CNN’s Abby Phillip criticizes Tim Walz’s “clear lack of preparation and execution” during VP debate

CNN anchor Abby Phillip criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the Democrat’s “clear lack of preparation and execution” during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.

The primetime host pulled no punches as fellow CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash praised Walz and his Republican counterpart, Sen. JD Vance, for their “civility” toward each other — a contrast to the combative debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and the former President. Donald Trump last month.

Phillip interrupted their discussion to call Walz.

“I think we shouldn’t lose track, I think even politely, of the fact that JD Vance came into this debate to throw a bunch of punches and he did,” Phillip said.

“He threw a lot of punches and — amidst all the niceties and all that — and the thing that stood out to me was that Tim Walz didn’t seem prepared for it.”

Vance edged Walz in early polls after the debate.

About 42% of debate watchers said Vance won, while 41% sided with Walz, according to a CBS poll.

The New York Times asked 13 of its columnists and contributors to weigh in on the debate in an opinion piece. Nine said Vance won the debate, while two swayed Walz and another two said there was no winner.

Phillip blamed Walz’s poor performance on his inability to quickly fact-check Vance.

“He didn’t respond to a lot of the criticism and attacks that Vance put on the table. He allowed some blatant lies to go completely unanswered,” Phillip said.

“He allowed JD Vance, basically, to get away with a whole bunch of issues — on climate change, on the issue of him bumping into Donald Trump.”

Phillip singled out Walz’s objection to Vance’s defense of Trump’s approach to the Affordable Care Act.

“It took him a few sentences to get to the part of his response, Walz’s response, where he actually responded to that,” Phillip said. “I mean, I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution here on Walz’s part.”

Bash — who conducted the first network interview Harris gave, with Walz in tow, five weeks after President Biden was dropped from the ticket — disagreed with her colleague.

“I think, actually, it’s the opposite,” Bash argued. “I think he had a lot of preparation.”

Bash argued that Walz’s poor debate performance could be attributed to over-preparation and mixing up prepared “lines” while he was trying to answer.

“He had so many lines that he was clearly trying to say that he didn’t hear when JD Vance said one of the many, many things that he really slammed Kamala Harris for,” Bash said. “He didn’t answer because he clearly had things on his mind.”

Bash said the “lack of interviews he’s done with national media, with local media” also contributed to Walz’s lackluster debate appearance and proved “he needed more repetition.”