophylla]

15. Legacy

Media doesn't reach the people who need to be reached.
No value in spending money in a format that can't help you.
Legacy media built all that problem for themselves.

[patphil]

17. I think they are doing a good job of reaching out to voters.

The more voters of all types they can reach, the better off they are. It's all good if it raises the collective awareness and understanding of who they are, and what they stand for.
We only have a month to go. Time to put their campaign's into high gear, and go for it.

[JustAnotherGen]

18. Yeah - I'm not too concerned

With what the old school outlets like, and don't like. It's one big gotcha with them, as we saw with Governor Walz on Fox news - even though there was no 'gotcha'.

Harris was interviewed at the Convention - just not by the NY Times, CBS News, NPR, etc. etc.

Candidates really do NOT need the media these days - because they can get directly to the people on social media, podcasts, etc. etc. One thing I was VERY excited to see is that she will be on Howard Stern's show.

Millenial and older African Americans (both men and women) listen to call in radio. I like to say I've been radicalized by the Late Great Mr. Joe Madison. Rest assured, if she doesn't go on there directly (and she really should do at least one Urban Radio program - Bided did) - they will play her interview clips non-stop.

[NBachers]

19. They are all Peter Doocy now.

[Oopsie Daisy]

21. What does that title mean? The word "call" is ambiguous. Is it "Refer-to her as Daddy"? Or "Summon her Daddy"? *

* or something else entirely

[WhiskeyGrinder]

26. Refer to her as Daddy.

[riverbendviewgal]

22. Go girl!

She is doing the campaign her own smart way. There are many ways to communicate. Wow! She will be a great president.

[Magoo48]

24. The MSM is dying from self inflicted wounds.

They would die much faster if folks would stop supporting them by tuning in, turning them on, clicking on them, or purchasing their fish wrap.

[JustAnotherGen]

25. This part of Pfeiffer's piece

Interviews on traditional platforms like CNN and MSNBC reach almost no persuadable voters. They are internal conversations among political junkies who made their decision years ago. This is reality; and too many in the Beltway media are unwilling to grasp it. Here’s Politico Playbook demonstrating a stunning combination of naivete and misplaced narcissism:

After avoiding the media for neigh on her whole campaign, VP KAMALA HARRIS is … still largely avoiding the media.

That’s not the Playbook lead her team is gonna want to read this morning after announcing at 5 a.m. that she’s blitzing the airwaves with unscripted sit-downs in the coming days … Let’s be real here: Most of these are not the types of interviews that are going to press her on issues she may not want to talk about, even as voters want more specifics from Harris. Instead, expect most of these sit-downs to be a continuation of the “vibes” campaign Harris has perfected.

Politico doesn’t count local media interviews as substantive enough to meet their standards, which is quite the tell. It’s not about a Free Press or holding the powerful to account, it’s about maintaining their relevance. It’s also astounding that they leveled this critique when Walz appeared on Fox News Sunday and the day before Harris appeared on 60 Minutes — the toughest interview in the business.

This is why Politico has become irrelevant. They should publish a podcast I can pick up on listening to Wondery, Sirius, or Amazon - interview her live . . . and I can listen while I'm driving to or from work. It makes no sense to me why they can't flex to where I'm at in life. Sirius does - why can't they?

[LiberalBrooke]

27. They have given "equal" sides to facts and lies for years.

Now they want to claim that they are journalists and should get Harris and Walz’s attention.