• Nougat@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    240
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 month ago

    Headline suggests that the Democrats - who are currently more united than they’ve been since probably Kennedy - aren’t united.

      • Nougat@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        38
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        Shapiro has Israel baggage that I am so glad I don’t have to hear about online for the next forever. Kelly had a messy divorce that I’m sure nobody wants to have dredged up. Walz seems relatable to a great number of people.

        Plus, he drives a 1979 IH Scout.

        • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          1 month ago

          Shapiro’s Israel issue would have been a toss-up issue. Some independents wanted him to be very pro-Israel, others no so much. Probably wouldn’t have made a huge difference.

          On the other hand, might have made a difference in Michigan among the large muslim minority who may not have come out to vote.

          I really just hope Walz is not going to be another Kaine.

        • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          I remember listening to a podcast they would make, a lady and a guy and Nate Silver. I think it’s that podcast that makes me not really like him or his ideas aside from the numbers and the team he surrounds himself with. I look at 538 and I trust it for the most part but if it has Silver attached to it, I think of it as editorial

          • BedbugCutlefish@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            1 month ago

            538 no longer has Nate Silver or his model; Disney bought it and fired him like a year ago or so.

            Still, I agree; I don’t like his politics, but his analysis of polls and numbers is probably the best out there.

          • vividspecter@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            He seems to have gotten more right-wing in recent years, although he doesn’t talk about it too explicitly (maybe he was always like that and I just didn’t know).

            I remember him downplaying the J6 insurrection during one of the podcasts which was the point where I lost a lot of respect for him, and frankly him leaving isn’t a big loss as he seemed to be just over election modelling in general by the end.

        • frezik@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 month ago

          Yeah, it doesn’t get much better. Silver’s great when it’s just about numbers, but less so when it’s slightly more intangible. This column might be the peak example.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 month ago

        You should read through the comments on that post.

        Almost NONE of Silvers subscribers are having it.

        This just a way off base miss of Silvers.

        Believe the numbers, doubt the pundit.

      • lennybird@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 month ago

        Silver’s claim that Walz is a Tim Kaine pick is just dead on arrival. I’m sorry, I appreciate his actual model, but his argument here is just too speculative.

        • BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 month ago

          Yeah, I typically like Nate, but today’s column seemed sloppy. I don’t see how Walz is the “safe” choice - he’s further left than Shapiro. I also didn’t get what he was saying about Minnesota values not translating. I think Walz was a bold pick and I’m happy with the choice.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 month ago

            Seconded. Walz isn’t “safe” if you look at his policies. He’s pretty far left and is just fine implementing social policy, gun control, and using government money to fund social programs. That’s pretty radical if you’re a Republican. While he isn’t a policymaker as the VP, he’s a tie-breaker and he’s a future presidential candidate should Harris win.

      • bitchkat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        He doesn’t even understand that “Minnesota Nice” is not a compliment. It refers to when people who have lived here their whole lives and have close often going back to high school. When someone from out of state moves to Minnesota, their co-workers, neighbors etc will be friendly, act interested in the newbs lives, and even offer things like “we should get together sometime”. That is in no way an invitation to actually do anything. If the newb proposes a date “to get the kids together”, the Minnesotan will hem, haw and make up excuses.

        Minnesota Nice is a special kind of nice.

        • roy_mustang76@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 month ago

          In case you’re not aware, 538 was acquired by Disney/ABC, and he’s no longer involved with them.

          So yeah, he’s just a pundit now, and his punditry was never that great to begin with. The Model is what made him good

    • fukhueson@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      26
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      I think that’s a pretty simplistic take considering we just swapped our candidate less than 6 months before the election. I agree with the article’s take that Walz has potential to unify the differing democratic coalitions, and don’t see any evidence of your claim.

      Walz’s elevation earns the left a big victory. Yet because Walz himself isn’t of the left, the pick seems intended to serve a unifying purpose: a candidate who appeals to all different stripes of Democrats for different reasons. The fact that Democrats across the political spectrum seem thrilled by the pick — with effusive support coming from people ranging from Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) — seems to validate the theory.

      It’s important to be clear: The VP selection matters way less for elections than people think. It’s much more important to select a potential president than an optimal running mate.

      But you can see why Harris sees picking Walz as smart politics. It allows her to simultaneously hand the left a win without necessarily tacking left — potentially keeping her coalition united even as she works to win over the general election’s decisive centrists.

      I think its important to recognize the value this VP pick can bring, and I’ve not known vox to try to suggest something like that without reason.

      Edit: I’m also going to add that your reply is a disingenuous attempt to falsely turn this into a binary unified or not unified condition, not that the article is making such a claim. I entirely reject your statement.

  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    45
    ·
    1 month ago

    He can defiantly crush Vance and speak to the Midwest. I think that is what matters.

  • psmgx@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    37
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 month ago

    Dude got nominated like an hour ago. How are they putting out articles like this?

    Like the average person ain’t even got home from work on the east coast.

  • bazus1@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Donald Trump is ideally suited to expand Kamala Harris’ appeal across the ideological spectrum.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Yep.

    Harris has an edge to her, she’s quick-smart (imo this is good for presidential material) and that may be off putting to some (because women aren’t supposed to be like that , right?), however, Walz is straight up good guy and he can balance out the ticket as far as presentation.

    My only concern about Walz is that he presents so strongly as a good guy/dad figure that, should Harris be elected, the typical behavior is to put the VP up for election upon the incumbent’s term(s) expiring. Does he have the presence to be the potential presidential candidate in the future?

    • Xanis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Well now that depends: Would being in the VP chair help mould him into someone who can rise to the challenge?

      Who knows!

      For now let’s not worry about that. Seriously. Trump bad. Beat first. Big unga bunga, big stick, big smack. Don’t let go of that question, just file it away for a bit.

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 month ago

      Why is that even a concern? Frankly, they should be pushing for legislation that disqualifies senior citizens anyway and he’ll be almost 70 when his turn comes around. Just retire, guys. You’ve earned it.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 month ago

        It’s a concern because that’s how things generally work.

        Sure, you can wish we don’t have ancient, out of touch older people running for office, but you’ll have just as much success with that by banging your head on the keyboard. So you should be concerned until things turn out otherwise.

    • Aceticon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 month ago

      People really do think that quick-smart is not a good thing in women???!

      If so, I bet it’s just the ones who take it really badly when they’re outsmarted.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        What samus12345 said, and people don’t like a woman who behaves the same way a man would in a professional environment - and I mean someone who is demanding, disciplines, is decisive, and holds people to expectations. A good boss does those things, tempered with understanding and leeway as needed. People expect women to hide all that behind some sort of female softness, or they call her a hard-nosed bitch or worse and they don’t respect her the way they would a male in the same position.

    • Hikermick@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      I like to think there will be a time in the near future when Americans will want there president to be laid back and somewhat boring

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        We should be so luck to ever see a time where the president doesn’t need to make a hard decision. Don’t think that’ll ever happen.

  • DancingBear@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 month ago

    Those who wanted Shapiro or another VP pick are just crybabies who are mad they arent getting everything they wanted.

    • Baylahoo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      Honest question, who outside of PA wanted Shapiro? I’ve heard even PA people say it wasn’t a good choice. Not sure if I’m just out of the loop though.

      • kandoh@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        I see the logic of it. He’s the governor of arguably the most important state of the election. If you think he could help win in Pennsylvania without costing too many votes from the only other 6 states that matter it would be a good pick

        • Baylahoo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          I was reading that he would probably hurt the surrounding 6 more than many other options and wasn’t that much of a lock for PA itself. Probably not worth the tradeoff. Make several virtual locks and maybe swing PA vs make some of the 6 less sure and still be shaky in PA anyways. PA is important but potentially so much of a tossup that too many eggs in one basket may cost several surprise other places.

  • jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    9
    ·
    1 month ago

    They forgot quotes; by “left” and “progressive” they mean republican-lites.


    The left’s romance with Walz is deeply entwined with hostility to his chief rival for a spot on the ticket: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Harris’s decision on Shapiro, who has a history of hostility with the party’s pro-Palestinian faction, had become seen as a bellwether for whether she’d be meaningfully different from Biden on Gaza. Walz looked like the most progressive available anti-Shapiro, and so emerged as the left’s preferred alternative.

    The Minnesota Miracle reforms, enacted in a single legislative session, read like a progressive wishlist. They include paid family leave, free school meals, marijuana legalization, a 100 percent clean energy mandate by 2040, and a slew of protections for organized labor.

    But I use the word “progressive” and not its cousin “leftist” deliberately. The Minnesota Miracle policies are all squarely within the Democratic mainstream: none betray an ideological commitment to the party’s socialist or otherwise radical wings.

    But Walz’s position on Israel-Palestine is hardly left-wing. The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg has put together a list of Walz’s positions and actions that basically reflect the traditional pro-Israel consensus. Walz’s position on how to end the current Gaza war is virtually identical to Shapiro’s. The most important difference is less Middle East policy than domestic: Shapiro has been far harsher on pro-Palestine campus protests than Walz has.

    The strongest Trump attack on Harris, at least to date, is that she’s too far to the left. Scored by one (dubious) metric as the most liberal member of the Senate in 2019, she has drawn Republican flak for previous positions ranging from Medicare-for-all to banning fracking to decriminalizing border crossing.

    Moreover, his celebrity status on the left gives Harris crucial running room to keep up the strategic centrism. By handing her left flank a victory, she’s theoretically built major credibility that she can spend to defray a left-wing revolt over some of her more centrist stances.