According to Marc Fisher in today's Washington Post, both Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore are "running on empty." It's weird, though, because in a 20-paragraph article, Fisher only has ONE short paragraph, and a parenthetical at that, criticizing Kaine (for calling on oil companies to freeze gas prices). The vast majority of the piece, and some truly BRUTAL criticisms, are aimed squarely at Mr. "I trust the people." Three of these answers should immediately disqualify Jerry Kilgore from the governorship. I'm not kidding; check this out.First, when asked by a voter (Renee Conner) at the Chesterfield County Fair, "What would you do if [a New Orleans-style disaster] happened here?" Kilgore gives an absolutely lame response, demonstrating that he has absolutely no clue what he would do. Here's Kilgore's response: "I'd be right in the middle of it. You just got to be on the ground immediately, with all your emergency response people."
Well, if that isn't leadership, what is? After watching the Katrina debacle for a week now, that's all Kilgore has to say? No lessons learned? Nothing he would do differently than the incompetent head of FEMA, Michael Brown? Or is Jerry Kilgore Virginia's own version of Michael Brown, the former Internataional Arabian Horse Ass. head who was forced to resign from that position under allegations of gross mismanagement, financial disarray, and other problems. Yep, sounds just like a Kilgore -- corrupt (can you say "eavesdropping scandal, Jerry?") and clueless (see previous answer on disaster response). Wonderful.
In response to Kilgore's horse's ass. of an answer, Ms. Conner had this to say: "I was hoping he would say more about if we had a tragedy like that, we should be doing more to help those people." But that would require Jerry Kilgore to have two things, which he obviously doesn't: a) compassion; and b) a clue. As I said, Kilgore is about as qualified to be governor as Michael Brown, whose performance the past week and as the Horse Ass. director has been described as "An unmitigated, total fucking disaster."
Strike 1.
Now, as if that's not bad enough, we've got Kilgore's utterly pathetic answer to Marc Fisher's question about whether "the hurricane's aftermath made him think about the gulf between haves and have-nots" in our country. Kilgore's ever-thoughtful answer (yes, that's sarcasm you're hearing), was "no." No mention of the fact that income inequality in America is rising rapidly. No mention of the fact that almost all the faces we saw the past week on TV were poor and black. No mention of any glimmer of understanding penetrating his hard Republican head and harsh Republican heart. Just the following lame comment: "We have made great progress, but there's more work to be done."
OK, not to go off on a total rant here, but who is this "we" that Jerry Kilgore speaks of? And what is this "great progress?" Is he talking about the efforts by HIS PARTY to roll back all the gains of FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society? Of the repeated attempts by HIS EXTREME RIGHT WING to to trash programs aimed at helping poor people and minorities get a leg up? Who knows, because this is Korrupt, Krazy, and Klueless Kilgore-world. Pitiful. And what is Kilgore planning to do about all that "work to be done?" More tax breaks for rich corporations, perhaps? Cracking down on the children of illegal immigrants? Demagoguing on issue after issue and criticizing Mark Warner and Tim Kaine for the great things they've done for Virginia the past four years?
Strike 2.
Finally, Kilgore wades into an area I don't believe I've heard him speak about previously: Iraq. Asked by another voter, David Reid, "Would we still be there if Iraq wasn't sitting on oil," Kilgore replies incredibly and incredulously, "yes, we would; we're in Iraq to spread democracy." Yeah, Jerry, and I've got some nice weapons of mass destruction in Fallujah to sell you. Reid's response sums up what most Americans would probably say to Kilgore if they heard his lame answer on this question: "That was such a political response. I voted for George Bush, but come on, let's just acknowledge oil is a part of it." Nope. Not in Kilgore world.
Strike 3.
OK, so now that Kilgore's completely struck out and proven himself to be a completely joke of a candidate, how about Fisher's criticism of Tim Kaine on gas prices? You know what, I partly agree wiht Fisher on this. If I had been Tim Kaine, I would have gone a lot further, not ONLY calling for oil companies to freeze prices, but also slapping a huge windfall profits tax on them. Sound unfair? Well consider the fact that, since 2002, the Top-1o U.S. oil companies have sold $1.5 TRILLION -- that's right, 1.5 followed by 12 zeroes -- worth of crude, "pocketing profits of more than $125 billion." Quick calculation: if the government took half of that money ($60 billion), it could put $30 billion of it into tax credits and research for hybrids (thus cutting our oil consumption and lowering the price) and the other $30 billion into relief for poor and working class Americans who are straining to pay for gas, food and medicine. Then, if we drew down our involvement in Iraq and stopped cutting taxes for rich folks and mega-corporations, we could use that money to provide first-class education and health care to all Americans. But nooooo, not in Bush/Kilgore/Gilmore/Allen Republican world.
The bottom line here is that it's Jerry Kilgore, NOT Tim Kaine, who is "running on empty." And it's Jerry Kilgore who's utterly unqualified to be governor, just based on his pathetic "answers" discussed above. Frankly, this guy shouldn't be dog catcher in his home town of Gate City, let alone Governor of Virginia. Of course, if he WANTED to be dog catcher in Gate City, I'm sure his family could arrange it. If need be, I'm sure they could get a few hundred people - or dogs, for that matter -- to vote absentee for him like they did in last year's mayoral election, supervised by....you guessed it, Jerry's mother, Willie Mae. What a family. What a candidate. Jerry Kilgore: for NO future for your family -- or any of us, for that matter.