I’m going to excerpt the relevant part of the CNN interview and intersperse comments.
BASH: I want to get some clarity on where you stand on some key policy issues. Energy is a big one. In — when you were in Congress, you supported the Green New Deal. And in 2019 you said, quote, “There is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” Fracking, as you know, is a pretty big issue, particularly in your must-win state of Pennsylvania.
HARRIS: Sure.
BASH: Do you still want to ban fracking?
HARRIS: No, and I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.
What Harris actually said in the 2020 vice-presidential debate: “Joe Biden will not end fracking. He has been very clear about that.” And: “I will repeat, and the American people know, that Joe Biden will not ban fracking. That is a fact. That is a fact.” Either her memory is failing her about what she said in 2020, or she is lying.
BASH: In 2019, I believe in a town hall you said — you were asked, “Would you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office?” and you said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. So yes.” So it changed in — in that campaign?
HARRIS: In 2020 I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024, and I have not changed that position, nor will I going forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word.
She didn’t give her word in 2020. But if you take her at her current, actual words, she is saying that she changed her position between 2019 and 2020 but won’t change it again.
BASH: What made you change that position at the time?
HARRIS: Well, let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far.
Here she is saying that what we must do is to do what we have already done. Continuing with Harris:
The Inflation Reduction Act, what we have done to invest by my calculation over t— probably a trillion dollars over the next ten years investing in a clean energy economy. What we’ve already done creating over 300,000 new clean energy jobs. That tells me from my experience as vice president we can do it without banning fracking.
In fact, Dana — Dana, excuse me [she mispronounced Bash’s name the first time and quickly corrected herself]— I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking as vice president. So I’m very clear about where I stand.
BASH: And was there some policy or scientific data that you saw that you said, “Oh, okay. I get it now”?
HARRIS: What I have seen is that we can — we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.
Harris adviser Brian Fallon says of this portion, “VP Harris explains shifts away from 2019 positions on Green New Deal and fracking by noting how the Biden admin’s clean energy investments have proven the ability to make progress on climate without those past stances.” But this makes no sense. Something Harris learned between 2022 and now cannot explain a shift she made between 2019 and 2020.
Besides, why didn’t she realize in 2019 that it was possible to spend a gob of money on clean energy without banning fracking? What was necessary for her to learn? Other, that is, than that you could get the Democratic nomination without standing for a fracking ban.