DV Journal

Pennsylvania is in play and may end up in the win column for former President Donald Trump.

When historians write the saga of why Vice President Kamala Harris failed in her presidential bid, they may attribute it to one fatal choice: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her VP pick.

When I watched Ohio Sen. JD Vance take apart Walz in the vice-presidential debate, I imagined the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, sparring with Vance.

Shapiro would have held his own against Vance and perhaps scored a few points.

So, why didn’t Harris pick Shapiro, a slam-dunk choice who enjoys immense popularity in a state that she needs to win?

The first reason underlines why Harris does no real interviews and can’t answer basic questions about solutions to inflation and the illegal immigrant crisis. Shapiro would upstage her. He is much better on his feet and has a much more commanding speaking style, not to mention a commanding grasp of the issues. People would wonder why he is not at the top of the ticket.

The second reason he wasn’t chosen intersects with the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. Shapiro, who is Jewish, not only called out the horrors of the Oct. 7—horrific attacks by Hamas on Israelis—he pointed out the hatred and antisemitism on many college campuses protesting against Israel and told university officials to remove the encampments.

Shapiro forcefully and eloquently laid out the case against the haters.

Despite his political talents and the fact that he might have carried Pennsylvania for Harris, it seems clear that the far-left Democrats found his defense of Israel and Jewish college students abhorrent.

On the first anniversary of Oct. 7, the Anti-Defamation League released data indicating antisemitic attacks increased by 200 percent over the past year. And at least 1,200 of the 10,000 reported incidents occurred on college campuses.

I have found few, if any, messages from college and university presidents on the anniversary reminding people of the savagery of the original attacks and the fact that rape and torture were not acts of rogue outliers but the policy of Hamas when it massacred innocent Israelis.

The national office of The Council on American  Islamic Relations issued a statement that read, “ On the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks and the start of the genocide in Gaza, we reiterate our condemnation of such violence and demand that President Biden use American power to end this year-long disaster. It is long past time for President Biden to force Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a comprehensive ceasefire deal that ends Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” On the same day, Vice President Harris, in a “60 Minutes” interview, refused to say that President Netanyahu was an ally of the United States.

I visited Israel on a tour with 30 of my listeners, and I came away with a deep sense of Israel’s need for security. I support its need to continue to hunt down members of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

But stopping Israel from rooting out Hamas in Gaza is where many in the Democratic Party have landed, and each week we get further away from the memory of Oct. 7, the more they will push for a ceasefire.

Amanda Greenberg, writing at Broad  + Liberty, makes the point many try to disguise as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). She writes, “According to believers of DEI, Jews are “White” and are, therefore, oppressors.”

This oppressor-colonizer narrative that’s now taught in many schools plays into the ongoing criticism of Israel and is used ultimately to mitigate the appalling Oct. 7 attacks.

So, as we move past the first anniversary of Oct. 7, I contend that Josh Shapiro was not chosen as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate because of bias. The Democrats will see the result of that bias when Trump wins Pennsylvania and is once again president of the United States.

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Minnesota Nice wasn’t enough for Democrat Gov. Tim Walz in Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate.

While U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) delivered a smooth performance that largely avoided the contentious rhetoric many associate with him, Walz offered a gaffe-filled series of difficult to follow answers.

At one point, Walz called himself a “knucklehead.”

“JD Vance wins by knockout,” said Guy Ciarrocchi with the Commonwealth Foundation.

Walz, 60, was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018 and reelected in 2022. He won his first election to the United States House of Representatives in 2006 and served six terms.

Vance, 40, was first elected to public office in 2022 when he won the race for U.S. Senate in Ohio.

From the first question, Vance appeared to have the upper hand. The CBS News rules did not give the candidates the opportunity to make an introductory statement, but Vance used the first question to deliver one, anyway. He seemed comfortable and confident the entire night.

Walz, on the other hand, spoke fast and appeared flustered. During a question on gun control, he mistakenly said he “made friends with school shooters.” And he compared his support for censorship of political speech on social media to “shouting fire in a crowded theater.”

The wheels nearly came off for Walz when he was confronted about his repeated false claims that he was in China in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

Offering a word salad that would have made Kamala Harris blush, Walz rambled from his childhood in a small Nebraska town to his National Guard service to his career as a teacher to his support for a bipartisan farm bill. But eventually he conceded, “I will talk a lot. I will get caught up in the rhetoric.”

Walz added, “I’ve not been perfect, and I’m a knucklehead at times.”

As in previous debates, the Republican faced tougher questions than the Democrat, and Vance was repeatedly asked to defend controversial statements made by his running mate, Donald Trump. And as in earlier debates, the moderators only “fact-checked” the Republican, never the Democrat.

Vance was unfazed. He even turned the tables on the moderators when Margaret Brennen attempted to mislead viewers about the legal status of the thousands of Haitian migrants 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 she tried to move onto another topic, Vance interrupted her.

“The rules were that you got a fact check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance said. “So there’s an application called the CBP One app where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand.”

As Vance continued to speak, CBS News cut off his microphone.

In a reflection of how the night was going overall, Walz then jumped in to claim that what Vance described “has been on the books since 1990.” He was wrong.

The Biden administration began using the CBP One app, which wasn’t released until 2020, for widespread asylum requests like those used by many Haitians in Springfield, in January 2023.

“It’s three against one,” said National Review’s Andy McCarthy. “And the one is winning.”

And Walz may have created a headache for himself by denying that the Minnesota abortion law he signed allows doctors to legally deny care to babies that survive abortion procedures.

“That’s not what the law says,” Walz claimed, adding, “There’s a continuation of these guys to try and tell women [what to do]. I use this line: ‘Just mind your own business’ on this.”

In fact, as The Dispatch reported, Walz signed a bill repealing nearly all of the state’s protections for those infants. Minnesota “recorded eight deaths among infants who survived abortion attempts during Tim Walz’s tenure as governor,” The Dispatch confirmed.

In a drastic turn from recent political debates, both candidates went out of their way to treat each other with respect and even graciousness. During the debate over gun control, for example, Walz mentioned that his 17-year-old son witnessed a shooting at a community center.

“I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting,” Vance said. “I’m sorry about that. That is awful.”

And Walz repeatedly mentioned he agreed with points Vance was making, on issues like bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.

But nice wasn’t enough.

“Governor Walz was a deer in headlights for the first several minutes of the debate,” said Republican strategist Vince Galko, a former executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party.

“The Harris leadership team has to be seething behind closed doors. If Governor Walz wasn’t agreeing with Senator Vance then he was bragging about Minnesota. Can anyone remember one positive thing he said about Kamala Harris?”

The reaction from Keystone State Democrats was muted, though a few did speak up in defense of Walz via social media.

“Tim Walz tonight was plain spoken and powerful in laying out a future with more freedom, opportunity, and decency with Kamala Harris as president,” posted Democratic nominee for Auditor General Malcolm Kenyatta.  “JD Vance couldn’t say Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and tried to convince us that Trump wasn’t Trump.”

And U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan also weighed in.

“Way to go, Coach! Tim Walz showed up tonight to talk about a New Way Forward for America where everyone, everywhere can get ahead. Vance showed us the dystopian future he and Trump are intentionally designing. Move forward together or get dragged backward–the choice is clear.”

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(For an alternate point of view, see, “Counterpoint: Politicians Should Focus on Issues, not Gothca Moments”)

Watching the coup going on in the Democrat Party these last two weeks, unseating Joe Biden and installing Kamala Harris with middle-of-the-night phone calls and agreements, sleight of hand to keep campaign money intact and every day a new development as they skirt the ever-more vague rules and seem to think that the world is not going to notice that Democrats have had no say in their new candidate for president.

Just a few months ago, they were assured that Biden was cognitively and physically capable enough to continue for another four years. Then, all of a sudden, he’s not.

And that the voters will not realize that she takes no responsibility for a failed  three and a half years, which has practically destroyed the country, and that this cognitively impaired president is still in the White House. And that we won’t notice or care that Harris was complicit in it all.

Having had the honor of representing Bucks County at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month as one of our three elected delegates, I’m noticing the glaring differences between the Republicans’ and the Democrats’ political process.

How did we do it? The RNC, which followed an above-board and honest process, was a sparkling, electric, loud, proud, joyous, patriotic event with the absolute “who’s who” in Republican politics and supporters who spoke about and modeled our RNC focus as we rolled out the GOP platform to take this country back and frankly save it. Four full days of speakers and experiences, one after the other – at the Pennsylvania delegation’s private breakfasts or in the arena each evening.

Donald Trump received enough votes throughout the months-long primary process to ensure he received the delegates he needed to be our nominee. We then pledged each state’s delegates to him. Nikki Haley, his challenger, pledged support and her delegates to him. Trump then selected JD Vance as his running mate.

Those procedures were closely followed, and the Republican voters can rely on them.

Seeing Vance in Philadelphia, himself a child of addiction, as he came to provide comfort and hope to area families who have lost children in the fentanyl crisis that is destroying the city under Democrat mismanagement and negligence brought to mind Harris, the “Border Czar” though she’s distancing herself from that title as she has yet to visit the border, had laughed about it,  and has overseen an invasion of an estimated 8 million people from 175 countries with an estimated 100 individuals let in from the terror watchlist while we’re losing Americans to crime and fentanyl. We’re losing our children.

Harris has been “basement campaigning.” As of this writing, she still has not held a press conference, but Vance showed up and invited unplanned questions from the press. He knocked it out of the park. No preparation. Just experience and truth.

I was proud to be an American and proud to be a Republican. And proud of Vance: Veteran. Senator. Dad. Husband. American.

Across the city, a few hours later, Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz as her nominee. Just as questionable as her sudden replacement of Biden via social media after he won his primaries and the delegates that no one else challenged him for. Isn’t it strange that she would pick Philadelphia as the location for this? What an odd location for the pair of California and Minnesota Leftists.

My bet is that, she had indeed chosen Gov. Josh Shapiro in this critically important swing state, but at the last minute, she decided against him because of antisemitic factions in her party.  She needed someone who wouldn’t mind being in her cackling shadow. Then, with Vance already scheduled to be here, she needed to keep her Philadelphia location.  He showed up and showed her up in more ways than one.

Republicans and Democrats are not the same.

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Not since LBJ in 1968, who faced public anger over his handling of the Vietnam War, has a sitting president decided not to seek a second term.

But Sunday, with pressure growing from dozens of congressional Democrats in the wake of his disastrous June debate against former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden announced he’s dropping out of the race.

“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” the 81-year-old Biden wrote in a letter posted on X.

Congresswomen Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) praised Biden’s decision to withdraw. He “prioritized everyday Americans, guided the United States into pandemic recovery and enacted some of the most consequential legislation in a generation,” Dean wrote.

“The country, and in fact, the world, is a better place because of him,” Houlahan said.

After announcing his withdrawal, Biden endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris.

Harris, 59, thanked Biden for his “extraordinary leadership” and “decades of service to our country.”

“With this selfless and patriotic act, President Biden is doing what he has done throughout his life of service: putting the American people and our country above everything else,” Harris said in a statement.

Harris promptly announced she would be seeking her party’s nomination, and she’s already been endorsed by one of the most frequently-mentioned potential Biden replacements: Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“The contrast in this race could not be clearer and the road to victory in November runs right through Pennsylvania – where this collective work began. I will do everything I can to help elect @KamalaHarris as the 47th President of the United States,” Shapiro posted on X.

Shapiro is widely reported to be on the short list as a potential Harris running mate.

Chester County Democratic Committee chair Charlotte Valyo is also on board.

“Now we will unite behind Vice President Kamala Harris, the candidate President Biden has endorsed and elect the first woman president. This is our focus and the goal for which we will work for the next 106 days and nights,” Valyo said.

Biden’s decision caught many Pennsylvania Democrats by surprise. Just hours before he withdrew from the race, Pennsylvania state Democratic Party chair Sharif Street signed a letter declaring his support for Biden’s reelection. And Sen. John Fetterman continued to promote another four years of a Biden presidency.

However, some Delaware Valley political observers claimed they saw Biden’s departure as inevitable.

“It was absolutely the right thing to do. I wish he had done it three weeks ago,” said Neil Oxman, Democratic strategist with The Campaign Group.

“The Biden announcement comes as no surprise. His own party abandoned him. Now they are saddled with the prospect of putting ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris at the top of their ticket,” was the take from GOP strategist Charlie Gerow.

Jeff Jubelirer, vice president with the Bellevue Communications Group, said that while Biden’s decision was “no surprise,” he hasn’t left his party much time to mount a national campaign for a new nominee.

Biden “finally saw the writing on the wall about no path to victory, especially without full support of Democratic legislators, donors and most importantly, voters in swing states.”

Can Kamala Harris carry Pennsylvania?

As of Sunday afternoon, one Delaware Valley congressional Democrat, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlan, had already endorsed her.

Veteran Democrat public relations pro Larry Ceisler says not only can she win, “I doubt Trump will even debate her.’

“Of course, she can win Pennsylvania,” Ceisler said. Democrats have won the state a majority of the time [in the recent presidential elections]. You’ve got to believe that a state that’s elected Democrats is in a very good position.”

In 2016, Trump became the first Republican to win Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Trump lost to Biden in 2020.

While local Democrats are hopeful about Harris’ candidacy, Republicans note that Trump has consistently led in the Keystone State for months and they don’t see that changing.

While Republicans are “totally united behind our candidates,” said Bucks County GOP Chair Pat Poprik, “the Democrats are in such disarray that they are going to be battling among themselves as they decide who their presidential candidate should be.

“Even though President Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris, I don’t know that their party will accept her, knowing all the mistakes that she has made, how she’s been so unsuccessful as the ‘Border Czar’ and how she’s terrible at public speaking.”

“On the other hand, the Republican party, after its hugely successful convention, is totally united behind our strong candidates, President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance. I am looking forward to the great victories we will have in November with this great slate, including Dave McCormick for Senate and, in Bucks County, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick,” she said.

Local Republican operative Guy Ciarrocchi agrees.

“Kamala Harris owns the Biden record—plus, she failed at her only assigned duty: securing our border. The politics of 2024 haven’t changed one bit.”

Fetterman responded to the news of Biden’s announcement with an expression of frustration–and irony.

“People pushed out an honorable man, loving father, and a great president before an absolute sleazeball like Menendez. Congratulations.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was convicted on corruption charges last week.

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