Just how can we measure the Kamala Harris disaster that took place Wednesday night at the CNN 'town hall' event? Her supporters apparently inundated moderator Anderson Cooper with complaints and insults for daring to challenge Harris with questions about policies and her record, as he told Charlamagne Tha God and podcaster Angela Rye last night. 

Now he knows how Bret Baier felt for asking a perfectly normal set of questions. 

Needless to say, just as with the Baier interview a week earlier, the level of outrage aimed at the interviewer gives a very good indicator of how these events went for Harris. As for Cooper, he makes the point not once but twice that Harris supporters should stick to MSNBC if they want unadulterated adulation for their political idol. That's not what we do at CNN, Cooper argues, although one could forgive Harris supporters for assuming they did:

Cooper: I came across this whole inundation from people who are Harris supporters saying to me online today, like, how dare you, And I'm like you misunderstand what my job is. I'm not on MSNBC.. no disrespect.. pic.twitter.com/WNbVjNXnZL

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 25, 2024

COOPER: You can [quibble] with it. But I believe in asking questions and probing people's arguments and trying to reveal people's arguments, what's true and what's not. And I like -- I'm not on MSNBC for a reason. I'm not on some other network for a reason, on CNN, because I want to talk to Republicans. I want to talk to Democrats. And I want to learn from them. I don't think I have the answers. I'm willing to change my mind. People can convince me of stuff all the time. I -- I -- like, I'm not a -- I don't even know why I'm talking about myself. I don't know why I'm talking about myself.

RYE: No. But -- but Anderson I want to -- I want to tell you this --

COOPER: But -- but my point is, I think what we're doing here is important because I do think in this country where, you know what, I got so many, I don't look at comments about myself, but I -- I was looking up some co -- comments about my grief podcast and I came across this whole inundation from people who are Harris supporters saying to me online today, like, how dare you? What a betrayal that you would ask her these questions. And I'm like --

THA GOD: No. You did your job.

COOPER: -- you misunderstand what my job is. I'm not on MSNBC or I'm no disrespect. They -- what they do is they're very talented, but it's -- I don't watch it. I'm not interested in watching what these overpaid blow dried anchors think. And I include myself in that overpaid blow dried, although I don't blow dry. I am overpaid. But I don't want the -- I'm not interested in the anchors opinion. I'm interested in facts and letting the viewers' make up their own mind. So anyway, I'm sorry this devolved. It's something that's been successful.

If that's not what they do at CNN, it must be a recent development. As in this cycle, although they have been pretty consistent about it since the presidential debate in June. That turned out to be a low bar, since Joe Biden barely seemed to comprehend the questions in the first place, but at least Jake Tapper and Dana Bash refrained from entering the debate themselves with ignorant and one-sided "fact checks" that ABC and CBS anchors used to kneecap Trump and boost Harris. Dana Bash pitched mainly softballs at Harris and Tim Walz in August, but Harris had trouble making contact even on easy pitches.

Cooper treated Harris like a real candidate and the event like a real town hall. It's not his fault that Democrats anointed someone as nominee who can't think on her feet and won't answer questions about her policies, performance, or positions. Maybe they should have had -- and I'm just spitballing here! -- an actual and honest primary this year, and/or a convention competition rather than an anointing in late July. 

So just what happened in the CNN event to create such outrage among Harris supporters? Chris Plante told his radio audience that Cooper moderated a one-person debate ... and Harris couldn't even win that. Don Surber calls her the sham-didate:

Kamala is not the only sham in the story. Kamala’s big supporter, Liz Cheney, a strident opponent of Roe just four years ago, now embraces overturning Dobbs, which overturned Roe. She has not changed her opinion, rather, having her ass kicked out of Congress by Wyoming Republicans liberated her from pretending to be pro-life, pro-Trump and pro-American.

She can take off her girdle now and let her liberalism all hang out.

Kamala cannot because hey, she’s got to hide her communism away — for now. All Democrats must hold it in because the deep, dark secret is they have devolved into a party that no longer believes in America.

Their party believes in power only. It no longer can compete against anyone — not even a Jeb! Bush — and so it seeks to silence critics, imprison protesters and bankrupt opponents.

Sadly for America, Kamala is the best candidate Democrats have. The only proof I need is her No. 2, Tampon Tim. 

Actually, we don't know that to be the case. Democrats haven't held an honest primary in four years. They rigged this year's primaries to keep Joe Biden from facing real competitive pressure that would have exposed his cognitive incapacity. When that got exposed in a televised debate, the party rushed to anoint Harris rather than even contemplate an open convention, which would have exposed Harris' intellectual incapacity. Do they have stronger candidates? It's hard to imagine that Democrats had worse candidates. 

But we'll never know, because the Democrats and their true believers will react in outrage when their anointed leaders get challenged in any way. That resembles a cult more than a political party, and it certainly also smells a bit like -- dare we say -- fascism, too. Cooper's right to refer those outraged masses back to Cult Central at MSNBC. Let's hope they remain there.