Mollie Hemingway writes for the Federalist that Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz hurts his party’s ticket.
Walz was picked precisely because he was supposed to move the needle with an important demographic Democrats are struggling to win over: men. And he was going to do it with a form of masculinity that the media claimed was so effective that it was terrifying for Republicans.
“Tim Walz’s Masculinity Is Terrifying to Republicans,” Bloomberg wrote in August. The New York Times said Walz exemplifies “a kind of healthy masculine confidence,” citing his ease speaking about his difficulties impregnating his wife, his desire to be the faculty advisor of a gay club for children, and his decision to put tampons in boys’ restrooms. (It should perhaps be noted that Walz either lied about or was deeply confused about the circumstances of his children’s conceptions.)
Axios said Walz — and Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff — offered a new vision of masculinity, one that emphasizes “tenderness” over “toughness.” …
… The lies are a real problem. Walz overstated the rank at which he retired from the National Guard, and people under his command soon told the story of how he quit rather than face an overseas deployment. That was also different than the story he’d repeatedly told while in Congress. More recently we learned he lied about how many times he’d been to China — he had claimed during a congressional hearing that he’d been there 30 times while it was closer to a still-high 15 occasions. And he even lied about whether or not he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The media keep asserting without evidence that Harris made a good pick with Walz. Of J.D. Vance, who takes on media propagandists all day every day, the media say he was a bad pick. It’s not Walz’s sole fault that his boss lady is struggling, but he’s certainly not helping Harris with what he was supposed to.
