Waldo Jaquith - Kilgore declines AFL-CIO speaking request.

Kilgore declines AFL-CIO speaking request.

On 10 February 02005 with 4 comments

Today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the Virginia AFL-CIO invited candidate for the Republican nomination for governor Jerry Kilgore to speak to their political education committee, and he declined. He didn’t just say “no,” but had to be an ass about it, saying that the AFL-CIO “consists of partisan Democrats who would not be open-minded to my candidacy.”

If they weren’t going to be open-minded to his candidacy, why invite him to speak? If he’s going to win, he’s going to need to convince people who might otherwise vote for Kaine to vote for him. That’s how elections are won. Kaine knows that.

I figure there are two explanations for this. The first is that he’s really, really cocky. Given that he’s now challenged for the nomination by Warrenton Mayor George Fitch, and Sen. Russell Potts is thinking about doing the same (or possibly running as an independent), I don’t buy it. The second is that Kilgore is scared that he won’t get the nomination, so he’s moving to the right. Far enough to the right that he’ll dismiss unions out of hand, which is red meat to his base.

Which is great: if Kilgore moves any farther to the right than he is now, he’ll be damaged goods. Keep up the good work, Mayor Fitch.

4 Comments

Or perhaps explanation #3: Kilgore was telling the truth.

AFL-CIO president Daniel G. LeBlanc “is a member of the Virginia Democratic Party’s state central committee and introduced Kaine at the state party convention in Roanoke last year. LeBlanc also is one of four Virginia Democrats elected to the Democratic National Committee.”

He’s done nothing but bash Kilgore. I wouldn’t waste my breath with him either. It’s not like Kilgore doesn’t have other avenues to get his message to the individual voters who are members of unions.

The AFL-CIO has long been a partisan shill for the Democrats. I applaud Kilgore for refusing to give them legitimacy. It would be like the Democratic Party of Virginia asking Kilgore to speak. It’s a waste of time.

Posted by John Behan on 10 February 2005 @ 3pm

That’s option #1, John. :) I don’t care if the head of the AFL-CIO is John Kerry himself — elections are won by changing people’s minds. When a major lefty group invites a Republican candidate to speak, the proper thing to do is to go. If Kilgore spends all of his time talking to people who already support him, what’s the point of campaigning?

I’d be criticizing Kaine, too, if he’d turned down a chance to speak to an anti-abortion group. (To be fair, Kaine is opposed to abortion, but you get the idea.) Sure, they’re probably a bunch of Republicans, but that’s who Kaine needs to be talking to, whose minds that he needs to be changing.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 10 February 2005 @ 3pm

John: Uh, did you ever think that perhaps Kilgore’s simply a coward? Seriously, what if Big Bad Jerry “Kill-more” is simply too scared to speak to a bunch of pencil-necked-geek LIBERALS? What are they going to do, beat him up with their slide rules or something? Or are you just saying that Mr. “Kill-more” can’t handle the liberals’ tremendous, Ivy-League-honed intellects? Yeah, Mr. Tough Guy “Kill-more” is a coward — or, in his case, should I say “pansy?” — Lowell (RaisingKaine.com)

Posted by Lowell Feld on 11 February 2005 @ 8am

If he thinks we Democrats, or union members for that matter,would not be open minded about him or his candidacy, then he has more of grip than I though he had. If he thinks that the AFL-CIO has no voters for him, he is getting bad advice.

Both items are little crumbles and cracks in the Kilgore Fantasy Governor’s Race (TM).

It also reminds me of the justification given by Bush for not EVER speaking to the NAACP.

Mark in Central VA area

Posted by Mark on 17 February 2005 @ 1pm

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