Wow, this was one UGLY debate tonight, especially from Jerry "All Negative, All the Time" Kilgore. Blech. As Tim Kaine pointed out, ?If you don?t have a positive vision for Virginia, you?re not fit to be Governor!? And Jerry Kilgore certainly does NOT have a positive vision for Virginia. Never has. Never will.As Jerry went for the slime, Kaine tried valiently to stay positive and true to the facts, stressing the accomplishments he and Mark Warner achieved for Virginia the past 4 years. Kaine rightly pointed out that Jerry Kilgore opposed these accomplishments every step of the way. Kaine stood up for his record as Mayor of Richmond, even when hammered unfairly by Kilgore. Obviously, Kaine admitted that things weren't perfect in Richmond, and that more work needed to be done. Still, Kaine made it clear that he was proud of what he HAD managed to accomplish, like slashing the crime rate by 55%.
Jerry Kilgore, as is customary for him, avoided tough questions like the black plague. For instance, he failed to provide a specific example when asked for an example of how he had made a decision where his values conflicted. He avoided the "hypothetical" abortion question once AGAIN, eventually saying he didn't support the criminalization of women (gee, thanks!) and that he supported a "culture of life," whatever that means. He punted once again on Confederate History and Heritage Month. He didn't answer the question about whether any innocent men were on Virginia's death row. He didn't really answer the question about why he didn't support referenda on everything. He failed to cite 3 major transportation projects he would push for, but just went back to claiming Kaine would raise the gas tax. Impressive.
Besides being vague, evasive, and inaccurate, Kilgore was pretty much all negative, all the time. Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed that Kilgore was pre-programmed by Scott Howell to slip something negative about Tim Kaine into each and every sentence he uttered. In addition, Kilgore apparently was under instructions not to talk about what HE would do to move Virginia forward, but instead to attack Kaine over and over and over and over. Kilgore even attacked the hard-working parents of Richmond, for which Tim Kaine demanded that Kilgore apologize. Yeah, right; don't hold your breath waiting for THAT to happen!
Kilgore distorted and even outright lied. For instance, Kilgore claimed that Kaine had compared the death penalty in Virginia to the Soviet gulags. That is simply false. What Kaine actually said (in 1987) was that murder was murder, whether it happened in Virginia, in a prison, in the gulag, or anywhere else. In other words, all life is sacred. What part of "murder is murder" does Jerry Kilgore not understand?
On the gas tax issue, Kilgore lied again, while Tim Kaine rightly blamed the President and Congress for high gas prices. On whether government should interfere in cases like Terry Schiavo, Kaine correctly asserted that governors shouldn't use "PR grandstanding" to interfere in these most difficult, personal issues. Who knows what Jerry was saying on this issue? That brain dead people should be able to make decisions about their treatment? On immigration, Kaine rightly called on the REPUBLICAN Congress and President to enforce the laws for which they are responsible. Kilgore continued to demagogue on the issue, asking in a pitiful attempt to be clever, "what part of illegal don't we understand?" Oooooooh, good one Jerry!
Overall, Kaine seemed to get pinned with the toughest questions, but he more than held his own under the circumstances. As usual, Kilgore struggled with the questions he was asked, while being extremely negative and turning the debate into a mud fight, just as Scott Howell undoubtedly told him to do. Frankly, this whole thing was UGLY UGLY UGLY. To top it all off, Jerry Kilgore wouldn't even agree to run 51% positive ads the last 4 weeks. Unbelievable.
The winner of this debate? Tim Kaine, for telling the truth and trying as hard as possible to stay positive. The big losers? The people of Virginia, who were forced to listen to Jerry Kilgore's lies, evasions, and negativity.
Frankly, it's amazing to me that Jerry Kilgore could possibly be nominated by a major political party in the United States of America. What does that say about the Republican Party of George W. Bush, Tom DeLay and Bill Frist? Could this be why the GOP is in the middle of tearing itself apart over nasty scandals, the Iraq quagmire, out-of-control budget deficits, their pitiful Katrina response, Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, etc? Do we want more of this in Virginia, just as we've made so much progress the past 4 years? Right, I thought not. Go Kaine!