Who Won the Greenbrier Debate?

First, Kilgore definitely was focused, on message, and EXTREMELY well rehearsed, no doubt about it.  Perhaps that's why he sounded like an automaton for much of the debate, repeating the exact same exact catch phrases using the exact same intonations over and over again.  "Let me be clear."  And, of course, "let me be clear." Plus,  don't forget, "let me be clear."  Let's not forget the whole "I trust the people" shtick, over and over again, as if saying it will make it true (if you trusted the people, you wouldn't be afraid to stand up in front of them, Jerry!).  Or, the false-macho "always have, always will" tagline.  As I mentioned earlier, lots of people in the audience were actually snickering or laughing uncomfortably at Kilgore's robotic repetition of these phrases, especially the obviously contrived latter one.  Sure, this kind of rhetoric  might sound credible and from the heart the first time it is employed, but not the second, third, fourth, or nth time said with the exact same tone of voice and gestures.  And that's what Kilgore did.  In the end, it was far less effective than it could have been if it had been truly from the heart, not just rehearsed talking points as was the case.

Second, Kilgore was absolutely vicious and hyper-aggressive today; what on earth did Scott Howell slip in Jerry's orange juice this morning?  As far as Kaine is concerned, I think he did great, although I do get the feeling that he might have been a bit shocked at the raw level of vehemence and Big Lies that Kilgore laid on him.  Maybe that's how Kilgore can be perceived by extreme partisans as having "won" the debate, at least in the immediate afterglow.  Especially when many of these people actually LIKE nastiness.  However, as soon as the media and others begin to truly understand how badly Kilgore lied, the whole thing is highly likely to come back and haunt him.

For instance, let's take Kilgore's slam of the Richmond school system  ("the second worst performing...in the Commonwealth") and his argument that it's all Kaine's fault.  Besides being nasty and even borderline racist (Richmond is nearly 50% African American), it's also dead wrong.  The truth is, while Tim Kaine was Mayor,  there was a 37% decline in the school dropout rates in Richmond.  In addition, Richmond students' performance on the SOL's skyrocketed between 1998 and 2002, with 3rd graders' scores increasing about 50%,  5th graders up about 20% for reading and more than double for math, and 8th graders nearly double for math. 

So what on earth is Jerry Kilgore talking about when he talks about how terrible the Richmond school sytem is, and implies that it's  all Kaine's fault.  This implies, falsely, that Richmond's problems just magically appeared the day Kaine was elected mayor and were not, in fact, deeply rooted in poverty, racism, and a million other things that had nothing to do with Kaine.  It also ignores the fact that the types of cheap, punitive, favor-the-rich and screw-the-poor policies supported by right-wing Republicans like Jerry Kilgore actually have a lot to do with the problems of our inner cities.  Finally, Kilgore's wild, harebrained charges ignore the fact that Richmond students' test scores improved markedly while Tim Kaine was mayor. Sure, its' easy for Jerry Kilgore to criticize in a debate, given that he's never ran a city, county, or pretty much anything else in his life.  In contrast, it's going to be a lot harder to defend his lies, gross mischaracterizations, and insulting put-downs of minority students to the people of Virginia.  That is, if he ever speaks in public again.

Another example of how Jerry Kilgore "won" the debate today (in certain right-wingers' minds) was his weasel word answer to the question on "affirmative action."  Instead of actually responding on point to the question, Kilgore started making bizarre and unsupported assertions.  For instance, Kilgore asserted that we can achieve diversity and educational opportunity as a society "without looking at the color of our skin."  Well, yeah, a world like that would certainly be nice, but the fact is, African American and Latino students' performance on the SATs and other standardized school tests continues to lag whites and Asians.  That's exactly why we DO need to look at skin color in the real world most of us (but, apparently, NOT Jerry Kilgore) live in.  Sadly, racial disparities in America remain a relevant issue in the year 2005, whether Jerry Kilgore and his fellow right-wingers want to wish it away or not. 

It's worse than that, though.  As Tim Kaine pointed out, Jerry Kilgore actually has worked to sabotage and harm affirmative action programs.  For instance, Kilgore provided Virginia Tech with false information as part of an attempt to intimidate the school into dropping its diversity programs.  As USA Today pointed out, "Virginia Tech has struggled to bring black students to its Blacksburg campus after enrolling the first black student in 1953.  The student body is still only 6% black, while blacks make up about 20% of Virginia's population."  That's the real world, Jerry Kilgore, not whatever world you're living in.

One more example, and then we'll stop for now.  When Jerry Kilgore was asked about the possiblity that a changing Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade and open the door to more restrictions on abortion by the states, of course he didn't answer the question, calling it "total speculation."  Instead, all Kilgore did was attack Tim Kaine for supposedly changing his mind on this issue, which by the way is not true.  Tim Kaine blasted Kilgore right back, pointing out Kilgore's horrifying position in cases of pregnancies resulting from domestic violence, rape and incest.  Believe it or not, Jerry Kilgore's position is that if the female victim of the violence fails to report the attack within 7 days, she should no longer be eligible to have an abortion.  A few words come to mind on this one:  hardh, cruel, unbelievable.  But certainly not "winner."

The bottom line here is that Jerry Kilgore was aggressive and articulate today, but unfortunately he also lied through his teeth and mischaracterized Tim Kaine's record in the most ruthless, shameless way.  Kilgore's incredible level of viciousness MAY have shocked Tim Kaine a bit -- although, frankly, I thought Kaine was highly effective in using facts and logic, plus a bit of much-deserved sarcasm, to absolutely skewer Kilgore and also to show that the little Emperor wannabe has no clothes. 

Meanwhile, Kilgore laid out no positive vision for Virginia's future and did not explain why he opposed just about every single positive thing that the Mark Warner/Tim Kaine administration has accomplished the past 3 1/2 years.  No thanks to Jerry Kilgore, that's for sure!  In contrast, Tim Kaine outlined a strong record of actual achievement, and a plan to continue it the next four years as Governor.

So who won this debate?  Based on the audience reaction, including many comments I overheard walking out of the debate and sitting in the lobby blogging while groups of people walked by, I am very confident that neither candidate "won" the debate itself.  In fact, the vast majority of regular people (i.e., not flacks for either side or right-wing pundits) in conversations afterwards were saying things like "I thought they both did well" and "good debate."

The interesting thing will be if and when diligent reporters actually take the time and effort to analyze Jerry Kilgore's misstatements and outright lies, not just shoot off their mouths in the seconds after the debate as certain omnipresent professor-pundits (hmmm...who could THAT be?) love to do.  If the media does its job, then Virginians will clearly see that Jerry Kilgore LOST the debate today big time  And, of course, they will see that Tim Kaine WON the debate just as big time.  This assumes, of course, that Virginians prefer a governor who's honest, who's effective, who they can trust, who is an ethical and decent human being, and who has a clue what the hell he's talking about.

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