Media critics pan Walz’s ‘unsteady’ debate performance: ‘Clear lack of preparation and execution’

Members of the legacy media appear to agree that Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz underperformed at the CBS News Vice Presidential debate. 

“I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution on Walz’s part,” CNN anchor Abby Phillip said. 

ABC News’ Linsey Davis called out Walz’s “uncomfortable, cringey moments,” linking his debate performance to President Biden’s disastrous showing at the CNN debate.

“It kind of reminded me of the June 27 debate when Kamala Harris said that night of Joe Biden ‘It was a slow start but a strong finish.’ And that’s how I felt that Tim Walz kind of did tonight,” Davis said. 

“Dems are fortunate presidential debates tend to matter a lot more than VP debates,” Cook Political Report senior editor Dave Wasserman reacted on X.

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“Where is the Tim Walz who went viral going after ‘weird’ Republicans? Not showing up on that debate stage so far tonight…” New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser posted. 

“Gov. Walz is not prosecuting the case rather its a nicefest. If you agree with Vance on so much then why should we vote for you?” MSNBC host Symone Sanders Townsend asked the governor.  “Sen. Vance is giving revisionist history on Trump’s agenda & what they would do & b/c the moderators are not fact checking…it sounds sane.”

“Walz’s answers are smart and substantive. But I hate to say it, the delivery is a bit off — he’s just not as engaging as he often is. Hoping he gets a little more energetic and less nervous as this goes on,” liberal columnist Jill Filipovic said. 

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Others made it clear that Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio was the clear winner of the night. 

“I would rate that the most successful Republican debate performance of this century, eclipsing Romney in the first debate with Obama in 2012,” New York Times columnist Ross Douthat said.

“Vance is going home tonight with Walz’s wallet. Vance didn’t even have to snatch it, Walz just handed it over, along with a bunch of unearned compliments to Vance’s fine character,” The Atlantic’s David Frum concluded.

“Vance is winning the debate. He is clearly the best debater of the 4 candidates running for president or vice president. His abortion answer/pivot was masterful,” former CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza said. “Walz has been fine — but uneven. His answer on the lie that he was in China during Tiananmen Square was AWFUL.”

“Malpractice that Walz didn’t have a sharp, succinct answer to the Tiananmen Square question ready to go,” The Atlantic writer Tim Alberta similarly noted. 

“I say this with love: Democrats are too dependent on friendly treatment from the moderators,” Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle reacted to Alberta’s comment. 

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Some critics knocked Walz’s lack of media exposure leading to his fumbling performance. 

“I think the lack of interviews he has done with national media, with local media, it showed,” said CNN anchor Dana Bash, the only journalist who has interviewed Walz since he joined the Democratic ticket. 

“I think that Walz did seem unsteady,” ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl said. “And frankly, what I saw is somebody who has not faced questions on a national stage since he became the Democratic nominee. He was simply out of practice. I mean, I don’t know why they’ve done it, but they’ve kept him out of the limelight. They’ve kept him away from reporters. They haven’t had him do any interviews. And he was clearly unsteady through much of that debate. In contrast, J.D. Vance was very smooth.”

“Hate to say it but Walz would have benefitted from doing a few Sunday morning shows, as Vance has been,” Financial Times associate editor Edward Luce said. 

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow perhaps offered a more charitable take on the debate.  

“I wouldn’t describe them as evenly matched because they are so different, so different in style and so different on substance,” Maddow told her MSNBC colleagues. “I think the big picture takeaway in this is that one of these candidates is much slicker than the other, much more practiced, kind of professional debate style speaker, and the other candidate won.”