As you may know, Cillizza worked at CNN for years and was laid off in 2022. He then started a Substack site which he has gradually been building up since then. If there's anything Chris Cillizza is good at, it's stating the obvious. In this case I mean that as a compliment because most of the media has not been willing to state the obvious about Kamala Harris.

The topic of Cillizza's piece was her recent flip-flops on a range of issues. He kicks it off with this recent example: Harris used to say she supported requiring automakers to build only electric cars, but as of last week that has changed. Why and how her views changed remains a mystery because she doesn't give interviews. And in this case, even her campaign is keeping mum. When asked for comment by Axios, her camp refused to answer.

If it were one issue it wouldn't be a big deal but as Cillizza correctly points out, she's done this on a bunch of issues: Fracking, the border wall and asylum policies, the Green New Deal, gun confiscation, Medicare for All. She has done an about face on all of them. It's a big part of her strategy to get elected.

Those, um, policy shifts are all part of a designed strategy on the part of the Harris team. This, from Axios, is telling on that front:

A big part of the Harris plan is to unapologetically change some of her more liberal positions, and claim her White House experience helped change her mind. Yes, when she was running for president in 2019, she was against fracking, for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, and for single-payer health care (Medicare for All).

So here's the obvious part. The claim that Harris has actually changed her mind because of her time as VP and that her values haven't changed is just not credible. 

Given that history, I struggle to swallow the spin that her time as vice president is what explains all of these policy shifts. Especially when you consider that every single one of them is Harris moving from a position liberals love to one centrists — and swing voters — prefer. Like, she never learned anything during her time in the White House that made her think a more liberal solution was the right way to go?

And the explanation that she and her campaign team have settled on — “my values have not changed” — doesn’t really fly either. If her values told her that single payer, government run healthcare was the right way to insure Americans get the best services possible, why does she no longer think that?

Yes, this is all blindingly obvious but again, how many journalists are saying it? We had a good story at CNN yesterday which I wrote about earlier and there have been others but they stand out precisely because this kind of blunt comparison has mostly been backburnered by the media who would rather talk about Kamala's Joy. The NY Times pointed out the potential problem the Harris camp was facing back in July.

She said then that she opposed fracking; would “think about” abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency; called the idea of adding more police officers “wrongheaded thinking”; entertained the idea of allowing felons to vote; said she supported a “mandatory buyback program” for some guns; and called for the elimination of private health insurance.

Fracking is a particularly tough issue for Ms. Harris. Banning it was a plank in her energy platform in the 2020 primary race. But fracking remains a key element of the economy in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most important battleground state this year...

The Harris campaign will rebut most of Republicans’ attacks by arguing that they are exaggerating or lying about her record, said a campaign official briefed on the plans who was not authorized to discuss them publicly...

“Kamala Harris spent 20 years as a tough-as-nails prosecutor who sent violent criminals to prison,” said Brian Fallon, a Harris campaign spokesman. “Her years spent in law enforcement and her record in the Biden-Harris administration defy Trump’s attempts to define her through lies.”

It's pretty hard to claim her opponents are all liars when there is oodles of video showing Harris herself stating her left-wing views. And the silly claim that her views have evolved, as Chris Cillizza said, just doesn't seem credible. What does seem credible is that Harris' advisers are lying because the real Kamala Harris is a fringe candidate who can't possibly win this election. 

The alternative possibility is that she hasn't got any real views of her own and just repeats whatever she's told to say. In 2019 that was far-left pablum about Medicare for All and fracking and in 2024 it's the opposite. 

Honestly, if you've seen her talk anytime over the past 4 years it does seem possible that she doesn't actually know much about anything. She talks like an empty suit who has memorized a few talking points and quickly gets lost when asked to explain anything.

But there's no doubt about where Tim Walz stands. He is a progressive, not a moderate. The fact that Harris and her team selected him suggests he fits in, either with her or with her crowd. He may be the one clear sign that she does have some firm beliefs.

Getting back to Chris Cillizza, he got a lot of blowback from people for, again, stating the obvious about Kamala Harris. That's not supposed to happen if you're on team Kamala. It's supposed to be all sunshine, joy and zero criticism of the candidate until Thanksgiving.

Today, Cillizza wrote a response to his many critics. "If you want someone who is going to tell you that Kamala Harris is perfect or that Donald Trump is evil-- or vice versa-- every day, there are a WHOLE lot of people on Substack (and the broader internet) who will do that for you. I am not one of them," he said. 

I wrote something critical of Kamala Harris in my newsletter last night.

The comments section lit up with people asking "How could I do it???"

So, I wrote a long comment explaining who I am and why I do what I do.

It's below. pic.twitter.com/KsxwkuDUde

— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) September 5, 2024

Good for him for sticking to his guns and not apologizing. And again, he's right that there are lot of "news" people out there who are happy to deliver exactly the message he outlined ("Kamala Harris is perfect..Donald Trump is evil") every day between now and November.