Getting Likes

By Miss Kubelik

Let's discuss the elusive quality of likability. In politics, it's the natural gift of being appealing to and connecting with other people. But pundits and historians question it. Does it really matter? After all, if it did, Richard Nixon wouldn't have won a single election in his lifetime.

We cats think it matters. Last night's VP debate was the latest example.

Yes, there were key moments on the issues when JD Vance disqualified himself from public office. Tim Walz brutally cornered him on January 6 (it's already a Harris campaign ad). And then there's "The rules were you guys weren't going to fact-check" about Haitian immigrants. (Like his boss, what a whiner.) But overall, there was his constant attitude of smug contempt. (We won't get into the fuschia tie, which he may have worn as some weird gesture to women, or the eyeliner, which he obviously uses because his peepers are so deep-set.)

While the elite media focused on Vance's smooth ability to lie, it was surely Walz's authenticity that won the night. For example, a CNN poll handed Walz a plus-37 net-favorable advantage after the debate. Although Vice Presidential match-ups almost never matter in the end, perhaps voters have decided they just don't want to see Vance in their living rooms for the next four years, let alone be a 78-year-old, junk-food-eating heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Speaking of Benedict Donald, he may very well have ruined an unlikable candidate's ability to win — at least, for some time. His awful performance against Kamala Harris reminded tens of millions of viewers of all the reasons they despise him. (And he knows he screwed up, because he's still obsessing over it three weeks later.) GOP "bad candidates" are struggling in races across the country — folks like Mark Robinson, Kari Lake, Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy just plain turn people off. You could even apply this to Canada, where a very Vancey leader of the Conservative opposition can't seem to cobble together a vote of no confidence against Justin Trudeau's nine-year government.

Voters make decisions based on their guts. And the more they see of Harris and Walz, the more they like them. Also, and most important, Tim Walz likes cats. This makes us PURR.