The grown-ups speak
When you have Bob Holsworth, Vivian Paige, and Bart Hinkle all tell you that you screwed-up, and Larry Sabato sticking to his guns that there is a shake-up at the Deeds campaign, you know that you’re efforts to be cute have failed.
Let’s start with Holsworth’s analysis:
“Mo Elliethee, newly appointed spokesperson for the Deeds campaign, tries to clean up the mess that the campaign manager has created and says that it was “Joe’s personal retweet not the campaign’s.
Unfortunately, even a talented and experienced guy like Mo can’t spin this one successfully.
Let me get it straight.
The campaign manager for a gubernatorial candidate makes a claim about his opponent that cannot be substantiated
About a highly emotional issue that has often had a significant racial dimension
But it’s a mere “personal retweet” unrelated to the campaign?
Could Mo have said this with a straight face? Or was there a bit of a wink and a ‘boy did we screw up’ demeanor?”
Holsworth continues by saying what I said at the very outset of this:
“I think it’s an opportunity (and probably an obligation) for Creigh Deeds to step forward personally, to tell Virginians in the clearest possible terms what kind of person he is, what kind of behavior he expects from his own staff, and how he intends to hold the folks who work for him accountable.”
“The flag flap raises a couple of take-home points: First, the hair-trigger setting of the modern political campaign can lead to backfires. Maybe Deeds’ campaign manager should have checked before tweeting. Maybe the Deeds camp should now issue an apology, too.”
And Vivian get to the heart of the matter with perfect clarity:
“The Deeds campaign didn’t have to have anything to do with this whole incident – that is, until campaign manager Joe Abbey retweeted Tribbett’s tweet. Again, we are back to juveniles running the place. What was going through Abbey’s head at the time he did that only he knows, but no amount of spinning is going to remove the stain – nor the impression – that the information was being spread by the Deeds campaign.”
Which begs the question, what is the Deeds campaign going to do about it?
According to Larry Sabato:
“I received multiple and highly reliable source confirmations throughout the day and evening about the Deeds campaign shake-up. It’s real.”
Deeds had a great opportunity yesterday during the RTD live interview to come clean with the people of Virginia, discredit this type of unethical campaigning, and get the debate back on track about issues – not about reliving fantasies or fabricating gotcha moments.
Instead, he lets this story continue. It says a lot about what kind of leader he is…or is not.
