On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) faced off for the vice presidential debate on CBS News. Walz was reportedly feeling nervous ahead of time, and it certainly showed. Arguably his worst moment was when he was confronted by co-moderator Margaret Brennan for lying about being in Hong Kong for the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. It's just one of many examples from the pathological liar, and Walz had to know it was coming. He still seriously flubbed his response, and yet the media keep covering for him.
Here's how the exchange went, per the CBS News transcript:
MB: ...We want to ask you about your leadership qualities, Governor Walz. You said you were in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protest in the spring of 1989. But Minnesota Public Radio and other media outlets are reporting that you actually didn't travel to Asia until August of that year. Can you explain that discrepancy? You have two minutes.
TW: Yeah. Well, and to the folks out there who didn't get at the top of this, look, I grew up in small, rural Nebraska, town of 400. Town that you rode your bike with your buddies till the streetlights come on, and I'm proud of that service. I joined the National Guard at 17, worked on family farms, and then I used the GI bill to become a teacher. Passionate about it, a young teacher. My first year out, I got the opportunity in the summer of 89 to travel to China, 35 years ago, be able to do that. I came back home and then started a program to take young people there. We would take basketball teams, we would take baseball teams, we would take dancers, and we would go back and forth to China. The issue for that was, was to try and learn. Now, look, my community knows who I am. They saw where I was at. They, look, I will be the first to tell you I have poured my heart into my community. I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect. And I'm a knucklehead at times, but it's always been about that. Those same people elected me to Congress for twelve years. And in Congress I was one of the most bipartisan people. Working on things like farm bills that we got done, working on veterans benefits. And then the people of Minnesota were able to elect me to governor twice. So look, my commitment has been from the beginning, to make sure that I'm there for the people, to make sure that I get this right. I will say more than anything, many times, I will talk a lot. I will get caught up in the rhetoric. But being there, the impact it made, the difference it made in my life. I learned a lot about China. I hear the critiques of this. I would make the case that Donald Trump should have come on one of those trips with us. I guarantee you he wouldn't be praising Xi Jinping about COVID. And I guarantee you he wouldn't start a trade war that he ends up losing. So this is about trying to understand the world. It's about trying to do the best you can for your community, and then it's putting yourself out there and letting your folks understand what it is. My commitment, whether it be through teaching, which I was good at, or whether it was being a good soldier or was being a good member of Congress, those are the things that I think are the values that people care about.
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Even Brennan seemed unimpressed, and offered Walz a chance for follow up. He did no better, and they went to commercial break.
The moment was thoroughly mocked, including during Wednesday night's monologue of "Gutfeld!" on Fox News.
Tim Walz is digging himself deeper and deeper.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 2, 2024
This is NOT going well for him. pic.twitter.com/xbQoyGL69P
On Thursday morning, CBS News posted a headline about how Walz had "misspoken."
The headline also seemed to further cover for him, "Tim Walz says he had his dates wrong, admits he didn't travel to China until August 1989." The write-up noted he "sought to clarify comments he has made..."
"Responding to a question about his remarks from CBS News in Middleville, Pennsylvania, Walz corrected himself and admitted he had his dates wrong, adding that he needs to be clearer when he speaks," the article later mentioned.
The post has been hit with over 1,000 replies, with both pro-Walz and anti-Walz users taking issue with such a framing.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz admitted during the debate that he had previously misspoken in 2014 when he said he was in mainland China between April and June 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests. https://t.co/ZsI7uBLNqH
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 3, 2024
Misspoke is code for I’m a liar and got caught.. at this point I would call the guy a serial Liar.
— Sherri KC (@kc_sherri) October 3, 2024
He “misspeaks” a lot.
— Uncommon Sense (@Uncommo35389704) October 3, 2024
Fact check: FALSE. He lied.
— Jackie Paige (@JPaigeWWJ) October 3, 2024
Walz has lied about several topics, including an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, his DUI from 1995, how his children were conceived, and how he's represented his military service.
The China angle is also further problematic for Walz, who has praised socialism. Earlier this week, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for relevant documentation on Walz's ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
These further lies were not mentioned by CBS News during the debate, and their write-up also included comments from Walz's supporters defending him. Such a write-up even went after Vance for his answer about certifying the 2020 election at end of the debate.
Walz even said during Tuesday night's debate that "infertility treatments are why I have a child." That remark, and his past lies on IVF, went unaddressed.
Tim Walz, who publicly LIED about using IVF to conceive his own children, now says:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 2, 2024
"Infertility treatments are why I have a child!" pic.twitter.com/TFLPQJyFNr
Also on Thursday, POLITICO posted about how Walz "has a tendency to misspeak" and how it "may haunt the campaign."
Such an article bent over backwards to avoiding pointing out that Walz has lied, and to highlight how other candidates do the same.
As the piece began:
Tim Walz has a problem misspeaking.
Since being tapped as Kamala Harris’ running mate, the folksy, plain-speaking Minnesota governor has had to explain a growing number of inaccurate statements — and at times embellishments — about his past. They range from comments about his military service to his visit to Hong Kong more than three decades ago to clarifying that his family didn’t specifically use in vitro fertilization.
It’s unclear whether Walz’s verbal errors will undercut his credibility with voters. But the need to continually clean up those claims could politically hurt Walz and Harris, who are locked in a tight race with Donald Trump and JD Vance. And in some cases, key members of Harris’ circle weren’t aware of some of the inaccurate statements until they became public despite the vetting process, according to four people familiar with the conversations who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter.
In the less than two months since Vice President Kamala Harris selected Walz as her running mate, the campaign has had to do plenty of cleanup for the governor, usually through an anonymous staffer.
Just like CBS News, POLITICO was thoroughly ratioed for such a take. Walz's lies and how the media have covered them have also been a trending topic over X on Thursday.
Tim Walz has a tendency to misspeak. It may haunt the campaign. https://t.co/LD2OcbOrFU
— POLITICO (@politico) October 3, 2024
Fixed it. pic.twitter.com/pSZJpDlBNB
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) October 3, 2024
Misspeak = lie his ass off
— Philip Anderson (@VoteHarrisOut) October 3, 2024
Politico is a joke
Kamala Harris has betrayed the hurricane victims in North Carolina and Georgia.
The word you’re looking for is “lie”
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) October 3, 2024
BTW the “misspeaking” framing — rather than accurately calling it was it is (***lying***) — comes directly from the Kamala campaign & Democrats https://t.co/4zdj8f0R7k pic.twitter.com/0baQuGvCS0
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) October 3, 2024
Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason some of my former colleagues turned Democrat is because of how easy the life is. For example, you can get caught being a serial liar about your resume - even about your military service - and it's chalked up to "misspeaking." https://t.co/4QRO34Lwli
— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) October 3, 2024
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