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Media Outlets Are All in Agreement About the 'Joy' in Kamala's Campaign and the 'Folksy' Pick of Tim Walz

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Aug 12, 2024
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Democratic Custodial Services – ASSOCIATED PRESS

  • She does not need to campaign because journalists do not need to do their jobs.

It has been over three weeks since Kamala Harris was named the Democrat choice — and still, she has yet to conduct a formal interview or press conference. One would normally expect the press to have begun questioning her avoidance of their questions. Instead, the Associated Press is defending the decision. David Bauder is so intent on praising Harris for this cagey strategy he chooses to threaten his very profession on her behalf.

Not only is she wise not to do any interviews with the press, but journalists might be foolish to think this will be standard practice going forward:

For journalists, the larger lesson is that their role as presidential gatekeepers is probably diminishing forever.

Matching Media Memorandum Pt.1 – VARIOUS OUTLETS

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  • The press has been instructed to declare this election to be a "joy" ride!

The collective media swoon over Kamala will not cease, and so long as they continue to report rhapsodically on her campaign, there is no need for her to commit to conventional campaign practices – such as interviews or even posting her policy agenda on the campaign website. Why bother when the press is obediently spewing all the instructed talking points they are fed?

See if you can pick up on the narrative the press is unsubtly selling to the masses. We might have to start referring to Kamala backers as The Joy Division:

  • THE NEW YORK TIMES – Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy Is Fueling Her CampaignHarris is Campaigning On Joy - Trump 

  • WASHINGTON POST – Harris and Walz Seize On a Joyful Message

  • NBC NEWS – Joy is the Harris-Walz Superpower

  • MSNBC – “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz campaign with joy!”

  • TIME – The Power of Tim Walz’s Joyful Charm

  • NPR – Harris and Walz Reintroduce Joy To the Democrats

  • AXIOS – “This election is about more than two very different ideologies. It's about two very different moods: joy vs. rage.”

  • LOS ANGELES TIMES – Can Joy Win Voters Over?

  • PBS – Harris Is Campaigning On Joy - Trump Says Dark Mood Matches the Country

  • ASSOCIATED PRESS – Harris is pushing joy. Trump paints a darker picture.

  • USA Today – Kamala Harris emphasizes joy and policy differences at Las Vegas rally

  • THE GUARDIAN – Democrats’ Joy Is Unconfined As Harris Walz Take Upbeat Message

  • SALON – "Bringing back the joy": Kamala Harris' rally blows away JD Vance's weird appearance

Matching Media Memorandum Pt. 2 – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Are you all lacking in a thesaurus or was there no other word permitted by the DNC to describe the guy?!

David Harsanyi picked up on another trend of the sycophantic press corps with this campaign, and it was about the description of her running mate, the problematic Tim Walz. 

It is almost as if there was some kind of quota required of the news outlets that they had to call Walz “folksy” by a deadline.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE NEW YORK TIMES

In a very curious feature from Richard Fausset, the reporter went to a music festival in South Carolina and seemed dismayed that conservatives and people on the right were having a good time. Why this is odd or a problem is not really defined, and you get the sense that Fausset struggled with the concept. His detailed report was rife with contradictions, almost as if he was expecting nothing but a herd of angry, bellowing undesirables. It begins in the headline.

“Kid Rock Threw the Party. MAGA Faithful Brought the Joy, Rage and Smirnoff Ice.” While Fausset floods his opening paragraphs with continual references to “the MAGA movement,” he also declares this two-day “Rock The Country” festival, headlined by Jason Aldean, was not a political gathering:

The shows felt like Trump rallies without the former president, unburdened by policy talk, speeches from lesser-known G.O.P. players, and the buzz-kill tendencies of Mr. Trump himself.

He goes on to struggle with the realization that the concertgoers were not fully aligned and operating with a hive mind, and spoke to tailgaters who were in favor of and against abortion. You mean…they were not fighting each other and causing trouble over a political difference? IMAGINE! He feels supremely confused as he reports on “a dizzying mash-up of hedonism and piety, angry rebellion and beer-guzzling pursuit of happiness.”

Legalized Press-titution – TIME MAGAZINE

  • The obligatory Time cover christening has taken place!

It is with little surprise that we have been granted the fawning Time Magazine cover treatment for Kamala Harris. The comedy, beyond the slobbering coverage, is the description of how this is a “reintroduction” of Harris. Well, once you consider she has mostly been missing for most of her tenure as VP, I suppose reintroducing her to the public is needed.

Making this all the more mirthful is that Time has spent the past years glorifying and propping up Biden on the front of the periodical, and look how well THAT turned out!

Pre-Written Field Reports – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • It took a little more than three weeks, but there is the compulsory French flop.

It was only a matter of time, right? David French – who is anti-Trump, in case you missed any of the 19 dozen other pieces he has written on the man – has come out with his trademarked David French column about how he, as David French, does not like Trump. That established, David French will be voting for Kamala, in typical David French fashion.

Oh, and he is doing this for the sake of saving conservatism. Like saving the economy by voting for a communist, or voting for an atheist to save Christianity, David is making as much sense here.