I didn't think any of the possible choices on the shortlist to be Kamala Harris's running mate were bad choices but so far, Tim Walz is turning out to be better than I expected. His speeches are great and he brings a certain air of badly-needed joy to this campaign. Everyone else seems to be stuck in "I'm doing this because we have to save America" mode whereas Walz seems happy to be in the race.
But what really impresses me about the guy — and remember, this is "so far;" things could change — is how much trouble the opposition is having coming up with some way to define him as a man who will destroy this country. They've been carping about him signing some law that mandated tampons in boys' bathrooms. Even if that mattered, it would be pretty trivial. And the facts on the ground seem to be that he signed a bill that mandated that schools had to supply tampons for those that needed them and someone extrapolated that could mean boys.
And JD Vance is out there complaining that while Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years, he's misrepresenting some aspects of his service. As this article notes, they're pretty minor quibbles. In any case, I don't think anyone who values military service is going to look at Walz's record in that regard and then vote for the ticket headed by the Bone Spurs Guy.
And yeah, Walz is a liberal…or a progressive…and Republicans running against such folks always brand them as Dangerous Communists. That kinda comes with being a Democrat seeking office these days. They haven't found anything disqualifying about Tim Walz…so far.