When Deeds Staffers Attack [UPDATE]
By Jason Kenney | Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | PoliticsYesterday morning, Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds held an event to meet the public outside of the Clarendon Metro station. Instead of engaging the public, Deeds’s campaign staff does everything they can to keep the public and their policy questions away.
So here’s another question: Just how many sections of the Code of Virginia did the Deeds campaign just violate in this video?
Maybe Matt Hurtt would have had better luck if his sign had a union bullet on it
(h/t Matthew Hurtt for video and holding up the sign.)
UPDATE: Vivian Paige points out that that is not Joe Abbey in the video. The gentlemen did identify himself as Deeds’s “Campaign Manager” so maybe Larry Sabato was right about that shakeup. Just the same, someone on Deeds’s staff has some ‘splainin’ to do.
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Jason Kenney has blogged at J’s Notes since 2001, is the director of RedStormPAC providing online fundraising for Republican candidates in Virginia, and co-founder of K6 Consulting. He is a graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University and resides in Richmond, Virginia.
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17 Responses to "When Deeds Staffers Attack [UPDATE]"
One wee problem with your story: that’s not Joe Abbey.
Thanks for the correction, Vivian. The gentleman identified himself as the “campaign manager” so I guess that’s an honest mistake since publicly Abbey’s still the manager, but maybe this is the real guy.
How/when did he identify himself as the campaign manager? It’s not on the video.
That was the same guy from the debate in Fairfax who was right by Deeds’ side, when he made himself clear, Young Lady.
It is Dirty Deeds, did we expect any different?
Having watched the whole clip, where’s the attack? If that’s what you call an attack, you may be a little too much of a shrinking violet for the poltics business.
I agree that there’s no “attack” here, Steve. But it clearly shows how desperate the Deeds camp is…or at least how edgy they are.
Seriously, you have to go after the guy and try to take his sign? At a public location? Where you wanted to show you were a man of the people?
Methinks the Deeds folks are aware of how much they’re trailing right now and are bit high-strung. Certainly not ready for prime-time.
JR,
They tried to block the opposition sign from showing up in the tv footage of an interview with their candidate. That’s absolutely standard behavior in any political campaign, Dem or Republican, ahead or behind. They moved people around to block the sign. That’s what you do. Unless, you’re a sitting president, in which case you have those carrying opposition signs confined to a “free speech” zone safely out of view of the tv cameras. There is absolutley nothing unusual going on in this clip.
Steve,
They approached the guy, tried to take his sign, then grabbed him when he pulled away. This was a confrontation that should NOT have happened. It was only after this that Deeds signs moved in.
This is inappropriate behavior by any campaign.
Jason,
Watched the clip again. Actually, no one approached him at all until he tried to position his sign directly behind Deeds in the TV shot. At that point, I see a weak attempt to grab the sign (big deal, if you want to do guerilla politics, you can’t expect people not to react) and then the Deeds signs move over to block him. I don’t see him being grabbed. Whether you think it’s “appropriate behavior by any campaign” or not, I’ve been covering campaigns for 20 years and it’s the typical behavior that any campaign would engage in in that situation.
Steve,
I’ve got no problem with the Deeds folks moving their signs between the cameras and the protest. No issue with that at all.
That should have been the first, last, and only move by the Deeds staff member.
His approaching a protester and attempting to physically remove the sign is lame.
Seriously, can you honestly say this wouldn’t be on MSNBC already if that was a McDonnell staffer doing it to someone from like, oh, the Sierra Club?
Get real.
JR-
You mean like when Frank Wolf’s folks knocked down some agitators during the 2008 campaign? That didn’t get much play and where it did, folks mostly sided with Wolf.
THAT’s your clip!? That’s standard campaign stuff, jeez are you at the bottom of the barrel or what!?
[...] on 10/02/2009 by Garrett Watson Thanks to Virginia Virtucon, Crystal Clear Conservative, and Bearing Drift for this video. Deeds campaign staffer attempt to pull a sign away from a person, in public that [...]
This video is too funny. Compare and contrast with the early video of Creigh answering the infamous tax questions. You can tell someone got a tongue lashing after the first video. I always wondered how do you stand there and watch your candidate make a fool of himself. It was his handler’s responsibility to usher him away when it became a no-win situation. I think the Deeds folks have finally figured out that they need to protect him from himself.
Witness the power of Deeds and his army of uptight, effete metrosexuals!
[...] Matthew Hurtt, Bearing Drift, and Virginia [...]
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