Tim Kaine’s campaign has a new website: Jerry the Duck. Kilgore is “weak,” “all hat and no cattle,” is “trying to sound tough,” is scared to “get in the ring,” “wants us to think he’s tough,” is “all bluster,” and has “his press secretary [make] excuses for him.” Damn.
My favorite bit is the video footage of Jerry Kilgore’s economic development press conference at VCU. Or, possibly, the audio clip of Kilgore’s voice on the top of every single page on the site.
Good site. It’s aggressive and snarky without resorting to making things up or relying on half-truths. I’m impressed.
Ummm…that’s really, really lame. I can’t believe the Kaine campaign had the nerve to blast Kilgore’s fake memo stunt, yet they have no problem with nonsense like this. It’s just too silly for words, and (like the fake memo) I’m not sure exactly who this is intended to persuade.
I can see your point, JB. It is silly, and the site will probably not convince anyone to change their vote. Interesting too is the idea that, like those radio ads running in rural areas, this site will not see much play or get much notice until it reaches the papers (I am sure Jeff Schapiro is already absuing his keyboard over this one).
But I do give props to the Kaine people for using the online medium in an interesting way. It’s an attack site, sure. But it’s cost is low and its potential value is high…in the right hands, it could make some small difference.
I do wonder about the timing, though. Isn’t it a bit early to be using this sort of material? If the Kaniacs use up all their ammo before May, for heaven’s sake, what will they have left come November?
Thanks for pointing it out Waldo.
I think the point is to rally the troops — to get Democrats excited about Kaine’s campaign in a way that’s funny and relevant. And if that is the goal, I think it will succeed.
I guess, in a “rally the troops” sense, I can see the point. It is becoming increasingly evident that Virginia Dems aren’t exactly thrilled with the Kaine campaign. And I think I agree with Waldo that stunts like this could succeed, if the goal is to excite the base.
I still think it’s lame, though. :)
BTW, Waldo, my upgrade to WordPress 1.5 is scheduled for tonight or tomorrow.
Waldo, my upgrade to WordPress 1.5 is scheduled for tonight or tomorrow.
My only warning regards your template. WP1.5 uses a totally new template system. Look into it and be prepared to manually convert your template. I don’t know if it’s supposed to automagically make the conversion happen, but it sure didn’t for me, and I was left scrambling.
I’ve hired someone to do the upgrade for me — the same person who created my template. Hopefully, I won’t run into those problems.
Thanks for the heads-up, though.
I actually find this offensive. It’s one thing to point out that Kilgore’s speaking style is effeminate, and that many people believe him to be gay — which works because *other* people (many VA Republicans) perceive homosexuality to be a bad thing. But with this site, the Kaine campaign is implying that Kilgore is queer and mocking the stereotypes, and it comes off as an endorsment of the bigotry that they’re hoping to capitalize on. They’re using his voice and the “weak” feminine meme to say that no one should vote for him — rather than finding irony in the fact that some people would reject him on those grounds.
the Kaine campaign is implying that Kilgore is queer and mocking the stereotypes
Are they? I ask in all seriousness, because I didn’t spot that.
I agree with Cari. This site makes very obvious allusions to Kilgore’s ambiguous sexuality. If you listen to the “Hear Jerry Quack” clip at the top, what does he say? “I have no duty to you, Mr. Lt. Gov. I have no duty to you on this issue.” What the hell does that mean? Nothing — it has no context, there’s no way to know whether Kilgore was right or wrong, and on top of that you can hear Kaine raising a ruckus in the background. THe words in the clip have no obvious utility to the Kaine campaign whatsoever — it’s on the site because Jerry Kilgore sounds as effeminate as I’ve ever heard him while saying it.
Ah, I can see how that quote, out of context, would be mysterious.
Those of us who spend more time on these matters than we ought to immediately recognize that quote as being from the Kilgore/Kaine AP debate, where Kilgore got seriously trounced by Kaine. That was the quote from the event, the clip that everybody heard on the radio and read in the newspapesr. I blogged about it at the time, complete with transcript. That was the only debate that the two guys have had — Kilgore’s performance was so damaging that he’s doing all he can to avoid ever having to get up on a stage with Kaine again. So that clip is emblematic of Kilgore’s total inability to handle himself during a debate.
But, yeah, out of context, I can see that it comes across as bizarre. :)