‘Fun Midwestern Dad’ or ‘Radical’? How Partisan Media Is Covering Walz

Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, has cultivated an Everyman persona throughout his political career, cajoling his vegetarian daughter to eat a corn dog at the state fair, posting videos of himself suggesting simple fixes to car problems and calling Republicans “weird” on cable television. And after he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate on Tuesday, partisan media outlets on the left and right either leaned into that characterization or rejected it outright. Writers and commentators at liberal outlets used adjectives like “normal” and “vanilla” to describe his potential appeal to voters in swing states, all while praising Mr. Walz’s stances on progressive issues like abortion and gay rights. Though some conservative outlets acknowledged Mr. Walz’s “ folksy manner,” they suggested it was a sheen that could obscure what they called dangerously radical, far-left views on issues like immigration and abortion. Here’s how the vice-presidential pick was covered by partisan outlets on each side: FROM THE LEFT MSNBC Since President Biden announced he would not be running for re-election and endorsed Ms. Harris, left-learning outlets have depicted Mr. Walz, warmly, as an ordinary figure. Commentators for MSNBC, the liberal network, were enthused about Ms. Harris’s choice, and used words like “a straight, white guy from the Midwest” and “Coach Walz” to describe Mr. Walz, a reference to his experience coaching high school football. In online essays, opinion writers referred to him as embodying a “ wholesome, happy warrior persona” and as “ aggressively ‘normal.’” “This is America’s dad, America’s football coach, America’s teacher and a teacher that’s cool enough without trying to be cool,” Ari Melber, the MSNBC host of “The Beat,” said after Mr. Walz’s speech Tuesday night. In an opinion essay published Wednesday on MSNBC, the columnist Paul Waldman wrote that Mr. Walz’s physical appearance as well as his ability to criticize Republicans “with a smile” would help Democrats win back rural voters in November. “Not only did he grow up in rural Nebraska, as Trump might say, he is straight from central casting for the role of ‘Midwestern Dad,’” Mr. Waldman wrote. FROM THE LEFT HuffPost HuffPost, a liberal outlet, on Tuesday described Mr. Walz in terms that framed him as relatable. One article called him “pretty bald” and a “Midwestern Democrat who likes to joke around.” “Walz’s plain-spoken approach to politics and willingness to engage with people on social media like a normal person has attracted many fans,” wrote Jennifer Bendery and Arthur Delaney, both senior reporters at the publication. In a blog post published on Tuesday night, the HuffPost reporter Marina Fang referred to Mr. Walz as a “Fun Midwestern Dad,” and another article from Mr. Delaney said Ms. Harris’s pick of Mr. Walz suggested she was “leaning into the idea that Democrats are the party of normal and Republicans are weird.” FROM THE RIGHT Breitbart Conservative outlets have been skeptical of the picture that Mr. Walz has cultivated, and on Tuesday they questioned whether that carriage belied his political stances. They hammered him for legislation he signed into law as governor, including measures that expanded abortion rights and made undocumented immigrants eligible for driver’s licenses in Minnesota. Breitbart, a conservative news and opinion outlet, was among the most critical of Mr. Walz on Tuesday. It published dozens of articles that called into question his fitness for the office. One article’s headline referred to Mr. Walz as “ creepy” for making a joke about Mr. Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. In an interview on Breitbart’s daily podcast Tuesday, Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, a Republican, said Mr. Walz was a “Minneapolis liberal” and “gym teacher activist.” “This is not a leader; this is a political activist that, quite frankly, doesn’t belong in the White House,” Mr. Emmer said. FROM THE RIGHT Newsmax Commentators on Newsmax, a conservative news outlet, denounced Mr. Walz as an extreme figure, and predicted that his image and policy positions would make it harder for Ms. Harris to win in November. But they also seemed to agree with liberal outlets about his image. Greg Kelly, the host of “Greg Kelly Reports” on Newsmax, said on his show that Mr. Walz had positive attributes, including that he “looks a lot like a social studies teacher” and “likes to fish,” while saying Ms. Harris made a poor choice by selecting “a guy who’s just as radical and strange as she is.” “How do we get here to where a relatively nondescript but very, very liberal guy is the Democratic nominee for vice president?” Mr. Kelly said. “This is the most woke, left-wing candidate she could have picked, out of all the names that surfaced,” Matt Schlapp, a conservative activist, said during a guest appearance on “National Report” Tuesday. 2024 Elections, The Huffington Post