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I think it will have an impact in the sense that I think it will eventually backfire once the conventions are over and the median American starts paying attention.
First off all because this is a very basic question of junior high level bullying behavior. They’re calling Vance names on the basis of an obviously false accusation that is supposed to be in his book but isn’t. This isn’t going to endear the Harris ticket to outsiders.
Second, and I’m amazed at the sheer incompetence of the strategic leadership that haven’t screamed about the possibility, is that it opens the door to the GOP pointing out all the progressive weirdness. And to the eyes of normal average Americans, progressives are a lot weirder than conservatives. The party that wants to normalize drag queen story hour for preschoolers is simply not going to win the battle to convince the average 50 year old guy who’s not into politics that the GOP is weirder than they are. Weird is actually the progressive Achilles heel— pointing out deviants just means people realizing just how weird liberals are. If I were running a GOP campaign, I’d lean into it. Yes, we’re “weird. So weird that we don’t want to trans your kid without your permission. So weird that we believe in marriage and family. So weird that we’d rather wave the American flag than the Palestinian flag.
Third, and you point out, it’s a huge distraction from real problems real people are facing. Inflation is lowering the standard of living. There’s one war ongoing in Ukraine and another brewing in the Middle East. We have a housing crisis. Our schools don’t do a good job educating kids and teachers are quitting in droves. Abortion is a big issue. The border. But they aren’t talking about those things, instead, they’re talking about the GOP being weird.
Oh no, I think you'll find THEY didn't call Vance names (Walz mentioned a couch, just coincidentally I'm sure, but didn't repeat the story.). That (so the story will go) was Internet trolls, probably MAGA people who were upset that Vance beat our their favorite Herr Hitler for the spot.
As far as I know, the story that Lyndon Johnson spread the rumor that his opponent fucked a pig not because he thought people would believe it, but in order to get his opponent to deny it, isn't true. But someone on Kamala's team clearly remembered it.
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