His biography is really good. History teacher. Football coach. Football coach who became the first advisor to his high school’s gay-straight alliance. National guard for 28 years. Reared in the state wise enough to make me an admiral. What’s not to like?
An Instagram account run by staffers for Rep. Summer Lee, known as “dear_white_staffers,” posted in all-caps, “WE FUCKING DID IT WE FUCKING WON LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO!!!!!”<
/p>
It wasn’t a one-off. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, the Squad legislator who lost his primary in June to a more centrist candidate, posted a video of himself on X after the veep announcement, exclaiming: “It’s Walz, baby. Let’s go.” Trita Parsi, the vice president of the pro-Iran Quincy Institute, posted on X that Harris’s running mate signaled “a huge change in the political landscape of the Democratic Party.”
On Facebook, original squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar posted congratulations to Walz, “our next Vice President.” Former Ohio state senator and Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner was overjoyed at the Walz pick. She posted on X, “The Harris-Walz campaign has an enormous opportunity to keep this energy and momentum going with a policy platform that centers the working class, a Black agenda, and moving to a humanitarian position on Gaza.”
At the Free Press, Eli Lake posits that one indication of who Walz is comes from who is ecstatic at his selection. He goes on to note that it’s not just the radical wing of the Dems who are thrilled with Kamala’s pick.
That’s certainly how some in Trump’s orbit see it. In Shapiro they see a guy who could prove the Democrats were breaking from the radicalism of 2020. In Walz, they see a hard-left progressive who is on the fringe when it comes to gender, taxes, and public order. As Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway tweeted upon hearing the news, “Tim Walz? What a relief.”
There are also indications that Harris picked Walz because he was the first to call Trump and the MAGAs weird, or that when interviewed for the gig, Walz had neither conditions nor aspirations, but was happy to do whatever Kamala told him to do.
Another indicator is who wasn’t picked, most notably in this case Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who took a strong stance for Israel and against the campus Hamas supporters, who took credit for killing Shapiro’s chances.
The VP nominee would have certainly been Shapiro had we not engaged in a relentless fight to disqualify him. This is a huge victory. Celebrate it while continuing to fight for a free Palestine. And let’s keep applying pressure to ensure Shapiro is not given a cabinet position.
— Anjali Enjeti (@AnjaliEnjeti) August 6, 2024
It’s now being suggested that the Trump campaign had a finger in this as they feared Shapiro and wanted to make sure Harris chose someone else. And smear Shapiro, they did.
On the surface, the snubbing of Shapiro, who looked like a lock for the vice president slot going into the weekend, is about Israel. A noisy fringe of the Democratic Party threatened to stay home altogether to protest President Biden’s policy on aiding Israel after it was attacked by Hamas on October 7. Last month, this same crowd mobilized to tar Shapiro as “genocide Josh,” creating a website and flooding social media with attacks on his record, which went as far back as a pro-Israel column he wrote for his college newspaper when he was 20 years old. (An op-ed that he sorta kinda apologized for when he said his views had evolved from his college days.)
It’s unclear whether Shapiro wasn’t chosen because of the efforts of the left fringe or something else. Or just that Harris preferred a more subservient VP than Shapiro was likely to be, or perhaps one who didn’t bring the baggage Shapiro did. Nobody really knows what went through Kamala’s head, and she’ll certainly spin it in the best possible light for her.
But who is Tim Walz? Is he the nice old(er) guy who brings midwestern values to the campaign, or a progressive in National Guardsman’s uniform? Does it matter either way, since people vote for president and not vice president? And no matter what Walz is, he’s not J.D. Vance, who has managed to do the near-impossible by making Trump look even worse than he does on his own.
The Bulwark has headline this AM, “Trump World Fueled an Anti Shapiro Whisper Campaign”.
Setting aside, for the moment, the premise that “Trump World” would have any appreciable influence on Harris decision… I’m struck by the notion of their conducting a “Whisper Campaign”. This would seem to imply some capacity for subtlety. In my mind’s eye I see an attorney jumping to his feet and crying, “Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence!”.
Might be just me, though.
“Nobody really knows what went through Kamala’s head…” or if anything at all did..
“Does it matter either way”? Not in the least, if you guys are lucky you’ll get President Trump and America will be saved from terminal decline.
Otherwise.. looks like the Democrats will take you to the Left of 1980s Communist Russia! Maybe it looks different from here on the outside.
Maybe, and I’m just spitballing here, she simply had better personal chemistry with one over the other. If you’re going to work together for 4 years (or 8) that could be important.
>Maybe, and I’m just spitballing here, she simply had better personal chemistry with one over the other.
Can you point to any Vice Presidential pick of the last century (or longer) where that was a criteria? I guess maybe Dick Cheney, but I’m too cynical to believe that one.
Maybe, and I’m just spitballing here, she simply had better personal chemistry with one over the other.
Can you point to any Vice Presidential pick of the last century (or longer) where that was a criteria?
Sarah Palin? OK, snark aside, I think that this election is different than most, as it constitutes a clear referendum on Trump. I don’t think the VP choices matter that much so long as they don’t shoot themselves too badly in the foot.
Therefore, pick someone you get along with whose opinions you trust (who also has a proven track record of getting out the vote, but that was true of all the front-runners for the VP spot)
Walz is boring. That may be what Vice President Harris wanted since in her eyes The Future Is Female (TM).
I still think Shapiro would’ve been better.
Woody was right. All you fascists bound to lose!
[Ed. Note: Exception permitted.]
“free Palestine?” Free of what?
It’s very telling that the NYT profile of Walz glossed over his military service. He was basically a draft dodger in uniform.
“A draft dodger in uniform” are words that only a self-righteous civilian would use. But don’t let that stop ya!
The draft ended when he was eight.
A guy who served for 24 years and reached MSGT shouldn’t have his service disparaged.
I’m not a fan of Harris or Walz, as both have supported clearly unconstitutional measures to restrict the RKBA but I detest/ despise Trump and feel his reelection poses an enormous, possibly existential, threat to our democracy.
I’d be sorely tested if we didn’t have this SCOTUS and I weren’t confidant that red flag laws and AWBs will not pass muster.
I got laugh out of Trump saying that Walz hadn’t called out the Nat’l Guard to deal w/ rioters. The irony was exquisite… of course, Trump thinks “irony” is the opposite of “wrinkly”.
He also thinks “innuendo” is an Italian suppository.
Reports indicate that Governor Walz suffered tinnitus and hearing loss from working around large artillery pieces. Surgery restored some of the hearing loss.
This is ultimately inside baseball talk. Going hard Left isn’t going to win over centrists, and I know enough about Harris that I wouldn’t vote for her as dog catcher, much less president. I’m a registered Democrat, and I didn’t get a primary vote so I’m angry about this
From your keyboard to God’s ears.
Shapiro made much more sense to me, electorally speaking. The first order of business is to get elected; and if the president and VP get along after that, then good. If they don’t get along, then VP #1 can get switched out for VP #2, a la Henry Wallace being replaced by Harry Truman.
If Kamala chose someone other than Shapiro because of the influence of the pro-Palestinian element in the Democratic Party, then my question is this: If Kamala can’t face down the left-wing antisemites in her own party, how will she be able to face down the likes of Vladimir Putin? (I think that I know the answer, unfortunately.)
He’s a very nice socialist. Like the first step of Cuba or Venezuela. I live in Minnesota.