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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024

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Kamala's VP pick is in: Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota. Shapiro was apparently off the board because of some botched case from a decade ago. Although Walz is an unknown to most American voters, he conveys "midwestern good vibes" and seems like a pleasant enough white guy. Probably will be harder to go after than JD vance. Any minnesotans got any cool stories about him?

The Harris campaign simply never misses.

It's telling that in two weeks MAGA went from assured of total victory to stolen election mode:

https://x.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1819726527141208279

As urban youth would say, they shook.

Harris is bad product with good marketing, so I continue to be near certain she ends up dragging in the polls when the honeymoon period ends and she actually makes public appearances.

I've been asking blue teamers to name the most impressive achievement attributable to Harris.

Aside from "got picked as VP" then "got picked as Presidential candidate" there's literally nothing. Every other attempt to rehab her image failed, too. She's got almost every liability Biden has aside from age, yet none of the experience or achievements to her name.

Unless they pull the "she makes no appearances publicly unless absolutely necessary" strategy that Biden pioneered, there's simply no possible way her public persona improves the current situation, and many ways it harms it.

Ironically Walz might have been chosen simply because he's really good at putting a decent spin on his own bad policies and that's literally what Harris needs to do right now.

I continue to be near certain she ends up dragging in the polls when the honeymoon period ends

When was the last time a democrat nominee's honeymoon period didn't last until election day? Dukakis in '88?

Kerry got absolutely soaked in 2004. The amount of credibility given to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was ASTOUNDING!

Can anyone give me the rundown on Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Curtis Yarvin seems to think they were obviously right, and that it was the shameless media pile-on that pulled the term “swiftboating” out of the air and discredited them off of nothing.

I was too young back then to follow this stuff, so I have legitimately o clue who’s right.

I can give a broad overview.

Post Vietnam war there was basically a domestic truce declared between the pro-war and anti-war sides. People who served in the war were patriots who loyally served their country. War protesters were patriots who wouldn't let their countrymen die in a misguided war.

When Kerry got back from Vietnam he became a major figure in the protest movement. There's some dispute about what he actually said personally, but he at least associated and sat on panels with people who were saying horrible things about US soldiers. People from his old unit got at least the impression that he was saying he saw them commit horrific war crimes.

Since this was back in the 70s there aren't many recordings showing exactly what he said when.

Once things quieted down it wasn't heavily criticized due the de facto truce and he went about his political career.

Then in 2004 when he was running for President he wanted to play up his war record. Bush only served in the air national guard while Kerry was deployed and won a silver star. Bush is a little younger than Kerry and got a deferral to help on one of his father's campaigns. By the time he would have been deployed things were winding down in Vietnam and the NG didn't really need him for anything.

In the Presidential campaign Kerry cast himself as a proud veteran. Meanwhile other swift boat veterans were still pissed off at him. They had been quietly shit talking him for 30 years.

Some of them got in contact with Republican organizers and we got a bunch of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads.

Basically a bunch of people who had reason to dislike him came forward and badmouthed his claims about his military service. I have no idea what the truth is or the specifics of the claims.

The Dems organizers didn't really understand that just because other veterans weren't talking about him publicly didn't mean they didn't still carry a grudge. They don't run in the same social circles.

So from the Dem point of view it was a manufactured conspiracy that came out of nowhere.

Interestingly there seems to be similar situation brewing with Walz.

https://facebook.com/story.php?id=100006969510534&story_fbid=2192944367614526

That post is from 2018 but i expect that it will be either memoryholed or suddenly relevant shortly.