Opinion: Republicans’ ‘Tampon Tim’ joke about Walz is already backfiring

Los Angeles Times ^ | Aug. 7, 2024 2:27 PM PT | Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

[E. Pluribus Unum]

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 “Tampon Tim,” 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. And California has been at the forefront. Since 2017, the Legislature has passed a series of laws — including ones that eliminate the state sales tax on menstrual products; mandate the provision of menstrual products in all public school restrooms for students in grades 6-12, as well as at California state universities; and require county jails and state prisons to provide free access to tampons and pads to people who are incarcerated.

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.

[Trump_Triumphant]

If they say it’s backfiring, that means it’s working and it’s driving them CRAZY!

[MayflowerMadam]

I don’t know what any of that means. Maybe you were posting to someone else?

[Cold_Red_Steel]

OMG!!! It’s an OpEd from a liberal! Let’s have her direct our strategy!!!

[willk]

OMG LA Times! This is so embarrassing. Tampon Tim. Tampon LA Times.

[BuchananBrigadeTrumpFan]

Probably right that it won’t hurt him in Los Angeles. But LA was already pretty solid D.

[rlmorel]

In the military, it was clear that if you were given a nickname, you had to either own it, work your way out of it, or live with it.

Bitching about it only made it stick all the harder.

[RedMonqey]

The missing point is HE’S PUT THEM IN THE BOY’S BATHROOM!!!

Partisan press.

[Rdct29]

The same people who told us Russia gate was real, the laptop was fake, Kamala is great and Biden is as sharp as a tack. Their new word is WEIRD. Every democrat stooge on the television started using the word weird against Trump and Vance. Tampon Tim putting tampons in the boys bathroom is weird. They need to keep that creep away from little boys. Typical democrat.

[napscoordinator]

Yep. They are saying republicans are again against women. The creeps get away with everything!

[FenwickBabbitt]

The propaganda media has really been reaching new Pravda style heights the past few weeks. And the sad reality is that a lot of gullible left-wingers will imagine that this article actually has some relevance to the Tampon Tim nickname, instead of being completely irrelevant fantasy-as-propaganda. There really is no level of absurdist lie that the left-wing media will not tell to gaslight and distract and manipulate their followers.

On the bright side, though, this sort of nonsense article suggests that even the most ridiculously left-wing propagandists know that having taxpayer funded mandatory tampons in boys’ bathrooms is a ridiculous, losing position for their side.

[MinorityRepublican]

On the bright side, though, this sort of nonsense article suggests that even the most ridiculously left-wing propagandists know that having taxpayer funded mandatory tampons in boys’ bathrooms is a ridiculous, losing position for their side.

James Carville recognizes that. But everyone else who votes for the Democratic Party is a brainwashed zombie.

[Trumpisourlastchance]

Weiss-Wolf. Weiss-Wolf.

[alexander_busek]

Opinion: Republicans’ ‘Tampon Tim’ joke about Walz is already backfiring

Am still waiting for the "backfiring" moment!

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

Gotta train them early for when the wife asks the husband to go buy her a box.

My wife asked me to do that once.

Imagine my surprise when I got to the store and discovered that there is more than one kind!

Hilarity ensued!

Regards,

[FlingWingFlyer]

Has Jenny’s little princess ass been fart checked on this? Where the hell are the fart checkers anyway? They hauled ass as soon as the Dung Beetle Party chose Jammy Kammie to be their Saviour.

[spacewarp]

I’ve seen several reports that Tampon Tim was the 13th choice and the rest labeled getting strapped to Kamala’s astroturf campaign was “Career suicide”.

[HamiltonJay]

Exactly I said it from the start no one who actually relieves they have a legit shot at the WH was ever going to be her VP..

If anyone thinks the WH is even in play is naive. Dems are playing down ballot desperation.