From: Waldo Jaquith
To: Kaine Campaign
Subject: Accents and Distracts
So, guys. You hate me, I assume, because I’m a self-important, presumptuous blogger. I respect that. That said.
Y’all had a good attack going on against Jerry Kilgore: “Why won’t he speak for himself? Why won’t he debate? What’s he hiding?” These are good questions, and his refusal to appear before the public in any sort of forum, debate, or even commercial is telling of a significant weakness in the Kilgore campaign and Kilgore as a candidate.
But then you stopped asking that question the moment that Kilgore’s campaign invented this ridiculous “he’s attacking southerners” parry. Neither the Kaine campaign nor its surrogates have ever said any such thing about Kilgore. Anybody paying attention knows that. If you need to rebut that, that’s fine, but do so in the small papers and local media outlets where this story might do some harm.
You have allowed yourself to be distracted by the Kilgore campaign’s time-honored parry of Making Shit Up™. Your line of attack was good, as evidenced by the Kilgore campaign’s desperate, successful attempt to change the topic. This attack can be good again. Please don’t abandon your efforts to draw out Jerry Kilgore, particularly on an issue where you have every reason to be on the offensive.
Go get ’em, Tiger.
It is not just Kaine who hates you. I hate you too. Your stupid accent shit has has cost Kaine ground. I hope he can make it up.
Heh. So my massive political powers have changed the election, forcing Kaine and Kilgore to take positions that are ostensibly bad for Kaine.
All bow before me!
Not sure if all of the Kaine people are from Massachusetts and Vermont as I have heard, but one thing is clear Kaine is getting some bad advice. I plan on voting for Kilgore in November and certainly have my reservations about his campaign plan as well. But come on folks to have your campaign derailed because you made a comment that you thought would be funny is just flat out stupid. How about you all own up to making fun of his accent, say it was meant as a joke, apologize to anyone offended, and get back to trying to look like someone running for the highest office in Virginia?
I actually hope that Kaine is using all this out of state help, because I would hate to think that any Virginian would be giving him such bad advice.
Simon, if you could just point to where anybody has made fun of Kilgore’s southern accent, I don’t doubt that apologies would ensue.
Waldo,
You are 100% correct in everything you wrote. Don’t be dissuaded by partisan pricks. The fact is, the more Jerry Kilgore is heard by the people, the less likely he is to win the November election. I’ve heard a lot of southern accents in my time, and after checking out jerrytheduck.com and hearing many more accounts, I understand that the Kilgore camp isn’t at all worried about Jerry’s “southern accent”. The question is; can a politician with a decidedly effeminate voice actually win a statewide election? Fair or not, Jerry Kilgore sounds like a flamer. If I were Jerry Kilgore, I would do exactly as hes already done and keep my voice off the air waves. I am extremely disappointed with the Kilgore campaign for the way they responded to this issue. Kilgore continued to hide, and his campaign trumped up a lie that they hoped would bail him out. I sincerely hope he doesnt get bailed out because Jerry Kilgore is too weak to lead.
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: I’ll be very happy if the result of this is that closed-minded homophobes become very defensive of the effeminiate characteristics of John Kerry that they derided just a year ago. The silver lining of a Kilgore victory would be the self-evident conclusion that people, on the whole, are not as shallow as I fear.
Waldo – sorry for the delay in the response.
You have completely missed the point I was trying to make. I will take some blame for this, because I used some sarcasm, which I know is not something they teach in Blacksburg J
This whole accent story would have gone away in about 30 seconds if the Kaine campaign went something like this.
Vermont Consultant: Did you see this BS that Kilgore has come up with about us making fun of his accent?
Massachusetts Consultant: The nerve of those backwater hill people to try and say we are doing anything wrong.
Kaine: Now wait guys. There are a good many people in the Commonwealth that have accents that sound funny. Maybe we offended them and didn’t know it.
Vermont Consultant: These people are so stupid and those Republicans are war-mongering gun toting Christians. Let’s complain about debates.
Kaine: No. As someone that is asking to lead this state, it is important that the people know that I am not making fun of Jerry’s accent. Even though I did not mean to offend anyone, it is important that people know I am sorry if I did.
I know that Kaine didn’t come right out and mock Kilgore. I just take issue with a guy running for Governor that let’s something this stupid dog him for this long. BTW – I did think the guy in a duck suit was hilarious.
The latest polling data show that Kilgore’s 22% lead in SW Virginia is now…0%. Looks like the campaign consultants did pretty good one this one. :)