Really? 

According to CNN, Kamala Harris has chosen as a running mate ... the man who let Minneapolis burn for days before finally tasking the National Guard to take control. Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, will join Harris on the campaign trail later today:

Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, according to multiple sources. They will appear together in their first joint rally in Philadelphia later today before visiting other battleground states this week.

Walz let the rioters burn, and Harris helped bail them out. We can call this the Mostly Peaceful ticket!

Let's try to do the pro-con analysis that Harris must have performed. First, the pros:

• Guarantees a win in [checks notes] Minnesota
• Solidifies the Defund the Police wing of the Democrat Party
• Achieves a level of boring that makes Minnesotans so desirable as running mates
• Ensures a smooth transition from one incompetent to another
• Doesn't alienate the, er ... "Dearborn" faction of the Democrats
• Manages to avoid a competent running mate in case the convention decides to "Biden" her at the last minute

The cons:

• Snubs Pennsylvania, but who needs that state anyway?
• Has absolutely no traction anywhere outside of his own state
• Scratch that -- Walz has no traction outside the metro counties of the Twin Cities
• Leaves Jewish Democrats with a distinct impression of anti-Semitism

This is such a puzzling pick on many levels. Josh Shapiro governs successfully in the kind of blue-collar state that Harris needs to win in order to succeed in November. Minnesota's electorate is largely controlled by progressives in and around Academia in the seven metro counties. Walz is a former teacher himself, which Democrats think will play as somehow "blue collar," but will instead look exactly like the progressive clique that many parents are now fighting in school districts over educational curricula.

In trade for that, what does Harris gain with Walz? He's not an up-and-comer in the party, nor was he a national figure.  Mark Kelly at least would have lent a hero biography to the ticket, and Shapiro has true national heft. Walz isn't even a policy eminence grise or an old Washington hand like Dick Cheney or Joe Biden were, the latter especially for an untested presidential nominee. Walz brings nothing but old-white-progressive-dude vibes. 

Maybe Jeff Bridges wasn't enough? 

This doesn't even look like Harris' own choice, as Salena Zito briefly argues:

Then 2 things are true. 1st picking @GovernorShapiro would’ve been about expanding the coalition picking Walz is about a base election. @GovTimWalz is deep blue progressive, often called a prairie progressive.
2nd this was Pelosi’s pick & she has been at the controls all along. https://t.co/V9E8CfC89Y

— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) August 6, 2024

On the first point, both of the nominees chose to focus on their base. However, Harris started out in a deep hole and had a chance to climb out of it with a dynamic partner that could appeal across party lines. Walz has no appeal at all.

I wonder if the upcoming convention will fight over this selection. The delegates still have to nominate and elect Walz to the ticket. Do either Walz or Harris have enough juice in their own party to get a non-entity like Walz across that finish line? Or will delegates look at this and wonder whether they're being marched into a political box canyone by the progressive clique?

Anyway, crank up the scenes of Walz' criminal negligence from May and June of 2020. They'll make great ads for the GOP, especially with Harris' efforts to bail out the "mostly peaceful" rioters that tried to burn down Walz' home turf. 

Last thought: Kinda sucks to be Shapiro now, no?

And it didn't work. Which is hilarious. https://t.co/uOAQvkDzDn

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 6, 2024

Update: My pal Julio Rosas not only remembers how Walz fumbled the riots, he also brings the receipts:

As I wrote in my book, "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful" even when the MN NG were fully deployed the next day, they were clearly given orders to not engage because as soon as rioting broke out near the 3rd Precinct, the entire perimeter withdrew.https://t.co/me0wcMpkaQ

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) August 6, 2024

Congratulations, Democrats! You just bought the riots all over again.