Here's what we know about the 'Stolen Valor' allegations against Kamala Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz: (1) Multiple accounts over the years have described him as an Iraq or Afghanistan War veteran, which he is not -- including a book Walz endorsed. (2) Walz has repeatedly and publicly claimed a retired military rank that he didn't actually earn. (3) When his unit was expected to be ordered to Iraq in 2005, he retired early and left the military, heading home to become a politician. More on that below. (4) In addition to leaving the false impression through carefully-worded descriptions that he'd served in combat zones, Walz made this point in explaining his own pro-gun control political flip flop:
The problem with saying journalists made a mistake is...Walz himself has said he carried weapons 'in war'.
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D. (@neoavatara) August 7, 2024
Editing past articles isn't going to fix this. https://t.co/jFaihQzuBN
Let's set aside the dispute over whether AR-15's are actually 'weapons of war.' Walz never "carried weapons in war" because he was never in a war. He served for decades, which is commendable, but the closest to the front he got was Italy, in a support role. That's not a problem, but embellishments and deceptions are. It's also extra galling to see him use an untrue claim about having carried a gun "in war" as justification for his reversal on disarming law-abiding American citizens (Kamala Harris has endorsed gun confiscation). Taken in isolation, some of Walz's falsehoods and exaggerations may seem like nitpicking. Taken together, it's a problematic pattern, and it has deeply bothered many of the men who served under him for years. Watch this interview with one of them, a man who was Walz's second in command. Pay attention to how he describes Walz's departure from the military, just before his men were sent to Iraq. Walz had never served in a combat zone, which is not a reflection on him or his service. But when there was a strong likelihood that would change, and he's quoted as knowing as much (saying he'd have a 'responsibility' to go and serve there), he bailed and ran for office:
Here is the best explanation. From @AlphaNewsMN. pic.twitter.com/qxKVhy2Wry
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 7, 2024
Notice how Walz's spokesperson and Walz himself flippantly respond to the accusations. Walz suggests that people engaged in these "partisan attacks" are typically people who never wore the uniform. But these men absolutely did wear the uniform. They did so with, and under, him. He then disparages the critics as 19-year-old military cooks, as if they're young grunt soldiers who aren't worthy of being heard. Neither of these demeaning comments are denials, notably. And both intentionally distort the identities of the men leveling the allegations against him. It's a really bad look. For what it's worth, Harris aides didn't deny he 'embellished,' and the campaign has 'tweaked' Walz's bio. He's been doing this for years, despite people calling him on it, privately then publicly, over and over again. The media wouldn't touch it, probably unwilling to participate in another deserved 'swift-boating' of a prominent Democrat. Stolen Valor refers not only to lying about military service, but also lying about the extent of military service. Here are the receipts before certain websites delete even more of the internet in service of a Democratic talking point. Realizing how bad of a look this is, the 'news' media has largely sprung into action to protect their political party's ticket. Just look at them go:
They keep desperately moving the goalposts and hoping you won’t notice.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 8, 2024
Vance never said Walz lied about serving in combat. He said he lied about going to war and his rank, which he did.pic.twitter.com/6h3ah6HdsD
This is ridiculous. From what I’ve seen @JDVance has been remarkably disciplined in framing his USMC service & Iraq deployment (esp vs Walz). Combat Correspondent was JD’s actual MOS + he served in a combat zone. Only thing deceptive here is CNN’s framing. pic.twitter.com/70ajHILbVp
— Peter Meijer (@RepMeijer) August 8, 2024
Notice Andrea Mitchell's framing, claiming that Vance criticized Walz for never being in combat.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 7, 2024
That's just an outright lie. https://t.co/85blezsNaI
Vance deployed to a combat zone. Walz never did, but has made several false claims to the contrary. Also, ABC, Vance isn’t ‘accusing’ Walz of these things — Walz’s former unit members are. https://t.co/kG8q8o0jTQ
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 8, 2024
The point I made in that last tweet bears repeating: The media is trying to turn this into a 'Vance accusation,' just like they try to frame absolutely true facts as 'Trump accusations' against Harris. Vance is giving voice to men who served under Walz, who have been driving this series of accusations. They feel betrayed by Walz, and they see him being dishonest about it in furtherance of political ambitions. Have a problem with the accusations? Take it up with the guys. They don't want to do that, so they lie, muddy the waters, shift goalposts, and present the matter as a partisan he-said-he-said dispute. Apparently, Vance's military record (about which he hasn't lied) has been so ignored by the national press that top Harris surrogates aren't even aware of it:
Top Harris surrogate @TinaSmithMN: I'm not aware of any military service that @JDVance has ever served.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 7, 2024
(JD Vance served in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq) pic.twitter.com/h5YeBNDz0T
"Yeah, okay." Oops. I'll leave you with this:
Pretending to be deaf is apparently a go-to move for this guy: https://t.co/zKtjYkKNig pic.twitter.com/w0JNAZUgd0
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 7, 2024
What a guy. His awful views seem to match his character. And this is the person Kamala Harris chose to run with, in her only significant decision of her campaign.
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