US Vice President Kamala Harris’ pick for her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, was unveiled this week during what appeared to be a sincerely hyped rally in Philadelphia. There is plenty of debate around the wisdom of the choice — will Walz’s relatively left program as governor further alienate voters unsure about Harris? Or will his rural background and grounded, folksy football coach persona have the opposite effect?
Either way, the choice appears to be the most content-friendly. And, really, isn’t that what matters most?
Couched in innuendo
Take for example this little aside in his opening speech:
If the accusation that Trump’s VP nominee JD Vance would rather be on the couch than attend a debate got a bigger laugh than you were expecting, well, congratulations on making better life choices regarding your level of social media intake than I have.
In mid-July, shortly after Vance’s selection, an X user posted the following: “can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an Inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181).”
That no such passage exists in Vance’s book didn’t stop it taking on a kind of mini urban legend status — Snopes and Associated Press both felt compelled to debunk it, and one in three Google searches for Vance in the week following the post featured the word “couch”. Which counts as a victory for the Democrats, we suppose, chiming as it does with the whole “these guys are just plain weird” attack line aimed at the current GOP leadership, that Walz did so much to foment before his selection.
Meanwhile, please enjoy a very esoteric explanation from the original poster, who argues the joke had the quality of “ecstatic truth”, what filmmaker Werner Herzog called “a kind of truth that is the enemy of the merely factual”.
Australian coded
More than one person has pointed out the “can’t unsee it once it’s been pointed out” fact that Walz looks extremely Australian.
Indeed, it reflects something about our national character that Walz can genuinely look like both a combination of our last two prime ministers smooshed together for a pub quiz question and internet legend Bluey, who insisted back in 2018 that any “full grown fucking Aussie” ought to be necking a VB long neck for breakfast. By the way, Bluey’s a teetotaler now, thanks to the cost of living crisis. I guess it really wasn’t easy under Albanese.
How are the Republicans dealing with it
Trump’s ability to conjure a disparaging nickname for opponents or former friends is one of his great talents — “low energy Jeb” or “sloppy Steve Bannon”; even “Pocahontas” for Elizabeth Warren had cut-through. He’s tried a few things with Harris (the recurrence of “Kamabla” suggests an incoherent attempt to coin a new name for her rather than one of his frequent typos).
The best his supporters appear to have for Walz is “Tampon Tim“, a reference to his moves to makes sanitary products available to “all menstruating students” in public schools. There have also been some tentative moves towards painting the choice of Walz over Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as antisemitic.
Meanwhile there is a growing “Republicans for Harris” movement featuring dozens of former GOP officials and ex-Trump staffers.
Is this the kind of stuff that will actually flip crucial voters in swing states — which have been leaning Trump for most of the year? Or is the Democrats’ “brat summer” just the kind of knowing, faintly smug performance whose appeal to media savvy types (who would never vote Republican in a million years) camouflaged Trump’s very real chances in 2016? We’ll see, I guess! On a completely unrelated note, Walz is also going after the coveted “cat person” vote.
What do you make of Harris’ selection of Walz? Can the two of them beat Trump in November? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
