Ohio Sen. JD Vance slammed the timing of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s retirement from a more-than-two-decades-long military career as a means of avoiding a deployment to Iraq on Wednesday, calling it “stolen valor garbage” and testing a new line of attack on the newly minted Democratic vice presidential contender.
There is no evidence that Walz retired to avoid a wartime deployment, and it’s a move that may not work — Walz has faced similar attacks from opponents before during successful races for Congress and governor, in which he explained his Army record in detail but did not make it a central part of his campaign.
The attacks are reminiscent of the 2004 campaign to discredit the distinguished war record of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who served in Vietnam and later criticized the war — an effort led by Chris LaCivita, now a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.
What remains to be seen is if the tactic will be as successful 20 years later, when the Republican presidential nominee evaded military service, and Vance, despite his deployment to Iraq, has no combat experience either.
Vance: Family is more important than anything!
Walz: I’m retiring from the military to take care of my family
Vance: NOT LIKE THAT!
Never believe that [fascists] are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The [fascists] have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
The best way to take care of your family is to be as far away from them, for as long as possible, doing the dirty work of the military industrial complex and their friends in the fossil fuel industry.
I am absolutely certain Walz did not retire simply to avoid deployment to Iraq. But even if he had, I would not hold it against him. Iraq was a BULLSHIT war that the United States had absolutely no reason starting. We invaded a sovereign nation under completely false pretences. It was illegal and immoral, similar to the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
He did not, but he did speak out against the war in Iraq after he retired, as he should have.
Of course he didn’t. His retirement was finalized several months before his unit was deployed.
Well, they did announce that his unit MIGHT be deployed in the next 12 months, and he filed for retirement very soon after that announcement. I’m not saying that was his reasoning, but there is an “opening” for attack.
The dude spent 24 years in service. Even if that was his reasoning, I’m not going to begrudge a 42 year old deciding deployment to Iraq isn’t the best choice for him and his family. Hell, deploying a 42 year old to military service might not be the best choice for the unit since he wasn’t an officer.
Do you have a source for that claim?
Because, according to the National Guard, he filed for his retirement a couple of months before his unit got their alert notice, and a year before they actually deployed.
From https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/07/politics/tim-walz-military-record-vance-attack/index.html
" Walz filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate for Congress on February 10, 2005. The next month, after the guard announced a possible deployment to Iraq within two years, Walz’s campaign issued a statement saying he intended to stay in the race.
“I do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilization and I am unable to comment further on specifics of the deployment,” Walz said in the March 2005 campaign release. "
I mean, even if he did, it sounds like he had decades of service prior. So then, why care? It’s not like he didn’t serve. It’s not like he signed up for an easy job in summer of 2001 and then tried to get out of it or something.
But also, why does military service or willingness to go die necessarily serve as a metric for abiliry to handle administrative governance and politics? Idiotic overall.
In his final assignment, Walz held the rank of command sergeant major while in the post, but retired in 2005 as a master sergeant “for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” said Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, spokesperson for the Minnesota National Guard.
Yup. His battalion needed a CSM, and he was the CSM. I’m sure there was some sort of requirement that “within X months of promotion, soldier will attend SGM academy, etc. etc.” When you’ve already done 20+ years and you’re about to retire and go into politics, I completely understand deciding not to uproot your life for 10 months, or doing an 18-month Distance learning course (which still has a 2 week residence requirement at the end), and where taking a slot will deprive another NCO who may intend to serve longer from attending.
My dad (who is very weird and now pretty MAGA, unfortunately) did 10 years in the Marines, followed by another 20+ in the National Guard and Army Reserves, and retired as a CSM. That last push to get back into shape and study for E9 was grueling for a pharma rep in his late 40s, and he had to go hunting for a unit that even needed a CSM, eventually commuting for drill from Jacksonville to Tampa every month.
My best man from my wedding did twenty years active duty in the Navy, and his last post was as Commanding Officer. Yes, it was a small recruiting unit in our hometown, and it was completely structured in a way to let him retire as a CO in the town where he wanted to be after his military career, probably the same as the CO before him, but that’s just a thing they do. When you’re a good soldier/sailor/etc., the military looks after you and tries to help you meet some of your objective goals, even if it’s a bit squishy.
Walz and Harris should be a tiny bit more clear, at least in written materials where you can put the boring nuance, but there’s very little to see here and I don’t think it will matter much to swing voters.
I love the bit Vance had about him not seeing combat.
like. fucker. YOU were a fucking REMFie and never saw combat neither. (Vance was a military
propagandistjournalist)I read earlier today that he admits as much in his stupid book which I will never read, whether or not there is anything about couch fucking.
even when deployed, he still couldn’t get off that couch.
Totally off-topic, but I like the idea that your usernames could be two different descriptions of the same cryptid
Sir, madam or other: I am not a duck. How dare you compare me to a disgusting vertebrate.
Wasn’t he also only in Iraq for 6 months?
Not sure. I don’t care that much, honestly.
Given the nature of military service, It’s simply sufficient that they served. Though, it must be said, the dedication it takes to reach E-8 is insane, and getting there is not something to sneeze at.
Vance on the other hand was a e-4 and only served 4 years.
The only reason to disparage Vance’s service is because of the rank hypocrisy he’s displaying. Especially because the original criticism came from a couple e-7s that got passed on the promotion walz earned to e-8; and the “stolen valor” comment walz made was clearly not, in the context of what Walz was saying.
They just don’t have a good answer for why there needs to be civilian access to weapons of war.
And yet, he didn’t get out of military service entirely by claiming he had bone spurs and then badmouth people in the military at every opportunity.
Especially wounded and dead veterans.
Good to see they’re grasping at straws
The paper ones, and they’re disintegrating quickly.
The man did twenty years and that still wasn’t good enough? So maybe Vance should look at his own record of how long he served and what he did while serving.
Correction : 1981 - 2005 so depending on exact enlistment and discharge dates about 24 years
Anybody who is willing to raise their hand, to put on a uniform of this country — especially when you consider a small percentage of our population has ever done that — they deserve our most respect. That includes JD Vance, Corporal JD Vance, and that includes Sergeant Major Tim Walz,
I liked this part. Corporal saying Sergent Major’s service is insufficient.
whats funny is even the line of attack. like its the only great thing about him. next rumors he was not a real teacher or a real dog owner because of some bullshit.
Why are we chasing Republican lies? Every infographic should contrast and compare Walz to Vance.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
Sun Tzu
I guess I don’t see how that applies…? I’m sure Harris, Walz, and their campaign know their enemy. The issue is messaging! We have to beat every voter over the head with the blatant differences…
JD Vance is a cunt and all he was was a fucking piece of shit corporal when he got out. Another cunt marine trying to shit on people who are obviously better than them is laughable.
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