Well, you’ve got to hand it to Tim Walz: Usually, when he makes disgusting comments, it’s on purpose.
For instance, take his first speech as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. He used the quite serious occasion to make a disgusting joke regarding a fake internet rumor about Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, once having sexual relations with a couch — because that’s what you want to think about when you think about the man who’s a heartbeat away from the presidency.
This time, however, the Minnesota governor appears to have gotten a bit, ahem, inappropriate accidentally.
According to WXMI, Walz made the remarks during a stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city he said the race for the presidency “could very well go right through.”
What got reported, of course, was all the joy and vibes stuff.
“This guy is stuck in the past,” Walz said regarding Trump. “[Harris] is focused on the future of this country, the bright future that each and every one of us get to partake in.”
“What is unforgivable is him stealing our joy. So here’s the thing, Kamala Harris is bringing not only solutions that focus on you, she’s doing it with a smile and joy on her face.”
Uh, yes. So about that last part.
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While giving a paean to the woman atop the ticket, Walz recounted the early years of her career.
Kamala’s career “started — and I love this story — as a young prostitutor, Kamala Harris talked about going in that courtroom for the first time.”
You can tell from the halting nature of his speech after that gaffe that he knows he screwed up — bigly:
Tim Walz just called Kamala a “young prostitute-r” when relaying a story about her younger days. pic.twitter.com/sM14b9blmv
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 12, 2024
So, in case you don’t know the context here — and believe you me, the Harris campaign has desperately attempted to make sure nobody does — back when she was in her 20s, Harris dated former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who was then in his 60s and the speaker of the California Assembly.
Mr. Brown was a flamboyant figure in California politics, best known for a procession of girlfriends who were, um, definitely not his wife. (To be fair, the two seem to have an arrangement where they’ve been estranged since 1981, with her giving him approval to pursue what, in a video game context, might be called “side quests.”)
“A 1994 Los Angeles Times report about then-California Assembly Speaker Brown’s ‘rush to hand out patronage jobs’ described Harris as Brown’s ‘frequent companion’ and said several people referred to her as Brown’s girlfriend,” USA Today reported.
“That report also cited a column from the Chronicle’s Herb Caen that called Harris ‘the Speaker’s new steady.’ When they met, she was 29 and Brown was 60.”
In a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019, Brown admitted he “may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker.”
NEW: Governor Tim Walz refers to Kamala Harris’ early career as a “young prostitutor.”
“Because this started, and I love this story. As a young prostitutor, Kamala Harris talked about going in that courtroom for the first time.”
Walz claim is incorrect as Kamala Harris started… pic.twitter.com/VaUllUVHZr
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 13, 2024
Now, in perfect fairness, Harris would acknowledge that her relationship with Brown was an “albatross hanging around my neck,” in part because of the patronage scandals and in part because of other corruption allegations that he faced during his time in office, according to USA Today.
“His career is over; I will be alive and kicking for the next 40 years. I do not owe him a thing,” she told SF Weekly when she was running for San Francisco district attorney in 2003. “If there is corruption, it will be prosecuted.”
It’s worth noting that, while they had broken up eight years prior, Brown also still supported her in that race.
“I have also helped the careers of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a host of other politicians,” he said in the letter to the Chronicle.
Yes, but to the best of my knowledge, he didn’t give any of them a BMW — which, um, he did with Harris. Just saying.
That being said, if entering into such a relationship with Willie Brown ensured you the same career trajectory as Kamala Harris, California would have 573 U.S. senators, all female. However, it doesn’t hurt to get leg up at the beginning of one’s career from a man who was old enough that someone once mistook Kamala for his daughter, according to the New York Post.
And also, it’s good to see Tim Walz shocking a crowd by accidentally being inappropriate. Finally, an untoward laugh that wasn’t intentional.
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