Vice President Harris chooses Tim Walz as running mate.
Vice President Harris chooses Tim Walz as running mate.
Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is a former high school teacher, Army officer and member of the U.S. House.
Common Dreams: Kamala Harris Picks Progressive Favorite Tim Walz for VP.
The Conversation: Walz pick turns focus on what a VP brings to White House – 3 essential reads.
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Politics and old white men, name a better combination
Dumbasses and comments like the one I'm replying to.
Because? They dared to criticise a choice?
Is it really a criticism though? There's nothing of merit to it. I could see criticizing the pick based on Walz's views (though I'd probably argue against that too; Walz has a pretty stellar record).
He's basically the same age as Harris, so the "old" portion of the criticism is right out the window. What we're left with is that he's a white man, which is always what the VP pick was going to be. The unfortunate truth in this country is that a lot of voters are not ready to support a presidential ticket with two women or people of color.
He's basically the same age as Harris
I honestly had to go look that up because I didn't believe you at first. She looks good for 59.
Black don't crack, whether it's mixed with Indian or not.
I think she was 46 when she went to the VP office. It's been a rough ride. But the hope of defeating the orange man is making her feel like 35 again.
(She does look really good for 59 though.)
You aren't the judge of what is meritorious, so go fuck yourself.
You: post dumbass opinion
Me: point out that it's a dumbass opinion, back it up with why I think it's a dumbass opinion
You: Hey! You're not allowed to have an opinion!
Whatever. Enjoy your Geritol representation.
You're on a public forum, anyone capable of reading your comment gets to judge whether or not it's meritorious. Choke on it.
They criticized it in a way that's not particularly useful to the conversation
It was the issue with Biden; it's succinct. Responding better would be preferable.
Biden is over 20 years older than Walz.
Walz also isn't the top of the ticket.
Both are old white men.
That's not how criticism works. There needs to be something of substance for a critique to have merit.
This was just stereotyping someone based on their looks. You know, the thing we give the other side shit for doing with Harris. It's not productive, not a good look, and outside of the internet it's a great way to tell the people around you that you have nothing of value to add to a conversation or discussion.
A criticism of something and a critique imply different things; criticism can be short, like theirs was, and that is fine for online forums. You can, of course, criticise their criticism, I can can criticise that.
That's not criticism, that's just whining. Absolutely nothing constructive about it.
Your post is whining with nothing constructive. Not all criticism needs to be so constructive, it's an online forum. But, it's a criticism of the establishment of old white men, which many of us are tired of.
It is obviously a cycle we need to break. That said, a campaign has to make choices that lead to victory. Kamala is already a person of color and a woman. If she wins, it would be only the second time to have a non-white President and the first woman.
The fact is that while many us are hungry for change to the old norms, many will be more conservative to change (and I don't mean in the crazy MAGA way). Having an old white guy on the ticket acts as an anchor for those who are too scared to fully jump into all out change, ensuring that those votes aren't lost to the other side.
Having an old white guy
He was born 4 months before Kamala Harris, if he is "old" then so is she. Are you saying that Kamala is old?
As for a "white guy", well, the majority of the United States is white and roughly half of it is male. If race and gender matter for representation, as you seem to be claiming, then it's entirely reasonable for one of the two positions to be a white male while the other is a PoC female.
It's the same argument with jobs. Every boss wants a 25 year old with 30 years experience in their craft.
Old, yes, they are both old. Not elderly, but old. The minimum age for a present is 35. I would very much like to start seeing younger presidents that will be more in touch with what current issues really are and can energize a younger generation of voters.
And yes that was exactly my point on having a white man as an anchor.
Old, yes, they are both old.
I don't feel that 59/60 is "old", especially not for people who take care of themselves.
I would very much like to start seeing younger presidents that will be more in touch with what current issues really are...
In general I agree with you but there's a solid argument that POTUS / VPOTUS should be more experienced and that comes with age.
And yes that was exactly my point on having a white man as an anchor.
I apologize if I misunderstood your comment but you started with "It is obviously a cycle we need to break." and I disagree with that. There's no "need" to break a cycle of proportional representation (assuming we can actually get one). There's nothing inherently noble or superior about having both the POTUS and VPOTUS both being non-white and non-male simultaneously. It should not be prevented but it's also not some kind of achievement that needs to be unlocked.
Walz was a good choice and not just as an "old white guy anchor" but also because his politics and beliefs are in line with many Americans. He's an electable person regardless of his skin color and gender.
IMO 59/60 should be about the max for a first term president. That would put them at retirement age if they serve two terms. I think Walz is a great choice to make the whole thing more palatable to progressives like me (who feel that now for a third time in a row we've been deprived of a fair primary). I do wish the VP were a little younger than the president to set them up for a run of their own afterwards. Not sure if Walz has any intention of running afterwards, but we'd be right back to a retirement age candidate if Kamala serves two terms.
Personally, I'd like to see more presidents in their 40s or early 50s. That's plenty of time to get "experience" while still in principle being able to understand the needs of the majority of people. Plus it helps that they'll still live for a while in the world they shape after their term.
Thank you for being more articulate in your explanation of the age issue than I was. I agree whole heartedly. 64-65 is retirement age, I like to see presidents that are experienced but not at what would normally be the end of their working years.
Personally, I'd like to see a max cap for ALL elected officials at 70.
Almost a third of the U.S. population is white and male. In a representative democracy, it's only reasonable to expect that population to often make up a plurality of all office holders.
True that, makes sense.
One year older than Harris
Holy fuck that ancient guy is young!
How the fuck do you age like that?
Minnesota winters
Well he has a job that can be very stressful and in the White Guys For Harris interview, he talked about him and his wife fighting SEVEN YEARS to conceive, so that may well have taken its toll too.
And then there's the ever present danger of being hit by an errant hockey puck or violated by a moose or an elk inherent to life in Minnesota, of course.
Heck, not even a whole year. Only 4 months.
