Many of you are going to disagree with me today. I’m fine with that.

All the liberal commentators on CNN this morning were excited about Kamala Harris choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate. Van Jones was excited, totally optimistic, and said this was the best choice Harris could have made. All the other liberal/Democratic commentators echoed him. They all followed the party line. I should switch to the partisan MSNBC to see how much they’re geeking out.

I have not heard one Democrat, at least not on CNN, who disagrees with this decision.

Kids, I’m not a member of the Democratic Party. People make that mistake about me all the time. Yesterday, someone messaged me a picture of their yard sign for Harris. That’s nice, I’m voting for her too, but why do I need to see your yard sign?

I’m liberal. I vote blue. Even though I was critical of Biden staying in the race, I still would have voted for him. I am excited about Harris being the nominee, but I’m not a Democrat. I’m liberal and an Independent. I am not partisan. I’m a journalist. With that said (this is where you disagree with me), Tim Walz was a poor choice.

A president doesn’t really need a veep to do anything except break ties in the Senate and go to funerals. It’s the prerogative of the president if he or she wants to give the vice president more duties. It wasn’t until the Clinton administration that vice presidents started to get actual assignments beyond attending funerals and sitting behind the president during State of the Union speeches. Assignments like debating Ross Perot. With the exception of Mike Pence, every veep from Al Gore (though he had to compete with Hillary) to Kamala Harris had larger roles than the veeps before them. First Ladies, and sometimes their psychics (Nancy), had larger roles than vice presidents.

Giving a veep larger power was a great thing for Clinton, Obama, and Biden, but bad with George W. Bush as he allowed Dick Cheney to run amuck and influence policy, such as starting wars and torturing prisoners. The only exception to every veep from Gore to Harris having a larger role was Mike Pence, whose only job was to kiss Trump’s ass, and when he finally got a real duty, which was to refuse certifying the 2020 election results, which he refused to do, Trump tried to hang him for it.

So I don’t care if Harris picked Walz because she believes he’s the best one she can work with. I think the most important detail to picking a running mate, especially in a tight race such as this, is that the veep nominee helps get you elected. I don’t see Tim Walz doing that.

Tim Walz will make a great vice president. He’s going to be great on the campaign trail. America is going to get to know him and when they do, they’ll like him. But they’re not going to make Kamala Harris president because of him.

Harris already has Minnesota. She already has unions. What she needs is Pennsylvania. Yes, Senator Mark Kelly would also make a great vice president and running mate, But the Democrats need Pennsylvania more than swing state Arizona.

Sure, Josh Shapiro would have come with some baggage, maybe a lot of baggage. But would Shapiro’s baggage keep Democrats and Independents from voting for Kamala Harris? Would Shapiro’s baggage lose states to the point of canceling out Pennsylania’s 19 electoral votes? Shapiro won the governorship of Pennsylvania by 15 points. I don’t love Josh Shapiro as much as I would love Kamala Harris to win Pennsylvania and become the 47th president of the United States.

The person who’s the happiest that Harris didn’t pick Shapiro is Donald Trump.

I hope I’m wrong. I’ll be glad to be wrong about this. I hope Walz helps deliver the Rust Belt, including Pennsylvania. He will be a great vice president just as Kamala Harris will be a great president.

But first, we have to make them president.

Now, feel free to scream at me in the comments. I don’t mind friends disagreeing with me.

Earlier today, I was talking to a friend who’s a paid subscriber to this blog and she disagreed with me. To be fair about this, I’m sharing what she said to me.

She said about Tim Walz, “I think he really helps shore up the Rust Belt vote. Unions love him, especially UAW. He helps in the Midwest. There were big problems with the rest after reading up on it yesterday. Vulnerabilities she (Kamala Harris) doesn’t need. He’s clean. He’s down to earth. A straight shooter. A regular guy. That’s gonna help her everywhere.”

I still love her. Heck, maybe she’s right.

Cartooning note: I told someone on Twitter today lamenting about all the impending waltz jokes and puns we’re going to hear, that I expected a dozen waltz cartoons…and then I got this idea (along with another you’ll see in the roughs). But I don’t think any of my colleagues are weird enough to think of this idea. Yeah, I’m weird but I don’t think I’m JD Vance weird.