VP Tim Walz

WELCOME GOV. WALZ

Welcome Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (pronounced /walz/) to the Democratic ticket as candidate for Vice President!

Walz checks all the boxes, both politically and personality-ly:

✅ White dude
✅ Veteran soldier (National Guard for 24 years)
✅ Hunter/gun owner
✅ Has both legislative (12 years as a U.S. Representative) and executive (six years as Governor of Minnesota) experience
✅ Salt-of-the-earth (high school civics teacher and football coach)
✅ Has bridged the rural and the suburban voters in Minnesota
✅ Plain-spoken (coined the "weird" trend)
✅ Heartlander: well-liked in Minnesota and nearby Wisconsin and Michigan
✅ Witty and intelligent
✅ Union supporter
✅ Young-ish (60)
✅ Champion of women's reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights
✅ Family man
✅ Strong on progressive issues
AND!
✅ Named a highway after Prince

Walz is an all-around solid choice. Truly, all of Kamala's prospects were solid; the Dems have a deep bench. Walz seems like a good dude.

Steve Sack, 2018

Walz was born in Nebraska in 1964 and moved to Minnesota in the '90s with his wife, Gwen Walz. They have two children, conceived through IVF. His wife is an English teacher! Yay!

He has a wide experience. He was a high school social studies teacher and football coach for almost 20 years. Talk about credentials to deal with the Repugs! He served both in the U.S. Congress as a representative from Minnesota and then ran for Governor in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. 

He served in the National Guard for 24 years and has a strong record on veterans issues. 

Walz is able to connect with conservative voters; he worked with a divided legislature as Governor, passing many important and progressive laws. He was able to bring together rural voters and suburban voters.

He has a strong progressive record, from being a strong union supporter to championing reproductive and LGBTQ rights; to strong environmental protections; legalizing cannabis; expanding background checks for gun purchases; expanding voter rights including easing voter registration to youths and expanding voting rights to felons; and protecting children by bolstering education issues, including bringing free breakfasts and lunches to all Minnesota schoolchildren. He also removed a college-degree requirement for many state-level jobs, a move that enjoyed bipartisan support.

Faced with a large budget surplus, he used it to fund the school meals in Minnesota, free tuition at public colleges, paid family and medical leave program, and health insurance for all, including undocumented immigrants.

He has a mixed gun rights record: when he was running for Congress in 2010 the NRA gave him an "A" rating and he worked to expand carry laws. By 2018, he had happily earned an "F" rating from the NRA as he worked to expand gun restrictions, and he donated the NRA's previous donation to a veteran's group.

He has a good sense of humor and is able to connect with voters with his down-to-earth, folksy personality. He has a way with words! He said in July: “These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away, they want to be in your exam room. … They are bad on foreign policy, they are bad on the environment, they certainly have no health-care plan, and they keep talking about the middle class. As I said, a robber baron real estate guy and a venture capitalist trying to tell us they understand who we are? They don’t know who we are."

Here is his first rally with Kamala Harris, with Gov. Walz appearing at 1:20:00.

Not gonna lie. I had hoped she would pick this guy. ⌄⌄ But I'm content. 

A NOTE ABOUT HYPOCRISCY 

The orange moron (morange?) railed against Kamala's identity recently, accusing her of diminishing her Black heritage only to embrace it for political purposes. Total hogwash. It didn't stop Vance from jumping on the idea, calling her a "chameleon." 

What a hypocrite. This is a man who changed his name multiple times, from his birth name James Donald Bowman to his taking his adoptive father's name, renouncing his abusive father's name and changing it to James David Hamel, to the current iteration, JD Vance. Once his mother and stepfather divorced and he was set to be married, he took his maternal "Mawmaw's" name of Vance and removed the periods in his initials that he used for a time.

Now, I have absolutely no qualms about this. I am the last one to suggest calling someone by their deadname. But the hypocrisy of his ilk is never-ending. Live and let live, JD!

And his Yale degree. Ivory-tower elite, anyone?

And his lovely, bright Indian wife, Usha, daughter of immigrants. How 'bout them mass deportations?

Childless families are evil? How does he reconcile the party line against IVF?

A NOTE ABOUT OUR OLDEST LIVING  STATESMAN 

President Jimmy Carter, who turns 100 on October 1, has said he wants to hold on until he is able to cast a ballot for Kamala. This left me verklempt.

WE HAVE 91 DAYS LEFT. THE BLUE WAVE IS COMING! 

Just three months until Election Day. We are all super excited about the new Democratic ticket. We must not rest. Let's build the swell that makes that wave huge!

• Keep the conversations alive about the dangers of Project 2025 and the threat to democracy. 
• Help get out the vote. There's a reason why the Right tries to keep people from voting. This will be an election of turn-out. Every vote matters. If you don't vote, it's a vote for T****.
• Help register new voters: donate or volunteer with League of Woman Voters or Rock the Vote.
• Write postcards to encourage voting: Postcards to Voters or Postcards to Swing States.
• Donate or volunteer for your local candidates, or candidates in important districts across the country.
• Stay woke.
• Work hard. As Gov. Walz said, "We'll sleep when we're dead."

AND WHAT WE ALL LOVE: MEMES AND 'TOONS 

There's a lot of them. 

This quote from USA Today make me titter.

Mike Luckovich

Michael de Adder

Bill Bramhall

Jesse Duquette

Ann Telnaes

Weird.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz found the word that gets under T****'s and his MAGAt minions' skin.

Weird.

He observed that Donny and his couch-humping buddy are "just weird," saying "That stuff is weird, they come across weird," and "I see Donald Trump talking about the wonderful Hannibal Lecter or whatever weird thing he is on tonight.... That is weird behavior. I don't think you call it anything else."

Soon after, the Harris campaign issued a bullet-pointed press release after his FAUX News phone interview titled, "Statement on a 78-Year-Old Criminal’s Fox News Appearance." Within, was the item: "Trump is old and quite weird?"

The MAGAts are in conniptions over being called weird, but the meme makers are leaning in to it. 

MAGAts and their king have taken "Nazi," "felon," "authoritarian," "rapist" and "liar" with a shrug. But "weird"? Now their panties are in a twist. 

It makes sense. They are bullies: putting people down is the the only way they can lift themselves up. For eons bullies have used the word weird laced with daggers. They know the underpinnings of a word like "weird." 

If you were one of the weird kids who got bullied at school, you learned to embrace the weird and shrug off the taunts.

The bullies themselves? Turning "weird" back on them diminishes them; it makes them feel weak. It stings a little. Or in this case, a lot. 

It reminds me of early on in the 45th presidency, when I engaged a red-hatter on social media. They were upset about the nicknames in my blog, not the content. I pointed out that they were most upset by that, and called Trump "silly." Whoa, that "silly" really set them off. I definitely hit a nerve. They can dish it, but they can't take it. 

T****'s weird interview with the National Association of Black Journalists

There's a lot to unpack from the 30-minute slo-mo train wreck.

He was unhinged. He was hostile. He was churlish, childish, racist, and disrespectful. He insulted the panel of journalists interviewing him; he insulted Kamala Harris; he lied and acted like it was a campaign rally in front of his MAGAt minions and not an interview in front of an audience of Black journalists (and ultimately, all voters).

He reverted to his usual misogynistic and racist taunts. He was asked tough questions, but he went on the offensive, not answering questions but instead attacking the journalists. 

When confronted with his multiple racial attacks on various people through the years, he was asked, "Why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?" 

He immediately went on the offensive; he complained about the delay of the start of the interview and called ABC’s Rachel Scott "disgraceful," "rude," "nasty," and "hostile."He finally "answered" the question by saying, "I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln. That’s my answer. That’s my answer."

"Why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?" Answer: they can't. 

When asked to address Repugs' diminishing comments in general about Harris's race as a factor in her candidacy, he obviously didn't know what "DEI" stands for, asking for a definition multiple times, even after he was given one (diversion, equity, inclusion). 

Instead of answering the question, he attacked Harris's identity, falsely claiming that she had denied her Black heritage in favor of her Indian heritage. He said, "I’ve known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian, or is she Black?" And he added, "Someone should look into that." It would be laughable if it wasn't so toxic. Echoes of his birther attack on Obama.

I hate to give this ridiculousness legitimacy by denying it, but *sigh* for the record: This is just false. Kamala Harris has always identified as both Indian and as Black. This stupid comment is just another not-so-thinly veiled attack on her race. It plays well to his base. To the rest of the world? Not so much.

Secondly, what a weird hill to die on. We're a melting pot. Kamala Harris is part of that. Deal with it. 

He's grasping at tidbits to throw to his racist base. 

He had actually been polling decently among Black voters before Biden stepped down. If his goal was to alienate Black voters, he is winning! 

During the rest of the interview, he talked over the interviewers, who could barely get a fact-checking word in edgewise, and he continued his weirdness:

When asked about his message for a divided nation, he pivoted to one of his main talking points, immigration and the border. The border is a strong talking point, and apparently the plan had been for him to focus on that though the interview. 

But he just couldn't help himself. He repeated his weird "immigrants taking 'Black jobs'" thing, which drew jeers from the audience, all of whom held a Black job. 

"Black jobs" to him is simply unskilled jobs. And that is racist.

He nearly answered almost coherently about inflation and what his plan is, but he veered off to bitching about Joe Biden exiting the race. Sir, bitching won't bring him back. Move on!

During questioning about the justice system and his proposed immunity for police officers' misconduct, he indicated that he did not know much about the Sonya Massey case. Massey was murdered by a police officer after she called 911. She was pouring a pot of boiling water down the sink when the officer opened fire and shot her in the head. 

T**** wasn't able to defend his running mate JD Vance's views on childless families, though he flirted with a lucid answer. He pivoted to immigration again before the interviewer brought him back to Vance and his readiness to be president should the need arise. After lauding Vance for his "bestseller" book and "smash hit" movie (he's always about the ratings!) he downplayed the importance of the VP pick saying, "The vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact.... Virtually never has it mattered.... But historically, the choice of a vice president makes no difference."

I wonder how Vance feels about that.

When asked about abortion, he went into his weird talking point that "they" are "allowing abortion in the ninth month.... They’re allowing the death of a baby after the baby is born."

No, you idiot. Infanticide is not happening.

When asked about pardoning January 6 convicts, he confirmed he is on track to do so.

Most of the rest were his usual lies. Here's a fact-check.

Watch the entire 30 minute interview here:

And if you can't stomach it, here is a super-cut, still coming in at 11 minutes of insults:

All the late night show hosts are on summer vacation. But the Daily Show's Ronny Chieng gave this: 

Yeah, he's racist. Nothing new. He's also misogynistic, calling Harris a "playtoy" when talking about how foreign leaders would interact with her. Disgusting.

He also recently made a joke out Helen Comperatore's reaction regarding the loss of her husband during the shooting in Pennsylvania. His friend had offered Mrs. Comperatore a check for $1 million dollars. 

T**** said, "But you know what? Corey’s wife said, ‘I’d rather have my husband.’ Isn’t that good? I know a lot of wives that would not say that, I’m sorry. They would not say that." The audience laughed at his oh-so-clever joke. Weirdo.

And don't forget all of this creepy shit:

This montage of Trump saying creepy shit about Ivanka is pretty weird. pic.twitter.com/R1DJq5NhZS

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 29, 2024

I'm so weary of writing about this disgusting, creepy weirdo. 

THE CAMPAIGN

Kamala is riding a wave. A big, beautiful, blue wave. She has raised $310 million in July, $200 million of that was raised in the week following Biden's departure. Most of it was small-donor, grass-roots money: two-thirds of the donations came from first-time donors and 94% were $200 or less. This is more than double the $138.7 million that her opponent raised.

We cannot let the momentum wane! Keep donating, friends, and get ready to volunteer to knock on doors, make calls, or write postcards. We have got to make a strong running shot into the goal (nod to USA handball, which I had never watched before)!

tfg has been reeling. He can't find purchase in his campaign against Harris. As Sister Resister Karen said, "He hates women, and a woman is turning his orange world upside down."

He is being taunted for pulling out of the September debate. He has lost the momentum he had after he was shot. His VP pick is universally disliked. He can't find an effective line of attack against Harris; even his nicknames are lame (he has workshopped Laffin' Kamala ["l-a-f-f-i-n-aphostrophe"], "Crazy Kamala," or simply purposefully mispronouncing her name). 

He is running scared. This strong, Black woman is coming after him. Hard. And there is nowhere to hide. 

NOW THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS STEPPED AWAY FROM CAMPAIGNING, HE CAN GET ON TO MORE PRESIDENTING

Like, coordinating the release of three Americans falsely held prisoner by Russia, including Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan, along with radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva! The deal was a complex multi-national agreement with 16 prisoners released from Russian prisons in exchange for eight Russians that had been detained in other countries. It was a long time coming – Gershkovich had been held for nearly 500 days and Whelan for five years – and Joe Biden did it!

Last week, Biden proposed a three-pronged plan to reform the Supreme Court and amend the constitution. He proposed the three-part plan in an editorial in The Washington Post. 

First, he wants to amend the United States Constitution with a "No One Is Above the Law Amendment." This would undo the Supreme Court's recent decision making the president a king.

Second, he wants to introduce term limits for Supreme Court justices. He proposes 18-year terms, with each president appointing a new justice every two years. This would keep any one president from having undue power in appointing justices and would avoid political wrangling. 

Lastly, he wants to implement an enforceable code of conduct.

These seem like reasonable measures. I like the idea of an 18-year term limit. It dampens the politics of appointments. We must remove the temptation of pay-for-power for justices in decades-long terms. This is a more palatable reform than expanding the court. A code of conduct is long overdue. And yes, we must reverse the kingship of the office of president. 

LAUGHLY, THE SATIRE

Skewering Vance and the MAGAts

Drew Sheneman

Chris Britt

Jack Ohman

I’d pay good money to have this guy introduce Trump at ALL of his campaign events. 😂😂
pic.twitter.com/RMwUxNbdRu

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) July 29, 2024

watch that ^^ – it's brilliant.

Jack Ohman

Excitement for Kamala

Gary Taxali

Tread, resisters! Tread!