The Staunton News Leader, not mincing words:
If Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore fails to win an endorsement from this newspaper, it won’t be because he’s Republican or for lack of trying on our part. It’ll be because his campaign staff and Kilgore himself are the rudest, most discourteous, arrogant bunch of people we’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter in politics.
It’s one thing to say “no,” “not yet,” or “we’re just not interested” to a major state newspaper’s request for an editorial board interview. That’s totally a campaign’s prerogative. (Not smart, no matter what the paper, but still reasonable.) It’s another entirely to simply ignore every single one of a newspaper’s series of requests over the course of four months. Either this is an incredibly foolish, deliberate move on the part of the Kilgore campaign, or the Kilgore campaign is so poorly run that they managed to let this slip through a series of very large cracks. Both scenarios present a campaign in need of some improvement.
Any idea where the usual cast and crew of defenders is?
wow, that’s pretty….special!
He doesn’t need any newspaper to get elected. He’s just counting on “the people” to do the right thing and elect him. Remember, he’s the guy who trusts the people. Always has, always will.
Seriously, after reading about his reaction to the events in Gate City, this is about what I would expect from this character. People like him look upon elected office as an entitlement, and not a privledge.
You know, it’s guys like this who give politicians a bad name. Over the course of a 32-year naval career, I’ve lived in and passed through some countries with pretty questionable political practices, and some pretty dodgy characters in office (Franco’s Spain and Peru for example), and Mr. Kligore’s behavior is up there with the best any banana republic could offer. Say, I like that, a “Banana Republican.”
All in all, I hope he continues to refuse to answer the journalistic mail. It’s not smart to ignore the press when you’re running for office. Turnabout’s fair play, and the last thing a candidate or officholder needs is to be shut out by the press.
Gotta agree. That doesn’t sound good. As Knute Rockne said, “people will believe anything they read in the
paper, unless they read it in a different paper, IN BIGGER PRINT.” I have seen myself where this
campaign’s answer to every problem is to ignore it, rather than deal with it. That is often a tactic that
will bite you in the ass. Fair is fair, your guys candidate is a gay loving, gun steal’in Communist. And my candidate is, uhm, jeez guys, I dunno. “But I don’t like your guy!” Sound familiar? Kerry vs. Bush?
Democrats of last year: Well, I’m not that excited about John Kerry, but I hate Bush.” Remember that?
Scary for me.