Lowell Feld: Republicans Politics Killed Geary
By Shaun Kenney | Monday, January 30th, 2012 | Politics, VirginiaThat didn’t take long, did it?
Want to see some gutter politics? Check out Lowell Feld at Blue Virginia trying to blame Matt Geary’s death on Republicans.
I’ve screen captured it for posterity… but that is the most hateful, despicable, and lowest thing I have read in the Virginia blogosphere in years.
We will never know why Matthew Geary, perhaps flawed like all of us, but a good and decent man from all that I have read, took his life. We cannot directly link it to the politics of personal destruction practiced by the Republican Party. I can, however, believe that the tactics used by Republicans in the Geary race were outrageous and morally reprehensible.
Matthew Geary’s wife is now without her husband, and Geary’s five children will forever be without their father. It is a sad day for Matthew Geary’s family. I hold them in my heart and can only hope for a more civil and responsible political discourse.
Why is this guy leaned on by Tim Kaine and others in the Democratic establishment? And why is no one condemning this?
Of course, we’ll hear the response: “Oh… but I specifically said I couldn’t directly connect the two! You guys are just making more out of this than it is!”
Riiiiiiight….
Despicable behavior… but entirely expected.
I look forward to notable Democrats condemning this. Otherwise, your silence grants your consent… and we can simply accept Lowell’s actions as a reprehensible new low for Virginia politics.
UPDATE: Sara James states things far more eloquently than I ever could:
The “establishment machine” is not to blame for Matt Geary’s apparent suicide. Stop it. This means you Mr. Schapiro, and all others who seemingly want to use it as fodder against political opponents.
Prayers for his family.
Well said.
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About the author
Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.
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16 Responses to "Lowell Feld: Republicans Politics Killed Geary"
Yeah, except that Pontoon wrote the article, and it specifically said “We cannot directly link it to the politics of personal destruction practiced by the Republican Party.”
Couldn’t you at least check to see if Lowell had written the article before condemning him? I think that would be fair. Will you now be issuing an apology since he apparently is not the author of the article?
I think you should take a real look at what they did to him. For example Julie Cogsdale, Delegate Chris Peace’s aide, and Janis’ campaign staff created and a followed a twitter account, and tweeted completely foul derogatory comments directed at Matt, his family and his personal life, that VAMinute reported on, until the account was taken down, the screen shots still exist. That is despicable behavior for any grown adult.
Lowell promoted it. He will own it.
I just read it and Lowell didn’t write it. While it is over the top, there are some good points made. And just what has been the consequences for all those great Republican Party stalwarts who DID NOT SUPPORT THEIR NOMINEE! All this talk about pledges and other nonsense and we just had the top Republicans in the state NOT supporting their own party’s nominee.
Someone in ccmments there asked why Geary fell into disfavor. Someone said it was because he had an affair, which begged the question, “like Gingrich”, to which came the unfortunate answer of “yes”.
This is a sad commentary on the hypocritical nature of the Republican Party these days.
That’s ok. It’s not just Lowell’s blog. Vivian has posted on it as well.
Never let a tragedy go to waste, I suppose. There’s certainly nothing like conducting public, amateur psychoanalysis with absolutely not a shred of proof.
Let’s not check facts. Let’s not worry about the ramifications. Hell, throw caution to the wind and post away! Let’s just blame this man’s suicide on politics! Specifically, the Republicans!
Oh, and LI, we know Lowell didn’t write it. But he promoted it to his front page. He made the editorial decision.
FWIW, I think the RTD should be ashamed of themselves too. They fueled the fire.
And, in conclusion, yes, I think affairs are tragic and painful. But they also demonstrate character. If a person can cheat on the person they love, then they probably can cheat the public – which is why I will never support Gingrich.
I am not a Lowell fan and never comment there due to their stupid registration policy, but please knock it off by trying to lay this on Lowell. Pontoon wrote it and if you have a problem with the post give grief to Pontoon, not Lowell. This is ridiculous.
I’m sure you don’t want to get headlines every time one of your contributors writes something, JR. At least you’re consistent in regard to Gingrich, too many others aren’t.
LI, the nauseating disgrace is amplified because Feld frontpaged it.. Truthfully I feel it is wrong for any of us to pass judgement.
Jeff —
Lowell has made it very clear that Blue Virginia is his blog — he promoted it, he owns it, he makes money off of it. End of story.
…and apparently, the attack is co-ordinated across several Democratic blogs. So please — spare the condescension. They did it to Jamerson, they’re doing it to Geary.
At what point do we call them out?
Shaun- Your post is exactly right and brilliantly stated. Hate speech is the norm among leftists, and we conservatives need to do a better job of calling them out for it – especially since the establishment “news” media won’t do it.
Of course Democrats would seize upon this unfortunate event in a political way. Why would that surprise anyone after they blamed the shooting of Gabriel Giffords on Republicans?
That’s what they do. They drag the corpses of victims down the street like islamists if it suits their purposes.
First, I didn’t know Matthew Geary and I don’t know his family. I don’t much care about the inner workings of the Henrico Republican Party much either, although I have met the 7th District enforcer, Linwood Cobb, an unfortunate party hack. That his party minions hounded and humiliated this individual should be the source of personal shame to all involved.
But that having been said, did not Mr. Geary have a responsibility to get over his personal embarassment and to provide for the many children he brought into this world. Yeah, I get the ‘poor Matt Geary’ thing, and I can’t stand some of the players in this tragedy, but Geary had a responsibility to his children who not only have to suffer through the trauma of his death but who he left penniless because he disqualified them from receiving life insurance benefits because of his suicide.
Am I a calloused bastard? Perhaps. And I know the old saying that you can’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. But seriously, although I feel some pity for the man, I do not have empathy for a man who took the permanent solution to his short term problem by taking the easy way out. Sorry.
As for the establishment Republicans that hounded this man relentlessly, shame on you all.
Felt the need to cross-comment on this post as well:
While I agree with the point that the main focus should be on Geary’s family and praying for his soul, as a Republican, I wholeheartedly disagree with the entire premise of this post.
Also, I’m not placing any blame on anyone other than Geary and his demons. However, I hope that those that lambasted Geary’s name and dragged it through the mud for no other than the reason than an unnecessary personal and political vendetta can’t sleep at night. Taking the high road is commendable, but neglecting the fact that certain individuals’ actions, while not the actions of the Republican Party as a whole, were morally reprehensible is a disservice to all. These people should have known better and I think the other blogs are well within bounds to point out the infighting that led to a person having such issues.
The Henrico GOP machine bears the brunt of this commentary, especially Anne Davis Kellum, who was a fervent supporter of Geary, but jumped ship at the first whisper of an affair, as she had recently experienced an affair and divorce herself. Her and her Henrico GOP cronies on the exec board dragged a personal matter, that had no bearing on Geary’s ability to be elected to public office to preserve the laws of the Commonwealth (of which he had never broken any), into public and abandoned the candidate that they themselves duly nominated and were bound by their party to support. Those action speak to their personal integrity and character and are, undoubtedly, unencourageable.
Furthermore, Janis’ campaign staff and several others, such as Chris Peace’s aide, Julie Coggsdale (who has several skeletons in her closet and a mouth the size of Texas to boot) and Lee Talley (who most definitely should know better due to his family situation), created, followed and promoted a fake Matt Geary account weeks prior to the election and commented on false conjecture in an attempt to poke fun at and discredit Geary’s name, and then promptly removed the profile after being called out on it by a Virginia blog.
To not speak of these, again, morally reprehensible actions is to encourage them, promote them, and mark them as acceptable, which they are not. Like it or not and believe it or not, these actions were but a few of the several components of a course of events that led a man to take his own life and leave behind 5 children and a wife. That is an issue not to be taken lightly and I pray to God that those involved would see the errors of their ways.
Matt Geary was one of the best prosecutors I had the pleasure and joy of working with for many years. He was attacked not for the skill with which he could do his job. His loss is a sad, sad tragedy brought on by other’s “perfect” in their lives. May he now find peace and his poor family comfort in the heart felt good feelings of those who knew Matt.
While I can understand your point, I disagree. The RPV didn’t make him commit suicide, but they sure as hell did everything they could to destroy him. How would that make you feel? Honestly, I think your ties with the RPV make you a bit more than biased…and I’m a Republican.
Amazing that you’ll blame Lowell fully, but claim your ZERO responsibility for your allies, even after this website said the local committee should “pressure” Geary. Do you really think that’s going to win anyone over – or just show how deeply in the denial bunker you are?
You ask, Shaun, “why is no one condemning this?”
I suppose because many would like to confront it directly, in a comment on the post.
Unfortunately, Lowell and the boys and girls at Blow Me … er, “Blue” Virginia fear rationality, and don’t allow comments without registration, which they rigorously control.
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