So just weeks after Democratic leadership blasted the Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly as “racist” and “bigoted” it appears as if Governor-elect Ralph Northam is doing everything humanly possible to walk back the rhetoric.
…by hiring lobbyists into his administration (after blasting Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie for being one) — and by hire, we mean almost exclusively staff his cabinet with those who have indeed lobbied their government at some point in time during their careers.
Who is carrying the water? The same folks who are screaming bloody murder about net neutrality after putting their entire website behind a paywall:
To wit, the Washington Post — rather than running the stories they would have run against Gillespie should the tables have turned about the impossible task of stitching together a Republican coalition while trying to salvage the relationship with Democrats, &tc, &tc, — is now running puff pieces on how a stable (sic), moderate (sic) Northam administration is attempting to become a bi-partisan vehicle (sic) for the Washington Post’s editorial board.
From the article behind a paywall (because supposedly, democracy otherwise dies in darkness because net neutrality and all that):
“Virginians deserve civility,” Northam said Friday in his first extended interview since he beat Republican Ed Gillespie by nine points on Nov. 7. “They’re looking for a moral compass right now.”
From the guy who funded the openly racist Latino Victory Fund advertisement depicting Gillespie mowing down brown kids in an back alley?
Northam said he was proud of his campaign, despite criticism that both he and Gillespie turned negative in the closing weeks.
Proud of racist ads. Because victory heals a thousand wounds, I suppose…
“Some of what makes it toxic is things like MS-13 ads and pedophile ads,” Northam said.
Pro-tip: Quit restoring rights to pedophiles and stop creating environments where MS-13 can thrive. I mean, crazy talk — right?
His advice to [new progressive delegates]: “Learn the system, number one. And really make good relationships on both sides of the aisle. . . . I’ll try to lead that. We talk about the doctor being in, healing, and I’ll try to bring people together and emphasize doing what’s in the best interest of Virginia. You’ll see that in my inauguration speech.”
Let’s review, shall we?
Jefferson: “We are all federalists. We are all republicans.”
Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
FDR: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
Reagan: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
Northam: “The doctor is in!”
Camacho: “We are running out of french fries and burrito coverings.”
One almost has to beg the question: which millennial (or group of millennials) were paid sub-par wages to think of the line “The doctor is in!” as the hallmark that would inspire the hopes and dreams of 8 million hard working Virginians who don’t like Trump, but really aren’t all that sold on the Democrats (other than they aren’t Trump)?
Perhaps I’m the odd duck out on the slouch towards idiocracy? After all, my bewilderment at the current crop of political candidates who seem to believe that one-liners and making the other guy a pedophile is how you win campaigns has yet to formulate an effective response other than to go full William F. Buckley Jr. and hold my hands athwart history screaming “What are you people thinking?!?”
The problem here, of course, is that neither Northam nor the Washington Post are operating in good faith. Delegate Barbara Favola has already telegraphed her punch — the opposition (half of Virginia and Republicans all) are evil — and her fellow Democrats sitting in the pews? Applauded that.
I’ll dispense with the shibboleth of if-Republicans-had-done-or-said-this-it-would-be-front-page-in-Virginia-for-three-weeks because (1) we all know it’s true and (2) the dynamic isn’t going to change until a conservative media outlet packs the same punch as the Washington Post or Richmond Times-Dispatch. Until then? The WaPo and RTD get to determine what is news and what is not news.
This outburst? This sentiment? Is not news… in fact, within liberal and progressive circles, it is considered as true — and a basic truth liberals deeply believe about Republicans in just about every institutional setting (media, education, arts, culture, etc).
Which means that bi-partisanship to a Democrat? Is merely a search for useful idiots.
Now this isn’t to say that there is an ocean of conservatives who are absolutely horrified at the status quo. Dixiecrats, populists, and nationalists have swamped the GOP and the result is that conservatives find themselves a minority within their own party.
This doesn’t mean that just because the Democrats have successfully figured out the secret sauce — demonize Trump and come in second place in the race to the bottom — that conservatives are going to flock to the Democratic banners. Quite the contrary. A pox upon both houses seems in order at times. Just because the Democrats successfully connive with the media to beat Republicans down doesn’t validate their ideas one iota in the public square. In fact, it puts the locus squarely on their shoulders to perform — or get out of the way in 2019.
Northam did not run with honesty or integrity. The Democrats absolutely demonized and vilified the Republicans in the General Assembly in the raw pursuit of power, being perfectly willing to sacrifice civility and institutions in the pursuit of gain. Republicans know this at core, and when the concert of media institutions, political institutions, and pressure groups work together to vilify a man like Gillespie? The endgame is clear — hammer the conservatives so that the only camp that remains are the populists; then run against the populists.
For the media? Create the clusterf*ck; sell tickets to the clusterf*ck. Fin.
That’s how democracy dies, and we all know it. Is there any small wonder why Gillespie is waving people off of running for public office in such an environment? Any small wonder why the Washington Post’s attempt to buck up their chosen candidate for public office is being met with derision and contempt?
The left traded integrity for power. Bi-partisanship isn’t a destination; it’s a method backed up by personnel being policy — and to date, Northam’s personnel have been overwhelmingly progressive and in hock to the very special interests who plied him with campaign cash.
Once the pretense of bi-partisanship is abandoned? Best of luck convincing others that the dirty gutter campaign Northam’s surrogates ran on his behalf isn’t how he intends to govern.
