Excellent post (and great username combo).
ETA: Ninja’d by Thing.Fish (even the same adjective!).
I know school custodians who would be unhappy with those tampons, because you know some little jerks are going to flush them or stick them up the faucets. Job hazard, I guess.
NPR article supports Walz was pretty much the Greenest of the VP candidates. That issue is my #1 long term one so I’m happy. Keeping Trump out of power is currently #1, but that is also important to Green issues.
I guess my ignorance here? What of those are not solidly center left? What even actually are the positions that are not within center left that are progressive I guess? In particular his positions but without hijacking even in general?
Yeah I get that progressives see the school teacher as preferred to Shapiro, for a variety of perceptions that are inappropriate to rehash here.
Of the stuff she mentions at the beginning of the video, I’d say free lunches, free tuition to college for lower incomes, clean electricity, paid leave, legalizing marijuana, protecting trans healthcare are all in the progressive wheelhouse. And the stuff about labor rights is definitely progressive.
Progressives are into using government institutions to help out the people. So programs for the poor are big. Fighting against corporations is big. Programs and laws against bigotry are important. And they want to government involved in trying to save the environment.
Marijuana legalization may seem the odd one out. But drug decriminalization is a more left wing position, even if it’s not necessarily progressive. But there’s also a racial issue there: it is largely perceived by progressives that marijuana was put on Schedule 1 as a racist move, because marijuana was more commonly used by Black people.
Now the followup question is “what is liberal?” I can’t say I have as firm a grasp on that. The only thing I didn’t label progressive is abortion acccess, and that’s only because both sides definitely want that.
I would also put trans healthcare into that, since it is about freedom over one’s body. But I’m not sure all liberals are there yet. Thing is, most liberals in the US are a little bit progressive. And most progressives are liberal. There’s a lot of overlap.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that progressives, including The Squad, feel enthused … but I’m looking to see what positions he’s taken that are going to be seen as extreme to the center right, and that won’t sound like standard D positions. Biden proposed free community college for lower income and increased Pell grant amounts. These are all pretty standard current D positions.
For those keeping up with JD Vance’s “Swift Boating” of Tim Walz … coincidence? Er … not so much:
Walz likely remembers the history well. His first foray into politics was as a volunteer for the Kerry campaign in Minnesota, and later, as the district coordinator of an organization called “Vets for Kerry.” So does Chris LaCivita, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, who worked as the chief strategist for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a veteran’s group that worked to scuttle the 2004 Kerry campaign.
ETA:
LaCivita made the comparison explicit in an interview with RealClearPolitics. “Birds of a feather,” he said of Walz and Kerry, “will be tarred together.”
I thonk its more that in Minnesota he aggressively pursued and accomplished goals along those lines. They werent just thongs he abstractly supported, they were the spine of hos policy agenda.
The comments from the right about stolen valor in regard to Walz are way out of line, IMO. The man served honorably for 24 years, retiring as an E8. Now, he certainly knows that he was NOT a Sergeant Major, and for him to claim that he was appears to be a deliberate mischaracterization. Why he did that is probably because maybe it sounds better in politics than “Master Sergeant”. But while it’s a bit unsettling to me, a former career military man, it definitely does NOT rise to the level of stolen valor.
The fact that he retired before going into a combat zone is irrelevant. It was his right to do so, and those who served under him who are bitching about it are likely just pissed off because they weren’t able to do the same thing. Vance trying to be noble about his service neglects to mention that he was in a non-combat role when he was over there. Basically a REMF, as it’s known in military parlance. Nothing wrong with that. I was a REMF in Vietnam compared to those who were out in the shit. But Vance tries to imply that he was somehow more heroic than Walz, which is just bullshit. They both served honorably; end of story.
This sentence is just too much fun not to quote. On your phone, I’m guessing?
Plus, a Master Sergeant doesn’t get to march up and down the square.
Yeah … I am still chuckling about the abstract thongs.
But the guy did get things done and that’s what is important.
Thank you for such a great post.
Looking at your ABC link, they’re a bit hypercritical perspective of Walz job and economic growth following the pandemic. It doesn’t consider the fact that the pandemic had a much smaller affect on MN unemployment and GDP compared to the rest of the US. There was no need to have a huge growth in jobs and GDP when you were pretty much plugging along the whole time.
Were there any such people? All the quotes I’ve seen from folks who actually served under him spoke well of him.
It’s the same deal as with the “Swift Boaters”: Those who just served in some vaguely related context insist that he was evil, in contrast to those who actually served with him.
Yeah, I read the quotes from a couple of morons just today, but I don’t recall where I saw them. Sorry.
I’ll have to dig it up, but I believe they’ve said it’s ok for him to call himself by that rank. Not sure off the top of my head.
According to CBS:
A CBS News review of Walz’s military record and statements from the Minnesota Army National Guard show Walz achieved the rank of command sergeant major but was reduced in rank to master sergeant after retirement since he had not completed coursework for the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
I love it and will steal it.
I’m not understanding what you are confused over. Maybe I should ask what makes something progressive to you, versus liberal?
I mean, right now with the overton window and all, standing up for a woman’s right to abortion feels progressive. Supporting gay rights and gay marriage may just be expected for liberals, but trans acceptance and bathroom rights are very new in our culture, and the pushback comes not just from fascists that want to control who you can be, it also comes from middle of the road people who have to shift their mindset on gender identity acceptance and pronoun use. There’s a lot of biological definition of gender. So that may be a common liberal point, but it’s newly achieved and very progressive.
You point to Biden calling for free community college as demonstrating it is center-left. Why is it not a sign that Biden is open to some progressive ideas? Because free public college and college debt forgiveness aren’t something that was in the radar before Biden pushed them, we they?
Anyway, to me Walz actively achieved results on issues of social justice, fairness, and improved safety net issues for the poor. How isn’t that progressive?
He was given that as a provisional rank. He served with that rank while working on requirements to complete his status. Since he retired before completing those provisions, he was not confirmed to the rank and reverted for pay basis.
Maybe you prefer the Star Trek “Acting Ensign” method?
Haven’t seen that, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Normally, when you advance in rank, you often have to obligate for a certain amount of additional service. I’m pretty sure that if I had failed to fulfill the obligated service when I made CPO, I would still have been retired as same.
I think what the hoopleheads are yapping about is that in one of his speeches he said that he had carried weapons of war when he was in war. I’ve watched that video and to me it sounds like a heat-of-the-moment misstatement, not a deliberate attempt to mislead anyone.
No idea what you’re referring to.