Top political anchors at liberal news outlets panned Democratic vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz’s debate performance Tuesday, with one journalist likening it to President Biden’s disastrous June showdown with former President Donald Trump.
“It kind of reminded me of the June 27 debate, when Kamala Harris that night said of Joe Biden, ‘It was a slow start, but a strong finish,’” ABC News anchor Linsey Davis of the Minnesota governor’s matchup against Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
“And that’s how I felt Tim Walz kind of did tonight,” she added.
The 81-year-old president’s halting debate performance against Trump – marked by incoherent remarks, frequent pauses and verbal slip-ups – led to calls from within the Democratic Party establishment for Biden to end his re-election bid, which he did less than a month later.
Davis, who alongside David Muir moderated the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Harris and Trump, suggested that Vance was more “effective” at hitting Harris Tuesday than Trump was last month.
“I feel like that was really effective,” Davis said of Vance repeatedly noting that the vice president has not pursued several of her stated policy goals during the last three and a half years she’s been in the White House.
“You know, to use Tim Walz, his own words, I mean, a lot about this debate tonight was, was weird,” she added. “There were comfortable, cringy moments, but overall, my take on this was that JD Vance needed to come away as that humble, likable guy from ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ – It seemed like he did perhaps get some points in that.”
CNN’s political panel similarly hammered Walz, but analysts splintered on exactly what went awry.
“I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution here,” anchor Abby Phillip said on a panel while noting how Vance managed to land some “punches.”
Host Dana Bash posited that Walz had the opposite issue.
“I think he had too much preparation. He had so many lines that he was clearly trying to say,” Bash said. “I think the lack of interviews that he has done with national media, with local media — it showed he needed more.”
Jake Tapper acknowledged that “JD Vance is much more experienced with this, at public speaking and defending himself and pivoting,” while Anderson Cooper concluded that Walz seemed nervous on stage.
The New York Times described Walz’s performance as “occasionally halting,” noting that the governor “struggled early but found his footing.”
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