Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) had some strange moments on Fox News on Monday after host Neil Cavuto confronted him about using demeaning language to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee for president.
Kennedy mocked Harris for laughing and claimed that polls show Americans think she’s “a little bit of a ding dong,” a phrase he used about half a dozen times across the 10-minute interview.
“Well, this ding dong, senator, has risen in the polls,” Cavuto said, adding that the name-calling looks “petty” and warned it could backfire with voters.
Kennedy wasn’t having it, insisting that the “crosstabs” of polls show that Americans think Harris is “a bit of a ding dong” and “a member of the loon wing.”
It’s not clear which polls Kennedy thinks had questions about “ding dongs” and “loons,” but Cavuto again warned that personal attacks might not be the best approach for Republicans, especially with female voters.
Kennedy turned on Cavuto instead.
“I’m sorry if that offends you, Neil, but I’m just telling you what the people of America think,” he said, then claimed again that polls show Americans think Harris is a “ding dong” and “member of the loon wing.”
Kennedy said he only cares about Harris’ competence.
“Then why call her a ding dong?” Cavuto said.
“I’m telling you what the polling shows,” Kennedy said, offering to “walk” Cavuto through the polls.
“Please do,” Cavuto said. “I never know when it’s constructive to call people names, senator, on the left or the right.”
“I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings,” Kennedy said.
“Senator, you keep bringing it back to my feelings. My feelings matter little,” Cavuto said, and repeated that name-calling might not help at the polls.
“Your feelings seem to me like they matter to you a lot, Neil, and, I’m trying to be objective here,” Kennedy said as Cavuto then interrupted another attempt to hurl insults.
“Are you really being objective, senator?” Cavuto said, before wrapping up the interview.
See the full exchange below: