Mr. Russert, an old hand at exposing political hypocrisy, nimbly exposed the pro-life Mr. Kilgore's double talk when the Republican dismissed as "hypothetical" a question on whether he would outlaw abortion in Virginia if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade . Well, said Mr. Russert, would Mr. Kilgore veto a tax increase? The candidate said he would. "That's a hypothetical question," Mr. Russert shot back. The luncheon audience of business leaders and politicians at a Tysons Corner hotel erupted in laughter.[...]
It was particularly bizarre, though, to hear Mr. Kilgore, who opposed the 2004 tax increase that was the centerpiece of Gov. Mark R. Warner's administration, bash Mr. Kaine for having supported it. That tax increase (or "reform," as Mr. Kaine prefers to call it) has strengthened education across the commonwealth and is backed by a large majority of Virginia voters, particularly in Northern Virginia. By shrilly calling on Mr. Kaine to "admit" he favored tax increases that Virginians support, Mr. Kilgore suggested that he is out of touch with the state's voters. Mr. Kilgore's stand also contains a degree of hypocrisy. When asked if, as an ardent critic of the $1.5 billion tax increase, he would repeal it as governor, Mr. Kilgore demurred. "I'm not going to re-battle the past," he said. Nor does he ever talk about a significant cut he might make in the state budget. In other words, Mr. Kilgore is content to have it both ways -- to spend the $1.5 billion and to beat his opponent over the head for having raised it.
Ouch.
Now, here's Jim Bacon from "Bacon's Rebellion":
Question for Kilgore: If the tax increase was so unnecessary that you flog Tim Kaine with it every chance you get, and if Virginia is enjoying a budget surplus that far surpasses the size of the tax increase, then why the heck won't you try to to roll back the increase? If you're not willing to return some or all of the tax increase to taxpayers, then your attacks on Kaine amounts to nothing more than ritualistic campaign rhetoric. If you're not willing to roll back the tax increases, what sets you apart from Kaine?Speaking as one who thinks that we should roll back the tax increase, I see the voter's choice as between two candidates who are both willing to accept the 2004-tax-increase status quo. The only issue is whether they'll support new taxes. Kilgore says he wouldn't increase taxes again without going first to the voters. Big whoop. That tells us nothing about how he'll handle the relentless pressure for spending increases. Rather than confronting the issues, he'll just pass the buck to the voters. What a cop-out. What a wimp!
Double ouch.
Finally, check out the desperate attempts to spin this one as a setup by the "Democrat" Tim Russert (yeah, tell that to all the Democrats he's eviscerated over the years on Meet the Press, and also to the many Republicans he's treated with kid gloves...what a joke!!!) over at the unofficial Kilgore blog, "Commonwealth Crony...er, Conservative." How pitiful. Just admit that Kilgore got his ass kicked yesterday and (try to) move on from there with your waffling-on-abortion, waffling-on-taxes candidate. Oh, and good luck!