Of all the attacks that have been levelled at Creigh recently, my favorite, by far, has been by a Moran supporter who offered the following reason why Creigh ought not to be the Democratic nominee:
But there is another reason ... Deeds' won't win, and it's played out very clearly in the primary race: Deeds is a milquetoast wimp that doesn't have any fight in him.
The whole time McAuliffe ran around this state making specious claims about his profligate business background, Creigh Deeds was silent. Brian Moran, on the other hand, took the gloves off and went to work. Moran and McAuliffe traded body blow after body blow and each got bloodied up pretty well. Moran for going negative (in other words, talking about McAuliffe's record, propensity for exaggeration and general seediness - see Telergy), McAuliffe... well... for being McAuliffe.
Now, after Brian Moran exposed McAuliffe as the less-than-honest huckster shill that he is, now that McAuliffe is tanking across the state, now that Brian Moran has shown that he has what it takes to stand up and fight for the state that he has served for 3 decades... Well... He deserves our appreciation. More than that: he deserves our votes.
Creigh Deeds has been a shrinking violet this entire campaign season. He's done nothing to distinguish himself and shouldn't be allowed to back into the nomination having done nothing to earn it.
Hilarious.
I don't know if they hand out awards for negative attacks, but if they do, this ought to win one.
Pretty true. Deeds lucked out. And not even of their doing, but sitting on their hands till the WaPost gave them rocket fuel.
ReplyDeleteI think you missed the point of the post. Maybe Deeds lucked out when McAuliffe got in, but the idea that Creigh doesn't deserve to win because he didn't go apeshit on McAuliffe is one of the more ridicuous ideas I've ever seen. Creigh did the smart thing letting those guys fight. I'm amused that someone would think doing the intelligent thing is cause for disqualification.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it, but I think you missed the point...
ReplyDeleteEver since Howard Dean gave the Democratic Party a shot in the arm and filled a void many of us in the netroots felt in our bones, I've been a big fan of progressives willing to call out bullshit when they see it.
Moran did that, Deeds did not. And for standing up against the old-style, borderline-corrupt politics of the pay-to-play era of Democratic politics, Brian Moran earned my gratitude. Unfortunately, for many panty-waste pissants that don't understand primaries are meant to be proving grounds, Moran took a hit for "being so negative" - (where's the world's smallest violin emoticon when you need it?)
That bugs me. About two thirds of the Virginia Democratic electorate was "Anybody but Terry". In Brian Moran, they got a guy that stood up and fought on their behalf. And then those ingrates attacked him for it! And seriously... How many people are genuinely offended by "negative attacks"? If it bothers you that much, you cannot possibly spend your time following politics. I suspect that most of this was pretension - folks picking up on a meme that allows them a bullshit claim on sophistication. But we all know it's sophistry. Just as we all know that every study ever done demonstrates that negative attacks are more effective than positive appeals.
Ugh. I know I'm writing some ugly stuff - and, btw, none of it applies to you... at least, I haven't seen you clutching any pearls...
But the fact remains that people frequently disappoint me. I expect more than I should, I guess.
We'll see today.