Ever since Democrats perfected the art of fulminating with moral outrage over the expression of “insensitive” remarks by Republicans, GOP candidates have been adopting the tactic as well. The latest instance of this politics of symbolism over substance comes from Jerry Kilgore.
The issue, of course, surrounds the unmistakable allusions by the Tim Kaine camp to Jerry Kilgore’s strong Central Appalachian — read “hillbilly” — accent. This was a huge tactical error on Kaine’s part. It’s not as if the suburban voters of Northern Virginia and elsewhere needed any reminding of Kilgore’s accent. The prejudice against “ignorant hillbillies, rednecks and assorted Deliverance creatures”, especially among Northern transplants, is so strong that it needs no reinforcement. But by raising the issue even in a veiled way–charging Kaine of being scared to run radio ads using his own voice–the Kaine-ites would have been better off to have simply handed Kilgore a tire iron and said, “Beat me!”
Now Kilgore is retaliating by running newspaper ads in small-town newspapers, calling attention to the Kaine ads, and accusing Kaine of making rural accents a political issue. The Kilgore ads quote Representatives Virgil Goode (5th) and Bob Goodlatte (6th). “Tim Kaine’s effort to divide Virginians by region is nothing short of disgusting,” runs the Goodlatte quote. “When a candidate for office openly derides the way a good portion of our citizens speak, it says an awful lot about the character of the man running the ad.” Kilgore’s counter attack plays well to the rural resentment of snobby urban elites. This one issue has the potential to measurably diminish Kaine’s appeal in rural Virginia.
Shame on the Democrats for their hypocricy. Can you imagine the furor if a Republican candidate made veiled allusions to the African-American accent of, say, Lieutenant Gov. candidate Viola Baskerville?
And shame on Kilgore for playing the “victimization” card. That’s a Democratic trope, and an unbecoming one at that. It’s a shame that Republicans are mimicking the ugliest tactics of the other side.
