What to make of Tim Walz
The effort has begun. As someone that pays a lot of attention and used to study this stuff it makes perfect sense. Conservatives are test-marketing different insults and slogans to see what sticks. So, their opener is that Tim Walz is a San Francisco liberal. That’s an interesting insult given the circumstances. I have been to San Francisco on two separate occasions. I have apparently been to San Francisco more frequently than Walz.
The two policy planks that are getting the most attention is his desire to make sure every child is fed in school in his home state. Additionally, he wants every citizen in Minnesota to get paid family leave. Those planks are very popular amongst voters. According to Pew researchers, more than 80 percent of voters think that workers should get paid leave for their own medical problems. Well over 60 percent think that fathers and other family members should receive paid leave WHEN OTHERS IN THEIR FAMILY are dealing with a medical crisis or just gave birth.
Free school lunches are not quite as popular. Those programs test out in the high fifties and low sixties depending on how the question is asked and who is doing the asking. However, let’s ignore the numbers for a bit and consider the pros and cons of such proposals.
The cons are obvious and short. It costs money. Government is about priorities and some people think we shouldn’t be prioritizing those things. There are three groups of people that this would describe. There are libertarian types that don’t think the government should be spending on anything like this. Pure libertarians think the government should fund for national defense and that is pretty much it. So, they also eschew tax breaks and other subsidies for corporations and wealthy Americans as well.
As much as I admire their consistency, that kind of opinion is not common and not horribly realistic. That horse done left the barn. That brings us to the second group. It is an unholy combination of people that either feel cheated because they didn’t get it or they object to helping poorer people because they are becoming dependent on assistance and need some tough love. Of course, then you just have the assholes that are happy when the people they don’t like get hurt. I’d like to think they are in the minority.
I can’t do anything for the last group of folks. The first folks we will call the “anti-progress” crowd. That logic can extend out to almost everything. Why should younger people have cell phones? I didn’t have one until I was 26. Why should my car have automatic steering or seat belts? The first cars didn’t have that. If we want our children to have things better than what we had then that comes with improvements in technology and programs that makes life easier.
The bootstrapping folks are the hardest nut to crack. There are some instances where this ideology makes sense. It doesn’t in this instance. An eight year old cannot pick themselves by their bootstraps and as much as you might think their parent is a lazy piece of shit, the kid has no control over that. Feeding them only helps them. There are other tangible benefits. A fed child is a happier child and a child that can focus more in class.
If you are a conservative operative you know all of this. You at least know that feeding children and giving people paid leave is incredibly popular. Yet, this is what happens when you have no other policies to campaign on.
OT but reporting is saying trumpf will debate Kamala on ABC September 10. He is desperate. Get your popcorn ready and something to drink.
1Here’s what to make of Tim Walz: Vice President.
2Nothing to campaign on is right.
3I only saw brief clips of Trump’s Regular News Conference today, or whatever he called it. Lots of talk about crowd size, with imaginary numbers pulled out of nowhere. Loved how he mentioned his crowd was bigger than MLK’s. That’s sure to appeal to his elusive Black supporters!
What to make of Tim Walz: Vice-President of the USA.
4I can’t wait to see some West Point ring-knocker nabob having to kowtow to a bootstrap Em E9.
5What Slipstream and Mab said. Walz looks like the best VP in a whole lot of years. He wants American lives to be better. He is blessed with experience in many fields, brains, wit, the ability to think on his feet, and a great sense of humor. None of the garbage Republicans are throwing at him sticks, because he seems to be a genuinely good guy.
The same cannot be said for the people throwing the garbage.
6He’s just the right partner at the right time and their opponents are freaking out. When he opens his mouth, no BS comes out. It just feels right for a change.
7Even Joe Manchin likes him- maybe he’ll even vote for his team.
Side comment for anyone in WA state that’s heard dem rep Marie Perez campaign ads. I wonder if she’ll ever endorse the dem ticket.
Some musings of an ol’ phhaardt.
School lunches. Same concept in a program in Houston called Elve&More where each Christmas got thousands of new bicycles that were given free to kids in low income neighborhoods. The question arose by some that there would be those who would get bikes that didn’t qualify income wise; therefore should have some sort of means test.
I posed the question; how many kids out of several thousand would it take to not qualify to get a free new bike for Christmas? 1-2-3000? 500? 20? These bikes were very important to kids locked into their apartments/neighborhoods as they could not have a degree of freedom that the more-well-off kids take for granted.
There is no real control system for cheaters without causing more damage to the purpose of the program in the first place. This program has given out several hundred thousand bikes over the last 20 years.
For the libertarians and right wing conservatives: there appears to be a consistency with these people in apparently assuming all others have the same IQ and financial opportunities. My ex was a nurse who took care of children born with a very low IQ to where they were bed ridden requiring 24/7 care. A very close friend of mine who flew B-24 in WWII had a grandson in the same condition. These unfortunate beings all die young as in early to mid teens. Of course this is an extreme example. Perhaps 50% fall into poverty of birth circumstances with inadequate survival support much less to be able to get the arrogant position the author mentions.
IMO, I think a more important group to focus on instead of the bootstrapers are the 1000+ billionaires and counting in this country alone. As I recall there were only about a dozen up to the time of Reagan. These people are like collectors; ie, they can never have enough regardless of what the costs are to those are not as gifted in abilities as they are. Yes, it is not so much about the money as it is about the ego and power. The money is, among other things, a convenient way to keep score.
8Those who study history know that this is just a continuation of wash, rinse, repeat thruout history. Just change the clothing.
Do we have an “Amen”?
Van. Wash, rinse, repeat. Until the lid blows off and you get France in the 1780s, Russia during World War I, Spain before WWII. And then the world turns upside down. Ain’t good for nobody, rich,poor, or in between.
9Good recap by the Harris-Walz team of trumpf’s presser today. He seriously has nothing left in his arsenal except pathetic falsehoods. So obvious even some (many?) of his supporters are seeing it.
https://www.politicususa.com/2024/08/08/trump-is-drowning-and-kamala-harris-isnt-lending-a-hand.html
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