Kaine can’t balance out far-left ticket
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Jesse Bishop
Published: August 5, 2008
I’m tired of reading and hearing from political pundits telling me as a Virginia independent what I will do if Kaine gets the vice president spot. I’m an independent who for the most part likes Governor Kaine, but I just do not see how Kaine’s lure for moderates in Virginia will work when running with such a left leaning candidate such as Obama.
I think Obama is so left it completely cancels out Kaine’s appeal to the independent and undecided voters, which I feel probably got Kaine to where he is today and therefore will not transfer over to a bid
for the White House. If anything I can see it becoming an obstacle with many other independents who voted for him and who have now changed there minds about him in the past couple years. Which
brings up another thing, “Just a couple years?”
Even if I’m wrong and Kaine gets the independent vote and helps Obama here in Virginia would it further hinder the issue of Obama’s inexperience and lack of accomplishments with the rest of the
independents and undecided voters in other swing states? And from Kaine’s view point, would this really be a good move for him?
If Kaine has aspirations for the White House, he himself might want to maybe wait, get some experience and either run for president in the future himself or at the least maybe hitch onto a less left-leaning
star.
As for what this means for Virginia as a whole, not what’s good for Virginia Dems and not what’s good for Virginia Reps, but like I stated, as a whole? Well heck … has much at all changed here in the
last couple years? Has the Democratic Kaine and the mostly Republican House accomplished anything? I guess that all depends if Lieutenant Governor Bolling and the house can dislodge the
transportation clog and become heroes to us all or completely miss their opportunity and fail miserably. On the other side of the coin, if Kaine does get picked and they lose the election, could this tarnish
the moderate standing Kaine has and further divide Virginia politics, clogging up things even worse, leaving Virginia stuck until 2010?
So with all that said, if Gov. Kaine asked me today if I was on board with him running with Obama the answer would be, “Sorry but no, I just can’t. Even the likes of a Ronald Reagan couldn’t balance out
that ticket.”
JESSE BISHOP
Manassas
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( jVA ) on August 12, 2008 at 2:15 pm
“If you don’t believe this; take a look at McSame’s last two TV ads tying Sen. Obama to young white women. Please do not insult me by claiming this ad is not deliberatly racist. “
I agree, Ron. This is not to say that John McCain is a racist or that people on his campaign are. But the guys who work on these campaigns are very shrewd and there is a message they’re pushing out to America by showing Obama and the two white girls. Just ask Harold Ford.
If you’ve followed coverage on the documents leaked from Hilary Clinton’s campaign, it is amazing how crafty these political consultants are. Every word and image is carefully chosen. (Clinton’s camp was apparantly looking to make Obama look foreign.)
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on August 12, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Mmarin,
I’m not claiming that the Democratic Party is devoid of racism. I admitted as much when I mentioned the TN-01 Primary campaign last week.
I do state that the modern Democratic Party has a core value of inclusiveness; as opposed to the Republican Party which for the past 30-odd years has deliberately pandered to the racist element of our society, and used racism as one tool for dividing the electorate and as a theme for winning elections.
If you don’t believe this; take a look at McSame’s last two TV ads tying Sen. Obama to young white women. Please do not insult me by claiming this ad is not deliberatly racist. The Republican Party put too much effort, into focus groups measuring how far they could go in exploiting racism against Sen. Obama.
I actually agree with you that race should not be a factor, and I agree with you on the factors that should be at hand. But it is, and it’s not the Democratic ticket that’s playing it.
The sad reality is that racism is all the Republicans’ can play this cycle; on every issue you mentioned, Sen. Obama and the Democtrats are on the winning side of the issue.
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Posted by ( mmarin ) on August 12, 2008 at 11:56 am
Ron,
I think your trying to bait people by saying that the democratic party is a beacon of light and that they are devoid of any racism. If that’s something you believe, kudos. I won’t be able to say anything to you to dissuade you from that.
Race should not be a deciding value in this election (but, I’m not stupid enough to believe that it won’t be). The deciding factor should be who would we want to have champion causes; lower taxes, immediate withdrawl from Iraq/Afhgahistan, seperation from the UN, dissolving all foreign aid, etc.
The answer is quite clear in my mind, Dr. Ron Paul.
But, alas I believe that misguided ‘hope’ will drive this election.
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Posted by ( jVA ) on August 10, 2008 at 12:11 pm
“That’s why racism is such a bogus arguement to begin with. The charge can be lobbied against anyone with no real defense to it. “
I think Bill Clinton would agree with you on that. I don’t agree with McCain that Obama was playing the race card last month, but I don’t blame him for getting out in front of the issue preemptively. I really don’t want to see race made a defining issue in this campaign by either side.
Kudos to McCain for drawing an early line on that. Let’s hope he’ll be as strong if any of his supporters engage in race baiting.
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on August 10, 2008 at 9:39 am
Mmarin,
While I appreciate you admitting to cherry-picking, it doesn’t give you a free pass to make additional cherry-picked claims.
Since Nixon, the Republican Party has engaged in politics of divisiveness. This is well-established, and the Republicans don’t even attempt to deny it. Their entire campaign strategy for over 30 years has been to divide the electorate in a way that they get at least 51%. Inevitably, this has typically meant racist-laden symbols.
Nixon used ads showing ghetto areas burned during African-American riots to back up his “Law ‘n Order” campaign.
Ronald Reagan gave his first post-convention speech after being officially chosen as the Republican nominee for President of the United States in Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the murder of three civil rights workers just a few years prior and still raw; talking about “States Rights.“
We also had Ronald Reagan constantly talking about “welfare queens,“ and actively working to undermine provisions of the civil rights act.
We had the “Revolving Door” and Willie Horton ads by G. H. W. Bush in 1988. G.H.W. Bush continued Reagan’s racial policies of divisiveness.
Now we have the Republican Party using focus groups to determine just how far they can go in using racism against Sen. Obama, and then using racism as a tactic.
Let us also not forget Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond; Sen Trent Lott praising Thurman and the entire Conservative world praising Jesse Helms upon his death. Note Trent Lott and Mississippi Gov Haley Barbour as members of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an American paleoconservative white separatist political organization.
No, your “Few Bad Apples” and “both parties are guilty” theory doesn’t cut it when talking about racism and the Republican Party. Since absorbing the Dixiecrats, the Republican party has built itself upon divisiveness and racism.
There are a “few bad apples” in the Democratic Party; one who was openly running a racist, homophobe primary campaign in TN-01 just lost this past week by 60 points. And good riddance to him.
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Posted by ( mmarin ) on August 09, 2008 at 10:51 am
Ron and jVa,
You both are correct. The fact was cherry picked.
The example shows that focusing on a party as beging racist is silly since any group can have extremists or persons that don’t follow the pattern.
It’s silly to say that the entire republcian party is racist based only on a few persons. The democractic party can be said to support racism as the first gun control laws in the US were passed to keep newly freed blacks from keeping arms.
That’s why racism is such a bogus arguement to begin with. The charge can be lobbied against anyone with no real defense to it.
I’m actually very for Kaine joining the Obama ticket as that’ll get rid of Kaine (I voted for him) and replace him with a republican that is very gun-friendly.
To me, that brings balance to the force as my hope is that when Obama gets elected that Congress will be so stalemated that no real legislation passes.
In that situation, the citizens win because the more laws passed - the more citizens are hurt by their own government.
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on August 08, 2008 at 4:34 pm
No problem, jVA,
One person can only handle so much wingnuttery in any given day.
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Posted by ( jVA ) on August 08, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Oh man. Is this nutjob back from vacation? God save us, indeed.
So Obama is a racist flip-flopper?
Let’s discuss John McCain who was against the holiday for Martin Luther King before he was for it? Flip flop. Racist. blah blah blah.
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Posted by ( Godsaveus ) on August 08, 2008 at 2:26 pm
<but I assure you that is not extreme left just like McCain is not extreme right>.
Obama is so extreme left that is raking # 1 in leftists organizations , his reshaping is just a maneuver to get more independent and moderates votes , he moves according how the wind blows ( flip – flop ) . His associations with terrorists, his affiliation with a church that hates whites, and always shame of his own country , nothing to be proud of, his economic view based in socialist economic models like , redistribution of wealth, make him to be part of the extreme left at the level of Karl Marx.
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Posted by ( jVA ) on August 08, 2008 at 12:30 pm
“When President Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act, the racist wing of the Democratic Party split off and became the “Dixiecrats.” Later, they all became Republicans. “
haha. Thanks for writing this Ron. I thought the same thing, but just didn’t have the energy to engage on it.
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