OK, OK, this isn't exactly huge news to a lot of you out there who believe the Washington Post is part of the so-called "liberal media." We can have that debate another time, but in short I would argue the Washington Post is generally a corporate, centrist, bland, non-controversial, present-all-sides-to-a-fault "newspaper of record" rather than an ideological rag. Certainly not "liberal" by any standards I can think of, when just about every day I read columns in the Pos by Charles Krauthhammer, George Will, James Watt and the like.So, go ahead, all you Kilgore supporters out there, discount today's editorial, "Mr. Kilgore's Empty Rhetoric," simply because it comes from a supposedly "liberal" paper, which is most definitively is not. But after you're done doing that, how about telling us Kaine supporters how the Post is wrong on its facts exactly? Please be specific, avoiding your favorite tactic of ad hominem attacks for a change! Also, please avoid the use of "lies, damn lies, and statistics." Thanks.
Here are few excerpts from the editorial for the Republicans to rebut, in response to Kilgore's televised attack ad on Tim Kaine, claiming he raised taxes while a City Council member and Mayor of Richmond:
* "The ad is misleading. Mr. Kaine voted twice to cut property tax rates..." (Let's see, cutting taxes twice equals raising taxes? Only in Right Wing World)
* "...homeowners in Richmond, as in many states and localities governed by Democrats and Republicans alike, ended up paying more because of soaring property values." (Note to Republicans: It's called free market, supply and demand, price equiliabrating the market, Econ 101).
* "The irony is that the ad was paid for by the Republican Governors Association (RGA), whose own chairman, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, actually has raised taxes; in fact, he pushed through the largest tax increase in Nevada's history." (time for the anti-Guinn movement? how about a jihad by the anti-tax flat earth crowd against the RGA?)
* "Mr. Guinn has plenty of company among Republican governors whose anti-tax ideology and campaign rhetoric have collided with the realities of governance and tight state budgets." (yeah, reality and extremist ideology, whether left OR right, don't usually mix very well)
* "In the past two years...Republican chief executives in Idaho, Georgia, Ohio and Indiana have all sought higher taxes -- in several cases sharply higher. In some cases the departure from GOP tax-cutting orthodoxy has been nearly instantaneous." (in other words, if you want higher taxes, vote Republican)
* "Mr. Kilgore...enjoys the luxury of inexperience -- he has never had to propose a state or municipal budget or vote on one." (what we've been saying for months now; this guy is far, FAR less qualified based solely on experience than former Mayor of Richmond, Tim Kaine, to be chief executive of Virginia)
* "On the campaign trail, [Kilgore] has advocated a dazzling array of tax cuts while making facile promises to increase funding for vital state needs such as transportation. A neat trick if he can do it..." (He can't, and he won't; it's all smoke and mirrors, empty campaign rhetoric which should be ignored and ridiculed as the weak pablum it is.)
In sum, Jerry Kilgore's attacks on Tim Kaine as having "raised taxes" are utterly without merit, bordering on an outright lie using tortured statistics. If Kilgore's going to attack Kaine on this issue, he should at least get his facts straight (good luck, I know). He should also, just to be consistent, attack many of his fellow Republicans who really have raised taxes -- substantially, in some cases.
Finally, Kilgore himself should rescind the billions of dollars worth of programs he has proposed without any way to pay for them and not make any more from now through November. Because, guess what? Either Kilgore is not planning to follow through on his promises, or he would be forced into huge tax increases to pay for them as governor.
Luckily, it's not going to come to this, because we're going to elect someone this November who's highly qualified to be governor based on experience runnign a major city and cutting taxes on multiple occasions. His name is Tim Kaine. Who we are not going to elect is a weak, inexperienced, promise-everyone-everything lightweight like Jerry Kilgore. This choice, by the way, is not a difficult one, whether you're a Democrat, Independent, or moderate Republican.