Republican Party of Virginia Mailer Marks a New Low

1. The strong implication that Democrats want to engage in an "appeasement" policy towards Iran, North Korea, etc. is not only offensive, it's completely untrue.

2. Actually, if the RPV wants to accuse anyone of "appeasement" by their standards (certainly not by mine), they might want to look at their OWN party's leadership, which has recently met with Iranian representatives and signed off on a controversial nuclear deal with North Korea.  In other words, "look who's talking..."

3. The entire tone of this mailing is classic fear-mongering, trying to work people into a lather and get them riled up to vote Republican. No positive vision for the future, just throw "The Enemy" out there and claim you're the only ones who can protect America. That is the lowest form of political discourse in this country, harkening back to the McCarthy era. Disgusting and uncalled for.

4. The last image, of a brown-skinned man who looks very much like Barack Obama, with the words "America must look evil in the eye and never flinch" superimposed over his face, is vile. Whether or not it IS Barack Obama - and it's close enough that a lot of people could reasonably conclude that it is - this is basically arguing that anyone with skin darker than baby powder is a potential threat. {UPDATE: I think this explains it very well, as does this.  In short, what we have here is an intentional blurring (or maybe a mashup?), through which "a subconscious connection is made, which is exactly what is intended."  Verrrry clever...if you're Jeff Frederick and the RPV, that is. Except it appears to be too clever by half, because we can see right through it. Nice try, though!}

4a. In other words, a direct appeal - of the worst sort - to the most primitive part of the brain, the part that quickly calculates whether someone or something is "friend" or "foe," "one of us" or "one of them."  There's no thinking involved here, just mindless, "reptilian brain" reactivity.  

Is THAT really what the Republican Party of Virginia believes will attract voters to its cause?  Not an appeal to its conservative principles? Gee, could that be because most of those principles have been dramatically violated the past 8 years by the Bush Administration and a Congress controlled by Republican through early 2007?  In other words, as Jim Webb might say, the Republicans have "nothing to report" of their own accomplishments, so they resort to Karl Rove tactics once again? Again, to quote Jim Webb, the RPV under Jeff Frederick's "leadership" appears to be nothing more than a bunch of "unprincipled, small-minded, power-hungry character assassins."

All Virginians should utterly reject this entire approach to politics, as well as this specific mailer.  And we're all still waiting for Bob McDonnell, Jim Gilmore, Bill Bolling, John Warner, etc. to denounce Jeff Frederick and demand his resignation as RPV chair. If not, we can only conclude that they agree with his approach, then vote accordingly.

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