News/Commentary

WaPo’s lukewarm fact-check on Walz’s ‘weapons of war’ claim: ‘Language was sloppy and false’

August 10, 2024 | | Print Article

In a lightweight fact-check published Friday, The Washington Post’s far-left fact-checker Glenn Kessler examined Democrat vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz’s claim that he carried “weapons of war … in war.”

Walz, the current governor of Minnesota, made the claim in 2018 while arguing for gun control.

“We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at,” he said at the time during what appeared to be a campaign speech.

Listen:

In Kessler’s fact-check, he carried a lot, a lot, a lot of water for Walz by denying that he’d perpetrated stolen valor and by denying that he’d essentially pretended to have served in Afghanistan. Both of these conclusions by Kessler are suspect and can be debunked.

But regarding Walz’s claim that he’d carried “weapons of war … in war,” Kessler had the decency to admit that this was a lie, though the fact-checker did try to sugarcoat the lie.

“There is no evidence that Walz served in combat — and he has not claimed he did,” Kessler wrote. “He did receive ribbons for proficiency in sharpshooting and hand grenades, according to military records obtained through an open records request by MPR News.”

“Assessment: Walz’s language was sloppy and false. He did carry weapons of war — just not in war,” the fact-checker concluded.

In other words, Walz lied.

After the fact-check was published, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign finally fessed up.

“In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke,” a spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News.

“He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children,” the spokesperson added.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign meanwhile was unimpressed with this walk-back.

“Why won’t Tim Walz address his lies himself?” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung asked Fox News. “Why does he need to send out lowly spokespeople to clean up his own mess? Walz is a liar and fraud, and Kamala picked a running mate that shares her own vile values.”

All this comes days after Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance accused Walz of “stolen valor.”

Though Walz served in the Army National Guard for decades, he retired to run for Congress right before his unit was shipped off to Iraq in 2005 as per Operation Enduring Freedom.

Yet for years, Walz has described himself as “a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.”

In Kessler’s fact-check, he excused this discrepancy by noting that Walz did serve in Italy during Operation Enduring Freedom.

However, according to the Washington Free Beacon, this is a typical corporate propaganda media obfuscation.

Indeed, claims of having served in Operation Enduring Freedom “historically applies to someone who served on the ground in Afghanistan during the Global War on Terrorism,” the Beacon notes.

Walz did not serve on the ground in Afghanistan. As a result, Vance has accused him of perpetrating stolen value:

“I wonder Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?” Vance said at an event this week in Michigan. “What was this weapon you carried into war? What bothers me about Tim Walz is this stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not.”

“I’d be ashamed if I was him and I lied about my military service like he did,” he added.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles