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Politico faced a blizzard of online mockery over a report detailing Vice President Kamala Harris and her preferences in audio accessories.
Monday night’s edition of Politico’s West Wing Playbook newsletter featured a dissection of the VP’s preference for wired headphones that took a decidedly skeptical tone with her avoidance of wireless accessories based on security concerns:
Former aides say that the vice president has long been careful about security and technology — with some describing it as prudent and others suggesting it’s a bit paranoid.It’s a recurring theme. An aide on her 2016 Senate bid said Harris often preferred texting to email for security reasons. And another former aide when she was attorney general in California said that when a person arrived for a meeting, staff were instructed not to allow them to wait in Harris’ office alone. Instead, the person was asked to wait outside.That caution and vigilance has not stood in the way of Harris’ meteoric rise to the vice presidency — the first woman and person of color to
do so.But still, should someone who travels with the nuclear football be spending time untangling her headphone wires? The American people deserve answers!
The piece drew the ire of Twitter users, and not just KHive members who saw it as the continuation of a pattern of unrelentingly negative coverage of the VP and President Joe Biden by Politico. Many other verified users — even conservatives like Frank Luntz and Erick Erickson and the editor of Twitchy — jumped to Harris’ defense.
Common themes included the triviality of the reporting and the validity of the veep’s security concerns.
They even ran afoul of Richard Cheese:
Members of the Biden administration joined in as well, including departing senior adviser to the VP Symone Sanders:
I’m no cybersecurity expert, but I do know that at least 3 times a week, the Bluetooth in my car answers my phone while I’m in the house. But I am not the vice president of the United States, so it’s just annoying.
Alex Thompson and Ruby Cramer — co-author of the report — and other Politico staffers responded to the outcry with a mixture of defensiveness and mild defensiveness:
Thompson even took a crack at some self-promotion over the story.