Mainstream media elites don’t seem too enthused about Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of radical left-wing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
While Walz’s selection seemed to excite Harris’ Democratic allies in the media, that was not the general mood in the days following Harris’ highly anticipated announcement. “People are looking at him as a safe choice. I don’t think so,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said. Morning Joe said“This creates a whole host of issues that Democratic candidates will have to defend.”
Media elites have written negative headlines about the selection of Walz throughout the week, suggesting that Democrats believe the selection of the radical leftist from Minnesota was a mistake, a blunder and something they brought upon themselves.
-
“Waltz’s military record comes under scrutiny as Vance, Republicans question Waltz’s military record,” Associated Press reporter Meg Kinnard said. Reported.
- “Because of Walz, Harris missed her chance to redefine herself.” The New York Times‘s Nate Cohn Written.
- Steve Kornacki, NBC News title The article, “Tim Walz’s election results show no clear blue-collar boost,” analyzes data showing Walz’s shortcomings as a vice presidential candidate.
- of The Wall Street Journal‘s Tarini Parthi and Sabrina Siddiqui Written Headline ““How Shapiro lost to Waltz in the race to be Harris’ running mate”
Governor Tim WaltzI was in the Army for 25 years and I hunt. I’ve voted for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can study the impact of gun violence. We can do war weapons. pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
The media elites made a subtle but important point: Walz comes from a heavily Democratic state with a history as a far-left governor, two political bases that Harris has already tapped as a West Coast radical from California. Poor performance Walz had higher approval ratings among rural Minnesota voters than President Joe Biden in 2020, highlighting his weaker approval ratings in a crucial demographic that also exists in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Harris also chose Walz over Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a pro-Israel Democrat from a crucial battleground state, fearing that a Shapiro candidacy would cost Republicans control of the state. Political convention holds that a Shapiro governorship would go a long way to helping Harris win the Keystone State, but Harris campaign polling suggests that assumption is wrong.
“I don’t think Waltz was a bad choice. They had some really good players and they were afraid of the left wing and they were afraid of him killing their momentum,” Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell said. I whined..
It’s another to highlight the media’s skepticism. Anonymous Harris campaign staffers appeared to work overtime last week trying to redefine the candidate by rolling back five of Ms. Harris’ most extreme policies. That PR battle appeared to end with the election of Waltz, a Democratic governor with a similar background to Ms. Harris.
“She’s in an environment where wins and losses matter, so every inch counts.” new york Jonathan Chair in magazine said“Is Waltz helping her grow taller? I don’t think so.”
The most serious attacks against Waltz began on Wednesday, when a video surfaced claiming that Waltz had lied about his military record and served in a war, plaguing his first week as Harris’ running mate with allegations of honor theft. The Harris campaign removed references to Waltz’s rank on Thursday, escalating the honor theft scandal.
“While addressing the group, Waltz made a couple of statements that suggested he had carried a weapon in a combat situation,” CNN correspondent Tom Foreman said, fact-checking Waltz’s claims.
“There’s a difference between being in a combat zone, being caught up in times of war and actually being in a situation where people are shooting at you,” Foreman explained.[There] “There is no evidence that Governor Walz was in a position to be shot, and some of his comments could easily be inferred that he was, so it is completely false for him to say that about gun rights.”
RELATED — CNN’s Zeleny: Let’s see if Walz answers questions about his military record, “if he takes the questions.”
“It’s conceivable that he may have been flippant in his use of language,” CNN’s Van Jones said. said“If he needs to clean, clean.”
Wendell Fsebo is a political reporter for Breitbart News and a former war room analyst for the Republican National Committee. He is the author of: The Politics of Slave MoralityFollow Wendell “X” @WendellHusebø or The truth of society @WendellHusebo.
