November 7, 2017

Have you seen this awful anti-Gillespie ad?



I'm only seeing that now because I'm reading that it was talked about on last Sunday's "Meet the Press," where Chuck Todd interviewed the DNC chair Tom Perez. The ad (above) is played and Todd asks:
Aren't you stereotyping? Are all pickup trucks--I drive a pickup truck. I mean, are all pickup truck drivers racist? That’s what the ad--do you understand why some people think the ad implies that?
Perez plunges into distraction and evasion:
Well, Chuck, let's be clear...
(That is, let's not be clear.)
... about what's happening in the race in Virginia and in all too many races, dog-whistle politics. Steve Bannon just endorsed Ed Gillespie in Virginia this morning. And throughout this campaign, Ed Gillespie has been fear mongering. He's been doing the same thing Donald Trump did. That's not fair. That's not right. Virginia, under Ralph Northam's leadership, under Justin Fairfax leadership, they're looking for a way to unite people.
The ad is the opposite of attempting to unite people.
And Ed Gillespie, throughout the campaign, has been dividing people. And when you, when you hit the bully back, and the bully starts crying, those are crocodile tears to me.
The ad isn't hitting Gillespie. It's generating amorphous fear that some ill-defined evil is out to do something symbolized by mowing down children with a truck.

Perez registered no shame or regret about that ad.

ADDED: That ad made me think about something Scott Adams wrote in "Win Bigly":
Fear can be deeply persuasive. But not all fear-related persuasion is equal. To maximize your fear persuasion, follow these guidelines.
A big fear is more persuasive than a small one.

A personal fear is more persuasive than a generic national problem.

A fear that you think about most often is stronger than one you rarely think about.

A fear with a visual component is scarier than one without.

A fear you have experienced firsthand (such as a crime) is scarier than a statistic.
I'd say that pickup truck ad followed all the guidelines for maximizing fear persuasion. It went too far and got criticism, and yet the criticism made it viral. I'm passing it on, and you can probably tell that I hope that looking at it together and being critical lifts us above our animal instincts and helps us resist irrational fear. But I don't know. Maybe that visual image, the truck coming after the children is still lodged in my head, affecting my decisions.

141 comments:

Quayle said...

"Perez registered no shame or regret about that ad."

The will to power trumps and suppresses all shame or regret or any other obstructing human emotion.

Nonapod said...

I just hope the Democrat party keeps doubling down on the stupid. Their brilliant strategy of trying to convince people to vote for their candidates by viciously insulting voters seems to be working out great for 'em.

MadisonMan said...

Make them afraid so they vote irrationally.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Holy shit.

So this is where we are now in America.

Original Mike said...

"Have you seen this awful anti-Gillespie ad?"

Oh, we've seen it alright.

Original Mike said...

And I've seen several democrats asked about the ad. None have denounced it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

After 8 years of Obama - this is what the democrat party has become.

Leslie Graves said...

That ad may have been for voters in Virginia the equivalent of Hillary's "basket of deplorables" comment uttered on September 9, 2016. What some voters thought when they heard Hillary say that was, "Wow. She hates us. A lot. Enough for me to make it a priority to make sure she doesn't become my president."

Even if Gillespie loses today, the polling trendlines changed around the time this ad became a factor.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Isn't Suburbicon the same ad, just made into a full length movie?

The left hate you and think you are all racist. Conform.

Xmas said...

Of course, they only pulled the ad because some ISIS-wannabee drove over a bunch of pedestrians in New York on Halloween.

The ad itself was in response to Gillespe's ad that focused on the rise of MS-13 in Virginia.

Original Mike said...

The ad was pulled after the terrorist truck attack in New York.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

The ad is the opposite of attempting to unite people.

Not 100% true, the ad is attempting to unite certain non-white groups. All for the sake of inclusion, I'm sure.

zipity said...

To be fair, Perez is a vile, hateful, POS.

So, there's that.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Tucker Carlson showed the ad on his show and then interviewed an angry and unrepentant Latina who was part of the organization who put it together. She kept repeating the usual nonsense - Republicans are evil fascists who really do want to run over little children of color.

Now, in reality, Gillespie is Chuck's kind of Republican. He's GOPe. He strongly condemned the Charlottesville marchers. He has distanced himself from Trump. And that counted for squat as far as the left is concerned.

That proves what commenters have been saying to Chuck all year - that ALL Republican candidates for President would have been tarred with the racist, sexist brush, not just Trump. Trump fought back instead of going on the defensive.

wildswan said...

In Virginia, Fairfax county holds back its votes till the rest of the vote is in and then outvotes the rest of the state. Fairfax is right across the river from DC and is filled with government workers. So the would-be Governor of Fairfax doesn't care what the rest of the state thinks or feels, only about Fairfax and its government workers. We'll see today if the rest of the state can outvote Fairfax.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Gillespie should win, after that disgusting ad, but I am prepared for him to lose.

There are many, many idiots in Fairfax County. And they are beholden to the Deep State.

tim in vermont said...

It's hard to beat the Democrats when they can bring their whole party apparatus to bear on a single local election.

rehajm said...

I don't identify with identity politics.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

wildswan said...
In Virginia, Fairfax county holds back its votes till the rest of the vote is in and then outvotes the rest of the state. Fairfax is right across the river from DC and is filled with government workers."

This. Fairfax drags down the rest of the state like Chicago drags down the rest of Illinois.

tim in vermont said...

The ad is the opposite of attempting to unite people

It's the kind of stuff Russians would run on Facebook to stir up trouble.

Gahrie said...

It's generating amorphous fear that some ill-defined evil is out to do something symbolized by mowing down children with a truck.

It's not an ill defined evil at all. The evil is clearly White men who are Republicans and conservatives.

Michael K said...

Perez and Eillison are the perfect DNC faces.

JAORE said...

"The ad is the opposite of attempting to unite people."

I feel that way EVERY time I hear of the left uniting, being inclusive, NOT being the racist party of hate.

Glad you are catching on.

Birkel said...

I admire the strength of Perez' conviction. He believes what he believes and he's not going to let a hostile interviewer trip him up to say things he doesn't believe.

Bob Boyd said...

Chuck Todd doesn’t really have a problem with the ad or it's actual message.
The ad does not say all pickup drivers are racist. It says everybody who votes Republican is a racist. Chuck Todd pretends to call Perez out, but is just being cute with the 'I have a pick up' line.

Tommy Duncan said...

I long for the good old days when a smear looked like this:

“Why, J. Edgar Hoover, the whole FBI, and every member of Congress knows that Claude Pepper is” – breathless pause – “a shameless extrovert. Moreover, there is reason to believe he practices nepotism with his sister-in-law, and that his sister has been a thespian in sinful New York. Finally – and this is hard to believe – it is well known that before Pepper was married he regularly practiced” – a more breathless pause – “celibacy.”

TrespassersW said...

Even when what Perez believes is a poisonous, hateful lie, right, Birkel?

Original Mike said...

I saw the Perez interview with Chuck Todd. Todd acted like he was walking on eggshells.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Did you notice the Gadsden flag license plate on the front of the truck?

Remember how somebody trolled journalists on Twitter awhile back, pointed out that the F150 pickup truck was the biggest selling vehicle in the US, by a large margin. Not the biggest selling truck, the biggest selling vehicle, period.

Then asked how many of them knew someone who owned one.

Oh, the howls!

By the way, where I live blacks routinely drive trucks, quite often F150s.

Nonapod said...

A fear you have experienced firsthand (such as a crime) is scarier than a statistic.

I'd say that pickup truck ad followed all the guidelines for maximizing fear persuasion.

I wonder how many people have been chased down by people in pickup trucks? Is this something that happens a lot? I've never heard or seen it outside of movies/TV shows.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chuck Todd is a democrat hack.

Anthony said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anthony said...

When I saw a bit of the ad, with the truck chasing those little boys,I thought "Since when does Kevin Spacey support Gillespie?"

Ignorance is Bliss said...

The ad (above) is played and Todd asks:
Aren't you stereotyping? Are all pickup trucks--I drive a pickup truck.


Shorter Chuck Todd-

Watch your mouth. You're looking at one.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Make an ad showing angry mask wearing democrat leftist progressive Antifa fascists eating up your grandmother.

More accurate than the BS the left pulls out of thin air.

Martin said...

There was a real case of someone in a pickup truck mowing down innocent children.

The driver was an illegal alien, though, not someone flying the Stars and Bars with a Gadsden license plate.
https://www.mediaite.com/columnists/a-muslim-girl-in-virginia-was-actually-chased-by-a-vehicle-and-killed-but-by-an-illegal-immigrant/

To be fair, though, Gillespie ads have pointedly implied that Northam's softness on sanctuary cities makes him a supporter of MS13. In that context, the gloves will come off.

Our entire political class, both parties and almost all of them, need to die off and be replaced--almost anything would be better.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

eating = beating. but eating sort of works.

Seeing Red said...

Have you seen Duel?


Lolol


I still watch grills in my rear view mirror.

Sebastian said...

"Perez registered no shame or regret about that ad." Umm, yeah. When was the last time any prog expressed "shame or regret" about anything of the sort? Shame is for pussies. Progs only regret losing.

"I hope that looking at it together and being critical lifts us above our animal instincts and helps us resist irrational fear." You are so sweet. But this has nothing to do with "animal instincts": these are carefully cultivated political tropes, exploited to the max for effect--which sometimes offends nice moderates and can therefore backfire. The thing to resist is not "irrational fear" but the shameless pursuit of prog power.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Yes, of course I saw it. I don't get rely on the mainstream Media as much as the nice centrist people do so stories they prefer not to cover aren't as foreign to me as they might be to the good people.

Republicans have to ritually denounce any less than nice thing anyone in any way affiliated with a non_Dem group says or does. Democrats aren't held responsible for statements nor ads their campaigns or donors actually paid for. It's one of those double standards that prove "the Media" exist (despite the denials from well meaning Life Long Republicans and others).

The ad was pulled shortly after the New York terror attack that used a truck. The contradiction between what the Left says we should fear (Republican-voting guys who drive trucks) and what we should actual fear (Leftist-coddled Muslim-identifying terrorists) was too much to sustain.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I'd say that pickup truck ad followed all the guidelines for maximizing fear persuasion. It went too far and got criticism, and yet the criticism made it viral.

It's "maximizing fear persuasion" all right, fear among decent white people that all this identity politics and hating on people's race is getting ugly and dangerous *for whites*.

"It went too far"? Ya think? The Dems have been "going too far" for a while now. First they came for the deplorables...

It's awful as an anti-Gillespie ad, but it's probably working pretty well as a pro-Gillespie one.

mezzrow said...

“Why, J. Edgar Hoover, the whole FBI, and every member of Congress knows that Claude Pepper is” – breathless pause – “a shameless extrovert. Moreover, there is reason to believe he practices nepotism with his sister-in-law, and that his sister has been a thespian in sinful New York. Finally – and this is hard to believe – it is well known that before Pepper was married he regularly practiced” – a more breathless pause – “celibacy.”

I believe this is sourced from the post-war campaign of Democrat George Smathers, JFK's best buddy in the Senate. He also assured them that doctors agreed that his opponent's advisors were all homosapiens, down to the last man...

Sydney said...

When I saw the "Reject Hate" at the end of the ad, I thought, yeah, I reject the hate of people who think pick-up truck owners and Gadsden flag owners and confederate flag owners want to kill little kids.

Ken B said...

Scott Adams said something else too, last year. The democrats were the bully party. That's clear now, isn't it?

Virgil Hilts said...

Per Martin's suggestion and assuming it has not already been done, someone should tack on to the beginning a shot of several MS-13 members grabbing a nice teenage couple out of the truck, beating and kicking the crap out of them while they lie on the ground, stealing the girl's truck and then chasing and terrorizing these kids. At the end of the ad, run the tag "Please help Jeff Sessions destroy MS-13. These are really, really bad people. I am Donald Trump and I approve this message."

Ralph L said...

Martin, that wasn't the Stars and Bars, that was the Confederate battle flag.
/pedant

Did it miss any minority or ethnic groups?

MikeR said...

Doesn't help to maximize fear persuasion when you're telling everyone to fear me. As usual, most voters are white.

Rosalyn C. said...

Democrat logic: If I can imagine it, it must be true.

Gabriel said...

@Mezzrow:George Smathers

The leading reporter who actually covered Smathers said he always gave the same humdrum speech. No Florida newspapers covering the campaign ever reported such remarks contemporaneously. Smathers offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove he said it, and there were no takers before his death.

Which was in 2007, can you believe it? He was 94.

Big Mike said...

MS-13 is a very real gang and a very serious problem in the DC suburbs. In the interview with Judy Woodruff where he admitted that “our elites stink,” David Brooks tried to pooh-pooh MS-13, saying that they committed “some” murders. Well, David, define “some.” Across the river in Montgomery County, MD, the death toll is put at 18 in two years. Chicago would be happy with those numbers, but in one of the wealthiest counties in America that’s pretty high. I can’t get recent statistics for Northern Virginia (wonder why that is!) but there is an anti-MS-13?police task force do the level of criminal activity is not trivial. Also the way MS-13 kills its victims — hacking them to death with machetes — is particularly gruesome.

Not only is MS-13 quite real, so are Democrat efforts to create sanctuary localities. Gillespie is right to campaign against this. I think the ad helps keep the sanctuary issue in front of people, so it plus doubly helpful to Gillespie.

I’m leaving now to vote.

Matt Sablan said...

"eating = beating. but eating sort of works."

Eat the rich.

Fabi said...

The image of Chuck Todd driving a pickup is the funniest part of the story.

Matt Sablan said...

The important thing is that Gillespie got Northam to agree to back off and not endorse sanctuary cities.

Even if Northam wins, if he keeps to that promise, oddly enough, Trump still wins a huge policy win in VA.

CJ said...

This is 1000x worse than the Willie Horton ad. What are Democrat JournOlisters going to do when they can no longer dredge up Willie Horton as an example of dog whistle racism?

Yancey Ward said...

The ad was pulled mostly because the Democrats painted themselves into a corner that was hard to get out of. You have to remember that they blamed the Charlottesville killer for inciting similar events in Great Britain, of course completely and deliberately overlooking the other vehicular attacks that preceded the Charlottesville event. Unfortunately for the Democrats in Virginia, the ad in Virginia preceded the event in New York by just a few days. It had to pulled because the optics were bad given the recent history.

Yancey Ward said...

Watching the ad, though, I wonder if a lot of people didn't think the driver was driving around trying to hire day laborers.

Achilles said...

The people who made this add think it is ok to attack people they disagree with.

They also want gun control.

They are not good people.

IgnatzEsq said...

Vote Democrat. We hate you, you racist.

buwaya said...

Perez is a professional flack, and he is sent out to lie for his party.
He is also supposed to play a sort of punching bag.

Bay Area Guy said...

The Dems have only 2 or 3 plays in their political playbook. The main one is to scream Racism!

It's kinda silly since 74% of the country is white.

It also explains why the GOP has majorities in:

1. House
2. Senate
3. State Governorships
4. State Legislatures
5. Presidency

Fernandinande said...

"Have you seen this awful anti-Gillespie ad?"

I posted about it 5 days ago (HT "heartiste").

And Thorley Winston mentioned it a day earlier.


Yancey Ward said...
Watching the ad, though, I wonder if a lot of people didn't think the driver was driving around trying to hire day laborers.


He was trying to get his car stereo back.

gspencer said...

Perez & Ellison,

Tequila & Taqiyya,

Hunter said...

It bears repeating, for people who live in Virginia, this ad directly evokes the murder of a Muslim girl by a guy driving a pickup truck just a few months ago in northern Virginia.

It was assumed to be a hate crime committed by a racist xenophobic Trump supporter, and screamed about as such until it turned out the perpetrator was an illegal alien from El Salvador, at which point it was promptly dropped down the memory hole. Probably a lot of people still think it was a racist white guy.

The ad attacks Gillespie as a racist xenophobe enabling racist xenophobic hillbillies who want Muslims dead, because he opposes sanctuary cities, a policy that might have prevented that Muslim girl's death at the hands of someone who was here illegally.

What tangled webs we weave.

Rae said...

I can save the Democrats a lot of money on ads. Just film someone holding up cards, Bob Dylan style, with one word per card.

"Racism"
"Sexism"
"Homophobia"
"Transphobia"

All Dem candidates can use the same ad.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Yancey Ward,

Yes, of course. A fictional Republican mowing down fictional little kids in a fictional truck isn't all that funny when just after it comes an actual villain in an actual truck mowing down actual bikers and pedestrians. And it is hard to spin "Gillespie" as Uzbek.

Rick said...

Here's a local link to the case Martin pointed out. It was revealing to watch in real time. At first the left went into hyper-politicizing mode because they thought they finally had their backlash against Muslims. But police caught the guy pretty quickly so when the perp was identified as an illegal the story disappeared from local news.

The about face recalls the fellow traveler position during the Molotov Von Ribbentrop Pact changing after Operation Barbarossa.

WTOP

Following Adams comments the ad linking to a local story makes it far more effective. Of course Perez isn't going to criticize it. Dems really do believe anyone opposing them is racist. This position is completely mainstream on the left even among people like Althouse who criticize Dems on other issues.

cubanbob said...

If Gillespie wins in part because of this ad, the irony would be too thick to cut with a knife.

Antone know what the bookies are saying about the VA and NJ governorship races?

Mike Sylwester said...

I think it happens much more often that young immigrants or immigrants' children physically attack adult, native-born Whites than the other way around.

Rabel said...

"Ed Gillespie was one of the good guys, but now he peddles fear and white nationalism. It’s better for VA and America that he not prevail."

- Evan McMullin

Mike Sylwester said...

dog-whistle politics

Ever since the November 2016 election, Democrats have been sending out continuous dog whistles that someone should assassinate Donald Trump.

Rabel said...

You left out the hard-nosed follow-up question by the ink-stained wretch with the well-worn shoe leather speaking truth to power after Perez's evasion:

"Well, we'll be watching. It's certainly going to be close and interesting. Tom Perez, chair of the D.N.C., thanks for coming on and sharing your views."

tim in vermont said...

"Seen masticating in a local restaurant with well-known thespians" was always my favorite until Weinstein ruined it by one upping it.

Original Mike said...

"dog-whistle politics"

How much lack of awareness (or confidence that you won't be called on it) does it display to defend this ad by charging the other side with "dog whistle politics"?

Anonymous said...

Rabel: "Ed Gillespie was one of the good guys, but now he peddles fear and white nationalism. It’s better for VA and America that he not prevail."

- Evan McMullin


I can't help it, I cannot see that guy's name without bursting out laughing. And that's before I've even read the clownspeak attached to his name.

Jupiter said...

"The ad is the opposite of attempting to unite people."

The Democrats have been pounding wedges into the fissures of the Republic for 50 years, while the Republicans waxed all high-minded about "a Nation founded on an idea".

Jupiter said...

The messages the Democrats employ in their attempts to win elections are precisely the same ones the Soviet Union employed in their attempts to destroy their hated enemy, the United States of America.

Jupiter said...

If the Democrats had ICBMs, we'd all be toast.

Qwinn said...

Matthew Iglesias at Vox, "What's really at stake in Tuesday's elections", as reprinted at msn.com, first paragraph:

"National media coverage of Tuesday's elections has focused fairly overwhelmingly on the governor's race in Virginia, which seems to be close and features some interesting storylines about Ed Gillespie's race-baiting electioneering tactics, which, if successful, will likely prove to be a model for Republicans nationwide."

What a scumsucking asshole.

Todd said...

Qwinn said...

What a scumsucking asshole.

11/7/17, 12:57 PM


Why not? No one of any note, anywhere will call him or those like him on their twisted comments and statements of "facts" except for POTUS and guys like this are beneath his notice. The Democrats and media (though I repeat myself) fully understand that they are in a war for the county's power and soul, the Republicans, not so much/still don't get it.

dreams said...

The last 8 years the crooked dems had to get the blacks all pissed-off at whites so they would go vote and now they're trying to scare the illegals into going to the polls to vote for the same crooks. Not a very good way to bring America together.

mtrobertslaw said...

It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war.

traditionalguy said...

That ad was paid for and designed by Soros's 18 Billion dollar slush fund. It calls for immigrant kids to vote as a bloc against Americans until all of the hated WASP men have been exterminated. It is pure Mexifornian ideology transplanted to Virginia by regular cash slush fund payments flowing into to buy the District of Criminals swamp people.

Their goal has never been to replace the Confederate Flag with the hated American Flag, but o replace it with the Mexican Flag.

dreams said...

I think Gillespie is going to win. The tide is turning.

buwaya said...

"Their goal has never been to replace the Confederate Flag with the hated American Flag, but o replace it with the Mexican Flag."

No, the Mexican thing is quite limited. Most of the "Hispanic" people in the US at the moment aren't Mexican at all. The Puerto Ricans certainly aren't, neither are the Dominicans and Cubans and the Central Americans. Mexicans are the largest single group, but the rest haven't an ounce of allegiance to Mexico.

You can stir up Mexican irredentism in California and Arizona and Texas, but not in Virginia. And even in CA the significant proportion of Hispanic non-Mexicans aren't on board with the Mexicans.

The Democrat bandwagon ethnic politics is very complex.

Big Mike said...

It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war.

Does look that way sometimes. But if war does come it will be the urban and suburban white Democrat voters, the limousine liberals, who will suffer first and worst, then blacks and Latinos. The really wealthy and the rural and working class whites will be what's left, and there's a lot more of the latter than the former.

Big Mike said...

There's a heavy rain over the northern part of Virginia today. That could help Gillespie.

paminwi said...

The reason Chuck Todd has a pick-up truck is so when it snows 3" in DC he can make it to work. He will then go on TV and talk about how treacherous the weather is in DC while those of us in the rest of the US laugh at him and his cronies about their idiocy!

Gospace said...

mtrobertslaw said...
It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war.


No, it's not hard to believe at all.

Remember, they once fomented a war for the right to own people.

Drago said...

mtrobertslaw: "It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war"

Its not hard to believe at all.

Kevin said...

I can't wait to see the ads they're going to run against Trump in 2020!

Kevin said...

"It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war"

Their only real issue is the people who have guns and know how to use them are on the other side.

Gospace said...

Kevin said...
"It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war"

Their only real issue is the people who have guns and know how to use them are on the other side.


The important part of that: and know how to use them.

Snark said...

I feel a bit like I just watched a snuff film where the Democratic candidate is the victim. This ad would have to work on the way down subconscious, because any higher than that it is just going to register as stupid and manipulative.

Achilles said...

mtrobertslaw said...
It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war.

The party of Slavery and Jim Crow and Affirmative Action and segregated public schools fomenting a race war?

Shocked I am.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Kevin said...
I can't wait to see the ads they're going to run against Trump in 2020!"

They don't even have to film new ones. Just show snippets from "Roots" with the caption, "Trump's America!"

Matt Sablan said...

"I can't wait to see the ads they're going to run against Trump in 2020!"

-- Donald Trump: He Overfeeds Fish!

Tank said...

I know "smart" people who think this kind of thing is true.

Not kidding.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The Dems "Vote for us or you're one of the bad people" strategy is working out about as well as Ant-1a's strategy of "Give up your rights or get pummeled in the streets".

Kevin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kevin said...

They don't even have to film new ones. Just show snippets from "Roots" with the caption, "Trump's America!"

Dem Pollster: This spot has a huge potential to drive African-American turnout.

(lights dim, commercial begins)

Announcer: In Trump's America...

Trump: "Say your name n*gger!"

Barack Obama: "Barack Obama"

Trump: "Your name Toby boy." and he beats him

Barack Obama: "Toby. Sir"

Wince said...

Blogger mtrobertslaw said...
It maybe hard to believe, but sometimes it seems that the Dem's long range strategy is to foment a race war.

The Charles Manson Helter Skelter strategy.

"There are no accidents. Don't give me that jive, Jack...There's only the plan!"

Yes, that's Andy Dick.

Drago said...

It's gotten so bad for the Dems that even Eli Lake is taking John Kerry to task for his moronic N Korea remarks.

#LLR's hardest hit.

HT said...

Sadly, Gillespie will win.

Molly said...

If the republican (Gillespie) wins today, there will be a fair amount of chatter about whether the loss was due to Democratic over-reach on these kinds of accusations of racism. Read (for example) the comments section of nearly any Washington Post article. It is universally accepted that Trump is a racist. It is so self-evidently obvious inside the WaPo commenter bubble that no further evidence is needed; but if it were, we have a housing discrimination case in the 1960s or 70s; a failure to quickly and unreservedly condemn the Charlottesville car killer; an unapologetic desire to limit immigration. But to many outside that bubble, these arguments come close to saying, "if you don't agree we us, you are a racist" and this is not persuasive.

Sam L. said...

As the saying goes, If you hear the dog whistle...YOU'RE the dog.

Drago said...

"...if you don't agree we us, you are a racist" and this is not persuasive."

It's not supposed to be persuasive, it's supposed to be a bludgeon.

Big Mike said...

Polls close in 100 minutes. Cold rain kept turnout down out here in the Shenandoah Valley. Hopefully it will do much the same in Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

Big Mike said...

Hope you’re right, HT, hope you’re right.

HT said...

I think I am. The Dem is less of a swampy insider than Gillespie, but things are polarized and Northam way back had a very funny ad calling Dump a malignant narcissist.

Bad Lieutenant said...

HT, 'twere invidious to particularize, but your above makes little or no sense.

HT said...

neither does yours !

Big Mike said...

@HT, Obama’s and Hillary Clinton are malignant narcissists. Trump is the largest narcissist, but he’s not at all malignant.

I view Democrats as the party of “do it our way or we’ll send antifa or SIEU thugs to break your face.” They’re going to have to fix that.

HT said...

Malignant narcissist was Northam's term, just fyi, if I recall correctly. Didn't seem to be much of a platform, though it was funny to me. Democrats are not so pro union, but I don't expect you and I will agree on that, as a little bit of union to you is probably over the top crazy too much nutso.

Stephen said...

Why nothing on Gillespie's ads? Where is cruel neutrality?

Drago said...

Stephen: "Why nothing on Gillespie's ads? Where is cruel neutrality?"

Maybe Althouse is waiting to be paid by the Democrat/Russian Colluders at Fusion GPS before she posts something on Gillespie's ads.

Drago said...

HT: "Didn't seem to be much of a platform, "

On the contrary. Compared to the vast majority of democrats/lefties/LLR's, his platform was a "Giant".

HT said...

If that is the case Drago, he will win. I do not think that is the case. But we shall see.

Big Mike said...

@HT, from where I sit the union leadership lost touch with their membership a long time ago. Like the rest of us, I think unions have adapt to the 21st century to survive. The ones that do, will.

Big Mike said...

OTOH, the latest prediction from the New York Times, based on 30% of the precincts reporting is Northam winning comfortably.

Damn.

Rabel said...

If Gillespie had a jawbone he would have won going away.

Big Mike said...

Well, Rabel, with 60% of the precincts reporting Gillespie looks to have lost.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Big win for Northam!

HT said...

I'm wrong again.

wwww said...

Turn out was huge. Interesting for an off-year election.

Here's Nate Cohn:
Running 8 percent higher ahead of our estimates, which were 8 percent ahead of 13! Could be heading for nearly 2.7 million votes.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Murphy wins BIGLY in New Jersey!

Big Mike said...

@HT and I am so sorry you were wrong.

Big Mike said...

After all, I live here.

wwww said...


Gillespie did v. well in rural VA. But he got blown out in the suburbs. The turn out is huge for an off-year vote. Ds have a chance to take the house. Yeah, N. Cohn is right - this is what a wave looks like.

Rabel said...

"Well, Rabel, with 60% of the precincts reporting Gillespie looks to have lost."

Fucking carpetbaggers. We had this problem once before.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

From drudge link: re new leftist NJ governor

"Murphy -- a former U.S. ambassador to Germany -- has promised to push New Jersey in a progressive direction, vowing to legalize and tax marijuana and ramp up funding for education, public-worker pensions, and transportation, while protecting undocumented immigrants and fighting the agenda of President Donald Trump, a Republican."

there you go.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Terry McClinton is the creepiest looking SOB.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive"

what is it with New Jersey and Goldman Sachs executives.

Geeez Jon Corrupt Corzine wasn't enough?

HT said...

Honestly, I don't care that much. I predicted without digging in to see the impact of enthusiasm (lack thereof) combo'ed with the burbs.

But, is there really that much of a difference? They're there for 4 years only.

rcocean said...

I just saw it and & showed it to my wife and daughter.

We all laughed out loud.

All it needed was the music from Jaws.

Confederate truck as "Land Shark", with Chevy Chase as the driver.

rcocean said...

Gillespie ran a typical RINO campaign and lost.

Gillespie also LOVES immigration (Legal and otherwise) and its immigration that's turned Northern VA so blue some counties vote 85% Democrat.

No great loss, and completely expected.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Gillespie tried to channel Trump, that’s why he lost.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Gillespie caved after the corruptocrats called him a racist.

Never cave to corruptocrats. Fight them.

RMc said...

dog-whistle politics

"Dog whistles" are only ever mentioned by the very people who claim they can't hear them.

daskol said...

But I don't know. Maybe that visual image, the truck coming after the children is still lodged in my head, affecting my decisions.

drudge headline now: DEMS WIN BIG(ly)

Now you know.

Drago said...

Unknown: "Gillespie tried to channel Trump, that’s why he lost."

LOL