Friday, 01 November 2024

NBC Buoyed by ‘Raucous Opening’ for ‘Plainspoken’ Walz Oozing ‘Relatability’

Newsbusters
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Wednesday on NBC’s Today, the red carpet was rolled out for Vice President Kamala Harris’s new running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), cheering the “raucous opening rally” a day earlier to celebrate Harris naming a “plainspoken”, “progressive” man oozing “relatability” with “small town, Midwestern roots” and supports “LGBTQ protections”.

“That’s the ticket. A raucous opening rally for Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz,” announced co-hsot Savannah Guthrie in a tease.

Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander had the lead-off report cheering the spin that “the campaign believes Walz small town Midwestern roots will really appeal to voters”.

“Harris, sources say, was swayed in part by Walz’s biography. A former school teacher and football coach, served more than two decades in the Army National Guard before entering politics, winning a rural Trump district in Congress before becoming the state’s governor,” he added.

Like with Scott, Alexander touted clips of but not pushback for Walz attacking Trumpas being responsible for the pandemic crime wave (not the far-left riots and Soros-backed district attorneys) and smearing Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as an elitist.

Eventually, Alexander allowed a Republican response, minimizing it to “[t]he Trump campaign seizing on Walz’s governorship, including his progressive policies on abortion and transgender rights, and his response during protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020.”

Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker came next with more fluff about the “plainspoken” Walz who supports “LGBTQ protections”, but flashed a tinge of disappointment Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) wasn’t selected (click “expand”):

WELKER: So, he’s someone who’s really energizing the base. And then, I’ve been talking to sources overnight within the Democratic Party, the word that I keep hearing over and over again? Plain spoken. They see him as someone who can reach out, who can communicate with voters in those critical rust belt states, and so, I think that was key as well. But look, one Democratic lawmaker did say to me overnight, boy, if Pennsylvania is razor close, it may have been nice to have Josh Shapiro on that ticket.

GUTHRIE: Yeah, the governor of Pennsylvania was also a shortlister.

WELKER: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: It seems like the Trump campaign is signaling that they are breathing a sigh of relief that he was not chosen. But let’s talk about Tim Walz and how the Trump campaign may decide to attack him. What are the grounds there?

(....)

WELKER: So, you’re already seeing the Trump campaign trying to make the case this is the most, in their words, radical ticket in U.S. history. They are going to attack his policies, everything from the fact that he enshrined abortion rights to expanding background checks for gun buyers as well as the LGBTQ protections he passed in his state. So, it’s going to be the burden of the Harris campaign to fire back. How is he going to that? I’m been talking to Democrats overnight. They say he’s got to flood the airwaves. He has to not just make use of the Democratic National Convention coming up, but engage in debates and interview and introduce himself to the American public.

Like ABC’s Selina Wang, NBC trotted out senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson for a lame biographical look at Walz.

Along with his military service (which she didn’t mention came to an end when he didn’t want to go to Iraq), Jackson played him up as both a “moderate” and “progressive” and fretted “conservatives [are] taking aim at” his record on “gender affirming care for trans youth, eligibility for driver’s licences for undocumented immigrants, and new gun restrictions like background checks”:

To see the relevant transcript from August 7, click here.


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