Kamala Harris has 'identified herself as being lighter than air': Brit Hume

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In media news today, charges filed against a CNN producer of inducing minors for sex reveal shocking details, progressives erupt over Elon Musk being named TIME 'Person of the Year,' and The Atlantic's David Frum suggests unvaccinated patients should be treated last in hospitals.

Brit Hume told Fox News Radio host Guy Benson that the controversial op-ed Peggy Noonan penned about Vice President Kamala Harris and her struggling public perception included some sound, but unattainable, advice, as the VP has "never" been the person Noonan described.

Noonan, a Wall Street Journal columnist, said in her recent piece that Harris needs to "get serious" on some pressing issues if she wants to see her approval numbers rise. 

The conservative writer singled out Harris' role as border czar as an area of improvement, arguing the vice president seemed "unprepared, unfocused—unserious" during her visit to Guatemala and Mexico in June. Noonan added that she believes the vice president loves the "politics of politics too much," rather than her actual tasks at hand. 

KAMALA HARRIS NEEDS TO ‘GET SERIOUS’ TO IMPROVE HER WEAK POLL NUMBERS, WSJ JOURNALIST SAYS

Progressive blue checks on Twitter ripped Noonan for her write-up - an onslaught Benson referred to as a "lefty journalist Twitter cadre." 

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaking about migrants heading to the U.S. at a news conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei during her visit to Guatemala City, Guatemala June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria ( REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

Hume, a Fox News senior political analyst, took issue with the content of Noonan's op-ed as well, but his complaint was borne out of doubts Harris could ever take Noonan's advice and "recover" from her poor poll numbers because, he argued, she's proven she will never change.

"Well, I wrote, I had a very different reaction to it from the blue checks that you’re describing who… attacked Peggy Noonan," Hume told Benson on "The Guy Benson Show" Monday. "That was my problem with the column… I thought that it was sound advice in one sense. But basically what she was saying was that Kamala Harris should now become the kind of person that Kamala Harris is not and never has been, which I think is perhaps nice, but highly unrealistic advice."

"I think the chances of anything like that coming about are pretty remote," he continued. "You know, people get to a stage in life, they kind of are who they are. And Kamala Harris, has has sort of identified herself as being lighter than air. And I don’t know that she can recover from that because it’s basically who she is."

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announces the Biden-Harris Administration’s Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan during a visit to Prince George's County Brandywine Maintenance Facility in Brandywine, Maryland, U.S., December 13, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Benson said that Noonan's critics offered rebuttals that were light on merit and heavy on invective. They could not exactly use the "sexist" card against Noonan, so, Benson said, some instead turned to accusations of racism.

"I think it was kind of a partisan, reflex response, from people who are indeed protective of Kamala Harris, because she looked on paper, in some respects, for so long to be a tremendously promising young leader in the Democratic primary," Hume agreed.

KAMALA HARRIS ‘ELEVATED ABOVE HER ABILITY’ AS OFFICE TURMOIL ENSUES: DEVINE 

She "laid an egg" during the 2020 Democratic primary season, Hume argued, adding she seems to be having the same fate as VP. But Hume and Benson seemed to agree that progressive press still appear to be in defensive mode for Harris because she may be the heir apparent for Biden.

GREER, SOUTH CAROLINA - JUNE 14: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the press as her press secretary Symone D. Sanders looks on at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport before she boards Air Force Two to return to Washington, DC, June 14, 2021 in Greer, South Carolina. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Harris has also been the center of controversy the past few weeks over reports she has engendered a toxic work environment. A few high-profile members of her team, including Symone Sanders, announced they would be leaving their posts by the end of the year. 

The San Francisco Chronicle appeared to lend a hand to Harris' image after conducting a lighthearted interview with the VP, which in part highlighted her new office interior.

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