Kamala Harris says Biden 'very much alive and running for re-election'

Thanks for the update, Kamala.

The vice president awkwardly assured would-be 2024 voters in a Sunday night interview that President Biden “is very much alive and running for re-election” — despite mounting concerns from Democrats, liberal donors and everyday Americans about the incumbent’s age.

“We were talking to some Democratic donors and they have told us that, should something befall President Biden and he is not able to run, that there would be a free-for-all for who would run as president,” CBS News’ Bill Whitaker told the veep of the 80-year-old commander in chief on “60 Minutes.”

“You are in the spot that that would be a natural for you to step up, but we’re hearing from donors that they would not naturally fall into line. Why is that?” Whitaker asked.

Harris responded: “Well, first of all, I’m not gonna engage in that hypothetical ‘cause Joe Biden is very much alive and running for reelection.”

“I hear from a lot of different people a lot of different things. But let me just tell you, I’m focused on the job. I truly am,” Harris added after Whitaker called Biden’s age a “legitimate concern.”

“Our democracy is on the line, Bill,” she went on. “And I frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games when we have a president who is running for reelection. That’s it.”

When confronted by Whitaker with the fact that she and Biden were polling “neck and neck” against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has been indicted on 91 criminal charges, Harris also demurred.

“Why are you not 30 points ahead?” Whitaker asked.

“Well, I’m not — I’m not a political pundit, so I, I, I’m not gonna speak to that,” Harris struggled to answer.

“But what I will say is this: When the American people are able to take a close look at election time on their options, I think the choice is gonna be clear. Bill, we’re gonna win. Let me just tell you that. We’re gonna win. And I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy. But we will win.”

On Friday, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) launched a long-shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination after unsuccessfully lobbying several blue state governors to primary the president.

A poll from August showed 77% of Americans — and two-thirds of Democrats — believe Biden is too old to serve another term.

Phillips, 54, has also expressed concerns about the president’s path to a general election win, given the “appalling” behavior of his son Hunter Biden.

The first son was indicted on three felony gun charges last month and may face further counts related to tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.

While Phillips said Biden had acted “heroically” by supporting Hunter amid the charges, he also pointed out the president is considered “as corrupt as Trump” by many voters.

About half of registered voters (52%) say Hunter Biden broke the law in his foreign business dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese nationals, according to a Fox News survey from earlier this month.

The same percentage of voters say Trump’s decisions to keep classified documents after leaving office and to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election results were also illegal, the poll shows.

The Fox News poll also found a plurality of registered voters (40%) say Biden did something wrong concerning his son’s overseas business affairs.

“I’m looking at polling data, and I’m looking at all of it. The president’s numbers are just not good — and they’re not getting any better,” longtime Democratic strategist James Carville was quoted in the Atlantic last week as having told Phillips.

“Nobody is saying, ‘James, you’re wrong,’” Carville added. “They’re saying, ‘James, you can’t say that.’”

Whitaker also cited some harsh polling numbers during his interview with Harris.

“A recent CBS poll found that at the beginning of President Biden’s term, 70% of young people, people under 30, said he was doing a good job. Now it’s less than 50%. Why is that? What’s going on?” Whitaker asked.

“If you poll how young people feel about the climate, and the warming of our planet, it polls as one of their top concerns,” Harris said. “When we talk about what we are doing with student loan debt, polls very high.”

“The challenge that we have as an administration is we gotta let people know who brung it to ‘em,” she added before breaking into her trademark cackle. “That’s our challenge. But it is not that the work we are doing is not very, very popular with a lot of people.”

Biden’s job approval rating has been underwater since the botched August 2021 withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, with 40.7% having a favorable opinion and 55.6% having an unfavorable opinion of the president, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.

Just 39.8% of Americans approve of the job Harris is doing, according to the RealClear polling aggregator, while 57.5% disapprove.

“Most Americans say that they don’t think you’re doing a good job on the border, you and the administration,” Whitaker pressed Harris. “The number of people trying to cross the US southern border is — at an all-time high.”

“It’s no secret that we have a broken immigration system. Short term, we need a safe, orderly, and humane border policy,” the VP said.

“And long term, we need to invest in the root causes of migration. But the bottom line? Congress needs to act. Come on. Participate in the solution instead of political gamesmanship.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has indicated willingness to negotiate with Biden and Democrats to pass legislation providing further military aid to Ukraine as long as a separate bill for US border security is approved.

In his first interview after winning the gavel, Johnson also noted Biden was showing signs of cognitive decline due to his age.

“Clearly, if you look at a tape of Joe Biden making an argument in the Senate Judiciary Committee a few years ago and you see a speech that he delivers now, there’s a difference,” Johnson told Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“Again, it’s not a personal insult to him. It’s just reality.”