If Kaine’s response had started with his “I will enforce the death penalty because that’s the law” and then ended with “Kilgore can’t be trusted, his ads are misleading, he’s not trust worthy” it would have had a much better effect. Instead Kaine looks like a big pussy and I’m afraid he’ll lose.

This is to be contrasted with Republicans, who only use straight, white middle-class family members of murder victims for political gain.

I’d like to think that we Democrats are more inclusive in this regard.

I’ve always heard that Democrats don’t truly care about African-Americans…they just want to use them for political gain. This is the first time I’ve seen it in print!

Clearly, one of the reporters brought it up. Check here: http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128767488641&path=%21news%21politics&s=1045855935264

And here.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128767495789&path=%21news%21politics&s=1045855935264

We all take a long, multi-faceted look at our very limited choices for any office (limited by crappy pluralistic voting, I must point out). We basically only have three choices now: Tim Kaine – who I am voting for because he has a damned good record on education, transportation, moderate taxes, and a concern for the wel being of the people of Virginia (so I disagree with him on a few smaller issues – like not making voting rights and election reform is number one priority); Jerry Kilgore – a known crook, who’s campaign is paid for by the evil empire builders, and who lies and misdrects with every negative attack ad; and Russ Potts, who I always felt was too small a government man (we already pay negligible taxes, dammit!), but who is sounding more and more reasonable every week.

I am not so concerned about a couple of people sentenced to death row staying in prison for their lives instead – it simply costs us more money.

I am more concerned with the number of convicts who were allowed out by (then) attorney general Kilgore.

In this case, Tim’s words are that he opposes the death penalty, but he promises in his actions to carry out the executions.

And regarding Hitler, he didn’t say Hitler. But when you are answering a reporter’s question, and he says Hitler, and asks if there is ANYBODY you would execute, and you say no, it is safe to say that you just told the world that you would not execute Hitler for his crimes.

Anti-Death-Penalty people get this question all the time, and as a smart lawyer and world-class debater Tim should have known how to answer it. But in fact he does, because Tim Kaine is OPPOSED to the Death Penalty, and if he had his way and Hitler was up for criminal charges, Tim Kaine would NOT support the death penalty for Hitler. He would only support the death penalty for Hitler if he needed to do so to get elected.

It’s the hard cases that show how much you care about your principles. It sunk Dukakis, who should have said “I’d rip the guys head off with my bare hands, but that’s why we have a government to punish, rather than lynch mobs”.

Kaine took a case as a lawyer for free to try to keep a convicted killer from being executed (as per his sentence). Kaine was doing what lawyers do, except he wasn’t hired, he did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. He was trying to follow his principles, his convictions, by getting an execution stopped using everything the law provided to him.

But now, as Governor, he has promised that if that same defendant showed up to be executed, he would pull the switch. Kaine probably would have argued for the governor to commute the sentence of his client — but as governor he would ignore such a plea from the guy’s lawyer, even though he thinks commuting the sentence woudl be the right thing to do.

Tim Kaine admits to the camera in close up that Kilgore has been questioning his (Kaine’s) stance on both guns and the death penalty. Have Tim explain that he was brought up to believe that actions speak stronger than words, and explain that next he will demonstrate his feelings on both issues…

Camera pans back. Kaine is at a gun range with a big hang gun in his hand, he dons ear protection.

Camera swings to the target – a photo graph of Kilgore. Blam! Blam! Blam! Target shreds…

OK – so it’s just a fantasy… but what fun the campaign would be!

They could sell the targets with Jerry’s face on them to raise money for the ads themselves! ;-)

Show me where Tim Kaine was the first to mention Adolf Hitler. Show me where the man uttered that name.

I won’t pretend to wait, because you can’t produce it.

Kaine is a lawyer, and he knows how this works. If one party enters something into evidence, either as an exhibit or from a witness, then it’s fair game for everybody — even if the other side wasn’t allowed to bring it in initially.

Seriously — the more Tim Kaine reacts to Kilgore’s attacks on this issue, the deeper he’s digging his hole. He needs to just ignore it and change the subject ASAP.

If Mike Tyson punches you then you have 2 real choices. Shoot him or run away. Well, choice #3 would be to stand there and get killed. There are not a ‘hundred million solutions to every problem.’ That kind of limp ‘there must be another way’ crap is what loses fights and elections. Real life is not a Care Bears movie or an after school PSA. This fight is what it is and it’s happening right now. Guys who stop in the middle of a fight to question whether there might be some way to avoid bloodshed (as you are doing right now) get the crap beaten out of them. Guys who get brutal and hit their opponent even more ruthlessly win. As do those people for whom the winner is fighting. That is how the real world works.

Everyone doesn’t die in the ‘bigger gun’ scenario. Just the guy with the smaller gun or the poorer aim. Or the guy who didn’t bring a weapon at all. Thus has it ever been. The best that you can hope for is is a champion who shoots straight and knows when to pull the trigger. You can’t turn a street fight into a pillow fight once it’s already started.

Finding peaceful, friendly solutions to these kinds of situations is all well and good. But not when you’ve signed up to be a warrior, which is what Tim Kaine did. Go play Ghandi on your own time for your own stakes. The Democratic party nominated Tim Kaine to be our hidalgo, not our messiah.

That’s crazy. There are hundred million solutions to every problem. To say the only way to win a fight is to have a bigger gun is insane. Everybody dies.

Don’t get me wrong, i’m not suggesting it won’t work. It will work. Negative advertising is effective. But please don’t believe it’s the only answer.

Think about this… Kilgore has THE BEST negative political advertiser working for him. That’s the equivalent of kicking Mike Tyson in the balls when he punches you. Will it work? Maybe, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to do it.