Here are a few classic Jim Gilmore blasts from the past on John McCain:
*Richmond Times-Dispatch (2/28/00):
The [McCain] campaign was not straight with the people of America," Gilmore said yesterday. "I'm very concerned" that on issues of concern to Virginia voters, "John McCain has repeatedly shown that he just doesn't care," Gilmore said on the "Fox News Sunday" show.Gilmore singled out McCain's favoring increased flights into Reagan National Airport in Arlington County, opposition to building a new Seawolf submarine in Hampton Roads and pushing legislation to raise taxes dramatically on tobacco products.
The heightened taxes would be "devastating to families who live in those [tobacco-growing] communities down there in Southside," Gilmore added.
Also, from the same source: "The `Straight Talk' bus got tipped over," Gilmore told reporters yesterday about a McCain phone campaign in Michigan faulting Bush's visit to a conservative Christian college."
*Richmond Times-Dispatch (2/29/00):
On the eve of a vote that may determine Texas Gov. George W. Bush's political future, Gov. Jim Gilmore accused McCain of divisiveness."I think it's sad that the fellow comes into the state, makes one quick trip in, and then attempts to divide people on the basis of anything, religion or region or anything else," Gilmore said.
[...]
Gilmore criticized McCain for seeking a $1.10-a-pack increase in the tax on cigarettes, for opposing a new Seawolf submarine that would be built at Newport News Shipbuilding and for seeking more flights out of Reagan National Airport in Arlington County to benefit an Arizona airline.
Gilmore said he approached McCain about the flights, but "I couldn't get to first base."
"Senator McCain just didn't care what the people wanted here," he said. "The local officials care about their constituents and so do I. The same can't be said about Senator McCain. It's a matter of who cares about the people of Virginia. George Bush does."
Now, of course, it will be all lovey-dovey between McCain and Gilmore, but it's interesting, nonetheless, to see what Gilmore was saying back in 2000.