Harris-Walz Is Comedy Gold

Over the past couple of weeks, we've begun to see public appearances from Kamala, however scripted and closely controlled, as well as joint events with Tampon Tim. What we still haven't seen is a good comedy impression of these performances, but I've got to think one is on the way -- in fact, Trump himself, whose standup talents are acknowledged, could well begin to imitate either one at his rallies, as he had been doing with Joe.

One thing that's become plain is that neither Kamala nor Tim is comfortable with a national campaign. Walz has been a state-and-local-level politician throughout his career, and the photo at the top of this post shows how stiff and uncomfortable he seems on a national stage. It's also plain that Harris, despite a campaign for vice president in 2020 and four years in office, has never actually had to compete -- she's been a California machine politician who checked the right boxes, and her electoral contests were just pro forma.

Thus her stump style is nasal, syrupy, and oddly hyperactive. She shifts randomly in and out of a black accent. There's a lot of over-the-top excitement with wild and incongruous hand gestures. Part of the problem is that she's reading from bland text off the teleprompter but trying to add expression to make it sound like it's spontaneous, and it never quite comes off. For instance,

I won't say that comics and impersonators should be studying this, because I'm sure they are. This goes back to the point I've been making, that it wasn't the polls that made the lizard people force Joe out of the race, it was, after early June, weeks and weeks of near-nightly poopy-pants jokes from Gutfeld. The more I saw of those, the more I kept thinking this couldn't go on -- he'd turned Joe into a toidy joke that was reinforced every time Joe made a public appearance with his affectless persona as though he'd just pooped his pants once again.

And this goes to Hillary's performance in the 2016 election. One of the best insights -- and I can't remember who it was that gave it -- was that if Hillary didn't make public appearances for some number of days, she'd inch upward in the polls. As soon as she gave a big speech, she'd fall back. The more people saw of her, the less they liked her. And that was without standup comics doing imitations. Now, there's Gutfeld.

And this leaves out Tim Walz, who unfortunately is setting himself up as the submissive foil to Boss Girl Kamala. Look at his expression in the photo at the top of this post -- "I can't believe I'm here! I've made it!" And Kamala is egging him on. They've both made it! Joy! Except look at how his suit collar stands away from his neck -- it's a cheap suit that doesn't fit. The man is a bumpkin (Click on the photo for a larger view).

In effect, they've won the lottery, a form of unearned entitlement, which in the rough justice of Bugs Bunny cartoons is a setup for an ultimate fall. I think that this feeds the impression that Walz in particular is a dunce and ripe for comic takedown, but of course, the Boss Girl, even if she's temprarily able to order Dunceboy around, is set up to fall herself. The subliminal public imagination is waiting to see this. Neither has the self-awareness to understand what they're walking into. On the other hand, this is an aspect of the public imagination that Trump somehow instinctively grasps as an entertainer and now a politician.

I keep thinking of one of the classic scenes in cinema, the exchange between Dirty Harry Callahan and his lieutenant in Magnum Force:

“You’re a good man lieutenant. A good man always knows his limitations.”

I think the basic problem with both Kamala and now her comical sidekick Walz is that neither knows their limitations, and it simply shows.