COLUMBUS, Ohio ― Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine thinks Bob Dylan absolutely, 100 percent deserved to win the Nobel Prize in literature. He has no doubts or second guesses about it. It’s really not worth debating.
“Oh, yeah, oh completely. Absolutely. I’m so in the tank for this. I think this is great,” Kaine told The Huffington Post in an interview Thursday here at the Land-Grant Brewing Company, in what was easily his most enthusiastic answer of the sit-down interview.
Kaine, aka America’s dad, is a huge Dylan fan. He’s even performed Dylan songs on his harmonica.
Kaine, in short, is a Dylan groupie. The fact that the Nobel Committee couldn’t reach Dylan ― a controversial choice for the honor ― to give him his award simply added to the allure.
“It’s weird,” the Democratic senator from Virginia admitted. “But isn’t that part of why Bob Dylan won the prize, and why we like him? ... I mean, he’s not Robert Zimmerman, he’s Bob Dylan.”
Between the interview and the publishing of this piece, Dylan finally broke his silence on winning the award, telling The Telegraph that he would try to attend the awards ceremony in Stockholm.
Watch The Huffington Post’s full interview with Kaine.
Video produced by:
Senior producer: Sharaf Mowjood; Producer: Omar Kasrawi; Editor: Adriane Giebel; Director of photography: Chelsea Moynehan; Cameras: Dan Fox, Shane Handler; Audio: Mike Caravella.