Do you find the recent Tim Walz smear campaign disingenuous?

[WhiteSteve]

I answer, but don’t usually ask political questions here, however I’m compelled to ask this one.

Before we even get to policy record, I don’t know how anybody could look at Tim Walz and not think he seems like a really nice guy. I want to be 11 years old again and in the back of a station wagon driven by him as we go on a family camping trip, lmao, Nice Dad vibes off the charts. Taking me fly fishing and teaching me how to build a campfire😂

So I was surprised, yet totally unsurprised, to hear him being trashed by Trump and Trump-friendly news outfits or players on the right wing scene. Midwestern guy who coached high school football, served almost a quarter-century in the National Guard, likes shooting, hunting, farming, working on cars, all the traditional manly-man stuff the right loves…. how could they attack that?

But they did😂

He funded some program for free tampons in public school restrooms, and OF COURSE some MAGA loser starts claiming “he mandated them in boys’ rooms too!”🤦‍♂️😂 Not much is funnier to me in 2024 than watching trans-panic😂😂😂 But anyway, now he’s “Tampon Tim”, waka waka, the right wing just excelling at comedy as usual🙄🤦‍♂️😂

Don't have room to detail all the barbs being thrown at him, but the greater question is: you know you never heard of this guy before a couple weeks ago…how do you reconcile, both in the media and with yourself, that you didn’t even know this guy’s name, then he’s announced as the running mate, there’s like a 24-48 hour period of hushed murmuring, maybe a couple “throw it at the wall and see if it sticks” allegations of just vague liberalism, and then a couple mornings later you turn on FoxNews and they’re all of a sudden armed with a hundred things they dug up, or more likely found a way to misrepresent or totally manufacture, and you’re just instantly on board to carry the message of “Tim Walz is the devil incarnate.”

Like I heard the spiel on Vance 2 years ago, where was the Walz hate when he was a Rep?

[lightbulb27]

Politics is disgusting now... we've declined to where we attack the person moreso than the polices, because it is the only way to stand taller than the others. This is a reason some would not be interested in the roles. Can you imagine if we did that when you went seeking a job?

Naming him is caddy pathetic Trump behavior. He's a D... child bully, and I dont' like that aspect of him. But wait... requiring us to spend $ on tampons in the boys room... IS POLICY... it's the expenditure of public money! That to me, is legit issue we can argue. Tiny of course. Maybe boys that play hookie need those for nose bleeds?

Attacking personally... that's questionable. Reps did this to Al Gore and Kerry, I thought was disgusting. Dems did that to JD vance recently. Anything that is "memable" and spinnable for quick hits is fair game.

Maybe in the future we just tell them all to go into a gladatorial ring and we'll find out who is best, and leave it at that.. save us the BS.

[lightbulb27]

and they can use tampons provided in the bathrooms by law to cleanup the mess after...
or maybe we don't require those and make politicians show up to the battle with their own equipment rather than requiring tax payers to fund it.
That is the issue. All of this is a total waste of $... and we are paying for this crap... in our "grapes of tax".

[WhiteSteve]

Lmao, you had me at “gladiatorial ring”😂 There’s an idea I can get behind, hahaha

But you’re right, we do overly focus on the character over the policy, and a lot of it isn’t that legitimate. Character DOES matter to me, though, that’s a big part of my issues with Trump. His persona and attitude, in my opinion, makes him uniquely unqualified for public office, let alone the OVAL Office.

With some research, I can reassure you tampon dispensers were in NO WAY mandated for boys’ rooms or even widely utilized that way, and in any case, Walz funded the program but did not mandate that they be made available to boys. Thats the exact kind of disinformation I’m talking about.

[lightbulb27]

well we finally agree on some things Steve... did you get hit with a puck or do I have the flu... somethings up! Trumps personality is to say the least, painful at times. Why I didn't vote for him first time. He wins people over (some) by content, but it's more like going to the Chinese Dr. and swallowing some weird a$$ pill made of snake gall bladder because it will cure. I'm not the only one thinks that way. I supported another republican that can communicate, but oh well... didn't get chosen. Look at Nikki Haley... aka bird brain? You know the guy from high school that abuse others like that... we all do, he's an a$$. She still vote for him! I don't like what I see and hear from the left, regardless of channel.. too often... even though they can make sense of it.

Tampons, that's good to hear, maybe it's blown out of proportion. If that is the case, then it seems easy for the left to counter the messaging for what is the law across multiple states. As I said to someone else, people need to bring their own damn tampons to school or go to the school nurse. I'll happily receive the $ back in my bloated taxes. Cardio rescuitation devices in all schools, I get that.
The root issue to all of this I suspect is... inequity! Financially there's the have's and have nots and it's worse than when Bush joked about it. That's what a lot of the clash is about... some people can't aford tampons, or breakfast, etc.. So govt provides it... that's the socialism! If only we could talk about real issue. I'm actually more left in ways, but the left... I cannot relate to. I'm like Tulsi G in thinking...

I only got 30yrs or so and I'm not draftable, so most of it don't matter to me now other than watching the unnecessary suffering and wondering what to do about it. It influences end of life quality for me and hope for the kids. I think I'm right choosing trump over kamala... but to me, y'all crazy to promote her in the top seat imho.

[WhiteSteve]

Lmaooooo, I actually DID get hit with a puck Wednesday night, right where you probably think my brain lives😂😂😂 Big bruise on my right buttcheek, hahaha. Preserved a 5-5 tie with under a minute to play, and we won in OT to make it to the championship, so I had to put my brain cells on the line😝 Almost certainly will get smoked in the championship, so I’m treating this as the big victory, lmao. Hurts to sit though😂 Four inches left and I’m at the proctologist though, so I’ll count my stars lmfao.

It’s so crazy watching Nikki Haley spin around and endorse Trump, which I guess isn’t totally uncommon, but given Trump’s name calling penchant, it’s a little harder to imagine. Honestly, I feel bad for normal Republicans these days because this crazy dude just came in and hijacked everything, but he activated this whole new crowd of people, half of whom probably never really were involved in politics before him, so they kind of got stuck with him. I have to believe 3-out-of-4 Republicans in Congress think this dude is a moron, if you gave them truth serum. And he lays a path for all these other lunatics like Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert. It’s like a party within a party, and the greater party is kind of forced to go along because they might be losing otherwise. Not a great position to be in.

[WhiteSteve]

But yeah, man, you gotta be careful with these stories right wing media propagates, a lot of it is REALLY dishonest. Maybe Democrats aren’t for you, and that’s fine, but television media is so designed to attract eyeballs through sensationalism tailored to this or that party’s voter base, rather than accurately relay to us the news of the day, we’re losing the plot and are susceptible to mis- and dis-information. YouTube is a horror show because everything has to be a clickbait headlines. One of my favorite analysts is a VERY rational and reasonable person, he tells you unfavorable things too, even about the left, which he makes no secret of leaning that way, and I trust him to relay information to me and add reliable perspective to expand past what the particular headline might be, and he’ll fact-check things, etc. BUT, on the YouTube channel specifically, the title (which he openly admits to reluctantly having to do just to remain competitive and “seen”) will be sensational. “Trump gives OFF THE RAILS interview!”, “Trump gives INSANE, INCOHERENT speech at MAGA rally!” And then you watch, and he covers it totally fairly, albeit you know he doesn’t view it positively, but he’s not just throwing lies around to back himself up. He’s kind of a flat-liner in personality anyway, so it’s funny to see political analysis you could fall asleep listening to after such a crazy headline, haha

Kamala is an interesting choice. Honestly, I’m learning as I go, I think the Democrats were dumb to not showcase her more, ESPECIALLY considering Biden’s age where he could just not wake up one day and it wouldn’t be that crazy. Then we’re flying kind of blind in the event she had to replace him, and now in this scenario, where you’re running her as a candidate in his stead.

[WhiteSteve]

I think Pete Buttigieg would’ve been a really strong Presidential candidate, that’s just about the smartest guy I’ve seen in DC to date. Some might have issues with the gay thing, or just don’t like left wing policy, but I just see that dude and I’m like “now THERE’S a real smart cat right there.” I’d recommend him for an elevated cabinet role in a Harris administration. And he’s good at countering MAGA rhetoric while remaining somewhat respectful. But I’d probably have run Gavin Newsom in this case, just because he’s the best at rhetoric, and going up against Trump specifically, you’re in a war of rhetoric, not policy. MAGA rally-goers don’t want policy, they want insult comedy, and that’s what Trump gives them. Is Newsom the best guy for the job? I’m not really prepared to say, honestly. But I just think conventional wisdom is out the window running against Trump.

The truth is probably the obvious: Biden was the last guy to know he couldn’t win, he finally came around and stepped off, but he should’ve done it months ago, so the Dems have to scramble, and should count every star in the sky that they’re running against a controversial figure like Trump who we’ve seen in office before and have a very good idea what his deal is. The Supreme Court aspect adds extra stakes, but I don’t know that the average voter thinks that deep about their POTUS vote, so unless that really got hammered on in Democrats’ messaging, you could run any not-MAGA Republican and probably win in November, if they had gotten this kind of head start.

Also, the REAL obvious: Biden campaign money is transferrable to Kamala and Kamala ONLY. Now they’re starting late AND at the ground floor if they go with anyone else.

[WhiteSteve]

I think Harris fine. I do like that she has a future-focused messaged based in positivity. I think we overhype the idea that there’s just one person, and one special person alone who could EVER be President at a given time. Like that’s part of Trump’s whole game (and not for nothing, that of many dictators in the past elsewhere), the whole “everything is broken, and ONLY I can fix it! Put ALL your trust in me, no one else can be trusted!” Meanwhile, the reality is you can probably throw any number of empty suits or pantsuits in the Oval Office and get by just fine. Kind of crazy to think only one person who exists or even just is in the political realm is “THE ONE” who could possibly fill the role😂
So, I mean, given the current circumstances…. good enough, lmao

[lightbulb27]

that's hilarious, we'll there's the answer... just have to shake up the marbles!

Well done, cool to win, keeps the juices of life flowing. I wish you all luck of the '80 USA Mens' hockey team! Channel that energy of that day... and take some meds to cut the pain as will take a while for bruise to heal.

I took one in the crotch and the hip... the crotch is way worse.

Now back to politics... blech:)!
Pete... is it true he got 8 billion to put in car chargers but only got a few installed? like Kamala, I question if he has business sense and drive. It's a personality thing again... I've worked with business people. Some can get things done, some 'waffle' and study and talk. The value of trump is what got him to where he is at... he processes, makes decisions, gets things done.. and does not go backwards. It's the personality we hate, that makes him successful. deal making and cutting through the tape. Good for Govt. If you only knew how much waste there was in govt... maybe you do, maybe you don't. But it's costing us all.
No way I'd want to be in military with kamala as Commander In Chief. I'd feel better about Trump. Neither ideal.
I've not paid much attention to Tim or the other guy yet. I expect nothing but a massive food fight for anyone that steps into the ring.
I suspect Kamala wins, it's just too hard to beat a marketing machine and trump is too easy to dislike. but It's not something I look forward to. I'll try to think positive for leader kamala as I did with Biden, but to me... he was a disaster.
yes trump knows what to say, to me he's right about a lot of it, and what he can actually get done is a fraction of what he says.
It is fascinating to see the "hillbilly" type worker support him. Funny how people relate to others...

[normalice]

Yeah. I mean, we all know republicans just want power. There is no situation where they wouldn't oppose any Democrat, not based on any particular policy or history, but exclusively because a democrat being elected means less power for republicans.

The problem is once republicans have decided to oppose a person no matter what but be evasive about why, they give themselves permission to tell any lie to evade admitting it's just about power. Including lying about their own standards. They don't actually care about any of the criticisms they are about to make up about Harris or Walz. If they are also guilty they have no interest in improving themselves. They only care about what will trick people into giving republicans power. It only has to work for one day in November and then they are set..

[WhiteSteve]

Insta-MHO right here, can’t say it much better than that

[Lliam]

The problem is, the same things are true for Democrats word for word.

[normalice]

No, republicans and their pocket media just say it is to give republicans a real chance of winning elections despite their unpopular policies.

A new book by Joe Conason called The Longest Con notes that the modern right-wing movement has its roots in the promise of grifters after World War II to protect America against the communists they insisted were infiltrating the country. Their promises to defend true Americans against an enemy was always about getting cash out of the deal. Drumming up fears of an “other” was a deliberate grift to put money into the pockets of those who told small donors that their dollars were vital for defending the United States. The biggest prize for the extremists, though, was the control of government purse strings that allowed them to turn federal and state largesse toward their own cronies. Corruption has continued in the Republican Party, largely unaddressed as politicians insisted that those calling it out were simply un-American malcontents engaging in political hits against good, patriotic Americans. In contrast, as any corruption on the Democratic side can be expected to be sliced and diced in public, the Democrats have stayed relatively clean.

[Lliam]

LMAO

[Miah04]

It's why i don't watch the news or social media posts about them. Base it on what each person says they will do for us.

Not much on the left side right now

[WhiteSteve]

Smart, gotta form your own opinions.

I would recommend you listen to Harris’ rally in North Carolina where she outlined some of her policy specifically. You can take it or leave it, but do compare it to Trump’s rally, also in NC, and he just did his usual vague-but-lofty promises, “don’t worry about it, just vote for me, I’ll fix everything” kind of thing.

Social media is the Wild West, haha, you’re smart to keep that separate from where you go looking for legit info

[Miah04]

I haven't seen her nc rally yet.
But i do got to say. I'm not sure where you getting trump is being vague.
He has well laid out policies. He even has a massive well laid out platform on his page that gives first the reason for his policies followed by a step by step plan on how he will implement them.

[Agape93]

They'll find some way to attack fucking christ if he ran against Trump. They don't care.

[WhiteSteve]

I mean REALLY. Never seen anything like this. Hope this whole phenomenon and maybe some MAGA brains are studied carefully one day. Fascinating but frightening.

[Chazmatazz269]

If either of you would suggest that the “anyone but Trump” mentality is superior in any way, you’re long overdue for some serious introspection and likely some professional help.

[Agape93]

Like the "anyone but a Democrat" crowd?
And sorry but if literally anyone just about is more appealing than Trump for us, then that shows just how shitty he is. 365,000,000 or so Americans, and they pick his old ass.

[WhiteSteve]

@Chazmatazz269 I’m beyond “anyone but Trump.” I didn’t like Trump as a candidate in 2015. When he was elected, I said “I’m not happy about this, but I’ll give him a shot, and I hope he proves me wrong.”

I gave him four years. He was every bit the douchebag I thought he was, and more. I was not impressed by his policy either. Countless stories from former staff about what an absolute fucking buffoon the guy was in office, but MAGA conveniently writes off these dozens of accounts as just bitter losers who couldn’t hack it with Trump.

I’m way too fatigued of it all to even start a whole thing about it, but every sane person knows he’s responsible for the events of January 6th, yet I have to sit here with a bunch of delusional clowns for like three years hellbent on convincing us that it was an optical illusion, and was really AntiFa, and also the Feds, but it also was just a tourist visit and was no big deal. I’m sorry to report that nobody is that fucking stupid. And after getting laughed out of dozens of courts, he’s still keeping up the ruse, and morons believe it. This is legitimately the most bananas phenomenon that I’ve ever witnessed in 45 years, and I’m not trying to be dramatic.

But Trump ain’t the only one, y’all have a DEEP bench of crazies to go to when Trump’s time is up one way or the other. He’s been around eight years, and I knew who he was for like 25 years before that, since I was a kid. He’s given me big-time sleaze vibes before him running for President ever crossed my mind, the dirt dug up on him just confirms my intuition.

[OlderAndWiser]

His track record speaks for itself.

[WhiteSteve]

My point is more: did you have ANY awareness of that track record before August? I don’t know if you read the details or not, but it’s more just the reflexive nature of this and how this would be being done to ANYONE they rolled out. In an alternate universe, Republicans are telling me Josh Shapiro is the worst guy ever, and wouldn’t be able to tell me much about Tim Walz. Like it’s not like you’ve all been actively anti-Tim Walz this whole time.

The key part of the question here is the part about: “how do you reconcile, both with the media and yourself”, that you knew nothing about the guy, maybe not even his existence, let alone his name, yet you were all SO ready to
trash him with the utmost authority as soon as someone made up a cheat sheet for you to read off of?

I’d take this more seriously if I’d been hearing about what an awful governor Tim Walz has been this whole time, but I haven’t. The only time I ever heard his name was I think Trump mentioning that he liked how he handled the George Floyd situation, which I also forgot about until a week ago when I heard the recording, but it jarred a memory loose and I was like “THAT’S why I know that name!”

I’m prepared to tell you that he comes off as a nice guy. I’m prepared to tell you a few good things I’m told he’s done, and I’m prepared to fact-check a couple of things the right is saying he’s done that was bad. I’m not prepared to tell you a ton about him with full confidence though, and I won’t attempt to. And that’s what I find is lacking in others, everyone is WAY too confident trashing the guy, and if anyone is out there saying he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, I’d challenge that too, just on the strength of most of us are just getting familiar with him.

I would question what you’re hearing about his track record if it comes from right wing sources, but I personally am in favor of progressive policy, typically. We probably differ there, and that’s fine, that’s why we have elections.

[WhiteSteve]

But I mean, if you don’t like tax dollars spent on free tampons in school, I think that sucks, personally, but you’re entitled to that opinion. But don’t lie or believe lies about it and say they were mandated to be put in boys’ bathrooms because you think it’ll stoke trans panic to your benefit. That’s simply untrue, with a little research.

Schools were left with discretion on the location, if one or a few put them in boys’ rooms…. thats dumb, but because A) I’m almost positive trans-women (the small handful that even exist, that all of a sudden we want to claim is every other person), who are not even old enough to have any sort of gender reassignment surgery in the first place (so at most, they’re dressing like a girl and just tucking their junk, there’s no manufactured vagina on their body) are even doing anything to simulate menstruation. Menstruation is not part of the trans-female experience, so these allegations are ridiculous on their face.

And B), with all that said…. we were both 15 year old boys once, many moons ago…. you and I know EXACTLY what will happen to those tampons, lmao, and it’ll be harmless but wasteful. But the point is that I bet there was like ONE looney toon who suggested that in an effort to demonstrate how trans-positive they are, but then the right ran with it and now they’ll say EVERY boys bathroom was MANDATED to have them. Again, this is ridiculous on it’s face.

It’s like the claims of kitty litter boxes in school bathrooms🤦‍♂️ At most, one idiot probably suggested that, FoxNews ran with it, and now one of my buddies who’s a MAGA guy is always claiming his daughter’s elementary school has them. Problem is I know several other people with kids at that school, and ALL of them say it’s not true. So there’s this absolute tornado of MAGA-disinformation going around America, tearing it up, and that’s about the biggest problem I can perceive in America today.

[OlderAndWiser]

Your question has larger implications: why do people make their decisions on the basis of what the MSM tells them, when 95% of the MSM has a decided political agenda? The truth is that the MSM has deteriorated into something the Founding Fathers would never recognize, and it seems that truth is a word that is no longer in the "journalistic" vocabulary. Almost all pre-election news coverage is intended to influence voters and persuade them to vote for particular candidates, parties, or issues. And that is clearly not limited to broadcast media.

How does ANYONE know what to believe now?

[Lliam]

Both parties do it equally. Democrats have done nothing but smear Trump's character for almost 8 years.

I just saw a photo that someone dug up of Vance at Yale in which he was wearing a blonde wig and dress as some kind of college prank. They tried to make something out of it, like he was sexist or mocking tranies or something, who knows. "Vance is a hypocrite."

That's just the level people stoop to in elections. Both parties want power and will do anything to get it.

I also read about the dirty smear campaigns that AIPAC pulls to defeat politicians to criticize Israel.

[WhiteSteve]

Yeah, if I had more room in the question details I’d acknowledge that obviously mudslinging is part of politics in general, I get all that. FYI, I’m registered as an Independent, I don’t like all tomfoolery either party engages in all that much, I just currently find the right’s brand of it to be worse and more dishonest, in my opinion. But none of it is great.

What the Walz response has just reminded me is that nobody knows what the fuck they’re talking about when they do so.

The Vance picture was silly. I don’t like seeing that because I feel like the left should have the high ground on all this, like it’s just kind of objectively shitty to have disdain for people for being the way they are, so being anti-LGBTQ just is very indefensible to me. But the left is stooping to the right’s level when you pull up a college pic of him in a wig. I get the point they’re trying to make, but it’s disingenuous to say he has a history of being a drag queen. My point is just that we shouldn’t have a problem with drag queens, they’re just dudes dressed as women, there’s nothing sexual about it, half the time they’re dressed up Queen Elizabeth or Bette Midler or something, lmao, we act like they show up dressed like Megan Fox trying to seduce people, lmfao. It’s a very non-sexual thing, so I just adamantly reject the idea that it is. JD Vance sucks enough in a vacuum (no pun intended) that you can attack him just fine without doing dumb shit like finding a pic of him in a wig in like ‘04, lmao.

[WhiteSteve]

I’m not familiar with the AIPAC or the alleged smear campaigns, I’ll have to research that. I’m not really a fan of the current Israeli government, so I understand not really supporting them, but they’re also historically an ally, so you can’t totally turn your back. Israel’s historical treatment of Palestinians is deplorable, but so was October 7th last year, so it’s a very complicated situation. We just need to avoid picking a side based upon anti-Islamic sentiments. And it’s not lost on me that I’ve heard a lot of anti-Semitic rhetoric from the right over the years, so it rings a little hollow when all of a sudden Israel is our best buddy. Complicated situation for sure.

[gorydetails]

Tim Walz was one of the most restrictive governors during the covid scam. He allowed riots to burn cities in his states. The police in his state literally shot people standing on the front porch with paintballs during "curfew".

I find it incredibly creepy that grown adults want a politician as their "dad".

[Guacamole409]

I’ve been saying that line for years.

Are we voting for someone to manage the entire world or are we voting for a daddy figure?

[WhiteSteve]

Don’t take me seriously on the dad stuff, I’m goofing around, just saying he gives off very pleasant and positive vibes. Vibes are just vibes, but I just mean he has a very palatable personality, as it relates to being a politician. I already have a dad, lmao.

I can tell we wouldn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things by the nature of your answer, but my one point of rebuttal might be that there’s audio recording of Trump talking up Tim Walz’ response to the unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, something to the effect of how Walz was handling it just how Trump wanted.

But like I’m saying to some others…. if he’s so bad, why wait until NOW to speak up. I hear people bash Gavin Newsom or Ron DeSantis without living in their states, it’s not a residency thing, apparently? Seems like he’s been a relative “Walz-flower” (? Ba-dum-TSSSSSS🤪…. sorry😷😅😬) until just a couple weeks ago. So I can’t help but think we’re doing the same thing with Mark Kelly or Josh Shapiro or literally anyone else if she went another way with it.

[gorydetails]

So by your standard, if he’s so good why only put him on a ticket now?

[WhiteSteve]

Well, I mean, Kamala just announced her campaign a few weeks ago, we just started hearing about everyone other than Pete Buttigieg, really. I knew Josh Shapiro from his gubernatorial race two years ago, but not well, just that he was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party. I knew Gretchen Whitmer from MAGA lunatics trying to kidnap her, lmfao. Andy Beshear, couldn’t tell you anything. I still can’t tell you absolutely everything there is to know about Tim Walz, I think I heard his name during the George Floyd stuff, just as someone managing the unrest, but that’s it.

It’s not that I expect everyone to be super keyed in on state-level politics. It’s that I expect (foolishly, apparently) people to not just go into instant attack mode on literally anyone they roll out. Like I mentioned him to my dad, who can’t tell me shit about him, but he angrily started talking about the alleged “bailing out” on his National Guard unit (which seems mischaracterized, but whatever), but the point was I could tell my dad didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about, he just heard Jesse Watters say it on TV or something, and now he’s running with it as “the company line.” But I guarantee you he can’t answer a single follow-up question about it, and I’d wager the same for most people. You wanted bad things to say about him, you waited til your pundits did the research and either discovered or manufactured something, and you took it and ran with it as if it was your own original opinion. Y’all are coming off like a less intelligent version of the obnoxious Harvard grad student at the bar in Good Will Hunting.

[WhiteSteve]

As far as Walz himself, the question isn’t even meant to champion Walz, I have more left to learn about him, but I feel like the only one who knows I don’t know everything. But at least when he was announced, I heard debate amongst Democrats about if he was the right choice. That’s reassuring to me, that there’s actual THOUGHT involved.

Meanwhile, the negative Walz reaction was so predictable, before we knew anything, and just comes off as very painfully contrived.

So “by my standard”, I’m not so bent on it being Walz or not, it’s about the man. It’s about the predictable and honestly hollow reflexive reaction of “he’s the pick…. he must be TERRIBLE. Let’s get him! Uhhhh…can someone look up some bad stuff on this guy real quick?”

I understand this stuff happens in politics, it just seems particularly disingenuous and unserious in this case.

[WhiteSteve]

*it’s NOT about the man

[gorydetails]

Interesting a Wapo árticle leaked online praising her vp pick before she even made it.

And I’ll just leave this here

[shortster]

Retiring from the Guard a week before they ship out to Iraq is somewhat suspicious, considering most units know months in advance of being deployed. But that wouldn't be the worst thing; claiming that you went would be, when you didn't.

Though I suppose unleashing the police on homeowners hanging out on their porches would be even worse. Though I guess we should be glad that they only used paintballs instead of bullets.

Then there is the claim that they mind their business in Minnesota. When he setup a snitch hotline during COVID.

[WhiteSteve]

Well, right there, you’re leading off with misinformation. He retired in May ‘05 and almost immediately filed to run for Congress. The deployment order for his unit wasn’t received until July ‘05, so there’s no “one week before” at all. The best you could claim is it was maybe rumored, but you if you only respect soldiers who get deployed, you’re doing “respecting the troops” all wrong.

I’m not familiar with the paintball thing, but something had to be done to manage selfish assholes who wouldn’t comply with public health measures during Covid, so if a couple people got paintballed for being dipshits who can’t play ball with the rest of us on some bullshit excuse of “but muh freedom”…. open fire, as long as it’s just paintballs. People like that deserve a hot one to the nuts anyway, lmao. Public heath ALWAYS takes precedent over individual freedom, ALWAYS.

[shortster]

Um, sitting on your porch wasn't violating any COVID orders. Which were illegal in the first place.

The people in his unit said that he retired after the deployment order was known. So I am inclined to believe them over you on the issue.

[shortster]

Oh, I almost forgot. He didn't have to retire; he could have easily gotten a differment for his military service for after he finished serving in Congress. The military is happy to do that.

[Avicenna]

He has a record as governor (and not a good one) and he did leave his National Guard unit in the lurch. Funny how you don't mention how Walz let Minneapolis burn in 2020 and the heavy regulatory burden that has hurt the state's economy (it's no longer a wealthy state).

As your rant indicates, you just hate Trump and his supporters so much that you hate ANYTHING they say. And you have a man crush on ANY Democrat.

[WhiteSteve]

He left like five or six months before the deployment call, to run for Congress, probably in his mid-40s by then. After 24 years, I’m not gonna eat his lunch for that, not that I believe he bailed to avoid deployment. I’m in my mid-40s, and a fairly decent athlete still for my age, but you do NOT want me out there fighting in a war at my age, leave that to the under-30 crowd, lmao.

Also, you don’t bonus life points for being in a war, or have them deducted for not being in a war, what kind of militaristic attitude is that? I thought you guys were all about universally “supporting the troops?” How disappointing to learn that all that bluster was conditional all along. I personally respect vets just fine, despite having issues with how the U. S. uses them and not really being too on board with what the U. S. military via the government has been endeavoring to do post-WW2. I don’t think we’ve been “the good guys” in a war since than, everything else is just communist panic or Islamophobia coupled with “hey, those A-rabs are sitting on a GOLD MINE, let’s get in on that!” But I don’t hold that against the men and women IN the military, that’s the shady and predatory United States of America at work, the troops are just well-meaning kids trying to get college money or looking for direction.

The George Floyd civil unrest or riots or however you want to characterize them were right as rain. I never want to see it get to the point of burning and looting, I don’t necessarily endorse that. But we’ve been beating this police brutality drum for longer than I’ve been alive.

We can go back to Detroit and Watts, before my time and probably yours too, or we were both around for Rodney King. The Rodney King thing was FUCKED UP, and it doesn’t matter what anyone’s rap sheet is, I don’t want to live in a society where an armed gang sponsored by the government has discretion to just beat the shit out of people or worse under the guise of protecting law & order.

[WhiteSteve]

I was in like 7th grade when that happened, and then, at about 40, I just continue to see the same shit with George Floyd. I don’t care what crime he allegedly committed, I’m just simply not comfortable with police having that sort of power and discretion, or being in a position where they can do whatever terrible shit and just get held accountable LATER. I need it to not fucking happen in the first place, and I need fellow Americans to have better character and values than to try to justify it. NO PROGRESS IS BEING MADE. When you don’t get that, people get REAL PISSED, and then stuff like that happens. The response can go overboard, but it’s not unjustified in its nature.

That’s got nothing to do with Walz though. What DOES have something to do with Walz is that Donald Trump HIMSELF commended Walz’ response. I’m sure they’ll be some hollow retort like “this was before X happened…” or whatever, but I’m not sure I buy that.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx6DIkMTI_Y

Here’s my thing with Trump and his supporters: I hate to keep saying the word over and over as if I just learned it, but y’all are SO disingenuous with your critiques of just about everyone and everything you oppose. It’s like you realize you don’t have the logical or moral high ground on just about anything, so you try to spin and manufacture and manipulate everything you can to try to find an angle where you can claim you DO have the high ground. Maybe you guys think you’re hiding it, but coming from the outside, let me tell you you’re NOT. You’re like a little kid with a sheet over them saying you’re invisible, and us adults are expected to play along like “ooooh, that’s so weird! Where did little Jimmy go?”

[WhiteSteve]

If you don’t like Walz’ regulatory measures, now we’re getting back into normal political debate, and that’s REFRESHING, relative to the way things have gone since Trump hit the scene.

I miss liberals with good intentions trying to get money for this and that societal need, and some nerd in a bow tie across the aisle, also with good intentions, says “not so fast…. how do we pay for that?” That was normal politics. My dislike for Trump is that he totally abandons that shit in favor of just speaking brashly about shit he really shouldn’t. Why can’t he renegotiate a trade deal with China and then just not behave like a fucking asshole when it comes to social policy, border policy, Covid, etc, etc?

I guess we’d probably disagree on the nature of those issues themselves, but regardless, I want a guy or gal behind the Seal that has decent character, AT LEAST publicly. I’m sure we can find skeletons or character flaws in anyone, but Trump LEANS INTO his, and I think that’s a terrible message to American society in general, and has brought out the worst in a lot of us, just as humans. I’d like to believe we’re better than what I see for MAGA rally-goer interviews. I don’t even believe they’re wholly bad people, mostly, but they’ve just been misled to be so angry and hostile and hateful, and I just think it’s a huge net-negative for American society. I have no time for that brand of leadership, no matter how many times you hug a flag or start a “U-S-A! U-S-A!” chant. That’s not what America should be about.

I don’t want to “hate” anyone. You guys are my fellow countrymen. You’re my neighbors. I bet if I was talking about football or bass fishing with some of these people, we’d get along famously. I never used to think poorly of someone for being a Republican.

[WhiteSteve]

But Trump’s brand of politics and his general demeanor and persona, I just don’t understand how anyone can get behind that unless they’re of questionable character themselves, or they’re just blissfully unaware or deluded. So much of what he says or just who he is as a person should be absolute DEAL-BREAKERS, I don’t care if he has the cure for cancer. We can just beat his ass and take the cure paperwork and send him on his way, lmao.

But like I said, I don’t want to “hate” anyone. I’m disappointed, is all. I’m an empathetic person. A month ago, when Trump got clipped in the ear, I was sad. I don’t want Trump to die, I disagree with his brand of politics and don’t think much of him as a person, but I’m not like “he’s better off dead”, you’d have to be a monster to think that about just about any human.

And I was REALLY sad when I saw the rally-goers being interviewed in the wake of it. It was very humanizing. MAGA has kind of become a lifestyle brand, and it’s very aggressive and in-your-face. I live in Massachusetts, Trump will get SMOKED here 65/35, but if I was going by lawn signs and bumper stickers and t-shirts, it’s like I’m at a MAGA rally. They’re SO FUCKING LOUD. I can literally think of at least half a dozen houses in my town whose whole exterior decorating style is “TRUMP”, whether he’s in office or even running for it or not. I’ve never seen that before for anyone, and I think some people mistake that for a good thing, but I see it as losing sight of what’s important. It’s feels so trite and hackneyed to call MAGA a “cult”, but I just don’t know what else to reasonably characterize it as, a cult of personality. I don’t say that as a barb, just an honest observation. If that kind of hubbub was made about a Democrat I’d be just as frightened. People were maybe a little extra hyped for Obama I guess, but I was never like “whoa, these people are in a cult” on any broad scope.

[WhiteSteve]

But I got got, and after trying to take the high road and thinking that maybe we’re getting too serious about all this where people are getting almost killed, the right got RIGHT BACK on their bullshit, and conspiracy theories were flying, desperately trying to pin this on the Democrats somehow. We were supposed to hear a more reflective, unifying Trump at the RNC a couple days later, after this surely traumatizing experience that might cause a normal human to recalibrate, but he got bored with unity after reading a few things his speechwriters wrote off the teleprompter, and he was back name-calling. The right shaming Democrats and calling for toning down rhetoric about Trump being an existential threat, while unironically claiming if Biden, and now Harris, were elected, “we very soon won’t have a country anymore.” Truly unbelievable.

And the shooter was a Republican, as much as I don’t think that holds much water, he’s clearly some disturbed kid regardless of affiliations, but it’s just funny that all this happened that way despite that. But yeah…. you try to open up to give MAGA a consoling hug and they go right back to trying to punch you in the nuts, lmao. They won’t get me twice.

I just want things to be normal again, man. I never paid much mind to politics before Trump. But seeing how he is —just he, himself and his words and actions, not what I’m told by the media or society to think of him— this dude ain’t it. MAGA ain’t it. If Trump dies tomorrow and an unknown picks up the MAGA torch, I’ll oppose them to. It’s the movement, not the man. I think people are right to be disillusioned with Washington DC, I get all that, that needs to be cleaned up for sure. Trump is a malignant narcissist who knew you wanted to hear that, and convinced you he’d fix it. He was there four years….. zero swamp drainage. Just sayin’. I have no reason to believe the next four years would be different.

[WhiteSteve]

But the bottom line is that any movement, even if they claim to want to clean up DC, or make America great, even if the economic side of things is airtight, if it IN ANY WAY smacks even a little bit of any of the following: misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Buddhism if you happen to find your way there one day😂, white supremacy, fascism, authoritarianism (particularly demographically targeted authoritarianism), overtly Christian societal, institutional, or educational influence (or any religious influence for that matter), disrupting positive long-standing international alliances, nefarious and false claims of illegitimacy when elections don’t go your way, propensity to incite a riot on your behalf by your most loyal followers, or claiming those followers rioting were just an opposing group in disguise while looking us dead in the eye and expecting us to believe that absolute, utter nonsense of an excuse that I’d expect better from a ten year old…. of it’s got any of that to it, I’m squarely OUT, and would much prefer the status quo “swamp”, for all its snakes and gators and leeches.

The one thing I take offense to in your response: I’m an independent, not a Democrat, and I’ll have you know that my one and only forever-man-crush is the great Zack Morris…


No homo😂

[Avicenna]

OMG, are you feeling OK?

You can protest without destroying your community, especially its business that serve local people.

And there are plenty of high-ranking people in their 40s still getting deployed. At his rank, he wasn't doing grunt work.

As for your deluded caricatures of your political opponents, you need to get out more and actually interact with people, especially get away from those propaganda leftist echo chambers for awhile.

[BonzoInBitburg]

Tim Walz has a reputation for being thin skinned and having a bad temper. They're just pushing his buttons hoping he'll snap. Everybody smears everybody in election campaigns it's why good people don't want to run for office anymore

[WhiteSteve]

Hadn’t heard that about the temper. If true, that makes him even more relatable to me, lmao.

And yeah, I know smearing isn’t brand new and is kind of par for the course, but it just seems more manufactured than ever, you know?

[exitseven]

He is just a typical democrat following their socialist agenda but stolen valor is not a small thing to a veteran and lots of people interview for jobs with a DUI on their records and they don't get hired just because of that.

His record as governor of Minnesota speaks for itself. He stood by and did nothing while BLM burned a Minneapolis police station to the ground.

Walz did the smearing to himself.

[WhiteSteve]

Not a single declared socialist in American federal government, I’ll let you know if I hear of any changes. Otherwise, we really have to get away from just labeling anything and everything as “socialism.” We live in a society, in order for that society to continue to function and be of the degree of quality that we have —which I remind you, despite any gripes any of us might have, for any of it’s warts, is still far and away regarded as the gold standard for the planet— we can’t just do things hyperindividualistically and just sneer and scoff at those who didn’t make it, because they don’t just disappear when they don’t make it. That’s where you get crime and homelessness and substance abuse and all the things you guys say you hate. It’s not like some people are just lazy and would rather rob houses than get a job, lmfao, who in the world would CHOOSE that for themselves out of anything else besides utter economic and social desperation? It’s preposterous, or at very least out of touch, to think anything else, really.

There’s no stolen valor to speak of. He served in the Guard for almost 25 years. How many years did President Bone Spurs serve again? And then he had the balls to say the other day about how he’d bring the military back and how he’d love to join himself, and what rank would he have to start at, yadda yadda. Obviously he’s being facetious, but that’s RICH coming from a draft-dodging silver spoon like Trump. No one forgets his comments about John McCain, either, a REAL patriot🫡 But it’s ok because he hugs flags sometimes, lmfao.

Dude did catch a DUI over 30 years ago, and hasn’t touched booze since. You ever do anything dumb in your 20s? Are you the same idiot today that you were when you were young? Or have you been capable of growth? I sure wouldn’t want the worst things I did as a young knucklehead to be held against me at 60, that’s ridiculous.

[WhiteSteve]

If you don’t like his BLM response, that’s ok…but Trump liked it just fine, there are multiple examples, including a phone recording, of Trump praising Walz’ response. Also, January 6th happened, no one forgets, no one believes the insane claims of it being done by AntiFa in disguise, but it was also the Feds, but it also was a peaceful protest and not a big deal, but also the Capitol police let it happen, but also it was nothing more than a tourist visit and the people who attended are heroes. So, honestly, any right wing claims about any type of protesting or rioting will fall on deaf ears after that, you’ve lost all civil unrest complaining privileges for at least a couple decades.

I don’t know, my overall point more isn’t about Walz in particular as much as it’s just the reflexive nature of this. No matter who they wheeled out, they’d be under a full-scale attack simply for being the name on the ticket.

[exitseven]

When you lie about your service it is a bid deal/ I was in Air Force ROTC in college. I had planned to be a pilot. After freshman year I had an eye test that I could not pass and was dropped from the program. That is my story. I never became a pilot and never really served in the military. I cannot call myself a veteran. . President Trump never served in the military either and he has never hinted that he did.
Tim Walz claimed he was a Segreant Major. Most people would think it was not a big deal but to people in the military that know about these things would know that being a sergeant major means that he served overseas, most likely in a combat unit.
Then this guy goes around telling everyone he was a high school football coach. The truth is that he was just an assistant coach and it was a voluntary position.
Tim is just full of bull. If you heard the explanation about the DUI it is also laughable. At first he did not stop for the cops because he is deaf from all the loud guns in the Army and then he wasn't really drunk. H blew twice the legal limit and there is not excuse for that.
The funny thing is that it was Marty Walsh that vetted him. Marty was the former SEc. of Labor. He was chosen by Biden because he represented the mentally challenged community.. The funny part is that Marty Walsh turned out to be the smartest one on Biden's cabinet. He was the only one that had the smarts to desert the sinking ship before it went down.
He did not do such a good job checking out Tampon Tim.

[Anonymous]

I respect my dad too much to get any kind of dad vives of a man like that.

But I guess you turning out to be such a leftist makes me wonder if your dad really was a sexually confused coward like Walz and that's why you get such 'vibes'?

[WhiteSteve]

I’m just joking around about the dad stuff, my dad is awesome, despite also just reflexively hating Tim Walz because FoxNews told him to.

This isn’t about Walz specifically, he’s just the guy right now. But you can’t honestly tell me you wouldn’t be trashing literally any Democrat the same way if Harris chose one of the others, and we wouldn’t even be talking about Tim Walz, even though he’s an active politician. Thats what’s disingenuous to me. Like Walz or don’t, vote for him or don’t, that’s why we have elections…. but it’s not like you’d be saying “oh, great pick!” for ANYONE she chose, it’s just politically motivated dissent, the person is irrelevant, they’ll spin whoever to be a monster, an imbecile, or both, without exception.

[Opinion Owner]

@WhiteSteve

Delaware's John Carney would be a lot harder to trash given how successful his state is under his leadership. Being the most successful democratic state.

After that Democrats could also have gone after North Carolina's Roy Asberry Cooper A successful democratic governor of a republican state. He too would have been far more difficult to criticize than Walz.

Both of these men however would have been far better presidential than vice presidential candidates as they greatly out preform Harris, and had they started early enough might have run away with the election.

[WhiteSteve]

I don’t know much about Gov. Carney, to be honest. Having now watched the DNC, I had a chance to see Cooper speak, and he just doesn’t come with the same swag as Walz, as a speaker. And I think that’s a big thing…. the elections of recent memory have been much more about vibes than politics. Obama had vibes off the charts. Trump, to certain faction, big vibes. Biden not as strong on vibes, but relative to the bad vibes Trump was giving at the time, he had just enough. Harris has more vibes than I thought. Maybe it’s the football player in me that responds to it, haha, but I get big, BIG vibes from Walz. He’s that coach that’s just such a good dude, you just don’t want to let him down on the field. It’s true, you could maybe find others with whatever record (Minnesota consistently ranks as one of the top states in the nation by most metrics, though), but you have to fight vibes with vibes when the stakes are ensuring the continuation of democracy and government as we know it, as I see this. So getting a folksy Midwestern guy like Walz who kind of flies in the face of conservatives’ liberal stereotypes about masculinity, patriotism, etc, is a strong choice.

But the biggest thing is that this all happening within the context of a very late drop-out by Biden. I’m surprised the Democrats weren’t more prepared for this, given that Biden’s at an age where he might drop dead, let alone just “out”, lmao

[WhiteSteve]

*the elections of recent memory have been much more about vibes than policy

[Opinion Owner]

@WhiteSteve
If you cast your vote on the account of "vibes" rather than reason and results, you deserve poor results.

A man who can speak well might as well be an actor or a conartist if he doesn't deliver result.

I don't see what your seeing with Walz, I would not go to battle for a man with a record of ditching his men when it gets tough. That is just asking for failure as whatever loyalty you invested working for him was thrown away.

Indeed i would question any racking of Minnesota as a top state when it has such a negative migration rate. To me where people choose to go live is the bottom line. You can say all the great thing you want about a place or product but if people are mostly just trying to sell it not buy it.
Your not getting the truth.

[DrPepper12]

They have cognitive dissonance and after all their years of supporting rapacious capitalism since Reagan, they've lost everything except their guns, their god and their grievances. Sad!

[WhiteSteve]

Lmfao, fuckin’ A

[OddBeMe]

It’s just another nail in Magas coffin. Kamala is a lot like Hillary. Smart but not personable. Walz is basically her frontman or lead in. And he does it really well.


Funny how his DWI hasn’t been talked about. But then again he did (at least says he did) not touch a drop after. It’s his Christian rebirth story that drives conservatives nuts.


Walz could've prob run repub and won.

[WhiteSteve]

I feel like too many people out there have DUIs or love someone who does to be too judgy about that. Plus it happened before we even heard Mmmm-Bop by Hanson, we’re in the fuckin’ Wayback Machine now.

[OddBeMe]

Funny I don’t know anyone who has dwi’s. But I’m sure you’re right.

[FunkyMonkee]

Not at all!! He's a fucking sleazy piece of shit and has NO business being semi-in charge of this or ANY country!!

[WhiteSteve]

Ok, but could you have told me any of this before a few weeks ago? My point is more the reflexive nature of the anti-Walz sentiments. He seems like a nice guy, I have no problem with him personally, but I also support progressive policy in most cases, so I understand he might be more up my alley than others’.

But bottom line is he’d be VICE-President to an only-60-year-old woman who would likely still be alive in 4-8 years from now. If you’re curious about Kamala because she’s backing up the corpse of Joe Biden, fine. Trump is no spring chicken and looks about a Happy Meal away from a massive coronary, and is already an extremely hated politician who we’ve already seen an attempt on his life made.

So I’d feel like the odds would be stronger to see Kamala as POTUS over the next six months or Vance to replace Trump, the oldest nominee in history, than it would to see Walt elevated to the role. Honestly, I think his likability in terms of personality was the key factor to offset the perceived relative dislikability of Harris, who I’m actually finding more likable as I hear her speak more.

I guess what I’m saying is: wouldn’t you be saying the exact same thing to me if I asked this about literally any nominee? I find it hard to believe that you’d have been like “oh ok, glad she didn’t pick Walz, that Shapiro/Beshear/Kelly/Whitmer guy or gal is WAY more palatable!”

[FunkyMonkee]

I never heard of him `til a few weeks ago.
Up to 43 years ago, I hated AC/DC. Then I heard "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", liked that one and decided to give their other stuff a listen and, except for the drummer playing the exact same beat in every song, I liked them... up until Bon died and Brian took over on vocals. He sounds like he's got his balls in a vice grip! It's not his actual voice! He's forcing that sound the same way Tom Waits forces his supposed whiskey voice. I've never had a drop of whiskey in my life and I can "sing:" exactly like Tom.

[Chazmatazz269]

Bill Cosby gave off “good guy vibes” too.
You should definitely never second guess your first impression.

[WhiteSteve]

Lmao, that’s fair.

But the point of the question isn’t so much about Tim Walz *specifically* as much as it’s about Tim Walz *currently*.

It’s more about how he was a Congressman for many years, and has governed Minnesota for about five years now, but I’ve never heard a peep about him (and I have my elderly father with me, he watches FoxNews, I might actually (over) hear more right wing media than I do anything else).

So it’s just odd to me that we can turn around one day and suddenly everyone’s the foremost expert and most passionate torch-bearer for why Tim Walz, or whoever the Tim Walz of that moment is, sucks worse than anyone else has ever sucked before. I understand getting new information, but if he’s done anything that terrible, at least policy-wise, I think we’d have heard about it. Otherwise it just seems like everyone would be doing the same thing to Josh Shapiro right now, or Mark Kelly, Andy Beshear, Gretchen Whitmer, etc, etc. Like it’s hard to take seriously because no matter who it is, I know they’re going to get badmouthed to the same degree and made out to be the worst possible choice, just for the sake of doing it and hopefully damaging the public perception of the ticket, or a solo politician in the case of Congress.

[Chazmatazz269]

That’s the way “news” works. You can’t know everything about anyone. And you will never know anything about everyone. When people and ongoings come into purview, you have not just the right but the responsibility to assess them based on what you think you know. It’s actually human nature. None of us would be here today without the gift of threat assessment passed down to us from ancestors who actually SURVIVED meaningful threats to their lives and livelihoods.
Maybe what you’re criticizing is that too few people are open to reassessing their initial perceptions. Maybe you’re also reacting to the idea that not everyone’s initial assessment and/or reassessment aligns with your own. It’s fair as long as you understand the importance of having a society in which people can disagree on such things.

Personally, Minnesota was on my mind recently before i got wind of this pull up for an unfavorable reason. A skosh of research suggested to me that Minnesota has come a long way from the days of Ventura as governor, and i wasn’t impressed. If Walz wants for the nation what he brought to fruition for his state, you can have him. I’m not a fan.

[Dargil]

Nope its legitimate. Good old tampon Tim, the disgraced " Command Sergeant Major".

[WhiteSteve]

Haha, well I know better than to try to change your mind on that, but I’m not as convinced as you are about all that.

But regardless, my point is, you wouldn’t have been able to tell me any of this in July. And to this day there’s all kinds of stuff you couldn’t tell me now about all of the also-rans that you WOULD be able to tell me today if they had been chosen.

The point isn’t about Walz himself, it’s that, whoever it was, some brand of this kind of attempted smear job with the same degree of intensity would have been concocted, so it’s difficult to take any of it even a little bit seriously, nor the purveyors of it

[Dargil]

"I know better than to try to change your mind on that." Yes, you do.

[WhiteSteve]

Lmfao, don’t take that as a compliment or a win, I just know you’re too far off the deep end to bother with🙄😂 Bless up🙏

[Snakeyes7]

I haven't looked too much into it but if it turns out that about what he did his time in the military or what his rank was, it doesn't look too good for him to veterans especially.

[WhiteSteve]

I haven’t heard anything about his rank being in question, but maybe I missed it. As for leaving the Guard, dude put in 24 years and was probably like 45. It’s not like he had just signed up and then bailed when shit got hot. He left MONTHS before his unit got word of deployment. I’m also kind of like “you either hang your hat on this supposed support of the troops or you don’t.” Some of these people fall all over themselves to fellate any and all veterans at every turn, and then turn around and make their military support conditional?

Anyhow, I can appreciate that you know what you don’t know and are reserving judgement pending deeper investigation👊

[Snakeyes7]

I am honestly not a big fan of the guy's policies so the controversy doesn't really mean much to me anyway. If it turns out he really is being disingenuous about his time in the military, that'll be just another reason for me to not vote for him I guess.

Besides, I am not in the military and haven't had any family in the military since Vietnam so I don't really know what any of the mumbo jumbo means and I hope I never do. If we are being invaded, that is a different story but given the way the country is run now, I would rather be served rat poison than serve my country abroad.

[WhiteSteve]

I can respect that. I’d probably find deeper things to dig at about why you don’t support certain policies, but that’s for another day.

You seem to be policy-focused, and that’s really the whole inspiration for the question, how I feel about Walz in particular wasn’t the point, despite that being the technical “question.” I just thought it was funny how it all came out of left field all of a sudden, and seemed like a deliberate story to try to discredit him as a candidate, which, again, is somewhat par for the course in politics, but something just feels off about the way it happens in recent years. And I also just feel like it would’ve happened no matter who they wheeled out, just different specifics, but equally disingenuous, if not completely dishonest.

It’s like….. lately I’m able to imagine producers and directors and talking heads in a meeting room at a news channel, probably on a conference call with some campaign strategist, and they’re saying like “ok…he served in the military, a real long time. That’s not good for us, it’s imperative that our on-air messaging is “Democrats hate America.” How can we make it look more like he’s a traitor?, make sure no veterans vote for him?”

It’s not just like his whole unit just popped up and on their own volition were like “ohhhhhh yeahhhhh, ol’ bitch-ass Tim Walz, we been calling him Tampon Tim for twenty years! We got word that we were going to Iraq and he quit on the spot and told us all to have fun getting our heads blown off! That guy’s a REAL son of a bitch!”

[Snakeyes7]

I always kind of thought that it is supposed to show how he feels about the treatment of veterans, but like you said, I am very policy oriented.

[onedarkcloud]

The truth about him hurts! He and Kamalatoe are two communists in a pod.

[WhiteSteve]

Not one single declared communist or even socialist in American government today🤔

These have come to be right wing boogeyman words that are beginning to lose value with me due to overuse

[onedarkcloud]

Perhaps Socialism is your preferred word? But then again Communism is the ultimate of Socialism! They are Communist by actions not by word. If they win you had better get used to using the word COMRAD to star every sentence and they won't let you lose value due to overuse

[Anonymous]

Thats all they have and just makes them look exactly what they are. Stuck in a locker room butt hurt because he won the girl.

[noohair]

There has been a smear campaign against Mr. Trump that is more that disingenuous, it is evil.