Why, one must wonder, did Kamala Harris not select a popular governor of a big swing state to serve as her running mate? Why, instead, did she end up choosing a polarizing leftist from a troubled Democratic enclave, Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz?
In the WSJ, James Freeman answers, or at least attempts to give it a go. Elusive as the answer may be, “it seems that Democrats’ obsession with identity politics is as bad for their party as it is for the country.”
From Edward-Isaac Dove at CNN:
The Minnesota governor — whom Harris ultimately picked — was asked by her vetting team if he had ever been an agent of China, prompted by aides’ review of the multiple trips Walz took to China before running for office…
The four people involved with the vetting process argue that the question of being a foreign agent is standard on the forms all the politicians hoping to be picked were asked to fill out, and which is the same form used for all high-level federal government appointees. Remus’ additional questions, they say, were also a natural expansion on the form as Shapiro entered the finalist stage of consideration.
“The crux of vetting is asking uncomfortable and even farfetched questions, especially ones that could be raised by your opponents. ‘Have you ever had an affair?’ ‘Have you ever embezzled state funds?’ ‘Have you ever been an agent for another country?’ The point isn’t that you believe any of it to be true,” said a person close to Remus. “It’s that the subject needs to be on record with definitive answers.”
People familiar with the matter said…
…in his own conversation, Tim Walz said no when asked if he was a foreign agent
A spokesperson for Harris declined comment. A spokesperson for Walz did not return comment.
Remembering the Tiananmen Square Massacre
The falsehoods Mr. Walz has told about his visits to China and even his claims appear to be just plain weird.
Aaron Pellish, Andrew Kaczynski, and Em Steck reported for CNN (2024):
China has long held a significant place in Walz’s life since he first traveled to the country in 1989. Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, were married on June 4, 1994 – the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and spent their honeymoon leading students in an educational trip to China, something Walz did regularly during his time as a teacher before joining Congress. Ahead of their wedding, Gwen Walz told the Nebraska-based Star-Herald newspaper that they planned to get married on the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary because “he wanted to have a date he’ll always remember.”
How on earth, asks Mr. Freeman, did Ms. Harris decide to select this incredible governor with the strange Chinese history from a state she was supposed to win anyway, and who was presiding over a jurisdiction where taxpayers were being defrauded on an astounding scale? Even if the media pack was largely ignoring the Minnesota mess, surely her “vetting team” must have noticed it?
The former vice president is not exactly known for a fanatical commitment to research and preparation, so it makes it especially hard to fathom a “vetting team.”
Given Walz’s voluminous record of misstatements, concerning foreign travels and dysfunctional governance, begs the question, what exactly did the vetting team recommend to Kamala Harris?
