THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do)
- Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton delivered a Toledo campaign speech that featured tangled remarks about truth, justice and the words behind her.
- Another circulating clip caught Acton mixing up a Jeep and a jet while attacking Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy’s use of private aircraft.
- Conservative social-media users have christened Acton “White Kamala,” comparing her animated delivery and verbal detours to former Vice President Kamala Harris.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time)
Move over, Kamala Harris. There’s a new contender for the Democratic Party’s Word Salad Hall of Fame, and she’s apparently bringing a Jeep with wings.
Meet Amy Acton, the former Ohio health director now running for governor against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.
Acton showed up in Toledo Thursday to fire up the Democratic faithful. Instead, she managed to fire up the internet, which immediately began asking a perfectly reasonable question:
What in the White Kamala was THAT?
That nickname is making the rounds among conservative social-media users, and after watching the latest clips, you can see what inspired the comparison.
There are words. There are gestures. There is enthusiasm. There are moments when the words appear to have wandered off without telling the rest of the sentence where they’re going.
One clip shared by conservative commentator Eric Daugherty captured Acton greeting the crowd with an exuberant introduction.
“Ohhh it’s so GOOD. Good to be back here,” she began.
So far, so good.
Then came the campaign’s unexpected detour through the English language.
“It’s about truuuth and justice I just wrote on the worrrr, words back here. That is. I’m honored to be here!”
Truth and justice and words on the words behind the words.
Somewhere, Kamala Harris is nodding thoughtfully and wondering whether she should have copyrighted that sentence structure.
But Acton wasn’t finished.
Another clip circulating from the Toledo appearance featured her trying to distinguish her campaign from Ramaswamy’s travel habits.
“Not in a big Jeep flying over like Ohio’s a fly—I mean in a big jet. He’s flying in a Jeep.”
Wait. What?
A flying Jeep?
Forget the Wright brothers. Somebody get Toledo’s assembly lines working overtime. Ohio apparently has an aviation breakthrough on its hands.
And here’s where the story gets even better.
The Jeep-versus-jet distinction is actually part of a real campaign attack on Ramaswamy.
An ad supporting Acton contrasts a Jeep Wrangler manufactured in Toledo with a Bombardier business jet. Its message is that Acton represents the people who build things in Ohio while Ramaswamy represents wealthy private-jet travelers.
That was the intended contrast.
Somehow, Acton’s stump-speech version wound up with the Jeep soaring through the friendly skies.
To be fair to the Jeep Wrangler, nobody has ever accused it of lacking versatility. But we were under the impression that its off-road capabilities stopped somewhere before the clouds.
Meanwhile, Twitchy writer Warren Squire collected the online reaction in a Friday story about the nickname Acton has acquired.
One commenter delivered this assessment:
“On a scale of 1 to Nancy Pelosi she’s a Kamala Harris.”
Another went straight to the sequel business.
“She is Kamala 2.0!”
And yet another wondered:
“What in the White Kamala is this?”
Now, calling somebody “White Kamala” isn’t exactly a compliment from the people posting it.
Harris earned her own reputation among critics for speeches in which the destination of a sentence could remain a mystery long after the journey began.
Acton’s latest Toledo performance has given those critics a brand-new set of clips to work with.
The comparison also recalls Harris’s famously elaborate explanations, where a simple observation could become a philosophical exploration of why what is happening is happening at the time it happens.
Acton has apparently added an automotive division to the operation.
And we’re not talking about one isolated comparison.
Back in September, another Acton campaign appearance generated online criticism of her emphatic speaking style. A Twitchy roundup at the time included a commenter comparing her delivery to Harris.
In other words, the nickname didn’t have to wait until this week’s flying Jeep to get its engine started.
Of course, some social-media users have gone beyond mocking her delivery and speculated that Acton was intoxicated during campaign appearances.
Those claims aren’t supported by evidence establishing intoxication at the Toledo rally.
There is already plenty to discuss in the actual words captured on video. No breathalyzer is required to find a flying Jeep funny.
Acton’s campaign appearance came as she and Ramaswamy battle for Ohio’s governor’s office, with former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown also appearing at the Toledo rally.
The event was supposed to energize supporters and make the case for Democratic leadership.
Instead, the clips have turned into an online comedy festival featuring an airborne SUV, a wandering sentence and a nickname that appears tailor-made for the meme factories.
Ohio has a proud history of aviation innovation. The Wright brothers developed the airplane. Toledo builds Jeeps.
But until Thursday, nobody had thought to combine the two into a single campaign talking point.
Amy Acton has now given us the flying Jeep and the “White Kamala” franchise in the same news cycle.
Maybe the next rally will come with a flight attendant.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I have all day)
- Twitchy — Amy Acton’s latest onstage antics earn the nickname “White Kamala” (October 30)
- Eric Daugherty on X — Toledo speech clip featured in Twitchy coverage
- Twitchy — Earlier Amy Acton rally draws Kamala Harris comparisons (September 6)
- CNN transcript — Jeep-versus-jet campaign advertisement and Ohio governor’s race (October 28)
- The Gateway Pundit — Coverage and video of Acton’s Toledo rally (October 29)
