Yet More On The Subliminal A-Walz

If evidence is needed that the stolen valor attacks on Tim Walz are effective, Hillary Clinton, of all people, came out to defend him on X yesterday:

Tim Walz served honorably for two decades.

Then he joined Congress and worked to pass a new GI bill that helped fund the college educations of millions of veterans—among them, JD Vance.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 12, 2024

This echoes the defense Nancy Pelosi made over the weekend in the story at The Hill that I linked yesterday:

“So first of all, he was in the National Guard 20 years, he thought he’d stay 20 years. But then 9/11 happened, so he signed up for four more years. He retired from that to run for Congress months before his unit was assigned to being deployed,” she added. “So it was after he left, so they’re just trying to confuse things.”

. . . “[Walz] came to Congress and was respected by our colleagues, elected to be the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, where he, and working with Chet Edwards on the Appropriations Committee and on the Authorizing Committee … made historic advances for veterans, meeting their needs, more than had been done since the GI Bill during World War II,” Pelosi said.

I would call this the blah-blah-blah defense: it makes no direct reference to his premature retirement in the face of deployment, but then it goes blah-blah-blah. Served honorably, blah blah, worked for veterans in congress, blah blah. Since the defenses from both women are so similar, they must be coordinated -- after all, as best I can tell, these are the highest-level Democrats who've commented on the stolen valor issue at all.

Here's the problem with the subliminal message. This is old-time politics, attacking the opponent's masculinity, he's a coward, afraid to fight, and by golly, it's working just like it's supposed to! The only way you can really counter it is to have some even more masculine John Wayne figure come out, snarl some pithy remark that implies Walz's equipment is twice the size of Trump's and Vance's combined, and accuse Vance of being a closet cross-dresser.

This isn't happening. Instead, two conniving, unpleasant old ladies, one of whom just unseated Joe and cut off whatever vestigial masculinity he had, are going blah-blah. If Joe comes out on Walz's behalf, that will just make things more comical. Can the Democrats get either Bill Clinton or Barack Obama to vouch for Walz? I kinda doubt it -- it would put their prestige on the line, and they don't need that at this stage, Walz is too much of a loser.

Via the Daily Caller:

Journalists worked to discredit the right’s newest line of attack, accusing Walz of stolen valor, and revived old arguments about “swiftboating.” The term originated during the Bush-Kerry campaign of 2004, when a Republican political operative by the name of Chris LaCivita helped organize Swift Boat veterans from Vietnam to scrutinize John Kerry’s service record, and the stories he told after coming home.

. . . LaCivita, now running the Trump campaign, and his staff will continue to hammer the message, using its own veteran Sen. J.D. Vance to “expose Walz’s military record.”

. . . In 2004, LaCivita organized “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” which worked to cast doubt on Kerry’s Vietnam record. Corporate media outlets have since deemed “swiftboating” to be representative of slimy politics. Politico, noting that the tactic could potentially be re-run for the 2024 election, argued that it “focuses attacks on the running mate, not the principal.”

“They’re scrambling to cover for him because they know this is a massive liability,” a source familiar with the campaign’s thinking told the Caller.

So, is it working? After the attacks began last week, according to the UK Daily Mail, Walz displayed signs of insecurity at the final joint rally held with Kamala:

Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate 'Coach' Tim Walz was criticized for his display of unbridled enthusiasm during their latest rally in Las Vegas.

As the music blasts through the speakers, Walz overflows with exuberance in the short clip. He happily waves to the huge crowd of party supporters cheering for him.

But while his energy and gusto was praised by attendees, many online critics questioned his 'bizarre' behavior.

. . . In a video circulating on X, the Minnesota Governor can be seen joyously clapping as the crowd goes wild and he walks around onstage from the podium.

While some X users suggested that the former teacher had 'villain energy', others suggested he had 'jazz' or 'spirit fingers'.

Beyond that, '

Hearing Team Kamala is talking about how Walz is rapidly changing his overall demeanor as a person, he's snapping at longtime aides for small things, becoming totally disagreeable

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 12, 2024

Ed Morrissey, whom I don't ordinarily esteem, does make an apposite point at Hot Air:

Harris picked Walz in part because of his "dad" vibes and ability to project leadership. This looks like another case of a missing dad in Democrat society. The clear impression is that Walz isn't ready to answer questions about his record, both in office and in his repeated claims about his service record. And so Walz has joined the stealth campaign strategy that Biden pioneered and Harris has to adopt out of necessity.

However, if Walz has to adopt it out of necessity too, then why choose him as a running mate in the first place?

In other words, the Harris campaign needed some testosterone, especially after two woman, Pelosi and Harris, emasculated Joe Biden and subsituted him as a candidate with Harris. But the attempt to do it with "Coach" A-Walz has proven flaccid -- in fact, it succumbed to one of the simplest and oldest strategies in the playbook, portraying the opponent -- or in this case, the opponent's vice presidential surrogate, who'd been added to the ticket to projecf masculinity -- as cowardly and unmanly.

I'll bet the Coach Walz T-Shirt model in the photo at the top of this post is a cat lady.