“Real Time” host Bill Maher shared his own mixed reactions about Vice President Kamala Harris’ CNN interview, offering both praise and criticism for the Democratic nominee.
“I thought she did great. I thought she did fine,” Maher began the panel discussion Friday night. “I don’t know why we ever thought she was as bad as people thought she was. It was like Biden had that one bad night, she had a bad three years.”
Maher suggested that both Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was also present at the interview, were “insulting [his] intelligence” by the things they chose to be evasive about. The host called out Walz’s comments suggesting he speaks the way normal people speak.
“No, you don’t. You’re a huge liar, like all politicians are,” Maher reacted. “I don’t give a s— what you did during the Iraq War. You were in the Guard- I don’t understand why they just can’t-” he broke off.
The host added, “They’re just insulting my intelligence.”
“When [CNN anchor Dana Bash] said what did you say when Biden called you and said he wasn’t running. ‘Well, I immediately thought of him first,’” Maher said while rolling his eyes. “I mean fracking… Dana Bash had her dead to rights. It was like ‘You said this, I have the quote. I’m reading it to you. You said there should be a ban on fracking.’ Why can’t they just go, ‘Yeah, you know what? I got it wrong.’”
The HBO host gave Harris high marks for not “taking the bait” when she was asked about former President Trump’s comments about her race.
“That was just so great,” Maher said. “She said ‘same old playbook.’ And Dana said, like, ‘That’s it?’ ‘That’s it. That’s my answer, that’s all you’re getting.’”
Will Lanzoni/CNN
Maher went on to express how puzzled he is about Harris’ messaging, particularly when she repeatedly talks about finding a “new way forward.”
“It’s an odd thing to say when you’re in the present administration, is it not?” Maher reacted.
He also repeatedly mocked the interview set-up with Harris and her “emotional support VP.”
“It was a little odd. He was just sitting there for a very long time without saying anything. He was just nodding while she did all the talking. The women’s focus groups said he must be a wonderful husband,” Maher quipped during the opening monologue.
Maher later said the Democratic ticket looked like “when Dad comes along” to help a young woman buy a car.
“Maybe that’s the strategy. They look like a married couple. They look like every interracial couple in every commercial,” Maher joked.
