Kaine’s tricky “Club for Growth” mailer.

Big points to the Kaine campaign for sending out their “Club for Growth” mailer. It’s an attack piece that one of these free-lunch groups launched against Kilgore a few days ago. Nobody noticed, of course, because Virginians well know that the earth isn’t flat. So now the Kaine campaign is mailing it out across Virginia, to make sure that this group gets their message out. (Sweet of ’em, isn’t it?)

To see this mailer in effect, see Too Conservative and Commonwealth Watch, who were justifiably taken in by the mailer.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

55 replies on “Kaine’s tricky “Club for Growth” mailer.”

  1. So, Waldo, can we expect the same outrage (tone and level) to be expressed by the Left side of the blogosphere as was directed at Kilgore’s so-called “Hitler” ad?

    Didn’t think so.

  2. Kilgore has proven himself beneath contempt and anything the Kaine campaign would throw at him couldn’t possibly touch the dark slime Kilogre’s campaign thrives upon.

    In the words of the immortal Steve Martin: Die you gravy sucking pigs!

  3. There is, of course, an ethical difference between the Hitler ad and the VCG flier: in the Hitler ad, Mr. Rosenbluth said Tim Kaine took a position Tim Kaine did not really take; by mailing the VCG fliers, the Kaine campaign isn’t mischaracterizing anything Jerry Kilgore did. If there are any mischaracterizations in that piece, they are mischaracterizations by the VCG. The fliers the Kaine campaign mailed say they were paid for by the Kaine campaign, as required by law.

    If anything is wrong with the Kaine campaign’s use of the VCG flier, it’s that it came two weeks too early: VCG has plenty of time (if it has the cash) to send out a responsive mailer. It would not have had that time if the piece had been timed to hit mailboxes on Nov. 3.

  4. Gosh golly and shadamnzamm!

    Just how how tiny was the print on the “Letter” that the Widow Kelly read in the latest death penalty attack ad?

    This reminds me of a scene in “Remember the Titans” movie that starred Denzel Washington and Will Patton. The story of two coaches (one white, one black) who come to appreciate one another in the heat of bbusing mess in Virginia. Not only do the coaches bridge the racial divide, but so does the team and they all win the state fottball championship that year.

    In the movie’s BIG scene, the championship game, the quarterback tells the linemen to just let the other team through … and they do. As the other team thinks they are going to sack the quarterback, the quartback pulls a “martial arts” move and goes under the guy trying to sack him, and manages to send the would-be tackle flying. When the coach on other team starts screaming and carrying on about “unnecessary roughness….” the referee goes directly to the complaining coach, stops blasting long enough to shout:
    “Unnecessary roughness! Unnecessay roughness….YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!

    What a bunch-o-babies Kilgore’s people are. Babies. And, yes, Mr. Young and Mr. Mast, I am talkin’ ’bout you and your crybaby candidate, too!

  5. Me, I say, go for it Kaine, and good job to boot! Kilgore has stooped so low, his supporters don’t seem to know whether their head is buried in a pile of goo or in a bucket full of mashed potatoes. Kaine is trying to help the Virginia Club for Growth spread its republican message of love, hey he’s doing the group a big favor. :)

  6. Just how how tiny was the print on the “Letter” that the Widow Kelly read in the latest death penalty attack ad?

    That is an excellent point. I saw that letter and thought the same thing that I think about this Kaine mailer: “Dang, that’s tricky of them.” Nobody heard any complaining out of me about it.

  7. I agree with Waldo 100% on this one. The information the Kaine campaign sent out was 100% factual — the Club for Growth urging Kilgore to “Spell Out His True Position on Taxes.” The Kilgore/Hitler ad, in contrast, was a bunch of lies and slimy innuendoes that have been condemned by just about every editorial board and attorney in Virginia. ATTORNEY Kilgore should be ashamed of himself on many, many levels for “Hitler.” Of course he won’t be, because he has no shame.

    In contrast, what the Kaine campaign has done here is in the best tradition of FIGHTING Democrats like Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ, etc. You Republicans just don’t like it when Democrats fight back, especially if it’s 100% true. But you know what? You’d better get used to it, because we are sick and tired of what you people are doing to our country and we’re not going to take it anymore.

  8. I was one of the suckers on the VCG/Kaine piece. I was ready to take a piece down from the mantle and go do some serious Rodo hunting (although it takes very little to put me in that bloody mood with those folks). However, after realizing I had been had and putting away the shooting irons, I began to wonder where it gets the Kaine campaign. It appears that those who received it were GOP party faithful and leaders (where did that list come from?) It might put people like me in a snit at VCG, but it’s not going to make me vote for Kaine. I suppose at the outer margins of the Republican core, there are a few folks who might say “If VCG has problems with JK, I just won’t go to the polls, but that has to be a very small population. So was this just Dick Tuck fun-‘n-games, or did it have a purpose? Expensive mischief, that. Enlighten me, esteemed liberal Dem friends and colleagues.

  9. There are plenty of Republicans who’ve had it with their party when it comes to it’s tax cut rhetoric being coupled with stratospheric spending. The backlash over this is huge and growing. In fact, I’d bet that once this election is over and you don’t have reason to defend Kilgore to the death, you’d admit that he falls right into this mold: gladhanding spending promises, soft on taxes when it comes down to brass tacks, and so on. Other Republicans or Independents who aren’t so dedicated to Kilgore…

  10. NoVA: I think the answer may be in the polling data.

    http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=f47b00b3-9b6f-4b82-acc2-ed4eda949b62

    In the recent SurveyUSA poll, a full 90% of dems are backing Kaine wholeheartedly.While only 81% of republicans support Kilgore. Independents favor Kaine 50% to 38%. Moderates favor Kaine 63% to 29% (yeah, wow!).

    Republicans tend to close well, thus I think it a good innoculation for the final weeks to generate division amongst the undecided economic conservatives be they republicans, independents or moderates.

    Also, I think that Kilgore is one of the most radical and unprincipled candidates for governor Virginia has ever seen. I think it’s a winning play any time that the Kaine campaign can highlight where an highly conservative group points out that irrefutable fact.

  11. Kilgore hits below the belt — Libs whine and cry, cry and whine, whine and cry some more.

    Kaine hits below the belt — the same libs giggle like schoolgirls, pat themselves on the back.

    Hypocrisy is fun, ain’t it?

  12. How was the widow Kelly letter tricky?

    She wrote it (with help?). She supports Kilgore. And Kilgore mailed it. How is that TRICKY?

  13. “I’ll stop telling the truth about them when they stop telling lies about me.”-Harry Truman

  14. “Hypocrisy is fun, ain’t it?”

    Saying Kaine said something he didn’t, and basically accusing him of traumatizing a child because he suggested we be more careful about the DP, is below the belt. Spreading the press release announcing that small government conservatives don’t buy Kilgore’s claim to be one of theirs is hardly below the belt.

  15. Kilgore hits below the belt – Kaine supporters vow to hit lower and harder.

    Kaine supporters hit lower and harder – Kilgore supporters whine and cry, cry and whine, whine and cry some more.

    C’mon I. Pub, get up. We’ll kick you in the balls, again. Had enough? Sorry, we’ve got to get a few more kicks in. That’s the only language you people understand.

  16. Careful….you are presuming balls in a being that has demonstrated neither brain nor backbone. Perhaps Mr. Kilgore and the Mad Queen in “Alice in Wonderland” are related, in more ways than one. “Balls,” said the Queen, “if I had them, I would be king!”

  17. Sucker(as I would characterize anyone buying the far Left agenda, especially the Clinton cons)Mom and Duke, we’re not “crying.” “Whine” and cheese is a Democrat tradition. We’re simply pointing out the raging hypocrisy of the sanctimonious boobery on the far Left. The point is, the piece misrepresented itself, except for the fine print, which only campaign people read.

    However, I guess it’s a fine tactic, if the goal is trying to marginalize the fiscally responsible who are saying “Enough is enough” to the greedy hand of government. There are enough people feeding at the public trough (NoVA Scout comes to mind) in the GOP who will always don the label “fiscally responsible” while doing nothing to stop runaway spending, and hence, they will like tactics like this, which misrepresent a non-party to the election.

    And JD, leave it to a lawyer to rely upon the fine print to excuse an obviously sleazy campaign tactic.

  18. Why should this hypocrisy surprise us? Kaine “opposes” abortion and the death penalty, but will do nothing to stop either one, even the latter, which he would have the power to do (that is, won’t do anything, unless — like Mark Warner — he learns of the “mess” created before he got into office and can justify a change) as Governor.

    Kaine is a pandering hypocrite on this issue. I’d have more respect for him if he said “Yeah, elect me, and I will stop every execution with my power to commute sentences.” That he won’t demonstrates that what he’s really after — like most of the far Left — is power. Principle is purely incidental to the pursuit of power.

  19. “Kaine “opposes” abortion and the death penalty, but will do nothing to stop either one,”

    And yet Democratic administrations consistently seem to reduce abortion more than Republicans: just a plain fact. Our way of reducing abortions just seems to work better.

    And the joke here is that you are basically stating Kilgore’s stance on abortion as well. They are exactly the same: they both think abortion is bad… but they won’t criminalize it. If anything, Kilgore is the one pandering to pro-choice by now refusing to say that he’d ban abortion (not to mention taking plenty of money from coprs that MAKE abortion chemicals!). Kaine certainly hasn’t won any friends on the left by supporting state restrictions on abortion. His position is, again, one of conscience precisely because it is NOT where a calculating politician would put it in Virginia, but rather where a sincere moderate would put it.

    “even the latter, which he would have the power to do (that is, won’t do anything, unless — like Mark Warner — he learns of the “mess” created before he got into office and can justify a change) as Governor.”

    He wouldn’t have the power to do unless he wants to ABUSE that power: something he isn’t willing to do. Unlike Kilgore, Kaine doesn’t view the office of Governor as being the seat of rule of some petty Empire. It’s an office with very specific powers and duties: one of which the state constitution makes very plain is to carry out death sentances. Unilaterally overturning the sentances of juries, regardless of how he feels about the DP, would be imposing his views to an absurd degree.

    “Kaine is a pandering hypocrite on this issue. I’d have more respect for him if he said “Yeah, elect me, and I will stop every execution with my power to commute sentences.” That he won’t demonstrates that what he’s really after — like most of the far Left — is power. Principle is purely incidental to the pursuit of power.”

    What bizarre logic. If Kaine wanted to pander on this issue, the obvious route would have been to reject his previous criticism of the DP and embrace it wholeheartedly. He hasn’t done that. He’s been honest about his past and his feelings. Virginians know what they are getting: someone who has grave reservations about the DP, but who doesn’t think himself above the people.

    The only panderer here is you: out to smear a good man and think as ill of his beliefs and stances as you can simply because of the letter next to his name. I don’t hear all your whining about pandering when it’s a Republican who opposes the DP.

    “if the goal is trying to marginalize the fiscally responsible who are saying “Enough is enough” to the greedy hand of government.”

    Hey, are you voting for Kilgore or not? Do you agree that increasing spending left and right as Kilgore is promising ultimately means higher tax bills paid out by the people in the end, or not? Divided government (with a Dem exec and a Republican Congress or GA) seems to have worked pretty darn well in the past if what you really care about is. Elect Kilgore, and watch the pork fly.

  20. James Young rushes boldly to the battlements to secure his title as a champeen bipartisan slime-slinger, heaping verbal abuse on Rs and Ds alike. Bile and spittle fly in all directions. We’re all annointed, from one end of the spectrum to the other. No matter how much we disagree among ourselves on this upcoming election, we can all gather for a group hug (don’t worry, James, it will be very innocent)in the solidarity of knowing we all merit the splenetic rants of the Sage of Montclair. We can also reflect that, even after this election is over and we all calm down, James Young will still be furious with most of us.

    I’m not sure why you’ve lit out after me on “feeding at the public trough,” James. I am proud of my federal service, and I reckon that I gave the taxpayors good value for their money. But it ended with the first Reagan administration and I’ve been in private enterprise since. Isn’t there some sort of statute of limitations on this? Or are all who served the public in the employ of government forever damned in your meticulously (dare I say maniacally) maintained book of account?

  21. How was the widow Kelly letter tricky?

    She wrote it (with help?). She supports Kilgore. And Kilgore mailed it. How is that TRICKY?

    Tricky because it was made to look like a handwritten letter, direct from her to the recipient. It was actually typed, and mass-mailed by the Kilgore campaign, as the fine print pointed out. Ditto the Club for Growth mailer — it was made to look direct to the recipient from the Club for Growth. It was actually reformatted and mass-mailed by the Kaine campaign, as the fine print pointed out.

  22. Speaking of Jerry Kilgore’s friends in high places….how much has Halliburton drained from “the public trough”? Maybe we should make a chart of all those who have gotten rich from the Bush-Cheney-deLaw Cartel.

    Maybe Kilgore might ask Cheney, his good friend, a man he has known for “decades” about it the next time they get together?

  23. Obviously, “He has done that.” actually should have been “hasn’t done that” as the context makes clear.

  24. Soccer:
    I wonder if the Iraq War didn’t make billionaires of our Prez, VP, SecDef and condi.

    I mean, they must have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in windfall profits off of Haliburton and Carlysle Group stocks alone. Throw in a bunch of oil stocks, exxonmobil &etc… yeah, there’s some billionaires in the Cabinet, I’m sure.

    I don’t have the numbers, but I’ll take 1,000th of the total Bush Family net worth in exchange for my personal net worth any day and twice on Sunday.

    Still, I don’t envy any of them for a second. How much blood do you need on your hands before you realize you’ve sold your soul?

  25. I guess I just don’t find the Kelly letter tricky – even after your explanation.
    I guess tricky in that one might think she paid for it herself??
    Again – she wrote it, she supports Kilgore, he paid to mail it.

    The difference is that the Kaine mailer was written by Virginia Club for Growth, who doesn’t support Kaine,
    and Kaine paid to mail it.

    Now, do I think it was wrong for Kaine to do – no. All’s fair between these two guys.

    But Kaine’s was DEFINITELY tricky. Kaine tried to trick people into thinking the VCG sent the mailer. They did
    not. Kilgore tried to “trick” people into thinking the widow Kelly sent the letter, and she did (on Kilgore’s dime).
    The difference is that Kilgore had the approval of Kelly to send the letter. Can Kaine say the same? I doubt it.

    There is a big difference here in the kind of deceptive tactic used. I don’t think either method is WRONG, but anybody who
    doesn’t/won’t/can’t see the difference between these two scenarios is being patently dishonest, IMO.

  26. I understand what you’re saying, Olivia — that the difference is between whether the author of the piece in question desired for the respective campaign to deliver the piece to its recipients. Clearly the widow wanted the Kilgore campaign to do so, while it’s less clear that the Club for Growth wanted the Kaine campaign to do so.

    To be fair, though, the Club for Growth issued that statement as a press release just a few days ago, so clearly they desired the widest possible dissemination of their message. This isn’t a private or semi-private document that has been sneakily made public.

    Anyhow, I’ll agree that there is a difference between the two mailings — I just suspect that I see it as slighter than you do. :)

  27. You know, it’s funny… I’m sure to some folks here my post has branded me a republican.
    Of course, my posts on conservative blogs commenting that I thought the Kilgore/Hitler ad was in poor taste got me branded a democrat.
    And if I don’t bow down and kiss Craddock’s feet, I’m a god-less democrat. And if I comment on Porta or Barg, I’m some lousy republican operative.

    And every week or two I get a few pieces of mail addressed to me as a “loyal democrat” and few as a “loyal republican”.

    And it’s people like me out here in the real world(who aren’t party members & who aren’t political activists) that swing elections – and nearly every time I voice an opinion to the “insiders” about how some people on the outside see the campaigns, I’m branded. Now you’d think that I’m the kind of person that the insiders might like to listen to every once in a while, so as to learn how to earn votes like mine. But it never seems to happen. They play to the left and play to the right, and insult the moderates – the very ones tipping the balance.

    (Now, after saying all that on your blog, I don’t mean to imply that you’ve been rude or dismissive or anything of the sort. In fact your replies have always been extraordinarily polite. And I find your positions to be quite well thought out as well. Thanks for letting me post on your blog!)

  28. Well, Mr. Young … I see you are still allowing your immaturity to inspire you to call people names when they don’t agree with you. Were you orphaned at a young age? Raised by hyenas in the Australian outback? I ask only because it appears that no one has taken the trouble to help you realize that name-calling is the sign of a weak mind that has never developed an ability to use rational thought processes to reason through a difficulty. There is help for this. Perhaps you, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Rove, Mr. Cheney et.al. can get a group therapy rate…oh, wait! I think the federal government has slashed the Medicaid/Medicare budget, too…..too bad.

    I shall pray for you, Mr. Young.

  29. Olivia:

    “Now you’d think that I’m the kind of person that the insiders might like to listen to every once in a while, so as to learn how to earn votes like mine. But it never seems to happen. They play to the left and play to the right, and insult the moderates – the very ones tipping the balance.”

    I’m right there with ya! Just never let them brainwash you. As the extremists on both sides start to lose their grip (and elections), they’ll start listening to the group that really determines elections: we rational moderates who fully consider all sides of an issue and have the courage to question, even ourselves, as times and circumstances change. We’re the ones who look first for strong leaders with character and vision, not simply the latest party hack who best spews the platform du jour.

  30. Oh, Josh, I always knew you’d expose your true colors merely by continuing to talk. There was once a place where political opponents were relegated to the tender mercies of psychological testing: the old Soviet Union. Sounds like you’d be at home there.

    Hey, but there’s still North Korea!

  31. Make no mistake, I consider myself a Republican. The problem for me is, too many in the GOP actively villify people like me who put rational, pragmatic choices above party politics. When legislators can’t make compromises for the common good without being eaten alive by special interest groups (VCAP, I’m pointing you) and members of their own party, the whole process is in big trouble. Leading is about more than signing campaign pledges. It’s about making tough decisions and finding innovative solutions. Republican or Democrat, we need to find more folks willing and able to do that.

  32. James: wow! you’ve outdone yourself. I applaud you.

    I am now convinced that there is noplace on earth where you would be unable to find some sort of communist or socialist plot hatching.

    You are off the charts. There’s just no words…

    Oh, and actually, mandatory psychological testing is currently a part of the Bush plan, Soviet Overlord that he is:

    http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/06/13.php

    Maybe Bush is a commie!

    yeah, there’s some more commies all over!

    whoo hoo! commies…. where aaarrre you!?

    ohh, there’s one! a big scary commie! yikes! commies everywhere!

  33. Tell me, Waldo. Is this what you learned st the Sorenson Institute – that deception is fine as long as it is accurate? If so, I want my money back.

    Ironically, what this mailer has done is further isolate the Club for Growth from mainstream Repubicans. Thank you, Kaine Campaign.

  34. Is this what you learned st the Sorenson Institute — that deception is fine as long as it is accurate?

    What we learned — and continue to learn — is that much of politics is a big, gray area, and ethical decisions are made along that continuum. That’s exactly what we’ve discussed here, of course — the relative ethical concerns of this mailer versus the Kilgore campaign’s widow mailer. If you missed that, read from the beginning of the discussion and you’ll see ethical considerations in action.

  35. And to think that this kind of entertainment is free. Dems pushing for twisting nutsacks and Repubs decrying dirty tricks. RINOs and Blue Dogs actually trying to discuss real issues. Hell is starting to get a bit frosty….

    — Conaway

    Btw, since Kaine won’t kill Hitler, does that mean that Kilgore will cut his taxes?

  36. Just think how Kilgore could pull ahead if he actually addressed the Republican agenda, by committing to spending cuts, phaseout of the car tax, continued application of suprpluses to the food tax, and supporting further restrictions of abortion if Roe v. Wade is overruled (Jerry, even though it’s a hypothetical, you can still answer the question in a way to gain political support).
    Instead, Kilgore is playing the Willie Horton card, and failing to discuss relevant issues. He is enabling Kaine to stay alive in this race. Now, Kilgore is running away from Bush, who raised him scads of cash, because Kenneth Hutcheson has decided the President is poision in Va. Can you imagine what kind of pathetic Governor Kilgore will be if he actually runs the Commonwealth the way he has run this campaign? Perhaps it will be interesting to elect Kilgore, and watch the Assembly members treat him as a pinata.

  37. How about I just buy you a Jerry Kilgore voodoo doll, and we elect Tim Kaine instead. I think Jerry will to too much damage as Governor to make any potential entertainment value worthwhile.

  38. I have heard that certain “Conjure Queens” from New Orleans are already working hard on showing Dubya, deLay, Cheney, Rove — and yes, certain Virginia Republicans, too — what happens when you mess with Mardi Gras. They call it: “Revenge of Katrina.” …Laissez les bontemps roulet!

  39. How can Jerry Kilgore do damage to Virginia? He will need ten sets of ears to listen carefully and seemingly agree with the likes of Chichester, Griffith, Howell, Brian Moran, the black caucus etc. He will be too afraid to do anything, and will ratify action taken by others. Kaine is the danger, because he wants to expand the size of government in conjunction with Dems and RINOs, and will work quietly with his father-in-laws corporate RIchmond buddies to use public money for private profit.

    Deep down, Jerry knows he is a pinhead, but he is as afraid of doing bad as he is afraid of doing good. Jerry reminds me of my alter ego, Joe Underwood, in that deep inside Joe there is a skinny man crying to get out and cut the size of government, while deep inside Jerry there is a decisive, sophisticated, articulate political leader who doesn’t want to draw George Allen’s bathtub water for two decades. I’d say the odds of Jerry becoming decisive are the same odds of Joe dropping down to a 36 inch waist.

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