How do you run against joy?

Ever since Kamala Harris introduced Tim Walz as her running mate, the Democratic candidates have been talking about running a campaign full of joy. Here is Three Dog Night:

OK–sorry for the digression.

During the convention, Bill Clinton said Harris would be “the president of joy.” CNN said that Harris was tapping into the “Black Joy” movement. Joy, joy, joy!

Patrick Healey, the Deputy Opinion Editor of The New York Times, recently said that “joy is not a strategy.” This may be true. Harris is going to have to start talking more about policy. But it sure has been interesting to watch Republican pundits try to argue against a campaign of joy.

Here, for example, is CNN commentator Scott Jennings:

Who doesn’t want to feel joy?

And here is South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham. He says “joy doesn’t exist in the real world”:

I understand what Jennings and Graham are trying to say, but you often only get one shot in this soundbite political culture. Running against joy is hard.

So far the Harris-Walz “joy” approach seems to be working.