In Case You Were Wondering
By Mitch Berg
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Tim Walz ducked all meaningful debates in the 2022 cycle.
Highlights of the evening:
Vance calling the moderators on their fairly naked bias: After the moderators used their interstitial bits to finish Walz’s point for him while trying to “fact-check” Vance, Vance finally had enough, and beat them down pretty brutally.
“Misspoke”: Oh, yeah. Bias notwithstanding, the mods asked Walz to answer MPR’s reporting that he was not, in fact, in Hong Kong during the Tienanmen Square massare. And it was pretty glorious:
And his first answer was “I was born into a middle class family…”
No, really – although he’s spent his past eighteen years telling people every detail of that time in China, down to what he ate and which Communist-logo sweatshirt Gwen wore, he slammed on the brakes and phumphered away claiming that he was old knucklehead and had “misspoken”
Facts: Vance was able to shred Walz in detail on a few issues, including his signing of Minnesota’s radical abortion laws – which put Walz back on his heels (and showed us that Tom Emmer was in fact, a pretty effective debate prepper.
And the #1 highlight:
Walz was weird; Vance was not: Walz had his moments – but Vance never lost his cool, stayed on message. Walz did, and did not. Vance won on style and substance, and it wasn’t even close.
And this may have been the first Vice Presidential debate of my lifetime that might have an actual impact on the election.
Fingers crossed.
October 2nd, 2024 at 8:05 am
I watched until about 9:30. Walz was truly out of his element and Vance had him constantly on the ropes. Not to even hint at giving Walz a pass on his push back against the state’s barbaric abortion bill, but I think he used Nancy Piglosi’s strategy; he had to pass it to see what’s in it. Except that he didn’t read it.
October 2nd, 2024 at 8:09 am
At what point will the Harris staffers start shivving Walz? Think McCain-Palin. In the run up to this debate, the buzz was that Tim didn’t want to hurt the Harris campaign.
October 2nd, 2024 at 8:46 am
(I didn’t watch the debate, but I read various trusted color commentaries like SitD).
Both I and SSC wrote in the last few weeks something to the effect that the Twin Cities media does their oh-beloved DFL politicians no favors by coddling them to the degree they do.
As such, middling little dweebs with huge inferiority complexes like Wally convince themselves that they are strong, capable leaders with national aspirations. Moreover, the national media and politicos, apparently not knowing the degree to which DFL politicians are protected, think of Wally as some diamond in the rough. Result: last night’s debate.
Wally’s embarrassing disrobing does nothing to pay back all the destruction wrought by his administration’s activities over the last few years, but at least *everyone* now knows what a phony he is.
October 2nd, 2024 at 8:57 am
In case you were interested, this is what the DNC is texting after the debate:
I just got off the debate stage.
Tonight, JD Vance proved that all he and Trump want to do is take our country backward. Meanwhile, our campaign is about moving our country forward.
Kamala and I want to give folks a fair shot. Make health care and child care more affordable. Get everyone access to a good education. Make our schools and streets safer.
We’re gonna do it, but we have to fight for it. With 35 days to go, we need all hands on deck.
If you can afford it, make your donation to our team today >>
https://kamala-harris.us/bd4JYy
This is it, folks. It’s the fourth quarter.
Let’s get out there and get it done.
Tim
October 2nd, 2024 at 9:43 am
CNN called it a draw.
Walz is the Black Knight!
October 2nd, 2024 at 9:54 am
I understand that Timmy’s revealed that “he’s friends with school shooters”, late in the debate. I’m sure that is comforting to every parent, student and teacher in the country.
October 2nd, 2024 at 11:19 am
It was a debate worth watching and that was refreshing.
I watched JD Vance and was reminded of Bill Clinton’s smooth style when he became the young voice of the Democrats.
Regardless of whether Trump wins or loses in this election, I think Vance will be a formidable opponent and the Republican nominee for President next election. If he’s not the nominee, I think he will play a big and positive role in shaping the party post-Trump.
October 2nd, 2024 at 1:06 pm
First, that graphic is hilarious!!!
Second, once again it was three against one. And I was not impressed by the questions. The moderators spent too much time on J6. For god’s sake, we have a longshoreman’s strike that the Commerce secretary is uninterested in. We have an open border, gangs taking over, inflation, and Iran attacking Israel. The world is on fire and the stupid women moderators focused on trivial things.
I think each candidate should have a choice of who they want as a moderator. The GOP needs to get way better at negotiating conditions.
October 2nd, 2024 at 2:38 pm
JDM:
As such, middling little dweebs with huge inferiority complexes like Wally convince themselves that they are strong, capable leaders with national aspirations. Moreover, the national media and politicos, apparently not knowing the degree to which DFL politicians are protected, think of Wally as some diamond in the rough. Result: last night’s debate.
The incurious MN media is also the reason there were 2 solid weeks of stories to which of the rest of the country’s reaction was “WTF MN? How did you elect this fool?!?!?!?” when Harris announced Walz was her choice. There are only 2 news outlets in MN which care enough to expose leftist MN politicians for who they really are. SitD and AlphaNews.
October 2nd, 2024 at 4:21 pm
Walz is Kamala’s assassination insurance.
October 2nd, 2024 at 5:48 pm
One of the aliases that Chevy Chase used in the movie “Fletch Lives” was Elmer Fudd Gantry. Tim Walz is Elmer Fudd Gantry.
October 3rd, 2024 at 12:10 am
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October 3rd, 2024 at 8:47 am
Bill C – please don’t forget about PowerlineBlog.com. John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson have thoroughly shredded Walz and other DFL Looney Lefties for both Minnesota and national audiences!
October 3rd, 2024 at 9:40 am
MtkaMoose – sorry about that. You are correct. PL does a great job, it’s just not on my daily radar so I forgot about it.