Tacky, Tacky, Wha????

Taylor Marsh has a piece out asking Virginia voters to vote for anyone but Brian Moran. She says he's tacky for... get this... running ads on black radio stations.

I guess only Terry McAuliffe is allowed to support black radio.

OK, here's the whole story.

Several months ago, Terry McAuliffe was busy being Terry McAuliffe. You know, shamelessly disingenuous. He took to black radio across Virginia and ran an ad talking about how much "we" did to get Barak Obama elected. Of course, he never mentioned that he, personally, led an effort to ensure that Barack Obama never got anywhere near the White House. He, personally, had played the fool all over national television while ensuring that Hillary Clinton's campaign would be forever noted for its colossal underachievement.

So yeah, after the primary was settled, Terry McAuliffe, as a second-rate surrogate that couldn't do much damage, was allowed to hit the trail for Obama. He toned down his act, stopped drinking rum in the morning on national television, and rolled up his sleeves. He did some good work for Obama.

But that was only after he went to the mat to make sure Obama didn't get the nomination.

So when I heard the ads he ran all over black radio, I thought to myself: chutzpah! I think most other cognizant observers with two brain cells to rub together probably thought the same thing.

I guess that wasn't true... It seems there are more than a couple of McAuliffe supporters that value integrity less than they probably should. Because Moran has been savagely attacked for setting the record straight.

What did he do? Well, as I said, he went up with ads on black radio stations and told the other half of the truth: That Terry McAuliffe was not a Barack Obama supporter for much of 2008; that McAuliffe earned his buffoonish reputation by saying things like "Kiss my ass, Barack!" on the Jon Stewart Show.

Look, i get how this works. Some folks are still bitter that poor little Hillary didn't win the nomination. Boo-hoo, boo-hoo and cry me a river. Seriously, you need to get over that.

Because, by a long shot, Brian Moran is the most progressive and most qualified candidate in the Virginia race. He was a Democratic prosecutor in a blood-red state back when Terry McAuliffe was ripping off S&L's with his father-in-law. As McAuliffe graduated to selling off the Lincoln Bedroom and trading access for sweetheart deals with Global Crossing, Moran was beginning his career as a Virginia state legislator.

McAuliffe has never spent a day governing a boy scout troop, let alone a state. Moreover, he's always business interests (think DLC) first -- at the expense of the common good and working people. There is a reason Democrats found themselves in the wilderness after four years of McAuliffe leadership at the DNC.

I challenge you: if you see McAuliffe at a campaign event, ask him a question: What have you ever done for working people? And if you see Brian Moran, ask him the same question.

I don't think you'll have to do anything more than that to decide who your nominee should be.

Comments

[grammy11]

Since I don't live in VA and can't vote my opinion doesn't matter. But I will never forget the public ranting and raging against Obama. It is understood that he strongly supported Hillary but he didn't have to be so cruel against her competitor. He doesn't deserve to be a Governor of anywhere.

[Charmed]

Thank you for this article....Taylor writing an article trying to claim that they did more for Obama than his primary supporters is nothing but an insult. Terry was the worst person against Obama including Taylor. I don't know why they are trying to rewrite history.

[CalexenderJ]

On this narrow issue, I think I side with McAullife. I think it's well within bounds for Terry to run ads touting what he did to get Obama elected, while omitting his actions during the primary. Once the convention hits and the nominee is selected, everything that occurred before that is water under the bridge. You don't go dredging that stuff up again. Obama's selection of Biden for VP, and Hillary for SOS, proves you forgive and forget. It is a little tacky for Moran to go around running ads that McAulliife wasn't an original Obama supporter.

Now having said that, unlike Taylor I hardly feel that that disqualifies him from the governorship. In this article Stark raising several good points on Moran's qualifications. And I would think that Moran would do well to focus his ads on those things, rather than the fact that McAuliffe supported a different democrat during the primaries.

[binarystar]

"Once the convention hits and the nominee is selected, everything that occurred before that is water under the bridge. You don't go dredging that stuff up again."

This isn't a fairytale with magical rules. What politicians say and do should matter especially when it was less than a year ago. A lot of us haven't forgotten what a sleazy campaign they were running.

[Querent]

Good post. I'm still not reading Taylor Marsh because of her absurdly reflexive "Kill for Hillary" nonsense.

[ToddSmyth]

When Terry talks about making appearances for Barack all over Virginia, he is really talking about repairing the damage he caused while setting up his bid to run for Governor. Terry has been running ads in the same locations saying he was the one who brought the party together to elect Barack Obama, which is bull. Brian's ad is just pointing this out.