GOP vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance (OH) made the Sunday talk show rounds and the Regime Media mostly dodged the matter of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s retirement from the Army National Guard ahead of an imminent deployment. Except for CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union, who got absolutely wrecked.
Watch as Vance demolishes Bash's talking points one by one (click “expand” for transcript):
CNN STATE OF THE UNION
8/11/24
9:09 AM
DANA BASH: And on the question of when he left the National Guard. He filed his election paperwork February 10, 2005. That was a month before the National Guard even announced that it was possible that they would deploy to Iraq and it ended up being two months. He retired two months before they actually got the paperwork.
JD VANCE: But on CNN last night, Dana, one of the people who was actually in charge of him, so they knew they were going to deploy to Iraq in February of 2004 so, or- excuse me, fall of 2004. So he knew he was going to Iraq, he decided to quit, to retire, whatever word you want to use…
BASH: Retire.
VANCE: …because- whatever. Because he wanted to run for Congress. He lied about that. He said that when he decided to retire, he did not know that he was going to Iraq. That is another untruth as even his senior military officer said. So again, I'm not criticizing the service, I'm criticizing the dishonesty. Dishonesty spoken in favor and for the purpose of political benefit. And I think that the most important thing here, Dana, is it goes to Kamala Harris’s judgment. Tim Walz is ultimately going to be the vice president. Kamala Harris is in great health. I'm sure she's going to be president if she wins for four or maybe even eight years. Why did Kamala Harris choose a person who has lied about their military service? I think that is a serious lapse in judgment and I don't want to hear from a campaign spokesperson of Kamala Harris. I want to hear Kamala Harris herself address what I just said.
BASH: You know, I've seen a lot of statements from veterans, including those you served with, saying it's just untoward to be criticizing somebody who served for 24 years.
VANCE: Dana, I'm not interested in the ad hominem. I've heard from a lot of veterans’ groups who criticize Tim Walz. The question is: he said he served in war and he didn't. That is a dishonesty. I really- I couldn't care less what one or the other person says about it. I care about what the truth is. The truth is that Tim Walz didn't tell the truth and importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris's judgment. And I think that when you ask: why has Kamala Harris allowed the border to be wide open? Why has Kamala Harris supported policies that have promoted the increase in inflation? I think it goes to the heart of her judgment, and I think that that's what we should be talking about.
BASH: One last question. Donald Trump didn't serve in the military. He received a medical draft deferment for bone spurs to avoid serving in the Vietnam war, reportedly as a favor to his father. Do you find that shameful, too?
VANCE: I think that Donald Trump didn't serve in the military, but he didn't lie about it, Dana. I've known Donald Trump for a long time, he really honors veterans, he really honors me for my service…
BASH: You don't think he… so you think he had bone spurs?
VANCE: Donald Trump didn't lie about serving in the military. He didn't say that he went to Vietnam when he didn’t. This is the problem. I don't criticize anybody. Whether they served our country or not, I think it's honorable to serve, but obviously a lot of people have reasons for not serving. I criticize somebody for embellishing the record, for lying, saying : “I went to war”. Dana. Do you think that it's a problem that he said “I went to war”, but he didn't actually? That seems to be a problem to me.
BASH: Well, they've- they've corrected that. Let's move on to…
VANCE: They’ve corrected it by admitting that it’s a lie.
BASH: Let’s move on to another important issue to voters…(abortion)
Bash was so thoroughly frustrated by this exchange that she moved on to abortion. Vance did three Sunday show interviews today, but this was one of the more contentious. Unlike ABC’s Jon Karl and CBS’s Margaret Brennan, who chose to pretend that there is no controversy surrounding Walz’s military record. But the exchange did not end well for Bash.
Most notably, after getting soundly rebutted by Vance across the entire exchange, including the pro-Walz quote, Bash went for what some in the media think is the ultimate tu quoque: “But what about Trump’s draft deferments?”
The fact is that the American electorate adjudicated that question in 2016, and Trump went on to serve as Commander-in-Chief, keeping America away from any new entanglements and collecting on past receipts, most notably, the obliteration of Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The Regime Media devoted themselves to multiple smears of Trump during this time, such as “suckers and losers” among many others.
The deferments point was dopey and irrelevant to the question of Walz’s retirement, and that’s the point. To try and whatabout Vance off of a devastating issue that says so much more about Kamala Harris’s judgment than it says about Walz himself. Hence, the attempted firefighting. Hence, the thorough schooling by Vance.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview segment as aired on CNN State of the Union on Sunday, August 11th, 2024:
DANA BASH: You started out talking about the policies in this interview. But you have been on the campaign trail questioning Tim Walz's military record. You say it was shameful that Governor Walz retired from the military before his unit deployed to Iraq. I want to read you something that Joe Eustice, who is a veteran, he served with Governor Walz said. He said that's a lie. He said, “He was a good- as good a soldier as you'll find. I'm not trying to defend him. I hope people don't think that. What I'm trying to do is defend someone who served his country. I'm not voting for him. I'll campaign against him. But I don't think it's fair to characterize his service the way they have”. Governor Walz served 24 years, he even stayed after he could have retired because of 9/11, more than the country asked of him. Do you honor his service?
JD VANCE: Well of course, Dana, I honor his service and I've never criticized what Tim Walz did when he was in the military. I criticized his retirement decision and most importantly, Dana, I criticized his lying about his own record, okay? This is a guy who was captured on video, saying: “I carried a gun in war.” He never went to war. This is a guy who has been captured on video as other people say he's an Afghanistan veteran, he's a veteran of a war, nodding along in agreement instead of saying “no, no, no, I did serve my country and I did it honorably, but I never went to a war zone”. I'm not criticizing Tim Walz service. I'm criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain, Dana. Now I served in the United States Marine Corps, and you know this. And look, there are a lot of things that I'm proud about. I've never lied about what I did or overstated it because it would be beneficial to me in an election. I think that's what Tim Walz did, that's what I was criticizing and yes, I do think it's scandalous behavior.
BASH: You talked about one of the things that he said, “weapons of war”, he was talking in a campaign stop about this, trying to talk about gun gun-control.
VANCE: Sure.
BASH: When said “weapons of war, I carried in war”. I will say that the Harris-Walz campaign did say that the governor misspoke there.
VANCE: Sure.
BASH: Do you accept that?
VANCE: “He misspoke.” Another word is that he lied about it and he didn't correct the record for 15 years until he was put under political pressure because I called it out Dana. Whatever you want to call it, a misspeaking or a lie, I think Tim Walz should have to correct the record. Now, you pointed out a soldier who defended his service. There have been a number of soldiers who served with Tim Walz who have criticized him on the exact same grounds that I have because it's not right to misstate or to embellish what you've done. And I think that's what he did.
BASH: And on the question of when he left the National Guard. He filed his election paperwork February 10, 2005. That was a month before the National Guard even announced that it was possible that they would deploy to Iraq and it ended up being two months. He retired two months before they actually got the paperwork.
JD VANCE: But on CNN last night, Dana, one of the people who was actually in charge of him, so they knew they were going to deploy to Iraq in February of 2004 so, or- excuse me, fall of 2004. So he knew he was going to Iraq, he decided to quit, to retire, whatever word you want to use…
BASH: Retire.
VANCE: …because- whatever. Because he wanted to run for Congress. He lied about that. He said that when he decided to retire, he did not know that he was going to Iraq. That is another untruth as even his senior military officer said. So again, I'm not criticizing the service, I'm criticizing the dishonesty. Dishonesty spoken in favor and for the purpose of political benefit. And I think that the most important thing here, Dana, is it goes to Kamala Harris’s judgment. Tim Walz is ultimately going to be the vice president. Kamala Harris is in great health. I'm sure she's going to be president if she wins for four or maybe even eight years. Why did Kamala Harris choose a person who has lied about their military service? I think that is a serious lapse in judgment and I don't want to hear from a campaign spokesperson of Kamala Harris. I want to hear Kamala Harris herself address what I just said.
BASH: You know, I've seen a lot of statements from veterans, including those you served with, saying it's just untoward to be criticizing somebody who served for 24 years.
VANCE: Dana, I'm not interested in the ad hominem. I've heard from a lot of veterans’ groups who criticize Tim Walz. The question is: he said he served in war and he didn't. That is a dishonesty. I really- I couldn't care less what one or the other person says about it. I care about what the truth is. The truth is that Tim Walz didn't tell the truth and importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris's judgment. And I think that when you ask: why has Kamala Harris allowed the border to be wide open? Why has Kamala Harris supported policies that have promoted the increase in inflation? I think it goes to the heart of her judgment, and I think that that's what we should be talking about.
BASH: One last question. Donald Trump didn't serve in the military. He received a medical draft deferment for bone spurs to avoid serving in the Vietnam war, reportedly as a favor to his father. Do you find that shameful, too?
VANCE: I think that Donald Trump didn't serve in the military, but he didn't lie about it, Dana. I've known Donald Trump for a long time, he really honors veterans, he really honors me for my service…
BASH: You don't think he… so you think he had bone spurs?
VANCE: Donald Trump didn't lie about serving in the military. He didn't say that he went to Vietnam when he didn’t. This is the problem. I don't criticize anybody. Whether they served our country or not, I think it's honorable to serve, but obviously a lot of people have reasons for not serving. I criticize somebody for embellishing the record, for lying, saying : “I went to war”. Dana. Do you think that it's a problem that he said “I went to war”, but he didn't actually? That seems to be a problem to me.
BASH: Well, they've- they've corrected that. Let's move on to…
VANCE: They’ve corrected it by admitting that it’s a lie.
BASH: Let’s move on to another important issue to voters…(abortion)
