The Stream

The Brew: ‘Stolen Valor’ Charge Puts Heat on Harris’s Running Mate

By Al Perrotta Published on August 8, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Happy Thursday!

Today’s Brew should come with some Aleve for Kamala Harris, because her choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate is already providing serious headaches.

Harris has now gone 18 days at the top of the Democratic ticket without doing one interview, or even a quick Q&A on the tarmac with the reporters who are paid to follow her around. (Oddly enough, Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, chatted with the reporters who were awaiting Harris’s arrival in Wisconsin on Wednesday for a Harris-Walz rally.)

Walz’s “Stolen Valor”?

Sure enough, as predicted in yesterday’s Brew, Tim Walz’s military service record has blown into a full scandal. Of primary concern is the accusation of stolen valor. The Democratic nominee has repeatedly claimed, while arguing for gun control, “I carried weapons of war in war.”

Walz has never served in combat — only in a support role from Italy. In fact, Walz ditched the National Guard to run for Congress after his unit was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq, which, as we’ll see, led to accusations that he abandoned his unit in a time of need.

Walz dodged questions about the matter after arriving in Wisconsin Wednesday.

Walz’s Borrowed Rank?

Another issue is the allegation that Walz exaggerated his rank. Walz has claimed for years, including in his official gubernatorial biography, that he retired from the military as a command sergeant major. The Minnesota National Guard confirmed Wednesday to Just the News that, while Walz temporarily held the title of command sergeant major, he “retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”

Moreover, he abruptly retired as the unit he commanded was prepping to deploy to Iraq, an action Retired U.S. Army Reserve Major General Tom Haake told Just the News would have a “deleterious” effect on those who’d been under his command.

“The Command Sergeant Major is the highest enlisted rank in a unit and is the key person ensuring the troops are prepared, logistically, emotionally, and any other way, for the mission,” he said.

Vance jumped all over Walz during a Q&A with reporters.

“You know what really bothers me about Tim Walz, as a Marine who served his country in uniform? When the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it … When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq … he dropped out of the Army.”

Two veterans from the Minnesota National Guard put it more directly when they raised the issue during Walz’s 2018 gubernatorial run: “The bottom line in all of this is gut-wrenching and sad to explain,” Command Sergeants Major Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr said in an open letter. “When the nation called, he quit.”

Abortion Slightly Up in U.S. Since Fall of Roe v. Wade

Abortions are slightly up in the U.S. in the first three months of 2024, compared to the months preceding the June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

This would be due to the lengths to which blue states went to expand abortion rights in the wake of the decision. The #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning specifically cites blue states that passed laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans.

Even before Dobbs, Democrat-controlled states were expanding abortion projects. Take Minnesota, where Tim Walz signed one of the nation’s most radical pro-abortion laws, allowing a fetus to be killed up to the moment of birth for any reason at all. That’s what Harris and Walz think “freedom” is.

Hey, Tim. The tools of the abortionist are also weapons of war. Except in this case, the “enemy,” the unborn child, has no means of defense.

Recycling, Political Style: Dems Try Labeling Tim Walz “America’s Dad” Just Like They Did Tim Kaine in 2016

While certainly not as serious as the above topics, the next is worth observing to note the cultural manipulation.

I had thought the unlikable-female-Democratic-presidential-candidate-picking-a-jovial-white-guy thing sounded familiar. But I didn’t know how familiar until yesterday afternoon.

You may have noticed that since Harris announced her choice of Tim Walz was picked, the media have been playing him up as “America’s Dad.’ Jack Posobiec showed Wednesday that theme is a direct ripoff from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine.

Mollie Hemingway also weighed in. “Sometimes it seems the entire modern left is built on daddy issues,” she noted. “Which is genuinely sad. Good men are needed for a healthy, functioning society.”

A couple of points on this “America’s Dad” business: First, a dad who cared about America wouldn’t give his daughter sensitive information in the middle of a riot so she could post it on social media to alert rioters where the cops were.

Second of all, they used to call Bill Cosby “America’s Dad.” How’d that work out?

Christians Arrested in Paris For Driving Around in a Bus Painted “Stop Attacks on Christians”

You think gymnasts get turned upside down? How about the rest of the world?

Six Christians from CitizenGo have been arrested in Paris for driving around in a bus painted with the message “Stop Attacks on Christians.” The group was protesting the Olympics opening ceremony’s parody of the Last Supper.

As Not the Bee summarized:

You’re not allowed to spread messages telling people to stop the mockery of Christianity, though if your message mocks Christianity you’re just fine and it’ll be televised globally for everyone to see.

Along The Stream

Welcome Frank Kaufmann, who brings us “Your God-Given Right to Have Your Vote Count.”

The latest “Conversations With Christians Engaged” podcast is up. Today, a powerful message from Kyle Lance Martin.

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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