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Year: 2024

Voters react to Gov Tim Walz dodging Tiananmen Square question: ‘I’m a knucklehead at times’

Voters react to Gov Tim Walz dodging Tiananmen Square question: ‘I’m a knucklehead at times’

A focus group of Democrats, independents and Republicans reacted to the moment when Gov. Tim Walz called himself a “knucklehead” for claiming to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre. Moderators confronted Walz on the claim during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate Tuesday night. Walz admitted that he only traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre. The focus group found that voters were initially skeptical of Walz’s answer, but he eventually recovered. “Can you explain that discrepancy?” a moderator asked, as the focus group remained neutral. “Look, I grew up in small rural Nebraska, a town of 400. A town that you rode your bikes with your buddies until 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. Young teacher. My first year out, I got the opportunity in the summer of ’89 to travel to China–35 years ago, to be able to do that,” Walz said. ABC DEBATE MODERATORS SPARK FURY FOR AGGRESSIVE FACT-CHECKING OF TRUMP, EASY TREATMENT OF HARRIS “I came back home and 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,” he added. JD VANCE REMINDS CBS MODERATORS OF DEBATE RULES AFTER THEY TRY TO FACT-CHECK HIM The focus group showed support from Republicans, independents and Democrats all going down for Walz during the first portion of his response. However, Walz recovered among independents and Democrats when he went on to admit that he can be “a knucklehead at times.” “Many times I will talk a lot. I will get caught up in the rhetoric,” he said, as support from independents rose above 50% in the focus group. WATCH: TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM THE DEBATE: Walz’s support among Republicans dipped to its lowest point – under 10% – when he said former President Donald Trump would have benefited from participating in one of his China trips, arguing Trump would never have befriended Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Several questions about Walz’s record not asked about during vice presidential debate

Several questions about Walz’s record not asked about during vice presidential debate

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was not asked about several highly talked about news stories in the first and only vice presidential debate on Tuesday, including his military service, which Walz did not strongly invoke either.  The CBS Vice Presidential Debate in New York City showcased the Republican and Democrat candidates answering questions on a variety of issues, but Walz’s military service, which he has faced sharp criticism from Republicans and some veterans for allegedly embellishing, was not asked about. Walz only briefly mentioned his military service during the debate when he was forced to correct the record on whether he was in China for the Tiananmen Square protests. At another point in the debate, Walz referred to himself as a “good soldier.” Walz was also not asked during the debate about how many times he has visited China. A VISIBLY SHAKY WALZ SAYS THE WORLD NEEDS ‘STEADY LEADERSHIP’ In the past, Walz has claimed he went “dozens of times” and once claimed he went “about 30 times.” This week, the Harris-Walz campaign walked that back and said the actual number is “closer to 15 times.” Other questions Walz was not asked during the debate include his disputed claims about his wife’s IVF treatment and his claim that he carried weapons “in war.” Despite CBS announcing that it would not allow live fact-checking during the debate, moderator Margaret Brennan interjected to correct Vance after he suggested that illegal immigrants are overwhelming resources in Springfield, Ohio. “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan said. When Vance tried to push back on the fact-check, Brennan and her co-moderator Norah O’Donnell attempted to speak over Vance, insisting that they had to move on to the next question. “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check,” Vance reminded them. “And since you are fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.” While explaining the process of obtaining legal status and tying it to a Harris-backed immigration policy, the moderators again spoke over Vance, thanking him for “describing the legal process” before they cut off his microphone as Walz attempted to argue with him. VANCE, WALZ SPAR ON IMMIGRATION DURING VP DEBATE: BEEN TO THE BORDER ‘MORE THAN OUR BORDER CZAR’ Democrats quickly came out in support of Walz’s debate performance as it was unfolding, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who said Walz was “laying down facts.” “Gov Walz dominating JD Vance on the immigration exchange with undecided voters in a western battleground state,” David Plouffe, campaign manager and White House Senior Advisor for Barack Obama and Senior Advisor for Kamala Harris for President, posted on X. “Reminding these voters Donald Trump built only 2 percent of the wall and Mexico didn’t pay a dime strongest moment of the debate.” Many top Republicans took the opposite position and expressed support for Vance’s performance.  “JD knocks it out of the park with first question!!! Tim Walz implodes on first question in presentation, communication, and substance,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote on X.  “Senator JD Vance spitting the cold hard TRUTH on the debate stage,” Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. 

New Jersey Dem House candidate says she is ‘not super worried’ about biological men in women’s locker rooms

New Jersey Dem House candidate says she is ‘not super worried’ about biological men in women’s locker rooms

A Democrat running to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House said she is “not super worried” about biological men being in women’s locker rooms, as she says she supports them being allowed on women’s sports teams. Sue Altman, who played basketball at Columbia University before playing professionally in Ireland and Germany, told potential voters at a town hall in Phillipsburg last week that she “got such a benefit from Title IX” but that she did not have an issue with “our trans brothers and sisters” being added to women’s athletics, according to the New York Post. “If we decide as a society that making rules about who is and who isn’t female is more important than giving young children a chance to be on teams and compete and to be part of something bigger than themselves, especially young people who are more susceptible to suicide and bullying, then I think we’ve lost our way a little bit,” Altman said. “As someone who’s been working to advocate for women’s rights and women’s sports, I promise you that in the locker rooms of women’s sports teams, we’re not super worried about this,” she continued. “We’ve been worried about getting equal access to gym time, good referees, good trainers so you don’t get injured, fair shake at scholarships, equal pay at the higher levels.” NEW HAMPSHIRE PARENTS SUE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR BANNING THEM OVER ‘SILENT PROTEST’ AGAINST TRANS SOCCER PLAYER Altman, a former leader of New Jersey’s progressive Working Families Party, seeks to defeat Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Kean in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District in next month’s election. The race is currently ranked as a toss-up, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Last year, Kean voted in favor of a House bill to provide protections for women’s only athletics, a proposal that passed the lower chamber. The issue of transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports has been controversial in recent years, as biological men have taken first prize over women in the U.S. and in international competition. There have also been cases of women being injured in competition by transgender athletes and women expressing discomfort about changing in the same locker room as a biological male. The percentage of Americans who believe athletes must play on teams that correspond with their biological sex rose from 62% in 2021 to 69% in 2023, according to a Gallop survey. According to the survey, a majority of Democrats in 2021 supported athletes participating in sports based on their gender identity, whereas in 2023, more Democrats believed athletes should be on teams that correspond with their biological sex. Studies have found that transgender women athletes hold a competitive advantage over biological women even after hormone therapy. GOP GOVERNOR REVEALS WHY HE ORDERED SCHOOLS TO BAR TRANSGENDER ATHLETES FROM GIRLS SPORTS “This is a place where people care about girls sports, and I respect that,” Altman said. “And I also know that I grew up with people who are now trans, who have transitioned from boy to girl or girl to boy, and those people struggled in adolescence.” “And I will let individual sport committees decide the highest, highest level things, but at the very heart of it, we have to respect people of all genders and give young children, especially young people and adolescents struggling with their gender identity, the chance to compete,” she said.