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The Whitewashing and Greenwashing of Gov. Tim Walz (www.counterpunch.org)

submitted 3 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

41 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For those of us who have had a front row seat to some of Walz’s machinations and political decision-making in Minnesota for the past several years, reconciling the current media narrative around Walz with what we’ve seen with our own eyes has been disorienting.

Tim Walz originally decided to run for office as a Democrat after being denied entry to a George W. Bush rally in 2004. He flipped a longtime red Congressional District in 2006, and then proceeded to be one of the most conservative Democrats in the U.S. Congress, ironically aligning himself with many of the Bush Administration policies. He had an ‘A’ rating from the NRA, voted for the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, supported the big agriculture industry, and was obviously pro-military after serving in the Minnesota National Guard for 24 years.

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[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 59 points 3 months ago

This is bullshit, Walz used to be pro guns, but changed his mind because of the school shootings.
I imagine many people have done that.

[-] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world -5 points 3 months ago

I'm just worried that your baby thinks that people can't change. I used to be a piece of shit. USED TO.

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 47 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Ozma, bruh. You really need to pick and choose to have an actual discussion. All you're doing is bringing minor gripes to a larger discussion. We have an existential crisis in this election, but there just isn't enough time in the day for any candidates to cover EVERY FUCKING THING conceivable to get whatever your vote looks like.

Shit is fucked up. People are trying to fix it. They're also trying to defeat a tyrant who aims to run rampage on the country as a whole. Baby steps.

[-] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It's almost like people can grow and evolve in a nearly two decade span of time.

I grew up in a Conservative Christian household and was taught to be homophobic, not to trust anyone who wasn't a Christian because they could be "activated by the devil to work against me at any time", and grew up with parents who casually used racial, sexist, and other hateful slurs about people.

Now I'm a very strong LGBTQA+ advocate, actively volunteer for my local Democrat's office doing phone banking, and am extremely left leaning in all of my views.

I'm not saying that's what happened to Walz, but he seems like someone with a big heart who's trying to do the right thing. If he's lying about who he is, I'll be damned if I can tell. He'd have to be exceptionally good at it to seem as genuine as he is. I'm not saying he's a saint, though. He is human. He's going to have flaws.

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago

Alternate headline:

‘return2ozma hates Biden, Harris and Walz so who do they like?’

[-] echo@lemmings.world 22 points 3 months ago

I don't even have to look to see who posted such stupid shit when the headline reads like this...

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

Tim Walz originally decided to run for office as a Democrat after being denied entry to a George W. Bush rally in 2004.

...

While true, it's kind of important that he was there as a teacher taking his class on a school trip, one student wasn't let in because the student had a shirt on for the Dem candidate, and Walz decided to run as a Dem because of that.

Other than that tho, I agree we shouldn't pretend their perfect and progressive.

They're "good enough" and they'll only stay that way with sustained pressure from the left because the right never stops applying pressure.

I don't feel like that's what this article is trying to do, and I'm not giving them the click to find out.

[-] MediaBiasFactChecker@lemmy.world -3 points 3 months ago

CounterPunch - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

Information for CounterPunch:

MBFC: Left - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source

Search topics on Ground.News

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/08/23/the-whitewashing-and-greenwashing-of-tim-walz/

Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

[+] verdantbanana@lemmy.world -14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

CounterPunch - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report) Information for CounterPunch:

MBFC: Left - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America Wikipedia about this source

Search topics on Ground.News https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/08/23/the-whitewashing-and-greenwashing-of-tim-walz/

Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

article does not show him in a good light when it comes to police reform and the environment and worker's right or anything progressive plus the bot gave the source a high credibility report of mostly factual

Governor Walz also appointed Republican John Tuma to the Public Utilities Commission, one of the primary agencies with regulatory oversight over the pipeline. While approving Line 3, the PUC required Enbridge to reimburse law enforcement agencies for all expenses incurred while policing protests against the pipeline. Tuma stated that the “whole idea came to me thanks to Enbridge.” During construction of Line 3 in 2020-2021, nearly 100 different law enforcement agencies from around Minnesota received a combined $8.6M from Enbridge. They made over 1000 arrests of protestors who were peacefully opposing the pipeline. While making these arrests, law enforcement deployed physical violence, chemical weapons, ‘pain compliance’ torture techniques, LRAD noise devices, K9 units, and had a border patrol helicopter descend on a protest of over one thousand, rotor washing everyone in potentially harmful drilling dust.

It should come as no surprise that two of the biggest recipients of this law enforcement funding were the Minnesota State Patrol (MSP), and the DNR. The subsequent approval of pipeline permits by DNR constituted a major conflict of interest.

This isn’t a single-issue critique though. Walz’s record on political issues beyond Line 3 deserves further scrutiny as well. The distressing lean into state-sponsored violence and oppression we witnessed around Line 3 was echoed during other pivotal moments during Walz’s tenure as Governor. For example, in 2020, the Minnesota State Patrol and DNR law enforcement officers invaded Minneapolis, along with the Minnesota National Guard, at the behest of Walz in order to crack down on the racial justice uprising following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police. Along with Minneapolis police, they exhibited violent behavior while specifically targeting journalists and medics. This violence was reflected in Walz’s disturbingly authoritarian rhetoric:

In 2021, Walz had the Minnesota State Patrol join Brooklyn Center police in aggressively deploying chemical weapons and munitions near the homes of families in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota to violently suppress protesters after the police murdered Daunte Wright. Walz once again looked to his former colleagues at the Minnesota National Guard and verbally retaliated against working class union members for not allowing the military members and humvees at their Union Hall in St. Paul:

This also wasn’t the only time Walz went against the labor movement. During the 2022 Minneapolis Teachers strike, he turned his back on them, not supporting the strike despite himself being a former teacher, and later coordinating with management. Then in 2023, he exempted the State’s largest hospital from union-backed nurse staffing and safety legislation. Finally, in 2024, Walz vetoed legislation that would have raised the minimum wage for rideshare drivers.

this is what people are protesting about the US arming Israel, police reform, and higher wages just to name a few

and it looks like Walz is actively against progress just like Harris disregarding the protesters at the convention

[-] meco03211@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Their opponent is so much worse on pretty much all those topics.

this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024

-103 points (11.9% liked)

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