RPV's Mullins is either a liar or a complete idiot (or possibly both)

I got a strange e-mail today from Pat Mullens at the RPV. Entitled, "RPV Video: Creigh Deeds Refuses Questions At Own Campaign Event"

According to the e-mail:

Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins today released a new Internet video from Creigh Deeds' campaign stop at a restaurant in Tazewell County at which the Democratic candidate for governor refused to take standard questions from an audience of hand-picked supporters holding Deeds yard signs and wearing campaign stickers.  This further highlights reasons Deeds has refused to agree to a full debate slate with Republican Bob McDonnell.

"The guy is clearly unnerved by being asked about the issues of the day," said Chairman Mullins.  "If you can't take questions from a hand-picked audience at your own campaign event, how in the world are you going to be the leader of the Commonwealth?"

A link to the video was attached.

Well, this seemed strange. First, it didn't sound like Creigh. Perhaps, I thought, some rude teabagger had found their was to a Creigh event and the childish behavior we have been seeing at Congressional Townhalls had somehow leaked into the Virginia gubernatorial campaign.

Well, here's what it was. McDonnell's tracker was videotaping Creigh's speech, and Creigh is clearly being senstitive to the privacy rights of the folks who came out to hear him speak. Creigh offers to take questions, but gesturing to the tracker, acknoledges that the presence of a GOP camera might have a chilling effect on his audiences' willingness to do so.

Now, I have no problem with the tracker. That's politics, these days. But for Pat Mullins to somehow turn this into Creigh refusing questions is either a lie, or he s a complete idiot. (The layover of a cutsie bluegrass-sounding sounding song about being a tracker does not rescue this moronic effort as simply tongue-in-cheek harmlessness, though in that sataric spirit I rewrote the lyrics for your enjoyment -- see below).

I can't believe my Republican friends in Virginia cannot do better than this when it comes to party leadership.

The video is below. Judge for yourself. (Note - the song is kind of obnoxious. I've found that it is more tolerable if you replace the lyrics with these that I wrote):

Oh, Pat Mullins is a liar,
Yes, he has to be a liar
Mullins must be a liar
Or an idiot, oh.

He'll write you, e-mail, ask you for your vote,
But look out boys, he's a dishonest dolt.

Oh, Pat Mullins is a liar,
Yes, he has to be a liar
Mullins must be a liar
Or an idiot, oh.

Sounds Like Someone Needs A Diaper Change

Another day, another pointless e-mail from the RPV about Creigh Deeds, once again alleging that Creigh is refusing to take a position on several national issues. The e-mail also makes some juvenile allegations about Creigh and Gov. Kaine that are laughably idiotic and internally inconsistent, for example, both accusing Deeds of “keeping mum” about Kaine’s travels for the DNC and “throwing his mentor under a bus.” He couldn’t have done both now, could he?

More to the point, is this really what the RPV wants to discuss with the voters? If so, why?

I don’t know what they talk about at the McDonnell residence over dinner, but in my house and in my family, we worry about trivialities like, well, keeping my job. We worry about whether our public schools will have enough funding next year to provide a full-time nurse to take care of our diabetic son at school. We worry about the cost of health insurance and, even with insurance, the cost of health care. We worry about paying for college for our three children.

Honestly, in our house we don’t care about where Gov. Kaine goes on behalf of the DNC. We do wonder, however, where the Hell Bob McDonnell, Ken Cuccinelli and the rest of the RPV will be when it comes to serious issues like stem cell research that might help our son? Will they support finding a cure for his diabetes, or will they pander to extremists for whom it is more important to make an ideological debating point than help secure a healthy and long future for a nine-year-old child.

Instead, all we get from the RPV is schoolyard name-calling and taunting. Do they really think this is acceptable?

Actually, I think McDonnell is a pretty smart fellow, so I presume he knows this tactic is pretty lame. In fact, that is what makes the rationale behind this nonsense clear enough.

The truth is that Republicans are out of ideas and have been for some time. The public is no longer buying their snake oil that tax cuts are the panacea for every problem, and unlike the Republican Party’s spiritual and ideological leaders like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michele Bachman, most people, Conservative, Moderate and Liberal, do not see their own government as their enemy, but as their ally in tough times.

Virginians, for the most part, seem to me to be seeking thoughtful, realistic and pragmatic policies to lead us into the future, not childish partisan sniping, but Pat Mullins, Bob McDonnell and the Republicans have nothing to offer but the same old negativity and divisiveness. So Republicans peddle paranoia about the census, they fantasize about a terrorist attack that in their sick imaginations will jumpstart support for their campaign of violence and hatred against immigrants, and here in Virginia, they level irrelevant and pointless charges against their political opponents in order to distract voters.

The RPV’s tactics amount to nothing more than Pat Mullins and Bob McDonnell acting like spoiled brats that no one will listen to, so they are now stomping their feet, crying and holding their breath till they turn blue. And as with watching a toddler throw a temper tantrum, it isn’t fun and it isn’t interesting. As a matter of fact, as anyone who has witnessed such a fit being pitched, more than anything it is an uncomfortable and humiliating experience not only for the child involved, but also for the unfortunate adults unlucky enough to witness the spectacle.

For goodness sakes, will someone please change these guy’s diapers and burp them, if only so they will shut up and let the adults talk to one another.