Are you ready for a bit of a surprise? It has not even been a full week since Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in her presidential campaign. Already in this brief window, we have heard of his lax approach to the Minneapolis riots, his catering to illegal immigrants, his radical push to have transgender operations for minors, along with his proposal that the state take custody of children whose parents object, and #TamponTim has become a trending topic.
Of course, most of this plays out on social media, as the press has been resistant to covering the Minnesota governor objectively. One topic however has caused the press to grudgingly enter the fray, as the Walz military record has not only loomed but is casting a massive shadow over the campaign. This has generated the journalists into making knee-jerk defenses of the man as well as attempting to impugn the character and service of JD Vance in the process.
It has become a classic case of them looking to win by attempting to do two things at once and failing twice. What is amazing is that – yet again – we see the press complex of this country lashing itself in dedicated fashion to the Democratic Party and suffering another blow to their character. One might think the exposure realized after lying about Joe Biden’s character would have led to an alteration of their actions, but what little shift was realized was fleeting.
So now they see Walz and his service as a cause they need to defend. You see their desperation as they claim that people are questioning him for serving in the National Guard for two dozen years. Nothing of the sort is taking place; it all stems from his own comments and the selling of his level of service. We have covered it extensively here, as Walz has no shortage of instances where he embellished or oversold his rank. What has been so vexing in the press is the inherent need they feel to defend his record.
As they took up shields to protect Walz, it was rather quick how they suffered the move to avoid objectivity. At Bloomberg, for one example, Josh Green struggled as he was promoting Walz serving in Iraq – except he had not. Not once but on two separate times Bloomberg had to go in and correct Green’s column. At CNN, Brianna Keilar was likewise rendered.
Keilar attempted to denigrate Vance’s record of actually serving in Iraq to silence his criticisms of Walz and his avoidance of deployment to Iraq. Forgive the apt metaphor, but this was the CNN hostess attempting to shoot the messenger.
J.D. Vance, as a messenger on this, may be an imperfect messenger because we have, as you introduced him as a combat correspondent, which was what his title was. But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist – someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title “combat correspondent” kind of gives you a different impression.
So Keilar is the expert on military assignments, and even as his title has “combat” contained therein, she is here to inform us – and ostensibly the military leadership as well – that this does not count. What makes this amazing is the two ways she is defying the very messaging of the press. While declaring it unseemly to diminish the record of Tim Walz, she is perfectly at ease denigrating the import of JD Vance’s duties. Additionally, she is effectively insulting him in the role of a journalist and/or media adjunct position, something we are always told by journalists is a threat to their well-being as well as a threat to the Constitution.
The key difference between these men? Vance is not the one overselling his role in Iraq. In his memoir he even noted that “I was lucky to avoid any real fighting. Quite the opposite of Walz implying he had seen action.” Also idiotic is the fact that in his role as a public affairs specialist, one of Vance’s job duties was to usher journalists into hot zones and oversee their safety while moving into threatening areas. Either she wants to insult the duties of a Marine in the war theater, or she is unintentionally calling out journalists who bray about the dangers they faced in the war effort.
Maj. Megan McClung was the first female Marine to die in Iraq and the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to ever die in combat.
She was a public affairs officer.@cnnpr‘s @brikeilarcnn don’t think it’s a dangerous job because @JDVance had the same job. pic.twitter.com/B27ELNSL6B
— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) August 8, 2024
As they strive to protect Walz, he is knocked down further as story after story of him altering his record emerge, all while Vance has had both his defenders from the military and those affirming the problem the Walz comments have been. Somehow the allegedly brilliant minds in the media are incapable of holding back for moments and verifying details before storming forward with reports and defenses.
In the span of less than a week we have watched as reports and claims have become eclipsed by new pieces of evidence of Walz inflating his record. While trying to defend Walz, actual voices from the military tell the press how bad his activity has been. This has happened because “defend first” has been the move by news outlets while investigating and confirming were set aside.
And the insane part? This is the exact behavior that rendered the media with Joe Biden and his debate meltdown. The press steadfastly refuses to learn from their mistakes. We owe it to them to continue holding them accountable and making them suffer a price until something approaching corrective action occurs.
