How is Tim Walz’s Political Career Even Possible? Ask the Worst Newspaper in America—the Minnesota Star-Tribune
Covering for Minnesota's failed governor his whole career
You might wonder how this character Tim Walz got to be the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States. After all, he appears to be a pathological liar—he’s lied consistently about his rank and service in the National Guard, about a 1995 DUI arrest and about how his children were born. He let his state’s largest city burn to the ground after George Floyd, he has a bizarre love of Communist China, and citizens are fleeing his state under his leadership as Governor.
A big reason is the state’s largest newspaper—the Minneapolis-based Star-Tribune, which this week changed its name to the Minnesota Star-Tribune. By whatever name, it has shown an amazing incuriosity over the years about Walz’s considerable warts. And those it knows about, it has done its best to cover up.
Star-Tribune Editor Suki Dardarian declined to defend her newspaper’s research ineptitude when asked to comment for this story.
Minnesota Republican observer Dustin Grage summarized what is happening as Walz is being vetted—mostly by conservative media outlets—doing the job the Star-Tribune should have already done. And there’s mountains of dirt the local newspaper missed.
The popular and precise conservative blog Power Line has been battling the Star-Tribune’s bias and failure to report on Democrats’ foibles for years. The blog is headed by John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson—Minneapolis area residents who both practiced law for decades at a high level. Hinderaker retired his legal career to head the Center of the American Experiment, a think tank headquartered in Minnesota. Johnson still practices law. You can find a full index of blog posts mentioning the Star-Tribune here.
Johnson recently observed:
Some observers outside Minnesota may reasonably ask, if Governor Tim Walz is so bad (and, as I say, worse than bad), why he has done so well politically. The reasons are many. One reason is the subservience of the Star Tribune to the needs of the Democratic Party.
When the stories began flooding out about Walz’s embellishments and lack of candor about his National Guard service, the Star-Tribune immediately jumped in and did a half-baked “fact-check” to try to salvage their reporting and Walz’s reputation. Soon, new stories appeared that obliterated the Star-Tribune’s flimsy defenses of Walz’s record.
Grage noted again, in a tweet:
The Star-Tribune is able to stifle scrutiny of Democrat candidates it favors because it is the predominant newspaper in Minnesota, twice the daily circulation of any other publication. Other media outlets take their lead from the state’s largest paper, which is the eighth largest in the United States.
Although it is possible the Star-Tribune is incompetent and can’t effectively do research, it is more likely that decisions on who to research—and how diligently—are based more on ideology than competence.
Although its owner, Glen Taylor, is a former Republican state senator, there is little evidence that the Star-Tribune has moved to the center. It is widely known as a liberal newspaper. It has endorsed Democrat presidential candidates since 1984 and endorsed Walz twice in his runs for Governor.
The Star-Tribune’s publisher is a former cabinet member appointed by Tim Walz. Steve Grove led the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development before he became publisher last year. Perhaps he is not anxious to dig too deeply into his former boss’ past.
Regardless, the people in Minnesota who subscribe to the Star-Tribune should be scratching their heads and asking what’s going on. The Walz they know from reading the local newspaper bears no resemblance to the version uncovered in the last several weeks.
Maybe they should ask for their money back. Or, more likely, the Star-Tribune is protecting precisely the public officials they want shielded.
