US Politics, August 2024 -- "Unburdened By a Has-Been"

Waltz does indeed seem like my dreem pick, but still wonder about this:

I think there was a legitimate electoral argument for Shapiro (murder coverup and other oppo notwithstanding) but the centrist pundit “policy” argument for him (like all their arguments) was completely vacuous and defined solely in opposition to a group of people who believe something and who they don’t like.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Someone pointed out that getting a point or two bump in PA is so important that Shapiro must have had a lot of liabilities in order to not get picked.

Well hopefully Shapiro will still campaign for the ticket, one would assume

i think Shapiro will still ride hard for Harris and Walz, and PA seems to be a state that would react well to the Walz pick. I'm feeling more and more like Vance is an incredible liability on the Trump campaign, everything people thought Palin was in 2008 and then some.

I went to college in Rice County (not the fancy mini-Harvard).

a sister souljah reference in 2024...they've got their finger on the pulse.

Not gonna go back to check, but I believe Jonathan Chait blew the dust off this classic today, too.

little by little, but it's starting to happen

Among recent national head-to-head polls, SurveyUSA put Harris up three points ahead of Trump, 48%-45%; Morning Consult put her up four points, 48%-44%; YouGov and CBS News made it a one-point Harris lead, 50%-49%; and University of Massachusetts Amherst put Harris up three, 46%-43%.

Those results were mostly within the margin of error.

i think someone might have posted about this upthread but this is crazy

https://x.com/DavidAstinWalsh/status/1820812690622644510

Tim Walz is the first non-lawyer on a Democratic Party ticket since 1980.

— David Austin Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) August 6, 2024

Donald's already admitting defeat. pic.twitter.com/jDq6U865x4

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) August 6, 2024

If it doesn't embed for you it's a Lincoln Project tweet reading, "Donald's already admitting defeat." with a screenshot of a fundraising email reading, "TIM WALZ WILL BE THE WORST VICE PRESIDENT IN HISTORY!"

"WILL BE" lol...

xp My own viral tweet is more accurate. (Al Gore went to law school but dropped out to run for Congress, so he was never a lawyer.)

Tim Walz is the first person on a Democratic presidential ticket not to have attended law school since Jimmy Carter in 1980.

— John M. Cunningham (@jmcunning) August 6, 2024

It's weird that centrist Dem pundits are like "With Walz on the ticket Harris now has work to do if she wants to avoid charges of being too far left" -- Walz is neither a leftist in fact nor does he have cultural signifiers that come off as leftist, he could not be more the definition of a normie Democrat, I super do not get this!

The pundits are broken

Honestly, I think a big part of it is that the extremely online Twitter left preferred Walz to Shapiro.

Urgent and key

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/08/06/crop-artists-scramble-in-response-to-news-of-walz-as-vp-pick

Lmao Trump just announced he's doing an interview with Elon Musk oh my god

anyone she picked would be to the left of Ho Chi Minh, according to the GOP

someone already called Walz a fascist on my Twitter feed just an hour ago so

Walz’ policies were basic democratic policies pre- the party’s neoliberal heel turn.

They are basic democratic policies now!!

Shapiro did mention in wishing them luck/being a good loser that he’d only been governor for 19 months and had more work to do for PA.

Centrist columnist Jonathan Chait is grumbling about Walz record being too left , without addressing that most of the items Walz has signed off on are largely popular. As for what Chait and other centrist pundits describe as a necessary “pivot to the center “, a few prior more moderate Dem vp choices didn’t help get the electoral college votes needed to win.

would be really great if this was the final nail in the neoliberal coffin, dare to dream

xxpost Also the sun was in his eyes

https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/08/05/bon-iver-will-perform-at-kamala-harris-campaign-rally-in-eau-claire/74675545007/

ok the honeymoon is over

all this positive polling for Harris would have been conducted before this pick - it'll be interesting to see what kind of bump this brings

AFAICT, Vance didn't bring shit poll-wise, and even the assassination attempt is mostly forgotten lol

If trump loses there’s going to be an effort to assign blame to Vance but vp’s mostly don’t matter and the fact is that trump is incredibly weak candidate in 2024. Record breakingly unpopular, older than any other nominated candidate ever, no message discipline, etc.

Kamala just texted me, now I have her number to call pranks

you can be a Republican who participates in a modern day Beer Hall Putsch and you're just a 'warm apple pie conservative', whereas as a liberal you're given the entirety of Jon Bel Edward's torso to operate before they call you Che Guevara

wait wut

Van Jones calls for conversation about ‘anti-Jewish bigots’ after Walz picked over Shapiro

Van is guilty of shit takes from time to time, like the "this is the day he truly became President" of Trump.

I'll still laud him for his 2016 Election night 'whitelash' monologue

now the Speaker is jumping on that train, they must've really preferred Shapiro:

“Sadly for Josh Shapiro, because of his heritage, I think that is the reason he was overlooked,” Johnson added.

always cute when Republicans pretend to care about Jewish people while cuddling w/ actual Nazis

Jews are not gonna fall for this shit (source: I am one)

Van Jones is the type of guy who would be pretty much fine if he was capable of taking the L

Why are you sitting like that https://t.co/VYaWc52nPU

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 6, 2024

Didn’t Van Jones also speak at the March for Israel aka an ultranationalist fascist event ? The guy is execrable

Where the hell is this interview happening?

📍Philadelphia

Here’s a timelapse of what is by far one of the longest lines I’ve seen this election cycle.

Thousands waiting, in the rain, to enter the first Harris-Walz rally. Good chance attendance here will eclipse the 10k that turned out in Atlanta for Harris last week. pic.twitter.com/yf7xtXGcxl

— Nnamdi (@NnamEgwuon) August 6, 2024

xp he's a shill for Big Hard Seltzer now

Crazy Little Big Hard Seltzer Lies

How about you mind you own business.

🐦[Why are you sitting like that https://t.co/VYaWc52nPU🕸
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 6, 2024🕸]🐦

Gah zing fuck up, humiliating

Electric Fetus for the win. Shop local for your vinyl. pic.twitter.com/D0YUU3TIZI

— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) December 29, 2023

tim walz buys some records that alfred has probably reviewed on his blog

"they call me weird" is a repeat of the allegation and focusses negative attention on him personally when he's supposed to be the support act, i.e. not a great answer.

but he can't say "they call *us* weird" because tbh trump probably does vance is weird and would not like being lumped together with these freaks.

also he can't sit normally.

OK he's got my vote xp

do we know if walz knows ilxor and mn local politician jjj?

xp that's my reading of AOC's tweet, like 'wow that's a really wide stance, you're really weird'... keeping the message on point

If trump loses there’s going to be an effort to assign blame to Vance but vp’s mostly don’t matter and the fact is that trump is incredibly weak candidate in 2024. Record breakingly unpopular, older than any other nominated candidate ever, no message discipline, etc.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, August 6, 2024 4:03 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

speaking of no message discipline wtf

I’m genuinely baffled by this Truth post from Trump just now, which feels like the kind of thing that would have drawn a lot of attention were he still on X/Twitter, but now is largely shrugged off as random conspiracy, if it’s seen off that platform at all. pic.twitter.com/ZqA233thi1

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) August 6, 2024