Tim Walz. Um. Okay.

I guess. I was hoping Harris would take advantage of the weakening GOP chances and pick Elizabeth Warren. But she’s playing it safe.

 

She said she wanted someone with executive experience, and Elizabeth Warren is 75 years old. Tim Walz is pretty progressive.

 

I'm enthusiastic for the choice of Tim Walz.

The Obama-Biden pairing was politically successful because they were complimentary not only demographically but also affectively. Obama was the analytical high achiever, and could be somewhat distant and cool. Biden was the retail politician and more easily hit some expressive notes.

 

In choosing the 60-year-old Walz, she is turning to a Midwestern governor, military veteran.
That's in my view a big plus.
Who knows maybe Harris if elected will be war time president?

 

My choice of choices was Tammy Duckworth, but she wasn't interested. My choice of the chosen was Mark Kelly. But I'm perfectly fine with this selection. Because the GOP is in attack mode (and offering nothing more), the smaller the target the better. This is the least controversial (sorry, Josh) of the selections available, with Kelly certainly close. But Kelly isn't as vital to the Democrats' performance in "swing" states, especially in the Midwest. Walz may be that.

I'll be very interested to see how Trump decides to attack Walz. Because that will be the extent of it.

 

Kelly leaving the Senate would have triggered a special election in 2026 in a state that just turned purple.

 

Elizabeth Warren doesn't look a day over 74.

 

Nate Silver says Harris is pulling ahead slightly. Still too early to tell, though.

 

Even if Harris wins in a landslide, Trump will still lie that he really won but that he was cheated. If it is close though many more will believe his lies. So, I hope Harris wins in a landslide.

Of course, if Trump ever gets it together he could definitely win. So, I hope that Trump continues being the same old Trump that he's been for his whole life. Let's hope he keeps claiming that Harris is only recently black, that January 6 was peaceful, that he's going to be a dictator on day one, and he's going to pardon the the January 6 "hostages".

 

That would have been the dream ticket, but completely unrealistic.

 

Trump cannot be anything other than Trump. Think scorpions.

 

So I guess they will be serving hotdish and lutefisk during state dinners...

 

Five faith facts about Harris pick Tim Walz, a ‘Minnesota Lutheran’ Dad (Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service, August 6, 2024)

 

He seems to have knocked his opening speech out of the park:

• Came up with a new slogan for the pro-choice movement: Mind Your Own Damn Business
• Challenged Vance to a debate, "If he's willing to get off the couch."
• Stressed that crime went UP under Trump, "And that doesn't even include the crimes Trump committed!"

I think it's safe to say that neither Vance nor Trump has any shred of a sense of humor. They're going to get pilloried for 3 months with little to say in response.

 

I think I detect a shift in emphasis. When President Biden was the likely candidate, the Democrats really wanted to get the voters to focus on Trump. Not a bad strategy under the circumstances since Trump is a moral and intellectual dumpster tire fire. But making your campaign all about your opponent tends to focus all the attention on him. Now, it seems to me, the Democrats are trumpeting Harris and pretty much ignoring Trump and Vance. There is positive enthusiasm instead of existential dread. The dread is still there, of course, but the Democrats can safely allow Trump and Vance to remind the voters what awful, awful candidates they are.

Harris looks like a winner in her own right and not just in comparison "with the alternative". Trump, interestingly, looks more and more like a bitter and senile loser. To use a rather technical political term, the Trump/Vance ticket is starting to stink.

 

Incidentally, I don't claim that Trump is becoming senile. I am not qualified to make any such suggestion. I do think that Trump's oddly rigid and obsessive speech patterns are life-long. If there is anything wrong, it's always been wrong.

One thing I have noticed...Trump seems to me to be tired. He has lost that very impressive, high energy "bounce" he had in 2016. He shows up and repeats (endlessly and pointlessly) all his grievances against the world. Sometimes, I think he's really just talking to himself. I agree with Dr. Douglas, too. Trump has lost his sense of humor and Vance never had one.

EDIT: You know what? Trump used to have FUN in politics. Not anymore.

 

Recent national head-to-head polls favor Harris, but polls in battleground states present a more mixed picture.

 

Democrats have to typically win by a few percentage points to win the electoral college. I would say that the current polls still are in Trump's favor at the electoral college level but it has gotten much tighter in the past couple of weeks.

 

Tim Walz has connections to China, including a teaching stint in Guangdong province, that could help inform a potential Harris administration’s approach to Beijing.
However, his views and experience may also spell trouble with Chinese leaders and Republicans.

Bloomberg's Jill Disis reports.