Joy! Irrational exuberance soars to new levels
By
Byron York
August 9, 2024 4:09 pm
.
JOY! IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE SOARS TO NEW LEVEL. The polls suggest that many Democratic voters feel better about the new and untested candidacy of Kamala Harris than they did about the old and enfeebled candidacy of Joe Biden. But the polls cannot measure the off-the-scale enthusiasm for Harris and new running mate Tim Walz that is appearing every day in some of the nation’s biggest media outlets.
Sometimes videos are more effective than lists. Look at this compilation of media figures marveling at what a “happy warrior” they believe Walz to be. He’s America’s coach or he’s America’s dad or both. And he’s not at all weird, like some other people. “Everybody likes Tim Walz,” says one talking head. “Hope, optimism, joy,” says MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, characterizing Walz. (You might remember that not all that long ago, Scarborough was assuring us that Biden was super sharp and on top of things as president.)
For those experiencing the most irrational exuberance, the operative word of the Harris-Walz campaign is “joy.” A New York Times analysis of the campaign brought the headline: “Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy Is Fueling Her Campaign.”
Joy is fueling her campaign? You bet it is — no less a figure than Walz himself declared that Harris “emanates the joy.” MSNBC went along to declare that Harris and Walz “campaign with joy.” The Washington Post reported that the two Democrats have “seized on a joyful message.” The New York Times, again, announced that Harris and Walz are running a “joyful campaign.”
In Harrisworld these days, joy is everywhere — in food, in clothing, in campaigning, in everything. NPR loved Walz’s “folksy fashion sense — Carhartts and camo.” And everyone, just everyone, loves Walz’s apparently voracious, just-folks appetite. “Tim Walz loves food,” declared the Atlantic. Corn dogs, cinnamon rolls, his very own “Turkey Trot Tater-Tot Hotdish” recipe, and more, all washed down with prodigious quantities of milk. It all brings joy, the Atlantic declared — “cold milk on a hot day; a perfectly cracked egg; a steaming casserole dish full of God knows what.” By being so joyous about food, the publication concluded, “Harris and Walz are making theirs the candidacy of terrestrial pleasure and straightforward abundance.”
more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/3117048/joy-irrational-exuberance-soars-to-new-levels/
