Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Books are my comfort food!

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

When I was faster i was always behind.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Bark louder, little dog.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Fight them, without becoming them!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

We will not go back.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Tim Walz’s Nontoxic Masculinity

Tim Walz’s Nontoxic Masculinity

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As he swanned around the stage with a conspicuous bandage on his ear owwie and the unearned confidence of a rich old man who has never once earned an honest dollar nor been held accountable for anything, ever, Donald Trump’s sound track was “It’s a Man’s World.” The musical selection was fitting (even if the artist didn’t deserve the association), as Abby Vesoulis explains in Mother Jones:

It wasn’t just a catchy tune. Throughout four 14-plus hour days reporting at the Republican confab in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the music’s lyrics underscored the prevailing attitude on gender norms among the scores of GOP convention-goers I interviewed, the litany of speeches I tuned into, and the half a dozen issue-focused meetings I attended as a member of the media.

From the UNC fraternity brothers who were honored on Wednesday for preventing, in their words, “a mob” of pro-Palestinian protesters from toppling an American flag on the Chapel Hill campus to famous wrestler [Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea] ripping the shirt from his chest to reveal a TRUMP-VANCE logo in a striking display of machismo, it was men—and ideas on family structure that benefit them—that took center stage.

The Republican National Convention was a unique moment in time. Trump held a steady lead in the polls, and the campaign was mostly waged on his behalf by the media. He looked supremely confident as he smugly basked in the adoration of the assembled sycophants.

Not so much now! Kamala Harris’s ascension to the top of the ticket threw the orange fart cloud (and media) off his/its game. Her pick of Tim Walz also demonstrated another path men can choose — an incarnate rejection of the Trump-Vance brand of toxic masculinity.

I have no idea if Walz will influence broader culture beyond the initial excitement, but man, I hope he does. Because there are legions of confused young men out there. An alarming number are whiny, pallid incels who look like they’ve been raised on snails and sour milk, and they appear to be highly susceptible to hate politics. Maybe they need role models who aren’t adjudicated rapists and casually misogynistic pricks.

My own father is Walz’s (and my, and my sister’s) political opposite — a two-time Dump voter who will almost certainly cast a ballot for the orange shit-stain again in November. He can be a pain in the ass. But as a human being, he’s closer to the Walz model of manhood than the Trump version, thank merciful dog.

Dad has old fashioned ideas about men and women’s roles. But he’s capable of love beyond self-love, and he wants to buy you a new set of tires because the tread on the current ones is unsafe.

My sister and I laughed over Walz’s state fair video with his daughter because Watz’s insistence that a turkey corndog was “vegetarian” reminded us of our dad. So do these online observations about Walz: [Source: WaPo]

“Tim Walz snuck a $20 in your back pocket because he’s worried you don’t have enough gas money to drive home,” read a representative social media post, one of hundreds (thousands?) of examples of the wholesome fan fiction that has sprung up since his Tuesday introduction to the national stage.

“Tim Walz beeps at you at a red light, motions for you to put your window down, and tells you that your right rear tire could use some air,” read another. Or: “Tim Walz has enough 10 mm sockets for everyone in the neighborhood.”

I don’t think Walz’s example of compassionate masculine virtue will sway Repubs like my father who live a similar creed, but just in general, it’s got to be useful to have a high-profile Democrat who comes across as such a regular guy.

The media (not just the hard-right media) relentlessly “feminizes” male Democrats (“Obambi,” Al Gore’s “earth tones,” etc.), but I don’t think that playbook will work on Walz. Good. As a nation, we need a detox.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    My normie friend’s husband isn’t much into politics, but according to her he “likes Kamala and Tim Walz”.

    Do I wish elections weren’t won and lost on “vibes”????  Yes!

    Am I happy to have vibes on our side this year?  Yes!

    Do I think vibes is going to be the word of 2024?  Yes, I do.

  2. 2.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Walz just oozes kindness, but in a no bullshit way that is easy for kindness defamers to accept.

  5. 5.

    sentient ai from the future

    It’s not the most obvious point here,

    but J Divan’s talk about how if you dont have a child, you dont have skin in the game?

    I wonder, do LGBT+ folks face any difficulties in having children, either of their own, or adopting, in any states still? do we have that all sorted out nationwide now?

  9. 9.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @TBone: It’s easy for me to forget Xitter isn’t only the toxic garbáge their algorithm feeds me.  Good to see people putting in the intellectual rhetorical work.

    @Harrison Wesley: “Weird” is a vibe. Indeed, it’s a range of vibes.

  14. 14.

    zhena gogolia

    He is so damn fun to watch. I don’t really like political speeches, but I know his stump speech by heart! And I love his accent. Brings me warm memories of the best of the Midwest.

  15. 15.

    BR

    I feel like this election is about two forces colliding: 1) the GOP is now fully consumed by what was written in the classic “I miss republicans” blog post of 2004 and 2) the generational change in power in the party to Harris means no false belief in the GOP ever having been normal.

    Your neigbor decides to take precautions. He leaves his doors and windows unlocked. He sits on the roof, armed with a SpongeBob SquarePants air-rifle, just in case the killers return and attack the house by hang-glider this time. And the air rifle doesn’t work. And he spent EVERY DIME HE HAD on the air rifle.

    You would of course, say your neighbor was insane. Or supremely stupid.

    https://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2004/12/i-miss-republicans.html

  16. 16.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Maybe they need role models who aren’t adjudicated rapists and casually misogynistic pricks.

    This is so true it hurts.  I grew up in a cesspool of toxic masculinity in the 80s South.  I read Catcher In The Rye and understood its lesson perfectly – it is really, really, really damn hard to be a good person when the unified social message around you is that bullies and rapists are the highest value men and get rewarded for it.  You don’t even know what you’re reaching for, only that you don’t like what’s around you.  A good role model can make all the difference, something to aim at so there’s even a point to fighting the (often violently enforced) social pressures around you.

    And as someone who was on the receiving end of violence regularly for not matching toxic masculinity standards, I assure you the pressure is brutal, relentless, and, yes, violent.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    I’ve never had this much fun watching a campaign before. I love “mind your own damn business” and think it is brilliant.

    Part of the misogny in political media and among Republicans for me has been a sense that they’re always watching and judging women – like ensuring we stay within bounds. My daughter feels the same way. She expressed it like one would hearing gossip – “why are they always talking about us?”

    About. Not with or to. That’s it in a nutshell. It’s dehumanizing. Mind your own damn business, indeed.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    @Leto: You reminded me I need a Harris-Walz car magnet. Just ordered one from Amazon, since the campaign doesn’t have them.

  21. 21.

    cmorenc

    My nephew’s comment on what matters to vets about Wallz is interesting.  My nephew is a sort of Trumpy-leaning guy who has 17 1/2 years in the national guard as an Apache helicopter pilot, whose civvy job is as 1st officer pilot for a major airline.  He said that it isn’t the allegation that Waltz chose to leave ahead of potential iraq deployment isn’t an issue that will trouble very many vets – they understand why that is sensible, esp 24 years in.  Instead, the “stolen valor” issue that is stickier with them is Waltz’s original claim to be E9 rather than E8- misrepresentation of his achieved rank.

    just recounting what my nephew saig FWIW.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    Betty

    I have no idea if Walz will influence broader culture beyond the initial excitement, but man, I hope he does. Because there are legions of confused young men out there. An alarming number are whiny, pallid incels who look like they’ve been raised on snails and sour milk, and they appear to be highly susceptible to hate politics. Maybe they need role models who aren’t adjudicated rapists and casually misogynistic pricks.

    I don’t see as many of these in the LA area as it sounds like you do but this level of pricks has been with us for far more than my lifetime. When I was born, the population was approx 1/2 of what it is now. And we always had pompous, arrogant males, who let their testosterone rule them. And they really couldn’t/can’t think beyond that.

  23. 23.

    SatanicPanic

    Man I really hated that shit about Al Gore. I remember being like, Earth tones are a problem now?

    It’s a fools game. I caught Ann Coulter on some stupid Bill Maher show and she was claiming Bill Clinton being a horn dog for women showed he was probably gay. Like OK, I give up:

  25. 25.

    Leto

    @TBone: I have a feeling that saying is going to pop up quite a bit over the next 96 odd days.

    @zhena gogolia: our neighbor down the street, who always has the full Monty of Dem yard signage, offered to grab us the entire kit and caboodle when they become available. He’s a cool dude in a similar Walz vein.

  26. 26.

    BR

    @Kay: ​

    There’s also something else here, which is Harris is able to carry herself with the power of the presidency. I’m not an expert on body language and tone and such but she conveys “I’m in charge” in a way that I think threads the needle, avoiding all the sexist and racist traps that are all around her. Walz is a perfect complement because he is confident in himself without it detracting from her.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    Been awhile since we’ve had a high-profile public figure I could point out to a son and say “be like him” with no further explanation required. Walz really is a breath of fresh air.

    Seems a small miracle he’s not (seemingly) intimidated by the sudden bombardment of attention and spotlights. A far cry from being in congress or governor of Minnesota.

  28. 28.

    BR

    @cmorenc: ​

    Isn’t this just another thing vets should understand (something to do with he got to the rank but he couldn’t retire at that rank because he needed 3 years and some classes)?

  30. 30.

    Doc H

    Tim Walz has enough 10 mm sockets for everyone in the neighborhood.

    Extra good – 10mm sockets are the disappearing unicorn 🦄  that tantalize shade tree mechanics, including/especially bicycle wrenchers.

  32. 32.

    chris green

    If we want to talk about incels and trump…

     

    Tim walz has a wife who doesn’t cringe at his touch and I’d wager they won’t have separate bedrooms and wings in in the vp residence. Kamala and Doug neither.

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    @SatanicPanic: ​
    Hah, I can picture it but of course can’t wrap my brain around the gymnastics required to reach the conclusion.

    Then I remember it’s the Carl Rove attack their strengths strategy, and Coulter is a product of that era of Republicans. Of course that’s what she says.

  34. 34.

    BR

    I have no idea if Walz will influence broader culture beyond the initial excitement, but man, I hope he does. Because there are legions of confused young men out there. An alarming number are whiny, pallid incels who look like they’ve been raised on snails and sour milk, and they appear to be highly susceptible to hate politics. Maybe they need role models who aren’t adjudicated rapists and casually misogynistic pricks.

    This is going to sound somewhat shallow, but I think it matters: Harris/Walz are doing big rallies everywhere. Harris is exciting young women everywhere. And these young guys — the ones who aren’t deep down the far right rabbit hole — will start to realize that they might want to tag along to these events because of who else is going. And that will expose them to a different vision of American culture.

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    @Doc H: In an unsurprising twist, Walz produces a pocketfull of 13/32 sockets “because tractors need fixing, too.”

  37. 37.

    Betty Cracker

    @cmorenc: According to my SIL, a retired LTC Navy doc, an exiting service member has to hold their most recent rank for a certain amount of time to retire with the benefits of that rank. But if you leave before that time period, you’re still entitled to claim the higher rank — it’s legitimately something you earned, but your retirement bennies are based on the lower rank. Nothing nefarious about it.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m not a vet so I can’t speak to the merits, but I am experienced in watching people come up with lame excuses to justify their vote for Republicans.

  41. 41.

    Gretchen

    @cmorenc: According to Vote Vets he was promoted to an E9 and served as one while he did the requirements for the rank, which I’m told is pretty usual. He didn’t complete all the classes for the rank before retiring so retirement paperwork said E8. Is that not how it works in your nephew’s experience? Do different states do it differently?

  42. 42.

    raven

    Closing ceremony time. I wonder if this will be the “greatest Olympics ever”??

    Samaranch thanked Atlanta, saying the city’s effort had been “most exceptional.” He broke with precedent and did not say 1996 had been the best Olympics ever, as he had done at every previous closing ceremony during his tenure as IOC president. Four years later he called the Sydney Olympics the best ever.

  43. 43.

    suzanne

    @Frankensteinbeck: “Weird” is really great because it pokes at their biggest weakness, which is this gross and pathetic desire to have people admire them. (Without genuinely earning admiration, I will note.)

    It’s not normal to be so into other people’s personal lives. It’s really shameful.

  45. 45.

    Rachel Bakes

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:  I saw the tonic masculinity on Pantauit Nation on fb a few days ago and it resonated. My FIL is that-originally from Minnesota, Navy sting on subs so he wouldn’t get stationed in Minnesota. Fixes stuff, builds stuff, friend to those in need. Refreshing. (His sons are the same way)

  46. 46.

    Jackie

    OT funny: TCFG is claiming Harris’ crowd sizes are FAKE! A.I. generated!!! 😱

    …Despite video from the rally showing a packed crowd at Detroit Metros Airport, the former president presented what he believed is evidence that the public is being been duped.

    On Truth Social he wrote that, if true, it constitutes “election interference.”

    “Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d”’it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane. She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people!”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kamala-crowds/

  47. 47.

    BR

    @chris green: ​

    Speaking of which, Vance is at it again:

    Kamala HQ @KamalaHQ

    Q: Trump dined with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist, at Mar-a-Lago. He has still not disavowed Fuentes

    Vance: The one thing I like about Donald Trump is he actually will talk to anybody… Donald Trump has spent a lot of quality time with my wife. Every time he sees her, he gives her a hug, tells her she’s beautiful

    https://bsky.app/profile/avitek.bsky.social/post/3kzhfvyyd252g

  49. 49.

    raven

    @cmorenc: This is more the crux of “Stolen Valor”

    Some of the criticism centers on comments by Walz in a 2018 video circulated on social media by the Harris campaign in which he speaks out against gun violence and says, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” The comment suggests that Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone.

  50. 50.

    Dangerman

    Hold on. I was told that all the crowds at the KH/TW events are all AI. Maybe THEY are just AI. Maybe I am only AI. Where does it stop?

    Did I dream that shit? Or is TCFG just an asshole?

    I’ve heard that Narcissists, when it all goes to shit, have what amounts to a massive breakdown. So maybe it’s unfair to call someone an asshole if it’s just a mental breakdown. So, is TCFG just an asshole having a mental breakdown? There. That seems more fair

    ETA: 46 had the same dream. Perhaps took the same “supplements”.

  52. 52.

    raven

    @Gretchen: No,

     

    In most cases, soldiers who have completed 20 years of active service are eligible to receive Retired Pay at the end of their career. The Date of Initial Entry into Military Service (DIEMS) determines which of the three retirement systems a soldier falls under. Retired Pay amount and requirements depend on whether a soldier qualifies for active duty retired pay or non-regular retired pay (Reserve Component).

  53. 53.

    BR

    New NC poll from YouGov shows NC tied 46-46. Seems like Trump is hitting 46% *everywhere* — it’s his ceiling. We just need to get high turnout and all the undecideds.

  54. 54.

    MisterForkbeard

    @raven: This is such weak sauce.

    He was in Operation Enduring Freedom in a support capacity. He carried a weapon there. This is literally all these fucks have

    Everything they have on Walz is “IF you decide to take this totally normal comment in an abnormal way and make assumptions about it, Walz maybe did a bad thing”.

  56. 56.

    Betsy

    Ooh!  The “Tim Walz slipped a $20 to you … Tim Walz made sure you had jumper cables in your trunk …” (etc.) meme reminds me mightily of back during the first Obama campaign when someone had that blog that started “Barack Obama is your new bicycle” and would change to a new statement every time you refreshed the page.

    I’ve been  getting that same “Hopey”‘ vibe ever since Kamala came on the stage and especially now that she has picked her running mate.

  57. 57.

    Gretchen

    @Betty Cracker: That’s the maddening thing. They just lie, but people who don’t know think it’s true and that our guy is lying, and the media both-sides it.  And our side won’t lie about them, so we’re at a disadvantage.

  58. 58.

    suzanne

    I will also note that I have heard multiple hiring managers say that they don’t like to hire veterans because they get hung up on arcane rules and want a procedure for everything, and don’t have flexibility or judgment. Hearing about hair-splitting stuff like “he was an E8 when he retired and not an E9 because he didn’t hold the rank long enough” kind of backs up that perception.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @BR:

    Every time he [Trump] sees her [my wife], he gives her a hug, tells her she’s beautiful.

    That’s not creepy at all.  (My nostrils are flaring like I just stepped in poop barefoot.)  I wonder if he also grabs her by the pussy?

  63. 63.

    Leto

    @suzanne: so there’s a lot of flexibility and “whining it” with architects concerning state/federal laws? Explains a few things.

    Edit: building code states this, but awww, fuck it. Flexibility!

  65. 65.

    Gretchen

    @raven: But the attacks are based on the rank listed on the retirement papers, saying he lied about his rank, not his retirement pay.

  66. 66.

    Mike E

    @raven: I need Sheldon Cooper to help identify all the flags I’m seeing!

    As far as the greatest games, Paris was so amazing that it transcended NBC’s uninspired coverage. Credit to the technical direction that made watching it fun… commentary and commercial placement, not so much (c’mon, take the L and quit the ads during the closing ceremony, sheesh!)

    ETA please, less Fallon and more Tara and Johnny!

  67. 67.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty Cracker: This is exactly correct.  He was an E-9 and served as a Command Sergeant Major.  He retired as with the effective pay grade of E-8.  Anyone who has served long enough to be near retirement will know how it works.  If they don’t, they are choosing not to.

  68. 68.

    suzanne

    @Leto: There’s a lot of flexibility in running and executing projects, yeah. Clients have different priorities and the work doesn’t lend itself to procedures. There’s multiple approaches to code compliance. People who want to follow procedures often struggle.

  69. 69.

    Leto

    @Omnes Omnibus: I find it interesting that on his wiki page, one of the references that had the Minnesota ANG official response to this, “He served as a CSM, so he’s allowed to say that”, has been deleted. His whole military section has all new shit in it, all related this dumbass kerfluffle.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    @Ruckus: it’s such a blessing to all who witness it.  I’m grateful to have had it growing up, so that I knew what to look for in a mate.  That didn’t always work out (relationships can be deceiving), but now I get it every single day from hubby who I finally found at age 49.  It’s been a helluva nice way to finish the search!  Our ten year anniversary is Labor Day.

  71. 71.

    raven

    @Gretchen: And I disagree

     

    But Vance went a lot further, with an attack that the Trump campaign probably had prepared.

    “What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a combat zone? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage,” Vance said.

  75. 75.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Dangerman:

    So maybe it’s unfair to call someone an asshole if it’s just a mental breakdown. So, is TCFG just an asshole having a mental breakdown?

    Being a narcissist isn’t a neurological or neurochemical disorder.  It’s just an extreme and identifiable type of being an asshole.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:

    If I recall correctly it was this way the half a century ago when I left the USN. And it’s the same in every branch – or at least it used to be….

  78. 78.

    Leto

    @suzanne: You know, I’ll agree with you on that. Ofc most of those people don’t tend to promote well, and we move them along. You have to understand what you’re working with in order to understand how to be flexible with it. Junior enlisted are the perfect example of this. They want to test every damn instruction/rule that we have. A lot of times they simply say, “This is dumb”, without understanding why we have the rule in place. But once you explain why we do, maybe give them some examples on it, then you can start to teach about the flexibility within it.

    I’ll also say this isn’t a province of the military. We’ve worked with enough civilians who have said, “My companies rules/guidance state…” that we have an healthy skepticism about you guys.

  79. 79.

    Gretchen

    @raven: So you think this was a good-faith criticism from Vance? Walz was talking about gun regulation, not about his service record. He was saying that he carried these weapons as a soldier, and that there is no need for civilians to be able to carry such weapons. He did carry these weapons as a soldier, even though he didn’t serve in combat. Neither did Vance, although he’s willing to pretend that writing press releases was combat service

    And he didn’t abandon his unit. He’d already retired after 20 years of service, rejoined after 9/11 and served another 4 years, decided to run for Congress, talked it over extensively with the people in his unit, filed his retirement papers months before his unit was called up. Should he have revoked his retirement papers when the unit was called up? His successor had a year after his retirement to get the unit ready, and if he couldn’t do it that’s on him. But that guy is a Trumper, so no surprise that he’s willing to jump in on this.

  80. 80.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @raven:

    Why are you repeating the garbage that Vance is saying? Misterforkbeard noted above:

    He was in Operation Enduring Freedom in a support capacity. He carried a weapon there.

    ETA: Plus the shit about him “abandoning his unit” which isn’t remotely true, as Gretchen notes above in reply to you

  81. 81.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Mike E : I need Sheldon Cooper to help identify all the flags I’m seeing!

    Any Trump supporter can tell you they’re countries no one has heard of.

  82. 82.

    zhena gogolia

    If you’re Trump, you can call the President a “pile of crap” and the Vice President a “fucking bitch” on camera, and it’s no biggie.

  88. 88.

    May

    Love Walz because he has the good man energy we all need.  I feel like he would get what I’ve been thinking today:

    In the same idiotic way that TFG has equated Asylum Seekers with asylum inmates who he claims were thrown out of other countries’ insane asylums, I think I have figured out the after birth abortion, baby killing thing. If, as happened with me, some placenta is left after giving birth, it can lead to a raging deadly infection. So, now after one gives birth, I believe there are states trying to enshrine dilation and curettage into law as the mother killers are banning that procedure among others. Those attempts and support for the D&C procedure have to be what this idiocy is about. Willful evil.  Right?

  90. 90.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @raven: You probably know this, but I thought the rank issue for Walz was the rank he’d been promoted to vs the one he retired at. I read that he had to serve 3 years at the higher rank to retire at that rank, but he didn’t so his retirement benefits (whatever they are) are from that lower rank.

    It’s possible that’s wrong.

  91. 91.

    Leto

    @Omnes Omnibus: it absolute is. Also, someone said it above: at this point, if you’re still quibbling about this, you were always going to vote for Trumpov. Cadet fucking Bonespurs over a 24 year vet. Cool.

    Regarding procedures, see my response to Suzanne. I get it, I do. Some MOS/AFSCs had more flexibility. I know yours probably didn’t because “flexibility = dead”. While on the receiving end of your MOS, they had more flexibility. For example a “Danger Close” call in. Like I said, you really need to understand the rules before you can start to understand how they flex. Then there are some people who are so damn rigid, you’d think they have a 2×4 running up their backside. Aka Everett McGills character from Heartbreak Ridge, Major Malcom Powers.

    Colonel Meyers: Are you new to the infantry, Major?
    Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: Yes, sir. Just came over from supply.
    Colonel Meyers: Were you good at that?
    Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: Yes, sir!
    Colonel Meyers: Well then, stick to it because you’re a walking cluster fuck as an infantry officer.

  94. 94.

    Gretchen

    @May: They’re mostly referring to an interview Gov. Ralph Northam gave about some Virginia legislation years ago. He was talking about when a baby is born with fatal defects, the law wouldn’t require the hospital to do invasive, hopeless procedures, and would talk over with the parents what to do and let them hold the baby as it passes rather than stick a bunch of tubes and wires into them. They cut off the first part of his statement, and just played the “there will be a discussion between the doctor and parents what to do” and pretended to believe that he was saying that parents of a perfectly healthy baby would have the option to have it killed. One of the many horrible examples of Republicans blatantly lying and getting away with it because it’s much more complicated to refute the lie than to tell it. Kind of like the whole Walz service record thing.

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Leto: We did have quite a bit of flexibility in a lot of things.  There are procedures that are glass balls.  And there is everything else.  Knowing the difference is key.

  97. 97.

    Suzanne

    @Leto: Yes, there are mindless rule-follower types everywhere. We generally try to sniff them out when interviewing with “What would you do in this situation?” type questions. Or “What are some tools you’ve used to help clients make decisions?”. It’s more of an explore-tradeoffs-and-opportunities environment. And when I am running projects, I try to create an environment of openness, not hierarchy based on years of practice or where you went to school or whatever. So I have a big problem with the people who want to get hung up on the minutiae of Walz’s record. He served honorably and other than that I don’t care.

  98. 98.

    Leto

    @Gretchen:

    So you think this was a good-faith criticism from Vance?

    I’ll chime in to this simply to say, no it’s not. It never is. It’s never good-faith criticism. Republicans for the past 60 years have tried to paint Dems as unpatriotic, flag burning, pinko commies. It doesn’t matter that we’ve served with honor and distinction. It doesn’t matter that we’ve served in all of our nations wars; that we’ve served beside them, protected them, sometimes gave our lives for them.

    I’ve accepted that, but I’ll be fucking goddamned if they’re going to be the arbiters of who’s “patriotic” enough. Absolutely fuck them with a rusty bayonet. And I will be goddamned if they’re going to smear the service of a 24 year vet. Absolutely fuck them, forever.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    What other kind of excuse could one possibly come up with to vote for today’s rethuglican party but lame?

  103. 103.

    Suzanne

    @Leto: I observe the same rule-followiness in converts to conservative religion. Like, they are there for the Dungeons-and-Dragons-ish extensive rules and world-building. It’s specifically the draw. It’s not a good mindset.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    Now it may be different now or when Walz was in but during my time in the USN there were basically 2 groups on most any ship or post. Lifers and everyone else. Now some lifers were OK and didn’t detest any non lifer. Had one ship’s captain that was like that. The hater lifers mostly seemed to feel trapped, and I got the impression that they had no idea or actually no place to go if they didn’t stay in for 20 or 30 yrs. And so anyone not looking to the USN as a career was a useless POS to them. I doubt it’s different in any branch. (Remember I was in during Vietnam – and a war significantly changes some things in the military) Also in my experience that the majority of the people in the military when I was were not lifers.

  105. 105.

    Bex

    @raven: Is any of this written down?  Or was it transcribed?  If you read it “weapons of war that I carried, in war is the only place where these weapons are at” makes more sense.

  106. 106.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    What exactly do you mean by “mindless rule followers”? Last year I did interviews for a management position at my job and I didn’t know how to answer all of the questions they asked me. I was nervous, admittedly, and I think this came across. They were questions asking me about specific instances of problems I’ve had to solve in the past and I was coming up blank. I don’t tend to remember things like that and that tripped me up

  107. 107.

    Gretchen

    @Bex: good point. He was speaking about gun regulations, and I read that he had never spoken from a teleprompter until last week. So he was speaking extemporaneously, and, surprise, surprise, Republicans looked for the most damaging way to hear it. And when you’re explaining, you’re losing, and they rely on that when peddling their lies.

  109. 109.

    Kelly

    @Jackie: I imagine they are not only claiming Democrats “AI in” crowds for Harris/Walz but also “AI out” crowds for Trump/Vance

  110. 110.

    Tony G

    Well, maybe.  The GOP has a very long history of that nonsense.  I remember how they smeared as “wimpy cowards” decorated Vietnam veteran John Kerry and even George McGovern who piloted B24 bombers in 35 ww2 combat missions for Christ sake (with a 5% chance of dying on every mission).  This bullshit didn’t start with Trump and, unfortunately, I don’t think that it will end after Trump is gone.

  112. 112.

    JoyceH

    Couple things. First, Republicans are always going to denigrate the military service of Democrats, they just are. But the criticism of Walz is particularly vitriolic because the quote about weapons of war was in aid of his position on banning assault weapons, and they go all in when you threaten their precious precious guns. (Heck, they’ll go so far as claiming that slaughtered children were phonies!)

    But the other thing is about retirement. I’m not sure about the National Guard, but in the Navy (which I was) an officer would serve (so long as they weren’t passed over too often) until they decided to get out, at which point they could put in their papers and retire within a number of months, but enlisted people reenlist for a certain increment of years, like four or six years. So an enlisted guy couldn’t just say, “I’ll retired next year.” As his contract was nearing its end the decision he had to make was – do I want to leave now or stay for another four years?

  113. 113.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I think Walz is taking the baton from Uncle Joe who started the working-class, compassionate, decent, old, white man thing.  I think we forget that because he was such a long-time politician and statesman as President, he’s always had all of the same energy as Walz (straight-shooter, wise-ass, loving husband/Dad etc.) he just had it with Corvettes, Amtrak and riding his bike instead of hunting, teaching and coaching football.  Walz gives it a new flavor and is probably a bit better with jokes, but it’s the same energy I always felt from Biden.

  114. 114.

    Suzanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There are people who want to follow instructions for every task and do things the same way they did them before. Those people generally don’t do well in the environments I work in, because things change frequently, clients are different, tasks can be ill-defined, there are multiple imperfect solutions, and constraints are not the same from project to project. I’ve heard some of the hiring managers and recruiters I work with say that they consider military service to not really be an asset to an applicant, because they perceive that the military is a very procedure-y, checklist-y, instructions-y environment and the profession is not.

  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Oh, and the best way to answer a question like that is to share two contrasting examples. “When we ran into Problem A, we analyzed the issue and went with Solution B. But another time, we had the same problem but conditions were different, so we went with Solution C. Both of these were successful, but it was important to know what the constraints were, so we could make a more informed decision.”

    Also a good strategy: “I ran into Problem A, and thought about how to head that problem off for the next time. So, on the next project, we did Blah Blah Blah to make sure that we anticipated the issue and were ready for it.”

  117. 117.

    Ruckus

    @JoyceH:

    That’s how it was when I was in the USN as well. Early January 1970 to mid July 1973. Vietnam was over and so early discharges were being handed out. I didn’t complain one word. I did however run around the ship yelling positive, joyous things. Most of the lifers I knew were 20 yrs and out. And for most of them not one person minded that they left. There were a couple that were or did not present as complete and utter assholes. Just one vets perspective and yes I did know a few that liked being in and didn’t denigrate anyone who didn’t like it.

  118. 118.

    RevRick

    There’s a hilarious YouTube video of Walz with his daughter,Hope, promoting hand’s free driving, which became the law in Minnesota on August 1st.

  120. 120.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Tim Waltz and these memes remind me of my father, who until he became weak and ill in his mid 80s, would escort me to his favorite gas station, fill up the tank and pay for it before waving me goodbye.  Thank God he didn’t succumb to Fox News, but put out an Obama sign in his SW VA front yard in 2008.  When he was asked by a neighbor if he was scared; he replied : I was scared when W was President.  Not now.

  121. 121.

    cmorenc

    @Gretchen:

    @cmorenc: According to Vote Vets he was promoted to an E9 and served as one while he did the requirements for the rank, which I’m told is pretty usual. He didn’t complete all the classes for the rank before retiring so retirement paperwork said E8. Is that not how it works in your nephew’s experience? Do different states do it differently?

    I’m simply relaying my Army NG Captain nephew’s comments he made Thur evening when he met us for dinner during an overnight layover at RDU along his current pilot flight segments.  He and fellow NG-folk were aware of the nuances of Walz’s career situation, that he was in-progress toward E9 with classes and would have fully earned E9 had he stayed in for the Iraq deployment, and the provisional rank thing during transition, but apparently for purposes of what rank you claim after leaving the military – it’s considered un-cool to claim a rank you had not fully fulfilled the requisites for.  For example, my nephew, now a captain in the NG, is in eligible progress toward becoming a major, but would never claim he retired as a major if he left the military without fully being of the claimed rank.

    OK, that’s his explanation of the Army National Guard’s mindset, not mine.  Take the argument up with my nephew and his fellow NG Apache pilots.

  122. 122.

    Kent

    @raven: Some of the criticism centers on comments by Walz in a 2018 video circulated on social media by the Harris campaign in which he speaks out against gun violence and says, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” The comment suggests that Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone.

    We all sometimes garble our thoughts and phrases when speaking extemporaneously.   That is the only believable explanation here.  He was not claiming any valor, he was making an anti-gun speech.   Had he been using prepared remarks with a teleprompter he could have easily edited his words to say:

    “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried as a soldier, stay only in war and not on our streets.”

    Which was the point he was making.  And it would have been just as effective or more so.

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    I’ve been following politics for around 65 yrs and can honestly say that very few rethuglicans have ever rated high enough on the Ruckus meter to have even been considered for office for longer than 2 seconds. Because most of them have been, while possibly better than the current crop of rethuglican national politicians, not worth consideration, the time of day and absolutely not worth a vote. Sure the current crop seems to be in it ONLY FOR THEMSELVES but the reality is that has never been far down my list of reasons to NEVER vote for them.

    @cmorenc:

    I get what you are saying – as a vet I don’t disagree but I have seen – and actually done this myself – that on active duty at times I filled a spot that was supposed to be filled by someone a minimum of 2 steps higher than I was. I was in charge of a department on a USN ship that in theory required an E7 and I was only an E5 but was the highest rated in the department. As a side note we had, in engineering, an E7 electrician who was in charge of another sub department and who tried once to tell me how to do my job. I believe my answer was to tell him to fuck off and not bother me ever again. I was surprised but he actually listened and learned that day and I cannot remember him ever talking to me again, over about a year.

  124. 124.

    Kent

    @JoyceH: From what I understand about the Army, that is true before soldiers hit 20 years.   You re-enlist for blocks of time.  But once a soldier hits their 20 those rules no longer apply and they are eligible to retire at any time with full benefits that would kick in when you turn 60.

    I expect there there are two separate issues at play.  One is resigning from active duty.  And the other is qualifying for retirement benefits.  They are not the same thing.

  126. 126.

    May

    @Gretchen: yes of course that is the one they are referring to, but it is about outlawing a D&C for a mother with an infection.  Let us not pretend this is in any way sane, kind, or rational.  And we are better served getting down into the true hatefulness of it all and not pretending it is just one misunderstanding.

  127. 127.

    Gretchen

    @May: Someone said that there’s something in Project 2025 about banning csections and childbirth anaesthesia but I havent been able to find it.  Apparently some Opus Dei folks are on that bandwagon because women should suffer for Eve’s sin.

  128. 128.

    Msb

    “Tonic masculinity” is good. I also like the longer statement that Walz is the fathers, uncles, etc. that we lost to the outrage media.

  129. 129.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Gretchen: I just heard they want to decrease epidural use by 60%. I just met a lady from North Carolina who us a doula, and said they recently flew someone in from Virginia to North Carolina to get help for her ectopic pregnancy. This appals and enrages me beyond words, that someone can’t get an ectopic pregnancy removed in a timely fashion, because of the anti abortion laws.

    If you don’t know, that little embryo doesn’t have a chance in hell, it’s  goners anyway, and they want to wait until there’s no electric signal ( aka precursor to a “heartbeat”)? This is life threatening. For the pregnant person; it’s so serious.

  131. 131.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @BR: love this

    Harris is able to carry herself with the power of the presidency. I’m not an expert on body language and tone and such but she conveys “I’m in charge” in a way that I think threads the needle, avoiding all the sexist and racist traps that are all around her. Walz is a perfect complement because he is confident in himself without it detracting from her.

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