“Indicting and prosecuting trump while he is running for office is unfair and election interference…so, that’s is whey we are doing it ti Walz.” 
The GOP learned from Comey - merely suggesting that there is an active investigation on a political rival, even if there is absolutely nothing to it, is enough to tip the scale because, by and large, Americans are too lazy to read beyond the headline.
In this case, the headline is:
GOP-led House committee subpoenas Tim Walz in $250M COVID fraud investigation
Nefarious! Doesn’t matter what the details are.
It’s also why Trump was so desperate to get Zelensky to announce that he was investigating the Bidens for corruption. Trump didn’t care if he actually did the investigation, he just wanted him to announce it. Luckily for us Zelensky maintained his integrity and didn’t bow to Trump’s childish bullshit.
I fear this pathetic tactic is going to be common, and that it will be effective, because Americans are, well, Americans.
This is the new ad. It’s quite creative in working in talking points along with car tips.
If I’m honest, I think it’s a little clunky in terms of the melding of the car talk and the political talk, but Walz continues to be very authentic and it could be an effective ad with some folks. It’s a fun idea, anyway, and they are playing to Walz’s strengths.
“Clunky” isn’t wrong, but it’s pretty adorable. And to me the point it really makes is: Can you imagine Trump or Vance in such a human, authentic, ordinary role? Hell no.
And it just goes to show what an ugly creature Vance is, because while Trump was surrounded by power and privilege all his life, Vance wasn’t. So if Vance wasn’t such a cynical, soulless creature, probably he COULD speak in a warm, direct, like-you-I’m-an-ordinary-person tone. But sadly, whatever lessons he took from his upbringing, compassion wasn’t one of them.
Anyhow, kudos to the ad team that put that together.
I agree. The ad is memorable because it is less polished. The slightly rough transitions between cameras makes it seem more real. To me it is briliant marketing particularly aimed toward “real” folks.
Was that an 8-track? Can’t fault the man’s choice of tunes!
Yes, he famously has an 8 track. His first car came with “night moves” in the player.
This article makes me a little nervous for the VP debate. I don’t want Vance to dance around him or make Walz look silly.
I was heartened to see this toward the end of your linked article:
I feel like he could have Vance run rhetorical circles around him, and as long as Vance did it in his smarmy bad-at-human-interaction way, and Walz is just himself, it will be fine. In fact, in that scenario I could see Walz’s approval rating go up and (maybe) Vance’s go down.
I do like the idea of trying to bring up all of the things about Vance that could trigger Trump.
But even if Walz wound up being a deer in the headlights, I think a lot of people would just feel bad for him. He’s such a “regular person” that it’s easy, for me anyway, to be like, “yeah, that’s what I’d do in that situation. Poor guy.” It seems fully on brand for him for political debate to not be his thing.
My concern for the debate, as a Democrat, has to do with Walz currently polling positive on approval - disapproval polls, while Vance is firmly underwater there. So Vance is probably at the bottom of his range. Vance has more room to rise, and Walz more to fall.
I think experts say the veep debate doesn’t matter. But maybe this means more than normal because it will not be followed up by a final presidential debate.
I think that Vance takes that as a challenge. Somehow, he always has more room to fall.
I hope you’re right. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll go full on spittle-flecked childless cat lady Haitians eating pet dogs and cats, like his boss! Wouldn’t that be nice.
Vance did double down on that, but not in the special trump insane way.
As long as it’s not a Stockdale level disaster I don’t see it making much of a difference. He just needs to be his likable self.
I feel confident he’ll be himself and that will work. He admits not being a great debater, that he wants to answer the question asked. He’s not an elusive speaker. But his strength is his directness, his honesty, and his regular man vibe.
Vance may be a formal debater, but he’s also prone to weird shit. And as the Presidential debates have shown, what counts as a win can be determined different ways.
Prep should be:
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Know for your stuff. What are the policies, what is the agenda, what are the hot button points you want to make?
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Know your opponent’s stuff. What points will he try to make? What issues will be attack you with? What are his soft spots?
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Since you know how you are likely to be attacked, have prepared answers that either explain the issue or counter the attack, and preferrably both.
I’m sure Walz has plenty of experience dealing with tough questions. He is very good at the media interviews, so he just needs to rely on that skill set. Don’t worry about Vance. Be prepared with a few witty retorts. Probably avoid couch references, but maybe mention making up news stories like eating cats. Hell, if Vance starts talking about that, just turn it around on RFK Jr eating roadkill sawing off the head of a whale, and hauling around a dead bear cub.
“You’re telling lies about legal immigrants while your boss is promising a cabinet position to a guy who cut the head off a whale and posed a dead bear cub as a prank.” Something like that.
If Vance says anything negative about Harris’s race, just ask Vance how he can stand to cater to white supremacists that make threats against his own wife.
I cannot picture this, frankly.
I am somewhat encouraged by the fact that he never used to use teleprompters. My advice is the same as for anyone. Don’t try to cram all of your answers into the first question . Take a breath then answer the question. Remember that your audience is behind the camera lens. Talk to the camera like you were talking to a constituent. Be yourself.
Exactly. This is not really a debate. It is a side by side job interview.
Walz has plenty of experience being interviewed and answering questions on his feet. He will easily demonstrate that he is a good back up in case of crisis. It is fairly easy to come off sincere, likeable, and competent, when you are those things.
Vance has been on the stage a short time and is an as-if personality. He has tried to mold himself into something that gets approval from the toxic on line bro Right. He is now floundering trying to figure what mask of a human persona to wear for the broader stage. Key thing though is that there is no essential set of values or principles behind whatever human mask he attempts to wear. It is much harder to come off sincere, likeable, and competent, when you are none of those things.
Vance will support some outrageous claims. His base will high five. The target audience will be responding to tone and body language and not be so sure he is safe to have a fat elderly heartbeat away.
Anybody else suddenly seeing a lot of negative articles about Walz? I keep getting articles like this one about fraud under his administration.
Or this one implying that the Harris campaign has become frustrated with him.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/03/tim-walz-misspeak-00182350
Obviously the more partisan sites are criticizing him but I am seeing more in the mainstream media. In both these cases, I think that the headlines are more inflammatory than the articles. It just seems that there is a backlash happening that is not purely Republican generated.