Editorial boards line up against Kilgore.
The Washington Post has already attacked Kilgore for his “Hitler” ad, calling it a “loathsome” “smear” that’s both “beyond the pale” and “a new level of nastiness.” Here’s a roundup of the other reactions from papers around the state.
- Roanoke Times: “Offensive,” reprehensible,” “demagoguery,” “an insulting new low,” “demonstrates…astounding ignorance,” “an offensive and vile attempt to manipulate an emotional issue for base political gain,” “betrays a callous disregard by Kilgore for the rule of law.”
- Virginian-Pilot: “[E]xceeds the bounds of decency and good taste that ought to be ingrained in a future governor,” “jettisons any hope of rational discussion of capital punishment,” “trivialize[s] the horror of genocide,” “an egregious piece of airwave overkill.”
- Marc Fisher in the Washington Post: “[Y]ou might conclude that…Kilgore’s idea of justice comes from the Taliban,” “tacky,” “based on the bedrock belief that voters are dumb as stumps.”
Such criticism is well-founded, given that the Kilgore campaign invented this “Hitler shouldn’t have gotten the death penalty quote” out of whole cloth.
We’ve had three of Virginia’s major newspapers editorialize on Kilgore’s “Hitler” ad, and all three have lined up for Tim Kaine and against Jerry Kilgore. I’ll watch as more editorials roll in, and I’m certain of what I’ll see: No newspaper is going to support this ad, and no newspaper is going to support Kilgore’s campaign tactics.
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