Brian "the Joker" Moran Up To His Old Tricks

Well, the Brian Moran slime machine is out in full force, and as usual it is full of half-truths, misrepresentations and distortions.

This time the target is Creigh Deeds, apparently explaining Brian’s newest tag line, “We need a fighter, not a dedicated, decent, intelligent public servant.”

Which brings me to Brian’s interview today with NBC12. Before I get to the substance, I just want ask what is the story with that grimace? Did Brian accidentally fall into a vat of toxic chemicals on his last visit to Gotham City?

Despite being freaked out, onto the substance.

Here is what Brian said about Creigh’s record on guns:

Well, it's extreme. He's the only Democrat who's ever received an endorsement from the NRA since 1989, I mean that's different from Warner, Kaine or myself or Jim Webb... There are some positions where I believe he's taken extreme positions. He voted against my legislation to keep guns out of the hands of those convicted of stalking and domestic abuse. He also voted against one gun a month, which was Doug Wilder's legislation. He also voted for guns in bars and family restaurants. That puts him on a very extreme position, and we're educating the voters with respect to that extreme position on guns.

Well, Lowell at Blue Virginia, one of Brian’s most aggressive critics this election season, checked it out. He found HB436, a piece of proposed legislation from 1998, that fit the bill. “This appears to be it,” Lowell said, adding later, “Moran appears to be correct on this one.”

Or not.

Yes, the Committee on Criminal Justice failed to report the bill out, as Lowell says, with Creigh voting against. But as anyone who has ever followed the legislative process, committee votes get cast for all sorts of tactical reasons unrelated to the substance of the legislation at issue.

That is what I suspect happened here.

Why do I think that?

Well, here’s the crazy thing. Moran refers to this bill as “My legislation,” presumably because he was a co-patron of the bill (not the chief patron, another piece of phony Moran self-puffery). But more importantly, guess who else was a co-patron of the bill?

That’s right. Creigh Deeds.

So, if this is Brian Moran’s legislation, then it’s Creigh’s legislation also.

Look, do I know what happened here? Do I know why Creigh voted no in committee against a bill for which he was a patron? No, I don’t. And I don’t care. It was 11 years ago, and I seriously doubt Creigh or Brian recall the machinations that were flying around at the time.

The more relevant point today, for purposes of Tuesday, is that this sort of Mickey Mouse negative attack is part of a larger pattern that the Moran campaign has been following. When Brian Moran or his campaign tells you something negative about another candidate, whether Terry McAuliffe or Creigh, far too often it seems you are not getting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.