As much as I would have liked to see her make a strategic pick who could help her win an at risk state like Arizona or Pennsylvania, he has less baggage than Shapiro.
I think too, there’s strategy in a non-strategic pick. The cynics would have said “Oh, she only picked Shapiro because she needs Pennsylvania” or “Yeah, yeah, he’s an astronaut, but she wants Arizona”.
In this case? I think he’s going to be a delight to watch. He’ll devastate Vance in the debate.
He’ll devastate Vance in the debate.
So would a piece of cheese.
Or a fluffy enough pillow.
She only picked him because she needs to show that she’s committed to fixing immigration, because he’s from a border state. ;)
I think he’s pretty strategic, not to any specific state, but to rural Middle America in general. He grew up working on a farm, worked in a factory for a bit, joined the army then worked as a teacher and football coach, he’s the salt of the earth common American vance pretends to be. Not saying he’ll turn all the rural areas blue but even going from say 20% to 25% will help a lot in those swing states which have a large rural population.
Yeah, but he’s no salt-of-the-earth type like JD Vance who is a hilbilly* who attended Yale Law and then worked for totally normal guy Peter Thiel at his Venture Capital firm in San Francisco.
* Not really a hilbilly
I can see that for sure. Do you think his appeal is stronger than Kelly’s?
As a resident of a neighboring state, I’m excited to get to vote for someone from somewhere so close in a national election. If my annecdata happens to apply to more than just me that might help in Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas (although culturally the dakotas are more comparable to their neighbors to the west, while Minnesota is culturally closer to Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin)
annecdata
What a lovely term
Granted I only married into a Minnesotan family and my experience with the Dakotas is fairly limited, but I would have said that they’re a pretty broad spectrum from east to west, especially in South Dakota. Rapid City is definitely pretty similar to Montana and Wyoming, but Mitchell, Sioux Falls, and Fargo are all far more similar to Minnesota
Then again, I’m thinking “culturally” not “politically,” so if you’re thinking about how they vote, you’re probably right that they’re likely more similar to MT than MN.
Think of it this way: Minnesota has a population of 5.7M, and almost 3M of that is in the metro area of Minneapolis. It’s not quite up to the level of Chicago or New York, where that one blue metro area completely dominates state politics, but it’s close.
What I’m getting at is while Minnesota does have areas that are more like the Dakotas, those aren’t the places where most of the people live.
I see your point, although it doesn’t match my anecdotal experience. People from the Twin Cities might vote differently than people in the small rural towns, but many of the everyday attitudes and cultural associations are pretty similar statewide, regardless of whether they are rural or urban. And in my experience, people from the Cities have a lot more in common culturally with the eastern Dakotas, Iowa, and Wisconsin than they do with Chicago and rural Illinois or with Montana and Wyoming.
Removed by mod
Mocking a mod with a line item specifically against the civility guidelines is not a way to win friends and influence people.
Removed by mod
Mocking someone with a “M” next to their name when they can, with no trouble at all, remove your comment is not a good life choice. 2nd warning, temp banned.
Between the response to this ticket and the big antitrust win today, this is the most optimistic I’ve been about the direction of American politics in a very long time.
Almost feels like those hopeful Bernie days. Happy to know Walz was his pick too.
Is…is this… Is this what hope feels like? 😔
…Obama had kinda a nice butt
Whatever it is im killing it before it gets infectious, good work is never done and complacency ensures it wont be strong.
Doesn’t matter if we don’t actually go vote.
So to clarify (after the double negative), it DOES matter to actually go vote.
Yes. Your vote matters.
I’m in absolute shock that the Dems didn’t go with Shapiro.
I don’t ever wanna hear any move about how we need to get old white rich people out of politics, cause you guys clearly don’t mean it. This guy is the exception, but so was sanders? Come on.
Get some young blood like buttegieg in there please
The dude was a teacher and member of the national guard. His net worth before he became governor was $13,000. If that’s rich, then we’ve solved poverty, I guess.
He is one year older than her. He is 22 years younger than Biden.
Walz is rich? Wut?
I’d be cool with Buttegieg being Secretary of State. Can we push for that?
He would be perfect for the role, and honestly probably more effective use of his talents than as VP.
Yuck no. Pete is not what is needed.
This is reassuring. I’ve claimed for a while that Dems are excellent political tacticians, but MAN do they suck at the long-term strategies due to being unwilling to play hardball. Meanwhile, the Right are great at long-term strats and often fail when it comes down to making quick, tactical decisions that fall outside their plans. Then Harris here stepped in after an honestly excellent choice by Biden, and we are seeing just how skillful someone on the Left can be when there isn’t any time to be a moron.
Dems, in our own way since 1980.
the guy the popularized calling republicans weird nonetheless
It was an off the cuff remark that struck a nerve. We’ve all been there with that weird relative that is decked out in MAGA gear.
Exactly why he feels like a great pick. He didn’t over engineer some tagline to game the attention economy.
He just said what the silent majority is thinking in a down to earth “this is so obvious” kind of way. These people are just weird and ruining the family gathering.
And they hate when their weirdness is pointed out.
Half the pictures I see of him, he reminds me Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston).
Where’s the money, Lebowski?
either that or Werner Herzog
Y’know that works for me
Your revolution is over, Mr. Trump. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Donald?
The bums will always lose!
Uh oh Donny! He’s a veteran, too! You wouldn’t shit on a veteran, right?
You mean again, right?
Oh of course! My bad
You can ask John Kerry about that
I’m curious what voters will think of the two VP candidates military service.
JD Vance was in the Marine Corps as an corporal for 4 years and served in Iraq, but he served as a combat correspondent, a military journalist, not in a combat capacity.
Walz was in the Army National Guard as an enlisted soldier for 24 years. AFAIK he was never in combat, but his specialty (heavy artillery) was definitely a combat-oriented one. He also achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, which is a very high rank for an enlisted soldier.
IMO, being in the Marine Corps sounds more impressive than being in the National Guard. But, 4 years as a combat correspondent sounds a lot less impressive than 24 years, starting out in artillery and moving up to a Command Sergeant Major role.
Vance was not an officer. I don’t mean that disparagingly, he just wasn’t. He served a 4 year enlistment.
If you’re comparing their careers, a sergeant major is a titan compared to a corporal. One of them was primarily concerned with taking pictures and not getting shot. The other made a career studying the art of leadership. It’s literally not even a contest.
Oops, I thought Vance was an officer, not an enlisted member. Thanks for the correction.
As for Walz, I don’t know how quickly he advanced through the ranks, but IMO a Command Sergeant Major is one of the most impressive titles. It’s a leadership rank but done the hard way. If you enter the military as an officer, you immediately outrank 80% of the military. A Command Sergeant Major has to practice the difficult art of leading people who technically outrank them.
Yeah. And quite often they’re the ones responsible for standing up to the officers to protect the privates. I’ve had bad ones but a good sergeant major can make a huge difference in a unit.
protect the privates
I’m all about someone who can protect the privates.
“Kamala Walz” sounds like an Australian dance.
Anyway, after seeing Walz’s record I think he’s a great choice. Unfortunately as VP he’s not a policy-maker, even though the VP can wield some influence, but hopefully his presence will drive things in a positive direction.
I feel like this belongs here:mahna mahna
One thing I’ve noticed is almost any female politician, we refer to them by either their first name or the full name, but rarely by their last name. Meanwhile male politicians are almost exclusively referred to by their last name only.
Once I made this realization, I started making a conscious decision to stop saying Kamala and began referring to her as Harris.
I’m ready for a Harris/Walz administration.
Good point. Maybe some minor unconscious psychological bias toward familiarity, therefore reduced expectations and respect for her position.
Xena & Gabbie dancing for freedom?
Sweet.
Madame President Mamala Harris, thank you for making the correct choice.
Thank Christ.
Maybe there’s some hope for Gaza yet.
I loved this guy since the juxtaposition photos between him and the child labor folks. I wonder if Harris campaign is getting to make decisions because this whole situation blindsided DNC officials/strategists who have historically made stupid calls. They haven’t had 4 years to overthink a campaign.
As cynical as I am, I think laughing Harris just felt a good feeling about smiling Walz that she just didn’t get from Shapiro, and no strategist hack was able to convince them otherwise.
New York Times called it a “vibes pick”. Sounds about right
Sounds like NYT is salty.
A campaign stands or falls based on vibes.
Don’t get me wrong. This guy seems like a solid choice based on his record, too, but you really can’t overstate how important vibes are.
Absolutely, I’m in favor, don’t get me wrong
I suppose this is a good time for me to send that nice donation I’ve been putting off and hope it helps to let the DNC see what happens when they don’t disenfranchise progressives.
DNC sucks at strategy. I think making quick decisive moves, especially with the public’s diminished attention span is proving very effective. Campaigns should probably focus on being like 3 months before the elections in this era.
I think conventional wisdom on political strategy is long overdue for an update.
Should Harris win (and especially if she wins big), I could see it changing the nature of campaigning here. Three months goes against all the conventional wisdom.
The media won’t be happy about it, but it’s past time we bring the press back to public service and away from profiteering anyway.
Harris’s primary campaign seemed to be defined by Harris herself taking progressive-ish positions and then later walking them back after someone in her orbit convinced her she had to be more status quo. Maybe that campaign flaming out has taught her to stop listening to those people.
The best possible choice she could have made. It fills me with joy the democratic party didn’t stand in the way. I for sure thought she was going to pick Obama’s boy Shapiro.
Everybody thought she was going to pick Shapiro. Kamala’s just full of surprises.
Does this mean Steve Martin returns to SNL?
CNN - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
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https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/politics/tim-walz-harris-vice-president/index.html
I absolutely love a little bit of good news in the morning!
