Republicans’ ‘Tampon Tim’ joke about Walz is already backfiring
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Before Tuesday, vice presidential contender Tim Walz was hardly a household name. Now that the Minnesota governor has been the subject of round-the-clock news interviews and viral videos, he has also picked up a new nickname. Enter #TamponTim,” conservatives’ response to the 2024 state law Walz signed that requires public schools to provide menstrual products in student bathrooms.
It hardly feels like much of a “gotcha” moniker, though. Periods have been a mainstream public policy priority for the better part of the last decade.
California has also proposed legislation to improve public health disclosure requirements around the ingredients in menstrual products — an especially timely effort in light of recent headlines: A study last month out of UC Berkeley shows that toxic chemicals including lead and arsenic were found in several name-brand tampons.
While California is a leader, it is hardly an outlier. It is one of 30 states that have scrapped the “tampon tax” in the past eight years; the latest to join the roster is Texas, with a signature from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on a bill that garnered notable bipartisan support.
Across the country, 28 states also mandate the provision of menstrual products in public schools; another 25 states require the same in their jails and prisons.
One Republican lawmaker, Dean Urdahl, remarked , “Just talking with my wife and family members, they felt like it was an important issue I should support.”
Making menstruation into an internet meme seems destined to backfire now too. To begin with, who but silly preteens does that? As Walz would say, it is just plain weird.
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Second, recent elections and polling show that reproductive health and rights are wildly popular to voters.
As a presidential candidate, Kamala Harris is a strong, steady voice — including on an array of adjacent issues like menstrual literacy and the need for data protection regarding period tracking apps.
(I joined a White House discussion with her on those topics after the Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe vs. Wade.)
Republicans know their positions on reproductive rights are out of step with popular opinion — so much so that they barely whispered it at their national convention last month.
They have more substantive damage control to do for their own vice presidential candidate.
JD Vance’s controversial commentary about “childless cat ladies” and assisted fertility might just be bested by his own congressional voting record — which includes … wait for it … enabling menstrual cycle surveillance by state law enforcement agencies.
And lest we forget Trump’s own crude remarks on the matter: On Aug. 8, 2015, he accused newscaster Megyn Kelly of having “ blood coming out of her wherever .
The major malfunction of MAGA today is the possibility that boys might have access to tampons at school. Really! That is their big fucking worry!
Fucking Weirdos...
And for the love of ______, do conservatives really want to [m]uck around with the word "tampon" in an election cycle? What a PR blunder extraordinare!
Emphatically. Talking 'openly' under girls and women clothing can't be a winning 'campaign.' It just can't be. Republicans are against girls and women taking care of their intimate private parts sexually and procreation-ally, but then they want to mock the products they can use?
Uh oh. Looks like Texas forgot to check with the middle schoolers running the Republican Party. It is possible to be a conservative and compassionate.
Uh oh. Looks like Texas forgot to check with the middle schoolers running the Republican Party. It is possible to be a conservative and compassionate.
There have been many over time. But generally speaking things rapidly grew much worse with Trump's rise to power.
The GOP has been 'pleading' for someone like Donald for decades (of past "R" presidents). . .someone who is merciless, brutal (okay- strict), and transactional. It says as much about those who stay in the party encompassing Donald as it does about himself!
I would say the positions of the Democrat party have shifted way, way, way to the left compared to Republicans to the right.
It’s not the positions that have become extreme. It’s the tribalism. If Democrats came out in favor of a sunny day, Republicans would extol the virtues of clouds and rain - and vice versa.
The Democrats (who allegedly reject things like law, order, and tradition) look like they are running classic Republicans for office. They have a former prosecutor and state attorney general, along with a small town midwesterner who coached high school football, served in the Guard, and has been married for 30 years. The state he runs operates with a financially responsible budget surplus.
Meanwhile, the Republicans (the party allegedly of family, law and order, and decency) are running a man from New York City who was a registered Democrat for years, declared bankruptcy 6 times, has cheated on every one of his three wives, been convicted of 34 felonies, and been held liable for defamation, sexual assault, and fraud. When he was president, the budget deficit - and therefore the national debt - increased every year, even before Covid.
His running mate wrote a book crapping on the culture and ethics of Appalachia and thinks democratic participation should be restricted for people who lack children - a concept found nowhere in our constitution or other legal traditions.
... been almost 3 weeks, and this is the best the trump campaign can come up with.
Thank you for sharing.
I think its deliberate. (Not so much the "Republican" part, but rather they are trying to appeal to "down to earth" rural small town voters).
Even farmers!
Actually. now that I think about it, it is typical of Republicans. Not "MAGA Republicans" but rather (as you pointed out) "Classic Republicans".
I remember them well . . .
Agreed. The democrats have moved left on some isses to be sure, but seem to be the only ones pushing for the general order.
Most republicans follow Trump's lead . . .
And I've heard people argue that Trump is not a true conservative . . .
Lol. Such a disingenuous partisan screed, setting up a strawman to take advantage of it's reader's ignorance.
Equating it to Texas is the icing on the cake. Texas simply eliminated the sales tax on hygiene products. Republicans in Minnesota voted to place them, for free, in all female and unisex bathrooms. The democrats objected and voted to make the placement of tampons in male bathrooms as well.
Man you guys trigger easily.
I hope they last and aren’t destroyed. Here in wealthy, Blue Fairfax County VA, the hand sanitizers kept getting torn off the walls when kids returned following the pandemic. Ultimately, the county removed the doors from student restrooms.
that stinks
I thought door removal was a step to far when they could have installed high vis cameras.
Wow. Neat.
Very ‘neat’.
it is done often in bars, schools, schools with bars and such to deter illegal activities such as drugs and wide stances
Not if you keep it clean.....
She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman that I ever seen
She had the sightless eyes, telling me no lies
Knocking me out with those American thighs
Spoiled children!
Great song-- great group!
Indeed, my wife is an elementary schoolteacher here. The destruction of school property in growing amounts is very disappointing.
Yes. That is what the article said, "along with 30 other states"
Is this only if biological women buy them? Or did they eliminate the sales tax for men, too?
I remember when my wife sent me to the store and added feminine hygiene products to my list. I got lost in that aisle and sent her a photo so she could direct me to the right product.
Much ado about nothing.
A tempest in a teapot.
I wonder-- why are so many people so obsessed about such trivial issues when there are several important things to focus on?
(Asking for a friend)
Nobody understands the MAGA's obsession with bathrooms...
As if a "Women's" sign on the door was effective against rape!
Women may be raped in women's rooms, but not by trans girls and surely not by a trans boy in a boy's room who hits puberty early.
Some conservatives call it "tradition" to judge if life should 'evolve' away from what they would term 'known' and 'acceptable' terms, values, and realities. Remember, the majority of conservatives are 'poo-pooing' nearly every form of change in this country that does not 'negotiate' their worldview. They mock, discount, belittle, and ultimately wage political warfare against change. . . or as it is known by its other name: Progress.
Which is funny because quiet as it is kept, it is PROGRESS that keeps our nation relevant to the rest of the world. And, us as the preeminent nations leader. That is, some conservatives detest the very people who are helping to make their lived realities possible in the midst of encompassing nations.
Know Your Meme!
We tend to name elections-- based on a dominant theme of the time-- or a policy of the government. Or a "war time government"...a "wartime election".
I imagine that the election of 2024 will always be remembered as "The Great Tampon Election"!
Write your Congress Persons (they, thems)-- perhaps we can make it a national holiday!
Well, you know how ridiculous (and annoying!) some of those screeds can be!
The bill’s lead author said it enables transgender students to access menstrual products without having to ask for them.
Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, echoing fellow Republicans across the country, claimed that Walz signed the legislation “to force women's feminine hygiene products to be installed in boys' bathrooms."
Johnson made the statement Aug. 7, 2024, the day after Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, named Walz her running mate.
Walz has signed bills that made Minnesota a refuge for youths seeking gender-affirming care, bar libraries from banning LGBTQ books and ban conversion therapy.
Gosh. He sounds like a nice person.
That will never do! /s
Usually individuals who think conscientiously don't have much patience with ideological positions (or those who strictly align themselves to such perspectives and worldviews).
He’s probably a nice, opportunistic person.
WTF?
Do you mean to say that he is actually . . . a politician running for an elective office?
Holy hell, yes he is...
They (?) say, when opportunity knocks, you better fuckin' answer.
On a side note, Potsdam College has an emplaced structure that is called "art" in Lehman Park. It is called "The door of Opportunity".
It is welded closed.
Absolutely.
Well, you might be right!
Goddamn the GOP and Trump are having a hard time with Harris/Walz. Them labeling the GOP as "weird" has stuck, and all the GOP efforts to turn it around have fallen flat.
Now they are trying to use military service when their guys are a draft dodger and a press secretary.
GOP, you are going negative but the problem, is that your guys is evenb worse. Maybe try a postivie message?
They do seem to be suffering from a messaging gap
Let them suffer. We all have been and continue to suffer because of the games the 'GOP' plays. Enjoy the freedom while Trumpists struggle to get their lie/s straight.
Some of them have tried that on occasion.
But people are wondering-- is Trump himself actually capable of that?
Trumps low-energy campaign is more than weird. Young, angry white men aren’t enough to win the WH. Georgia is a must win state and Trump goes there and trashes the popular Repub governor. His shift to a unity campaign lasted maybe 24 hours. He isn’t disciplined enough to prioritize and stay on message. So no, Trump is unable to provide any kind of consistent, positive message.
It certainly looks like that over time he's become somewhat senile.
What the Republicans really need now is a much younger candidate-- but its too late to change now.
His shtick is 'holey' these days. (Old age has say on Donald's head, neck, and shoulders!) He is the old dude (mothball) now in the race! Still railing against people who are not even on his 'lawn' to get off it! As usually, Donald (Mothball) has a pile of lies to get through by the end of each day.
It's a burden (to lie so much) I am sure. /s
Younger and not a cino.
Indeed.
People are saying he's an actual Devil Worshipper!