Kamala Harris was last night ripped to shreds for her 'word salad' answers in a softball liberal media interview - her first since Joe Biden dropped out 40 days ago.
The Democratic nominee appeared beside her running mate Tim Walz for an hour-long broadcast - which in reality amounted to less than half an hour of actual questioning by Dana Bash.
The liberal commentariat claimed that she had succeeded by following the tenet of 'do no harm' during the pre-recorded broadcast from Savannah, Georgia.
But Harris' critics said she failed to address three issues that plague her campaign: the border crisis, red-hot inflation and the Biden health cover-up.
David Axelrod, a former Obama strategist, gave a brutal verdict in CNN's post-game analysis, stating that Harris hadn't 'moved the ball forward that much.'
Scott Jennings, an ex-Bush advisor, issued the ominous warning that Donald Trump will be 'salivating' ahead of the presidential debate on September 10 - their first ever face-to-face meeting.
That sentiment was echoed by GOP polling guru Frank Luntz who tweeted: 'A lot of people think Kamala Harris has done well so far in this interview. I disagree – a good debater will find it easy to challenge her.'
He added: 'If tonight's interview is judged not on policy but on performance, Kamala Harris will be found lacking.'
Bash, a CNN loyalist who has worked at the liberal network since graduating from college, was accused of failing to land any major blows. Harris HQ spun the interview as a great triumph. Donald Trump told his Truth Social followers it was 'BORING!!!'
Daily Mail columnist Andrew Neil said Harris was 'let off the hook on her part in the cover up of Biden's cognitive decline' and added that CNN gave a 'master class on how not to hold politicians to account'.
Former Trump aide Steve Cortes called it a 'train wreck.'
Harris at times appeared nervous and hesitant in her responses which were branded 'word salad' by many on social media.
Axelrod said Harris was forced to straddle the precarious position of taking 'credit for the things that are good and to try and walk away from the things that are not.'
New York Times political reporter Astead Herndon agreed and conceded: 'I don't think there's a policy separation that [the Harris campaign has] created with Biden.'
On the economy, Harris attempted to blame Trump for 'price gouging' on groceries - a line on inflation that has been rebuked by Wall Street as it ignores the huge increases across many commodities, not least gas, since 'Bidenomics' took hold.
Jennings told CNN: 'She had no additional thoughts on the economic situation in the country or what they've done, besides the idea that me and Joe Biden have done a great job.'
On immigration, Harris claimed that her work 'on the root causes' had reduced the number of illegal migrants.
But the vice president, who was appointed Biden's 'border czar', has presided over record-breaking immigration that has seen American cities - including those thousands of miles from Mexico - overrun by crime and homelessness.
Perhaps most damning of all was Harris' defense of Biden's fitness to serve in the Oval Office.
She took over from the 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief after the Democratic Party knifed him over disastrous polling - with voters deeply concerned by his apparent cognitive decline.
Harris told Bash: 'I have spent hours upon hours with [Biden] - being in the Oval Office or the Situation Room - he has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president.'
Jennings told CNN's post-interview show that the American people would disagree with her characterization of the president and view it as dishonest.
'She didn't take any responsibility at the end for telling the American people that Joe Biden was fine and he was strong, when we all know that's not true, that's why he's out of the race,' he said.
'I think most Americans know the truth and when you're running to be president and you're willing to look them in the face and tell them something that you know is not true, it speaks to your character.'
Harris has enjoyed a honeymoon period since taking over from Biden, buoyed significantly by generous reporting from the liberal media and polls which show her taking a lead in swing states where the Democrats had been facing wipeout under the outgoing president.
The Harris campaign now looks ahead to the presidential debate on ABC on September 10.
Trump will provide a hostile environment which she has so far managed to avoid.
Jennings last night said: 'She's trying to skip a block of time, and at the debate, Trump [will] not allow it.'
