The GOP's new strategy in Virginia
So you're a Republican politician in Virginia and your whack-a-doodle party has just
nominated a whack-a-doodle wingnut named E.W. Jackson to be its nominee for lieutenant governor. What do you do? Apparently,
you stand mute:
“I’m not going to comment on him,” said Rep. Frank Wolf of Jackson.
And:
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who also had endorsed Cuccinelli — and even appeared at an event with both men in Roanoke on Monday — did not return repeated requests for comment.
Rep. Rob Wittman speedily walked away from a reporter when asked about Jackson. Subsequent, repeated calls to his Capitol Hill office went unreturned.
That's not say Republicans are actually opposing Jackson. In fact, they're supporting him. It's just that they don't want to publicly defend him. For example, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's spokesman told BuzzFeed that Cantor would "help Republicans win" but would not defend statements made by Jackson.
And then of course there's the top whack-a-doodle of them all, GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli, who is taking what might be called a "support but don't defend" position:
“I don’t need to know what the subject matter that’s going to tie up 20-20 that the LG can vote on will be. I’m confident that we’re going to get the right vote every single time out of E.W. Jackson. So I’m glad he’s on this ticket, too.”
But in a statement to the Virginia Pilot, Cuccinelli also said he would not answer questions about his new running mate’s views. “We are not defending any of our running mates’ statements now or in the future,” he noted, adding “The people of Virginia need to get comfortable with each candidate individually.”
That seems like a tough message to sell. On other hand, it can't be worse than having the guy who wants to be Governor Whack-A-Doodle defend the guy who wants to be Lieutenant Governor Whack-A-Doodle.