Minnesota ran headlong into Ohio on Tuesday night, when Gov. Tim Walz faced off against Sen. JD Vance in a CBS News vice presidential debate in New York City.
The best Democrats can hope for is that voters watched ‘Dancing With The Stars.’
Walz was exposed as a stammering lightweight with no business just a stone’s throw from the Oval Office, and Vance made the most persuasive case yet for ‘America First’ Trumpism, in what could be the last debate of the election. of 2024.
Here are the key takeaways from the VP battle royale in the Big Apple.
TIANANMEN TIM
From the initial exchange, Walz looked like a deer caught in the headlights: unsure of what was happening but aware that big trouble was headed his way.
He was caught red-handed lying about being in Beijing during the deadly Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, when the Chinese communist regime brutally cracked down on student protesters.
It turns out, as even The New York Times acknowledged, that Walz was in Nebraska at the time.
From the initial exchange, Walz looked like a deer caught in the headlights: unsure of what was happening but aware that big trouble was headed his way.
Walz pathetically called himself a “fool,” but this is not just a matter of incompetence.
Beneath the ‘folkly’ act, Tiananmen Tim is a liar through and through.
Add this lie to your long list of egregious fabrications and exaggerations; claimed he was sent to a war zone as a member of the National Guard (false), that he was not drunk during his 1996 drunk driving arrest (incorrect), that his wife underwent IVF treatments (false) …and so on. so it continues.
‘I will talk a lot. “I’ll get caught up in the rhetoric,” Walz explained Tuesday night.
Well, there’s a word for that: liar.
Harris should have chosen Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate.
CHILDLESS CAT CHARMER
Heading into Tuesday night, JD Vance had one goal: prove that he’s a thoughtful, cool-headed statesman, not a weirdo obsessed with the “childless cat lady” of the mainstream media’s imagination.
Success! But Vance did that and more.
The Ohio senator put on a Republican debate performance for all ages.
From his prowess on basic economic issues to his handling of the opening question about the war in the Middle East, Vance hit home runs.
“Governor Walz may criticize Donald Trump’s tweets, but effective, intelligent diplomacy and peace through strength is the way to return stability to a very broken world,” he said.
“When did Iran, Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? Was it during the Kamala Harris administration,’ Vance asked and answered.
After Trump selected the 40-year-old author turned venture capitalist and populist politician in July, many doubted the choice.
Heading into Tuesday night, JD Vance had one goal: prove that he’s a thoughtful, cool-headed statesman, not a weirdo obsessed with the “childless cat lady.”
Those days are gone.
Let’s talk about peasant energy.
Vance even showed something rare on a debate stage: humility.
He admitted that Republicans are not persuading voters to take their side on the thorny issue of abortion.
“We have to do a much better job of regaining the trust of the American people on this issue where, frankly, they just don’t trust us,” he said.
Vance operates on a completely different playing field than Walz, and it showed last night: to a great extent.
If only his boss could be so eloquent.
MODERATORS LOSE BIG
Just as the Ohioan elevated Tuesday night’s issue, the CBS News moderators brought it down, featuring a chaotic performance that served as an in-kind contribution from Harris-Walz.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan were as catastrophically biased as ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis were during the Trump vs. Harris debate last month, perhaps even more so.
Despite pre-debate assurances that there would be no real-time “fact-checking,” O’Donnell and Brennan did it anyway…and only to Vance.
Walz, on the other hand, was not “verified” even once.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan were as catastrophically biased as ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis were during the Trump vs. Harris debate last month.
In one of the evening’s most embarrassing moments, Brennan carelessly attempted to undermine Vance by declaring that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Illinois, entered the United States through a legal process.
What he did not mention is that many were likely allowed to enter through a dubious new immigration channel designed by the Biden Administration to bypass Congress and accelerate the admission of foreigners.
When Vance attempted to correct the recording, they cut off his microphone and quickly attempted to move on to the next topic.
Walz, on the other hand, never got the silent treatment, although to be fair, he was more than happy to stop talking.
Funny how it works!
O’Donnell and Brennan also studiously avoided questions about energy policy, radical progressive transgender activism and Harris’s countless flip-flops, three big winning issues for Republicans.
Walz was also not asked how Harris could campaign as an “outsider” despite being the sitting vice president.
By contrast, the moderators mentioned “climate change” less than five minutes into the contest.
Priorities!
REFRESHING DOSE OF BORING CIVILITY
Despite the notable difference in intellectual power of the two men, the debate maintained quintessential Midwestern civility at all times.
How nice to see a debate for one of the highest offices in the country without so much smearing!
There will be some old-school Reaganite conservative purists who will be upset by how much Vance agreed with Walz, especially on issues of trade, tariffs and a government role in child care.
These geezers need to adapt to the times.
There has been a populist revolution sweeping across American politics for a decade now, and Vance’s approach represents the future of the Republican Party.
Despite the notable difference in intellectual power of the two men, the debate maintained quintessential Midwestern civility at all times.
How nice to see a debate for one of the highest offices in the country without so much smearing!
So will this debate over the vice president move the electoral needle?
History tells us no.
But this election is so incredibly close that everything matters, even at the margins.
Walz was put on the Democratic ticket to appeal to male voters in America’s Rust Belt swing voters, but I struggle to see how his embarrassing Biden-style performance could impress anyone.
On the other hand, Vance probably won over some skeptical women, who may have accepted the caricature of Vance as a villain.
If this race comes down to tens of thousands of votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Ohio Smart’s win over Minnesota Nice could make the difference.
Josh Hammer is the syndicated host of ‘The Josh Hammer Show’ and senior editor at large for Newsweek.
