This might very well be the ad that will undo the Northam campaign.
To wit, the Charlottesville Daily Progress has taken umbrage with the use of the Citronella Nazi parade in August in a recent Northam mailer, detailing it as a prostitution of Charlottesville’s pain and anguish — still very keenly felt in the community:
The mailer features a photo of the Charlottesville Tiki-torch marchers, and condemns Mr. Gillespie for not speaking out against President Trump’s now infamous “good people on both sides” comment made on Aug. 12.
Mr. Gillespie did, however, denounce the white supremacists — before the rally ever took place.
“Having a right to spew vile hate does not make it right,” he said early on Aug. 12. “… These displays have no place in our commonwealth and the mentality on display is rejected by the decent, thoughtful and compassionate fellow Virginians I see every day.”
This did not deter Northam’s campaign — sliding in polls and according to recent polls behind the Republican challenger — from attempting to link both President Trump and Ed Gillespie to the Citronella Nazi marchers.
For this effort, the Daily Progress is coolly cynical of the Northam race altogether:
For his opponent to challenge him on the degree to which he endorses the Trump agenda is fair game.
But to take the tragedy of Charlottesville and exploit it for political advantage is stomach-turning.
We also find it to be more than a bit hypocritical, since the Northam campaign was quick to cry foul over the Gillespie ad that manipulated information in trying to say that Mr. Northam was soft on gang violence.
The Northam mailer manipulates information, too. The message on its reverse side urges voters to “stand up to Trump, Gillespie and hate” — as if “Trump, Gillespie and hate” are automatically equivalent. That’s both misleading and cynically calculating.
One might think that, if the Northam campaign truly believed that the MS-13 ad was as appalling as they claimed it to be (rather than a direct hit on a hypocritical and soulless vote to stave off Tom Perriello in the primary elections) they would have allowed public opinion to punish Gillespie for a thoughtless and reprehensible ad…
…only they didn’t, because the MS-13 ad was a brutally accurate reflection of the consequences of Northam’s policies as lieutenant governor.
Hence the reason why Northam’s staff felt compelled to attempt to pay Gillespie back in his own coin, or at least, in a poor simulacrum of what they thought Gillespie had done to them.
Only it missed. Wildly.
