She picked Tim

[Anonymous]

Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walz is really relatable.

Neither Trump or Vance resemble anyone I know.

Or anyone I ever want to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

So wait -- is Walz a soft guy who couldn't be trusted to be hardass enough to run the country, or is he a fascist dictator who ruled Minnesota with an iron fist during the riots? I can't remember.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Wow, there are parts of this that are unhinged but I don’t want to go through it sentence by sentence. She’s criticizing firing the officers four years later with everything we know? No matter what a fellow at the Manhattan Institute thinks, there are recordings of Trump praising Walz’s response after he called out the National Guard in its largest deployment since WWII, and Trump appointed him to the Council of Governors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

So wait -- is Walz a soft guy who couldn't be trusted to be hardass enough to run the country, or is he a fascist dictator who ruled Minnesota with an iron fist during the riots? I can't remember.

The point is, he was NOT tough with rioters in MN. He called in the National Guard, but too late - much of the damage had already occurred. This is what he was doing in the interim between when Minneapolis Mayor Frey requested he send in the National Guard, and when he actually did (almost a full 24 hrs. later) - quizzing them about their DEI training:

At 6:30 p.m. the same day, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked Mr. Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Mr. Frey followed up with a written request at 9:11 p.m. Mr. Walz didn’t respond until 4 p.m. the next day, when he signed an executive order activating 500 state soldiers. In the interim, his staff had quizzed the Guard about its members’ DEI training and whether they had experience working with “diverse communities,” according to a report by a Minnesota Senate committee.

And then he virtue signaled his way through his excuses about the delay:

The problem Mr. Walz allegedly confronted was that the “tools of restoring order are viewed by so many as the things that have oppressed and started the problem in the first place.” He spoke of “people who are concerned about that police presence of an overly armed camp in their neighborhoods that is not seen in communities where children of people who look like me run to the police, others have to run from.”

Mr. Walz’s skin color bore on his legitimacy as a decision-maker, he said: “I will not patronize you as a white male without living those experiences of how difficult” it is to have a police force occupying one’s neighborhood. He described the riots themselves as a manifestation of systemic racism: “What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on Monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here.” Mr. Walz imputed a sacramental quality to the looted and torched buildings: “The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish, unheard.”

I suggest anyone wanting to debate this read the entire piece, which is linked above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

So wait -- is Walz a soft guy who couldn't be trusted to be hardass enough to run the country, or is he a fascist dictator who ruled Minnesota with an iron fist during the riots? I can't remember.

The point is, he was NOT tough with rioters in MN. He called in the National Guard, but too late - much of the damage had already occurred. This is what he was doing in the interim between when Minneapolis Mayor Frey requested he send in the National Guard, and when he actually did (almost a full 24 hrs. later) - quizzing them about their DEI training:

At 6:30 p.m. the same day, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked Mr. Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Mr. Frey followed up with a written request at 9:11 p.m. Mr. Walz didn’t respond until 4 p.m. the next day, when he signed an executive order activating 500 state soldiers. In the interim, his staff had quizzed the Guard about its members’ DEI training and whether they had experience working with “diverse communities,” according to a report by a Minnesota Senate committee.

And then he virtue signaled his way through his excuses about the delay:

The problem Mr. Walz allegedly confronted was that the “tools of restoring order are viewed by so many as the things that have oppressed and started the problem in the first place.” He spoke of “people who are concerned about that police presence of an overly armed camp in their neighborhoods that is not seen in communities where children of people who look like me run to the police, others have to run from.”

Mr. Walz’s skin color bore on his legitimacy as a decision-maker, he said: “I will not patronize you as a white male without living those experiences of how difficult” it is to have a police force occupying one’s neighborhood. He described the riots themselves as a manifestation of systemic racism: “What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on Monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here.” Mr. Walz imputed a sacramental quality to the looted and torched buildings: “The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish, unheard.”

I suggest anyone wanting to debate this read the entire piece, which is linked above.

It’s really easy to do Monday morning quarterbacking with all of these crises, but I think ultimately it registers as noise to regular people. Look at how terrible Trump’s Covid response was, but it doesn’t stick to him because it was such a once in a lifetime crisis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

and yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

and yet

Well, yes - Trump praised the governors who sent in the National Guard to quell rioters. That was his whole point - that the states who took action to restore law and order deserved praise. It didn't come out until later that Walz "dithered" almost a full day before making the call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

So wait -- is Walz a soft guy who couldn't be trusted to be hardass enough to run the country, or is he a fascist dictator who ruled Minnesota with an iron fist during the riots? I can't remember.

The point is, he was NOT tough with rioters in MN. He called in the National Guard, but too late - much of the damage had already occurred. This is what he was doing in the interim between when Minneapolis Mayor Frey requested he send in the National Guard, and when he actually did (almost a full 24 hrs. later) - quizzing them about their DEI training:

At 6:30 p.m. the same day, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked Mr. Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Mr. Frey followed up with a written request at 9:11 p.m. Mr. Walz didn’t respond until 4 p.m. the next day, when he signed an executive order activating 500 state soldiers. In the interim, his staff had quizzed the Guard about its members’ DEI training and whether they had experience working with “diverse communities,” according to a report by a Minnesota Senate committee.

And then he virtue signaled his way through his excuses about the delay:

The problem Mr. Walz allegedly confronted was that the “tools of restoring order are viewed by so many as the things that have oppressed and started the problem in the first place.” He spoke of “people who are concerned about that police presence of an overly armed camp in their neighborhoods that is not seen in communities where children of people who look like me run to the police, others have to run from.”

Mr. Walz’s skin color bore on his legitimacy as a decision-maker, he said: “I will not patronize you as a white male without living those experiences of how difficult” it is to have a police force occupying one’s neighborhood. He described the riots themselves as a manifestation of systemic racism: “What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on Monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here.” Mr. Walz imputed a sacramental quality to the looted and torched buildings: “The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish, unheard.”

I suggest anyone wanting to debate this read the entire piece, which is linked above.

Is this supposed to be a scathing critique?? I mean, I'm sure that Walz would have changed some things in retrospect, but these seem like important questions to be asking in the context of what was happening in Minneapolis at the time. People were questioning the legitimacy of law enforcement, and it wasn't immediately obvious that bringing in Guard troops with limited authority would make the situation better rather than worse.

If you'd ever been anywhere close to a protest you would know how important these questions are. For example, similar issues occured in DC at the time of the George Floyd protests, even though there wasn't property destruction on anything close to the same scale. The Trump admin brought in all sorts of law enforcement from across the country (such as prison guards) that acted aggressively and inflamed tensions, while local law enforcement (and incidentally the DC National Guard, who are mostly locals) were much more respectful of peaceful protesters and were therefore much more effective in keeping things peaceful. Elsewhere (post-Charlottesville), I've seen an angry mob worked up by state troopers in riot gear aggressively "keeping the peace" by protecting a group of white supremacists, and then completely defused by a city police captain who simply walked out into the crowd in plain clothes and talked down the crowd. It matters deeply whether law enforcement are perceived to be a supportive part of the community or in conflict with the community, and that dynamic was exactly what was at risk in Minneapolis in 2020.

Asking key questions and then taking thoughtful action is what leadership is supposed to look like. Honestly, this just bolsters my opinion of the guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

So wait -- is Walz a soft guy who couldn't be trusted to be hardass enough to run the country, or is he a fascist dictator who ruled Minnesota with an iron fist during the riots? I can't remember.

The point is, he was NOT tough with rioters in MN. He called in the National Guard, but too late - much of the damage had already occurred. This is what he was doing in the interim between when Minneapolis Mayor Frey requested he send in the National Guard, and when he actually did (almost a full 24 hrs. later) - quizzing them about their DEI training:

At 6:30 p.m. the same day, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked Mr. Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Mr. Frey followed up with a written request at 9:11 p.m. Mr. Walz didn’t respond until 4 p.m. the next day, when he signed an executive order activating 500 state soldiers. In the interim, his staff had quizzed the Guard about its members’ DEI training and whether they had experience working with “diverse communities,” according to a report by a Minnesota Senate committee.

And then he virtue signaled his way through his excuses about the delay:

The problem Mr. Walz allegedly confronted was that the “tools of restoring order are viewed by so many as the things that have oppressed and started the problem in the first place.” He spoke of “people who are concerned about that police presence of an overly armed camp in their neighborhoods that is not seen in communities where children of people who look like me run to the police, others have to run from.”

Mr. Walz’s skin color bore on his legitimacy as a decision-maker, he said: “I will not patronize you as a white male without living those experiences of how difficult” it is to have a police force occupying one’s neighborhood. He described the riots themselves as a manifestation of systemic racism: “What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on Monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here.” Mr. Walz imputed a sacramental quality to the looted and torched buildings: “The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish, unheard.”

I suggest anyone wanting to debate this read the entire piece, which is linked above.

Wasn't DCUM the website where I read all about how he was having people potshotted on their porches, and his wife was something-about-the-smell-of-tires, and all that? I thought I was supposed to be mad at him for being too harsh.

What exactly is the party line, again?

[Anonymous]

If my city was under siege by unhinged rioters, I know I'd definitely want the governor to make sure the National Guard had completed recent DEI training. Take your time, it's not like looting, arson, and destruction were occurring or anything.

[Anonymous]

While there is no evidence that Walz has committed the crime of stolen valor, an ABC News review of hours of footage from his past interviews and speeches, along with years of records from his initial campaigns, shows that journalists, some of his colleagues in the National Guard, and even voters have sometimes been left with an inaccurate picture of his military service that has led to criticism dating back years.

These inaccuracies, which at times went uncorrected, include Walz not denying the statement that he served in Afghanistan, and Walz repeatedly saying that he retired with a rank he achieved but did not retire with, as well as an instance in 2018 of Walz claiming that he carried weapons of war "in war," about which the Harris-Walz campaign said that he misspoke.

In the National Guard, Walz began serving as command sergeant major, a leadership position, in 2004, and was officially appointed to the role in April 2005, shortly before he retired from service, according to a statement from Army Col. Ruan Cochran. However Walz did not remain in the role long enough to keep the title in retirement.

Still, Walz repeatedly referred to himself as a "retired command sergeant major" for years.

In 2016, Behrends penned a private letter to Walz, thanking him for his service but imploring him to stop using the title, which he said Walz didn't earn.

"It saddens me that after your long career in the National Guard, that you did not fulfill the conditions of your promotion to Command Sergeant Major," said the letter, a copy of which was provided to ABC News. "It's quite a title to have, when it has been earned. I would hope that you haven't been using the rank for political gain, but that is how it appears."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

While there is no evidence that Walz has committed the crime of stolen valor, an ABC News review of hours of footage from his past interviews and speeches, along with years of records from his initial campaigns, shows that journalists, some of his colleagues in the National Guard, and even voters have sometimes been left with an inaccurate picture of his military service that has led to criticism dating back years.

These inaccuracies, which at times went uncorrected, include Walz not denying the statement that he served in Afghanistan, and Walz repeatedly saying that he retired with a rank he achieved but did not retire with, as well as an instance in 2018 of Walz claiming that he carried weapons of war "in war," about which the Harris-Walz campaign said that he misspoke.

In the National Guard, Walz began serving as command sergeant major, a leadership position, in 2004, and was officially appointed to the role in April 2005, shortly before he retired from service, according to a statement from Army Col. Ruan Cochran. However Walz did not remain in the role long enough to keep the title in retirement.

Still, Walz repeatedly referred to himself as a "retired command sergeant major" for years.

In 2016, Behrends penned a private letter to Walz, thanking him for his service but imploring him to stop using the title, which he said Walz didn't earn.

"It saddens me that after your long career in the National Guard, that you did not fulfill the conditions of your promotion to Command Sergeant Major," said the letter, a copy of which was provided to ABC News. "It's quite a title to have, when it has been earned. I would hope that you haven't been using the rank for political gain, but that is how it appears."

A “retired sergeant major” is not the same as “retired as a sergeant major”. Everyone in the military understands this. Walz is not wrong and criticism of this is absurd. Lots of people were a “colonel in army” but didn’t have enough time in grade before retirement and therefore retired “as a lt col”.

I get that it’s confusing but it’s about benefits not about a demotion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting op-ed (gifted link):

If Kamala Harris wanted to dispel the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, Tim Walz was an odd choice of running mate. Mr. Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor will be defined by the George Floyd race riots in Minneapolis and his response to them. Americans everywhere still live with the consequences.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/tim-walz-dithered-while-minneapolis-burned-kamala-harris-2020-riots-911b47eb?st=dd4l5wx7iwpfbyz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

So wait -- is Walz a soft guy who couldn't be trusted to be hardass enough to run the country, or is he a fascist dictator who ruled Minnesota with an iron fist during the riots? I can't remember.

The point is, he was NOT tough with rioters in MN. He called in the National Guard, but too late - much of the damage had already occurred. This is what he was doing in the interim between when Minneapolis Mayor Frey requested he send in the National Guard, and when he actually did (almost a full 24 hrs. later) - quizzing them about their DEI training:

At 6:30 p.m. the same day, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked Mr. Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Mr. Frey followed up with a written request at 9:11 p.m. Mr. Walz didn’t respond until 4 p.m. the next day, when he signed an executive order activating 500 state soldiers. In the interim, his staff had quizzed the Guard about its members’ DEI training and whether they had experience working with “diverse communities,” according to a report by a Minnesota Senate committee.

And then he virtue signaled his way through his excuses about the delay:

The problem Mr. Walz allegedly confronted was that the “tools of restoring order are viewed by so many as the things that have oppressed and started the problem in the first place.” He spoke of “people who are concerned about that police presence of an overly armed camp in their neighborhoods that is not seen in communities where children of people who look like me run to the police, others have to run from.”

Mr. Walz’s skin color bore on his legitimacy as a decision-maker, he said: “I will not patronize you as a white male without living those experiences of how difficult” it is to have a police force occupying one’s neighborhood. He described the riots themselves as a manifestation of systemic racism: “What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on Monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here.” Mr. Walz imputed a sacramental quality to the looted and torched buildings: “The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish, unheard.”

I suggest anyone wanting to debate this read the entire piece, which is linked above.

It’s really easy to do Monday morning quarterbacking with all of these crises, but I think ultimately it registers as noise to regular people. Look at how terrible Trump’s Covid response was, but it doesn’t stick to him because it was such a once in a lifetime crisis.

I think that one sticks tenuously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walz is really relatable.

Neither Trump or Vance resemble anyone I know.

The Trump/Vance ticket is not just weird, they’re downright creepy.