What a difference a veep makes, at least when it comes to the standards of Mediaite.
In July of last year — shortly after then-Sen. J.D. Vance became Donald Trump’s running mate — the outlet ran a chortle-fest regarding The Associated Press fact-checking an online rumor that Vance “once had sex with a couch” and wrote about it in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
“The rumor, it turns out, was first posted on July 15, the same day Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick, by X user @rickrudescalves,” the outlet reported at the time. “The user later protected his account and, according to Snopes, an internet misinformation watchdog, indicated that the post was nonsense by sharing a meme that read: ‘You really think someone would do that, just go on the internet and tell lies?’
“The Associated Press fact-check, however, was the subject of much amusement online – considered by some a little lowbrow for the international newswire.”
It wasn’t lowbrow enough that Mediaite didn’t have some fun with it after this joke by then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at the rally where he was named her running mate:
Tim Walz on JD Vance:
“I can’t wait to debate the guy…that is if he’s willing to get off the *couch* and show up.” pic.twitter.com/ajaaQJpkhD
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 6, 2024
Mediaite’s headline? “Tim Walz Brings Down the House with Roast of JD Vance: ‘I Can’t Wait to Debate the Guy – That Is If He’s Willing to Get off the Couch.’”
Haha! Hilarious! See, those folks at Mediaite have quite the sense of humor! Until now, of course, where it turns out that offhand jokes about other politicians is bad, at least if the person making the joke is Vance and the target is Harris.
Do you trust the media?
Headline Thursday in Mediaite: “JD Vance Baselessly Claims Kamala Harris Drank ‘Four Shots of Vodka’ Before Starting Day as VP – Says It Explains ‘Word Salads.’”
Now, to be fair, Mediaite is a more diverse platform than, say, MSNBC or HuffPost, at least when it comes to opinions, but mostly leans to port. It has at least one writer who doesn’t know sarcasm when he hears it: Someone by the name of Kipp Jones, who is apparently incensed that “Vice President JD Vance accused former Vice President Kamala Harris of drinking alcohol before important meetings during a Thursday morning interview.”
“Vance said the ‘word salads’ Harris was often accused of offering during public experiences into could be explained by her consumption of ‘vodka’ during a sit-down with Vince Coglianese – whose show replaced Dan Bongino’s after the latter was tapped as the deputy FBI director,” the outraged Mr. Jones wrote.
The moment came as Vance was asked how he differed from the former veep.
.@VinceCoglianese: “How are you doing the job differently than Kamala did it?”@JDVance: “Well, I don’t have four shots of Vodka before every meeting.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/lJiI9hVLFD
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 20, 2025
“Well, I don’t have four shots of vodka before every meeting,” Vance said.
“That’s one way I think that Kamala really tried to bring herself into the role is these word salads. And I think that I would need the help of a lot of alcohol to answer a question the way that Kamala Harris answered questions.”
This is what human beings call a “joke.” We tend to tell a lot of them. And unlike the Democrats, nobody is trying to pass this off as real, like many did with the Vance/couch thing. (See: Walz, Tim; “knucklehead.”)
And unlike Vance with the weird couch humor, there are certainly word salads that Harris has delivered with, um, indications that she might not be entirely sober and/or unmedicated:
Vice President @KamalaHarris’ message to supporters. pic.twitter.com/x5xMUGTtkz
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) November 26, 2024
I’m absholutely fine, offisher. [Hic.] [Pause.] I juss’ want everyone to know [pause] they have th’same [pause] power they had before the eleckshunn, officer. Wait, are you an officer? Oh, Doug, that’s you. [Hic.] I thought you were with the nanny. Hah! See what I did there?
Look, I don’t know whether Harris’ word salads were the result of a few too many glasses of wine with lunch or not, but there’s more meat to the joke — more there there, to use the idiom of another woman from Oakland, albeit one who had a better way with words — than “hey, do you know what J.D. Vance might have done with a piece of furniture?”
But which quip got Mediaite’s hackles up about “baseless claims,” and which one got a bunch of snickering from the staff and nothing else?
More to the point: If it weren’t for double standards, would the establishment media have any standards at all?
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
