Yes, Tom Perriello, they are out to get you
Freshman Democrat Tom Perriello is not paranoid: The National Republican Congressional Committee, along with a bunch of Virgil Goode’s good ole boys in white sheets down in Franklin County, are out to get him.
The NRCC opens a new ad campaign against Perriello in the Roanoke and Lynchburg media markets today. It criticizes Perriello for his vote on the energy reform bill that passed the House last week and hopes to stir up some racist hatred at the same time.
In last year’s election, Perriello sent longtime racist Republican Congressman Virgil Goode back to Franklin County to be with his Klan buddies. Goode, who has embarrassed Virginia time and again with his racism and nasty comments against Muslims and anyone else who doesn’t agree with the white sheet crowd, is already working on a campaign to win the seat back in 2010 and the GOP is pumping money, staff and resources into his campaign.
The 30-second ad will also attack President Barack Obama, a calculated move to appeal to Goode’s racist base.
This is the second time the NRCC has flooded the Roanoke media market with ads attacking Perriello. For reasons that escape logic and common decency, they want Goode back in Congress even if the voters of his district made it clear last year they have had enough of his racist ramblings.
During my venture into the dark side of politics in the early 1980s, I worked as a field operative for the NRCC in the 1984 elections and saw first hand how their operation works. There is nothing they won’t do to win an election even if it means stirring up racism, homophobia, bigotry or religious fervor. It’s unusual for the NRCC to pay for ads in an "odd year" between elections but they are desperate this time to undermine any Democrat who beat a Republican incumbent last year.
It’s not known yet if Goode’s campaign team will include well-known Republican racist political operative Bobby May, who has worked for Goode in the past. May was John McCain’s campaign chairman in Buchanan last year when he wrote that Obama, as President, would:
Hire rapper Ludacris to paint (the White House) black. Taxes to be increased to by enough paint for the job plus spray-paint for graffiti.
Raise taxes to send $845 billion, most to Africa so the Obama family can skim off enough to allow them to free their goats and live the American dream.
Republicans tried to dismiss May’s extremism as the actions of a "low level campaign operative" but the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the state’s most conservative newspaper, reported:
May has been involved with dozens of Republican campaigns throughout Virginia, including former gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-5th.
It will be another close race, but I think Perriello will retain his seat. My father in-law manned phones at the Democratic office in Franklin County in 2008 and he called hundreds of folks. He was struck by the number of older folks that stated that they had voted Republican all of their lives, but they were fed up with the direction of national politics, and were going to vote for Perriello and Obama. The failures of both the previous Republican administration and the previous Republican controlled house and senate are largely responsible for Perriello’s win. Perriello made a good case for change and so far he’s carrying through with his promises.
Some people prefer to overlook the shifting demographic reality of the 5th district of Virginia. Most of those relocating to the 5th district lean to the left. Goode’s own share of Franklin County voters has been in steady decline since 1996. The Franklin County population has increased by 11% from 1996 to 2008, and not coincidentally he has lost about 11% of his edge in election results. He may still win 62% of the Franklin County vote in 2008 but he needs more than 70% to win back the seat.
Sean
I meant to say “He may still win 62% of the Franklin County vote in _2010_”
…however there are to aspects to the current campaign that are disturbing. First the timing (the NRCC usually saves its money for the election year and does not go into the field this early). Voters have short term memories and their chances of hurting Perriello in the long term are slim.That’s politics 101.
Second the use of Obama’s image appears to be a deliberate ploy to play on the bigotry that exists in the district. If the GOP truly wanted to win the seat back, why stick with a flawed candidate like Goode who has brought national embarrassment on both the Republican Party and Virginia? Why not recruit a fresh face who does not have Goode’s high negatives?
Most Republican strategists I worked with while in Washington considered Goode a joke. The fact that the party is trying to return him to office is an indicator of just how desperate the party of the elephant has become.
Accusations of racism aside, the GOP wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t aggressively go after this seat. Goode barely lost and Periello had the support of all those on the left that were voting for Obama. Periello won’t have the Obama supporters helping him out as much this time and I think the chances of Goode winning his old seat back are better than 50%. I doubt there are many seats in the country that offer such a good shot at getting a seat back for Republicans.
The 5th district has no young Republican talent? Sounds like a problem the GOP has in other areas of the country. It is, primarily, a party of old white guys clinging on to the past. The fact that they are willing to accept a bigot like Goode in the midst says a lot about the party and what it says is hardly flattering.
I have seen the ad. It concentrates on the energy bill, not bailouts and the NRCC is using an old tactic of altering Obama’s image just enough that he seems blacker than he is: Another standard GOP ploy.
I used to work with these folks and I’m well aware of what they can, and will, do. They have the ethics and subtlety of an alley cat in heat.
Get used to seeing Obama’s image in Republican ads. Democrats ran against Bush in the last election, Republicans ran against Clinton in 2000, and so on. I admit that Obama’s race is an area some have tried to exploit (they will continue to try), but I have heard “socialist” accusations more than any racial stuff. I haven’t seen the ad, but I would guess they are attacking the numerous bailouts and tying them to Obama and Periello. Obama won the election with all the racial tactics thrown at him. I think (hope) we are moving past the racial garbage and back into real issues, but that may be naive.
On another note, the 5th has no young Republican talent that I know of. I imagine most any unknown would get whipped by Periello (then again I didn’t know who Periello was a few years ago). The DC bigwigs may think Virgil is a fool, but he is their fool and will vote with them most of the time. If they think he can win back the seat they will continue to put in big money.
To suggest that former Congressman Virgil Goode is part of the KKK is going over the edge. Mr Goode does have a problem with putting his foot in his mouth, however he has never done or said things on the level of the KKK. I understand this is just a blog but have a little respect please.
Also, the name of the guy from Buchanan County is Bobby not Billy. He did not serve as the chair in Buchanan County becouse I personally know the chairman.
Racists deserve no respect. They are repugnant.
Bobby May was listed as the local campaign chairman in Buchanan on McCain’s web site before he wrote that racist newspaper column. He was replaced afterwards because of all the bad publicity.
I realize the Republicans now want to bury him and claim he wasn’t that active in their circles but he was and they welcomed him until he made a fool of himself and his party.
But May is not the first racist to come up through the party ranks. Remember State GOP Chairman Jeffrey Fredrick? Republicans elected him chairman even after his racist antics during last year’s campaign. Fredrick’s overt racism towards Democratic Presidential contender Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign brought even more shame on the Grand Old Party.
As Time Magazine reported during the campaign:
I worked in Republican politics long enough to know they try to rewrite history when they get into trouble. But history will forever prove Virgil Goode’s racism.
I agree with you that “racists deserve no respect”. I am simply saying that it is going over the line to try to link Goode with the KKK. I have never heard anything that would link him to that group.
As far as Bobby May, I believe he is still very active in Buchanan County. At one time he was a writer for the local paper. I don’t know if he still is, its been over a year since I was out there.
You may have noticed the Republican Party in Va removed Fredrick becouse of what was going on.
I’m not excusing what any of the remarks you listed. I found them to be disturbing also.
I could try to point out times when Democrat politicians were racists but that shouldn’t be the point. This shouldn’t be a political fight, it should be a fight against racism.
I’ve accused Goode of being buddy-buddy with the Klan twice in the past and he has yet to deny it. I didn’t say he was linked to the Klan. I just said he has friends in white robes.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say most members of the Klan voted for Goode. I’ve also found individual contributions to Goode from Franklin County residents known to have Klan affiliations. Goode has never returned those contributions nor has he disowned any supporters with Klan connections.
Racism, sadly, is not limited to any one political party. Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was a member of the Klan as a young man and admits it. He now says he has seen the error of his ways. Third party movements are all too often dominated by white supremacists.
What I find most objectionable about Goode is tht his bigotry continues in these so-called enlightened times. His outright hatred of Muslims and his rabid position on immigration is thinly-disgused racism.