‘I Know That Things Get Spun’

‘Someone who’s been in classrooms a lot, being around coaching a lot, I speak passionately,’ VP hopeful says

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz struggled to explain his long pattern of prevarications during a solo interview with Good Morning America, saying his past work as a teacher and coach has made him “speak passionately.” Walz also echoed Kamala Harris’s recent embrace of President Joe Biden, saying the octogenarian has “done everything in the best interest of the American public.”

GMA host Michael Strahan pressed Walz on statements he’s made “that just aren’t true,” including his claims that he carried “weapons of war” (Walz, who served in the Army National Guard, never saw combat) and that he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre (Walz was at home in Nebraska).

Walz first responded by arguing that his statements were tangentially true, given that he “got the opportunity to, uh, be in Hong Kong” after the massacre and “served 24 years in the National Guard.”

“I know that things get spun in a political environment,” he said.

Strahan went on to press the issue, saying Harris “said she told you to be a little more careful on how you say things.”

“I wear, you know, I wear my emotions on my sleeve,” Walz responded.

“I think what you see is someone who’s been in classrooms a lot, I’ve been around coaching a lot, I speak passionately,” he said.

Strahan also asked Walz to address Harris’s Tuesday remarks, made during an interview with The View, that Harris would have done nothing differently than Biden as president. Walz declined to say that Biden has “done everything right” but nonetheless embraced the unpopular president.

“Well, look, I don’t know if any of us do everything right, but I can tell you he’s done everything in the best interest of the American public.”