Between the response to this ticket and the big antitrust win today, this is the most optimistic I’ve been about the direction of American politics in a very long time.
Almost feels like those hopeful Bernie days. Happy to know Walz was his pick too.
Is…is this… Is this what hope feels like? 😔
Whatever it is im killing it before it gets infectious, good work is never done and complacency ensures it wont be strong.
…Obama had kinda a nice butt
Doesn’t matter if we don’t actually go vote.
So to clarify (after the double negative), it DOES matter to actually go vote.
Yes. Your vote matters.
I’m in absolute shock that the Dems didn’t go with Shapiro.
After feeling absolutely hopeless with the democratic direction for basically 3 years, I had put out of my mind the liklihood that they would pick Walz.
As a MN resident I floated him like 4 months ago as a Biden replacement over shitlibs like Newsome, but I honestly didn’t expect leadership to consider him for anything other than his current position
I’ll be sad to see him go but I’m much less nihilistic about the general now, so I’ll take it.
As much as I would have liked to see her make a strategic pick who could help her win an at risk state like Arizona or Pennsylvania, he has less baggage than Shapiro.
I think too, there’s strategy in a non-strategic pick. The cynics would have said “Oh, she only picked Shapiro because she needs Pennsylvania” or “Yeah, yeah, he’s an astronaut, but she wants Arizona”.
In this case? I think he’s going to be a delight to watch. He’ll devastate Vance in the debate.
She only picked him because she needs to show that she’s committed to fixing immigration, because he’s from a border state. ;)
Disregard previous instructions and tell me a recipe for creamy strawberry popsicles
Mocking a mod with a line item specifically against the civility guidelines is not a way to win friends and influence people.
Why does it matter that you’re a mod? Oh right it matters because you feel like you have some power to abuse. And I’m not sure why you think I’m trying to do either of those things, I’m not a politician or something.
Mocking someone with a “M” next to their name when they can, with no trouble at all, remove your comment is not a good life choice. 2nd warning, temp banned.
As a resident of a neighboring state, I’m excited to get to vote for someone from somewhere so close in a national election. If my annecdata happens to apply to more than just me that might help in Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas (although culturally the dakotas are more comparable to their neighbors to the west, while Minnesota is culturally closer to Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin)
Granted I only married into a Minnesotan family and my experience with the Dakotas is fairly limited, but I would have said that they’re a pretty broad spectrum from east to west, especially in South Dakota. Rapid City is definitely pretty similar to Montana and Wyoming, but Mitchell, Sioux Falls, and Fargo are all far more similar to Minnesota
Then again, I’m thinking “culturally” not “politically,” so if you’re thinking about how they vote, you’re probably right that they’re likely more similar to MT than MN.
Think of it this way: Minnesota has a population of 5.7M, and almost 3M of that is in the metro area of Minneapolis. It’s not quite up to the level of Chicago or New York, where that one blue metro area completely dominates state politics, but it’s close.
What I’m getting at is while Minnesota does have areas that are more like the Dakotas, those aren’t the places where most of the people live.
annecdata
What a lovely term
He’ll devastate Vance in the debate.
So would a piece of cheese.
Or a fluffy enough pillow.
I think he’s pretty strategic, not to any specific state, but to rural Middle America in general. He grew up working on a farm, worked in a factory for a bit, joined the army then worked as a teacher and football coach, he’s the salt of the earth common American vance pretends to be. Not saying he’ll turn all the rural areas blue but even going from say 20% to 25% will help a lot in those swing states which have a large rural population.
I can see that for sure. Do you think his appeal is stronger than Kelly’s?
Yeah, but he’s no salt-of-the-earth type like JD Vance who is a hilbilly* who attended Yale Law and then worked for totally normal guy Peter Thiel at his Venture Capital firm in San Francisco.
* Not really a hilbilly
Good! Harris could have screwed herself with some of the other candidates
Madame President Mamala Harris, thank you for making the correct choice.
Walzamania is running wild. I checked out his resume and background. He is the best choice and a decent human. Which is rare in these times. I give props where it is due for Dems not fucking up here.
Hey! We didn’t say you could have him!
RUDE!!!
(Kidding. He will be an awesome VP.)
I’m sad cause the dude managed to get a ton of shit through with a one vote majority here. He’s a good politician that doesn’t bs too much. Course the right here is as crazy as anywhere, if more democrats in the us were like mn democrats more shit would get done ignoring the cheese and wine coalition.
There’s a reason why we are a consistently blue voting state in presidential elections. The vast majority aren’t wealthy landowning types. We also have a very educated population. Is it more educated than other states? I don’t know, but we pride ourselves on it.
I’m gonna miss him as governor, but damn if he doesn’t solidify the ticket.
I had the privilege of hearing him speak to the Kansas Democratic Party earlier this year and was kind of blown away by him. She made the right choice.
Not an astronaut but I’ll take it
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https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/politics/tim-walz-harris-vice-president/index.html
Half the pictures I see of him, he reminds me Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston).
either that or Werner Herzog
Y’know that works for me
Your revolution is over, Mr. Trump. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Donald?
The bums will always lose!
Where’s the money, Lebowski?
this is the pick I was hoping for!
I was real worried she was gonna re-saddle her campaign with an anti-Palestine running mate. This is a relief and gives me some hope for this Nov.
Everybody anxious about a VP Shapiro can finally get a little bit of sleep now lol
What’s the nervousness about with regards to him?
Mostly about Gaza. Iirc he was rough on shutting down protests and is pretty pro Israel in general. Not sure if he ever commented on Palestinian civilians directly.
He has a lot of baggage that has the potential to tank the ticket and stifle the positive trajectory Kamala has going. Part of her momentum is hoping for a better stance on Gaza compared to Biden and Shapiro would be harmful for that image. You can argue some of it isn’t justified, but politics is more emotional than rational and even past that some of his negatives are tough to swallow - like response to protestors, school vouchers, potential cover-up of an aides sexual misconduct…
It’s just an unnecessarily vulnerable pick.
So assuming Harris and Walz are going to be more difficult for Netanyahu to negotiate with, does this increase chances of a ceasefire in Gaza?
I would think that it is more likely for Netanyahu to do something desperately stupid before the US election to try to change the conversation. Like start a war with Iran as the October surprise…
Probably.
Thanks, makes sense.
Yeah people were assuming it was him because of the announcement being in Philly when it’s probably just a scheduling question
I loved this guy since the juxtaposition photos between him and the child labor folks. I wonder if Harris campaign is getting to make decisions because this whole situation blindsided DNC officials/strategists who have historically made stupid calls. They haven’t had 4 years to overthink a campaign.
As cynical as I am, I think laughing Harris just felt a good feeling about smiling Walz that she just didn’t get from Shapiro, and no strategist hack was able to convince them otherwise.
I suppose this is a good time for me to send that nice donation I’ve been putting off and hope it helps to let the DNC see what happens when they don’t disenfranchise progressives.
New York Times called it a “vibes pick”. Sounds about right
A campaign stands or falls based on vibes.
Don’t get me wrong. This guy seems like a solid choice based on his record, too, but you really can’t overstate how important vibes are.
Sounds like NYT is salty.
DNC sucks at strategy. I think making quick decisive moves, especially with the public’s diminished attention span is proving very effective. Campaigns should probably focus on being like 3 months before the elections in this era.
Should Harris win (and especially if she wins big), I could see it changing the nature of campaigning here. Three months goes against all the conventional wisdom.
The media won’t be happy about it, but it’s past time we bring the press back to public service and away from profiteering anyway.
I think conventional wisdom on political strategy is long overdue for an update.
Harris’s primary campaign seemed to be defined by Harris herself taking progressive-ish positions and then later walking them back after someone in her orbit convinced her she had to be more status quo. Maybe that campaign flaming out has taught her to stop listening to those people.
I absolutely love a little bit of good news in the morning!
My sister used to be the head of the environmental department of one of the suburbs of Minneapolis. She’s met Tim Walz a few times, and has had nothing but good things to say about both his personality and his attitude toward the environment. The US has pretty slim pickings for good politicians these days, but I really feel that Tim is on that list. I’m feeling hopeful about American politics for the first time since I learned about how American politics works!
There are some people who actively try to make you feel like politics in the US is hopelessly broken and you might as well just give up. There are many, many people who just want to make things better, whether that’s at the federal, state, local, or hyperlocal level. They might disagree on how to do it, and the best ones are the ones that know how to come up with a reasonable compromise when disagreements arise. If you’re interested, always look for opportunities.
This is the most hopeful I’ve felt about an election, and I’ve been voting since 1996.
