Kamala Harris: "I'm happy to have that conversation."

That has been Kamala Harris signature (non)statement for years - "I'm happy to have that conversation"

From the Wall Street Journal -

If the presidential election were held today, RealClearPolitics polling averages in battleground states suggest that former President Donald Trump would defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. Yet in the latest strange phenomenon in this strange political year, Ms. Harris—a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general—doesn’t seem eager to make her case.

Mr. Trump has proposed three debates. So far Ms. Harris has agreed to only one, a Sept. 10 tilt hosted by ABC News.

On Thursday evening Ms. Harris spoke briefly with reporters on the tarmac at Michigan’s Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Here’s an excerpt from the official transcript:

Q    Are you open to more debates?
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I am happy to have that conversation about an additional debate for after September 10th, for sure.
 
Q    He proposed two more — two more debates.
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Like I said, happy to have that conversation.

It’s just one of the conversations that is currently residing somewhere in the indefinite future. Here’s how her very brief conversation with reporters ended:

 Q    Madam Vice President, there’s been a lot of questions about when you’re going to sit down for your first interview since being the nominee.
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I’ve —
 
Q    Do you have any update on that?
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I’ve talked to my team.  I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month. 
 
AIDE:  Thank you.
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yeah. 
 
Okay.  Thank you.

So less than 90 days before Election Day this nominee of a major party might go another three weeks without doing a single media interview?

The story gets even more puzzling when one learns an event that has now been granted one of the precious slots on the Harris schedule. CBS News reports:

Vice President Harris and President Biden will make their first joint campaign trip next week since he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, the White House announced Friday morning.

Seeking to burnish his legacy in his final months in office and support the new Democratic ticket, the two will travel to Maryland Thursday to “discuss the progress they are making to lower costs for the American people,” the White House said.

Inflation remains a weak spot for Democrats ahead of November’s election.

It sure does. In fact it’s the signature failing of the Biden-Harris administration, and a big reason Team Biden couldn’t fake its way to the nomination without disclosing the president’s cognitive challenges. Longtime Biden adviser Anita Dunn told Ryan Lizza of Politico that the Biden camp agreed to an early debate because the race had turned into a referendum on Mr. Biden and they felt they needed to change the subject to Mr. Trump. Of course Team Biden would not have feared a referendum on their candidate if he was generally viewed as a success.