Was Walz a mistake?

[Anonymous]

Her choice of VP had little to no effect on her loss. I cannot believe the party I lean toward is so dense. Hint: it wasn’t racism or misogyny either.

[Anonymous]

Her choice of VP impacted her loss. She should have picked Shapiro. She would have carried PA and then would have only have prevailed in 1-2 other swing states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her choice of VP impacted her loss. She should have picked Shapiro. She would have carried PA and then would have only have prevailed in 1-2 other swing states.

Gmab. Simply not true.

[Anonymous]

It didn't matter who she selected. It has more to do with the maority of american not wanting the policies and actions Democrats bring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waltz has nothing to do with it.

The country rejected Kamala & progressive policies.

We need to accept it and retool or continue losing.

This. He didn't move the needle one way or another. No-one would have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. I don’t think he mattered ultimately.

Weird how some states Obama won went to Trump….then back to Biden in 2020….then back for Trump last night. It’s almost like people are cool voting for a democrat when it’s a man. I guess you could make the argument Obama was a dynamic campaigner and Kamala and Hillary weren’t but wtf, Biden ran a terrible campaign.

I am not making a point about policies either way. I voted for Kamala but agree with some of Trump’s policies, I just agreed with more of hers. And I do think democrats need to get back to meat and potatoes rather than identity politics. But come on. It’s so, so obvious this country just hates women in power.

100%. I think a white man could have won this, sadly. Needed a clear break with Biden though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No! He was a breath of fresh air. What a bright spot in an otherwise dreary crowd.

Perfect! Run him again in 4 years!

[Anonymous]

No, as a woman, I can say that Waltz would have had a better chance as the actual candidate. I wish the Democrats would stop nominating women for the foreseeable future, it's not going to go well if we continue to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was he the wrong vp pick?

No. He's great and a very typical VP pick. Kamala was the mistake. Should have held a primary a year ago.

[Anonymous]

He didn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was he the wrong vp pick?

No. He's great and a very typical VP pick. Kamala was the mistake. Should have held a primary a year ago.

+1 She would never have won it. That's the core problem. I think she rose to the challenge reasonably well but couldn't change the fact that she didn't have the fundamental political talent to begin with. Above all the necessary communication skills. And was judged so much more harshly as a mixed-race woman. Walz was fine, or fine enough. It was the top of the ticket, as always.

[Anonymous]

tampony tim is a loser

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, as a woman, I can say that Waltz would have had a better chance as the actual candidate. I wish the Democrats would stop nominating women for the foreseeable future, it's not going to go well if we continue to do so.

Although I get that this is coming from a place of pragmatism, you do realize this is a horrible thing to say? How about we dig deeper and educate re: internalized biases in this country? Ideally in a less condescending manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was Kamala. Kamala was the wrong pick. Michelle Obama could’ve won if she’d ran. Kamala lacks depth and personality.

I used to think Michelle Obama could win if the nominee; but after last night's results, I don't think so. The outcome was a full-on rejection by the majority of the country of many of the policies and actions of Democrats.

Me neither. She does not have the job experience to win, no matter how likeable she is.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:He was a lightweight. His folksy schtick on 60 Minutes wasn’t even cute. I don’t think he hurt her but he definitely didn’t help.

PA was always a must win state. Why they didn’t pick Josh Shapiro as VP was baffling.

They lost WI and MI, Shapiro would not have helped there. Walz was fine, a little out of his depth and didn't do so well under pressure, but he wasn't a hue problem. A weak candidate who could not articulate a clear policy platform was the primary problem, and the majority's perception that the country has moved too far left on immigration and other issues. Harris tried to thread the needle with too many constituencies, which made her seem weak and wishy washy. A strong, articulate moderate who made a point of putting Biden in the rearview, and who always kept the focus on the bread and butter issues American care about, could have won.

It’s rare to find such reasonable takes on here. Good job.

Agree. Both candidates were terrible.
Its sad. Terrible choice to make between two extremes.

Too bad we couldn't have just had a regular primary.

For both parties, that would have been idea.

But the problem for democrats was that Biden picked Harris for VP, and to get rid of him they either had to pick her or risk passing her over and pissing off a lot of people. So she was the only possible choice, even though she wasn't the best. If only Biden hadn't decided to run again in the first place, and then we could have actually had a primary.

But how would the end result be any different? If Biden didn't run, and let's assume Harris did, who would have beaten her in the primary and then beat Trump in the general election?

If Biden had kept his word of being a bridge president and never contemplated running again there would have been a robust primary process with enough lead up for the nominee to introduce themselves to the country, draw contrasts with the unpopular Biden, etc. That primary likely would have included Shapiro, Beshear, Whitmer, Harris and maybe Mark Kelly. And of that group of 5, I would have ranked Harris last. There could have been a Shapiro/Whitmer or Beshear/Whitmer ticket, either of which would have stood a better chance.