Will Big Media Give Walz the Vance Treatment? Don't Bet On It

Debra Saunders on Aug 8, 2024

WASHINGTON -- I start with a prediction: Big media will not look into would-be veep Tim Walz with the intensity they reserved for digging up dirt on JD Vance, after Donald Trump named the Ohio senator his running mate.

There will be no stories about leaked texts the now-Democratic running mate sent to someone he once considered a friend.

There will be no stories about fellow Democrats urging Kamala Harris to renege on her choice and pick a new running mate.

There will be no outrage that she picked an extremist, a progressive, when she could have gone with a centrist.

The honeymoon will last up to the Democratic National Convention or Nov. 5, whichever comes last.

Big media won't find it weird that Minnesota's Democratic governor bubbled to the top of the froth after he said of Donald Trump and Vance, "These guys are just weird."

"In one word, (Walz) gave the Harris campaign a sort of slogan that they've been using over and over again," MSNBC's Yamiche Alcindor explained.

No, I'm watching CNN and hearing words like "folksy" for Walz.

MSNBC reports that Walz is a gun owner and "avid pheasant hunter" -- for Democrats, you see, gun ownership is a sign of authenticity.

Walz is also the guy who said, "Don't ever shy away from our progressive values. One person's socialism is another person's neighborliness." It's like a tree falling in an uninhabited wood.

The above remark came during Walz' "White Dudes For Harris" fundraising phone call last week. White guys hitting up rich guys for money? Nothing to see here.

My first-blush reaction to the Walz pick: Why didn't Harris pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a moderate Democrat from a swing state?

Shapiro is Jewish, which some believe could hurt Democratic efforts to win battleground states Michigan and Wisconsin.

An NPR poll released Tuesday morning found 17% of U.S. residents viewed Walz positively, but 71% had never heard of him or were not sure how to rate him. Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly enjoyed better numbers, but they apparently weren't sufficiently far-left.

Pennsylvania has 19 Electoral College votes -- nearly double Minnesota's 10. And Pennsylvania is in play. The last time Minnesotans preferred a Republican White House hopeful over a Democrat was 1972.

In short, the Walz pick wasn't strategic; it was isolationist. At best.

Commentator Van Jones acknowledged on CNN that an element of antisemitism has been "marbled into" the Democratic Party.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, disagrees. Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is also Jewish.

One last thing: Walz was the governor who waited three chaotic days to send in the National Guard to quell violent "social justice" riots sparked by the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

"They make an interesting tag team," Vance told reporters from the campaign plane Tuesday, "because Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020, and the few that got caught, Kamala Harris helped bail them out of jail."

Vance was referring to a Harris tweet inviting followers to donate money to @MNFreedomFund "to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota."

And that's a story.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

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