It truly is a strange pairing to see John Warner, who backed Independent J. Marshall Coleman for Senate in 1994 against Republican nominee Oliver "Iran-Contra Felon" North, handing the election to Democrat Charles "Chuck" Robb.
It is also strange to see a guy (Warner) who endorsed last year's $1.4 billion responsible budget package, the same one Jerry Kill-more is blasting because it raised taxes for a small percentage of Virginians (while cutting them for many more).
As Schapiro explains very well, Warner and Kilgore are not teaming up on the campaign trail because a) they agree with each other philosophically or b) they even like each other. No, this is pure Machiavellian politics at work here. Simply stated, as Schapiro points out, these two guys need each other. Schapiro writes:
Warner needs Kilgore for 2008, when Warner could seek a sixth term. Having a governor on his side would muffle dissent within a GOP from which Warner occasionally strays. And Kilgore is relying on Warner to affix to his candidacy a centrist stamp that would help Kilgore with suburban swing voters.
While we understand realpolitik, we still find it sad that John Warner, who has served long and honorably in the U.S. Senate as a reasonable, responsible Republican, would at this point in his distinguished career feel the need to back a right wing nutjob like Jerry Kill-more. We also find it sad that the Kilgore campaign is trying to pull the wool over Virginians' eyes by pretending to be buddies with the popular, even beloved, Senator.
True, "politics makes strange bedfellows" as the saying goes. Still, we at RaisingKainewould urge John Warner to think long and hard before he gets into bed with a fruitcake like Jerry Sue Kilgore. The good Senator might get more than he bargained for.
Oct. 1995 Potts Compares Democrats to Nazis
And Potts calls his opponent "extreme!"
At the height of the vitriolic 1995 General Assembly campaign, Potts ignited a conflagration by comparing the campaign tactic of Democrats to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
The head of the state Democratic Party demanded an apology [October 9] from a state senator who compared Democrats to Nazis in their strategy to maintain control of the General Assembly. Sen. H. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, said there will be no apology.
"Democrats are desperate", Potts said at a Frederick County Republican gathering [October 7]. "They're going to pull out all the trick plays of slime, sleaze and lies. The guy who crafted their whole campaign was Goebbels."?
"To compare the Democratic Party, which fights for inclusion and tolerance, to Nazi Germany and the Third Reich is shameful and intolerable," said Sue Wrenn, state Democratic Party chairwoman.
"Mr. Potts owes an apology not only to the Democratic Party, but more importantly to the people of Virginia, and to the victims of the Holocaust and their surviving families, many of whom are here in Virginia," she said.
Potts, who is opposed by Democrat Thomas A. Lewis in the Nov. 7 election, said [October 9] that his remark was intended 'to link his campaign to the big lie type campaign. The way he (Lewis) pursues his campaign is to tell the big lie, then tell it again, tell it again," Potts said.
He said it might have been 'more appropriate' to compare Lewis to President Clinton, 'the most current natural big-lie guy I know.' But he said, 'I will not apologize. In fact, I expect an apology from them for the slime and sleaze.' Among the 'distortions' Potts cited from his opponent was an accusation that he was ducking a debate when he had a previous commitment to speak to a civic club." (AP 10/9/95) But, in what was described as a "dramatic reversal," Potts on October 10 apologized for his comments.
State Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. (R-Winchester) apologized ... for comparing Democrats to Nazis in their zeal to keep control of the Virginia General Assembly.
Potts, who had refused to apologize for comments he made during a speech at a GOP rally?said?"I've done some stupid things in my life, and this is one of them."
?Potts said he realized the remark was a mistake made in the "heat of a campaign battle. There is not a mean-spirited bone in my body," he said. "I am a kind and caring person. But I am also a competitive person." (Washington Post, 10/11/95)
In a dramatic reversal, state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester?apologized for his earlier remarks likening Democrats' campaign rhetoric to the kind used by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
Potts said he changed his mind and offered the apology demanded earlier by State Democratic Party Chairman Sue Wrenn. She had said that Potts' characterization, made during a campaign event?was intolerable and offensive to victims of the Holocaust and their families."?When I woke up this morning?"I thought this was the gentlemanly thing to do; I understood Wrenn's position," Potts said? "I made a mistake and I am genuinely sorry," explained Potts?
In a statement, Wrenn said Potts telephoned her?and apologized "for what he called his 'insensitive remarks' and use of 'a poor analogy' and 'poor judgment." "I agree with Sen. Potts' characterization of his remarks, and I think his apology was appropriate," she said.
But Potts?said he is still distressed by the tone and tactics of Democrats in his district. "I could have used any other people than the example I used to refer to the slime and sleaze being employed by some Democrats and their supporters," said Potts. (RTD, 10/11/95)
He?s the most embarrassing thing to happen to Virginia politics since the ?droopy pants? affair.
Republicans were wise to kick him out and Democrats should likewise keep away.