The terrible irony of the attacks on Kaine is that he is actually the very kind of Fighting Democrat the blogosphere has longed for. To describe him as a weasel, and regard him in the same light as a Lieberman, is simply wrong.
Religion is usually the Republicans' ace in the hole, but Kaine has reversed this dynamic, infusing his faith into his campaign and using it to hit back at the Republicans, something that is going down well.
By Publius. Cross-posted with permission.
Because I'm a Virginia transplant (I'll always be a Kentuckian at heart - and basketball season starts soon), I've had a close-up view of the increasingly nasty Governor's race in Virginia. I've known for some time that I would vote for Kaine - primarily for fiscal reasons. Kilgore, I thought, would re-wreck the state budget with the same mix of tax-cut-and-spend policies that paralyzed the state pre-Warner and is slowly paralyzing the national government. I was at the University of Virginia from 2001 to 2003 and saw first-hand the damage that results when your state government is broke. The University couldn't hire anyone, couldn't keep promising scholars, couldn't provide proper services, and everything was generally a mess. Like Clinton, Warner and a minority of fiscally responsible Republicans took a courageous stand and fixed the budget. Kilgore opposed it, but now he is more than happy to promise away the fruits of others' political courage.
But that said, I wasn't very excited about Kaine either. Mine has always been an anti-Kilgore vote, which was a vote based entirely on who I thought would be best for the state budget. But as Kilgore started losing ground, he started going Atwater/Rove on Kaine - first demagoguing immigrants and then the death penalty. The shift to the culture war prompted my "Not Kilgore for Virginia Governor" byline. Now, though, you'll see that I have "Kaine for Governor" up. And the reason I've shifted from anti-Kilgore to pro-Kaine has to do with the way Kaine responded to the death penalty demagoguing. It is a model for Democrats (or progressive Republicans) to follow - especially religious ones.
When I first heard of Kilgore's eleventh-hour unveiling of death penalty demagoguery, I feared it might be the undoing of Kaine. I guess I've seen the culture wars work so well that I've become afraid of them. It's strange - I only really started disliking Kilgore after his immigrant and death penalty-bashing. I could vote for a Republican, but not a culture war Republican - it's the one thing that ensures my eternal contempt. But what's maddening is that triggering my contempt is the whole point of the culture wars. Kilgore wants nothing more than to see people like me bash him on cultural issues because he knows that rural and exurban Virginians resent the Starbucks demographic.
Having resigned myself (with pumpkin spice latte and tuna roll in hand) to the fact that my demographic can't be publicly embraced but must be publicly shunned, I was all ready to see Kaine flip and flop and squirm and apologize for being a Democrat. Basically, I was prepared to see him be ashamed for his views. But that's not what I saw at all. Here's the text of his TV ad:
My faith teaches that life is sacred. That's why I personally oppose the death penalty. But I take my oath of office seriously, and I'll enforce the death penalty . . . because it's the law."
That line is a pretty gutsy thing to say in a state that overwhelmingly supports the death penalty. And that's what was so refreshing about it. It was a mix of political savvy and political courage. Although he insisted he would enforce capital punishment, he didn't shy away from his beliefs either. And even better, he explained that they were based on his faith and didn't sound like John Kerry when he was saying it. It wasn't much - and I'm certainly not that influential - but it won my admiration to see him sticking with his beliefs even though acknowledging them carried a political risk. You gotta dance with them what brung you, I say.
Stepping back, I think Kaine's response provides some insight into the great Kos-DLC debate. I'm certainly not a Kos defender (though he's better than Sirota), but I think the DLC and others aren't grasping the heart of his argument. Kos, in my opinion, isn't demanding necessarily that the party move left or that it support the liberal party line. What Kos and the "netroots" want is for Democrats to stop being ashamed of being Democrats. He wants them to have proud beliefs.
Take Lieberman and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. Lieberman is more liberal on a number of fronts than Schweitzer (especially cultural issues), but the reason Lieberman draws the wrath of the blogosphere is because he acts ashamed to be a Democrat. Schweitzer doesn't.
That's all I'm asking too. I would obviously prefer that all Democrats support gay marriage. But that's not a realistic option in many places. But it doesn't bother me if a candidate doesn't 100% agree with me. It does bother me though when they squirm and act ashamed of being Democrats.
That's why I am so unexcited by Harold Ford. I was very excited about him initially and had even toyed around with volunteering for his campaign. But after his gratuitous anti-Dean attack, I frankly don't give a crap if he wins or not. That's because I can already see that he's going to be ashamed of his party affiliation and I'm tired of those people - especially after Iraq. I'd rather have a Democrat ten times more conservative than Ford and proud of the beliefs that make him a Democrat than Ford, who will spend his entire campaign distancing himself from the "tainted" brand. (Dean is certainly not above criticism - but there are more diplomatic ways to do it. The point is not so much the substance of the criticism, as it is the tone and choice-of-words that I think are a bad omen.)
What Ford doesn't realize is those tactics ultimately backfire in the information age. A year ago, I would have called his move savvy, but I think times are a'changin' about the political wisdom of triangulation. Yes, given the structural demographics of our country, Democrats have to seize the middle to win. That's still true. But you don't win in 2005 by attacking your base - and that's doubly true for Democrats who are growing increasingly dependent on small online donors for funding and publicity.
You have to be "selectively centrist," like Hillary is doing to perfection. Hillary is reaching out to the middle, but not stepping on the base to do so. There were a dozen ways that Ford could have shown his centrist sensibilities without attacking Dean in that way. But attack Dean he did - and it assured him of collecting about zero from progressives outside of Tennessee and of generating exactly zero excitement as well.
UPDATE: In the middle of writing this post, I found this Washington Monthly article that was apparently channeling my thoughts. To be precise, I was googling for the text of the Kaine ad and found it. I saw the first paragraph, cursed, and then decided I should stop reading and write my post first. So I promise that I wrote my post before I read the article. But anyway, the author hits upon many of the same points. He also recognized that the key issue is sincerity:
Kaine is a Catholic who weaves his faith into nearly every speech, debate, and even some commercials. He's not without his critics, and it's not yet clear whether the decision will pay off for him. As of mid-September, he was neck and neck in the polls with Republican opponent Jerry Kilgore. But Kaine has already accomplished something few other Democrats can claim: No one questions his sincerity.
He's done it by talking about his Catholicism early and often, taking away the charge that it's a purely political gambit. Unlike many Democrats who try to sound like Bill Clinton but come off as Jerry Falwell crossed with an android, Kaine talks like himself. He not only doesn't apologize for his religious beliefs, he even wields them as a weapon. As a consequence, Kaine appears to have neutralized the faith issue, freeing himself to make his case to voters about how he would deal with the state's economy, education, and health care. Win or lose, Kaine is already showing Democrats how to navigate the faith issue. It's not enough to get religion; they also have to get real.
Yep.