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.
I must say that the repetition of the phrase “Kilgore’s ‘Hitler’ ad” is a worthwhile meme to replicate. It would be most gratifying to see the despicable negative ad backfire in such a way that people associate “Kilgore” and “Hitler.” In a civilized society we should, of course, hope that the public sees through such malarky as Kilgore’s “Hitler” ad.
Off topic (maybe) question, but do these threads invoke Godwin’s Law, or are they exempt? :)
*Laugh* The discussion is being sucked in on itself! Hopefully it doesn’t take the whole of the internet with it. :)
Whine, whine, whine. Wow! So-called mainstream media picks up theme of far Left blogosphere. There’s a huge surprise.
Ah. So it’s a massive media conspiracy against Jerry Kilgore, led by Virginia bloggers, who call the shots at the Post, the Roanoke Times, and the Virginian-Pilot. That does explain things nicely.
It’s certainly much simpler than the explanation that running an ad that compares a candidate to Hitler is totally disgusting.
James, sorry, but as in so many other cases, your extreme radical candidate has no support, nor will he receive support from thinking people who care about the future of Virginia.
All negative, all the time only goes so far. At a certain point you have to have a record and some guts. Kilgore has neither. What he does have is the nations #1 sleezemeister cranking out despicable Hitler ads. He’s paid Scott Howell $1.1 Million to bring the worst of national politics to the commonwealth.
It’s like the whole state is taking a manure bath in the GOP Culture of Corruption.
naa… hold on to the soap, pass the oven cleaner.
I have not seen the Kilgore ad, only the Kaine response ad.
Does Kilgore’s ad use debate footage? Or is it a voice over
of something said to a newspaper or in the debate? Just curious.
Kaine really needs to re-shoot the response ad – the eyebrow is almost painful
to watch. I actually have my own face reaction to it – it causes stress
in my forehead region – isn’t that strange! Does that eyebrow
thing only happen when he’s tense? It is very disconcerting.
Does Kilgore’s ad use debate footage?
No, no footage. It’s a reference to something that they claim that Kaine said in the paper, but that reading the paper shows quite clearly that he did not say.
Does that eyebrow thing only happen when he’s tense?
Nope, he does it all the time. Unless he’s really tense in casual, private, one-on-one conversation. :)