You know you’re having a bad week when the Washington Post has to ask if your signature business achievement is the modern equivalent of a Potemkin village.
It’s not every day the Washington Post editorial page takes a break from bashing Ken Cuccinelli to bring a critical eye on the Democratic nominee, so today’s editorial is especially surprising given its tone. Here’s the kicker:
But if the company is mainly smoke and mirrors — if it is little more than a visa mill launched to serve Mr. McAuliffe’s political ambitions — that is disturbing. Virginians are right to press him for answers.
Make no mistake, the editorial wasn’t completely one sided against the Macker. The Post has to take a couple of shots at Ken just out of general principle, but the underlying thrust of their editorial is pretty clear: Terry is not being clean with Virginians when it comes to GreenTech and his role with the company. They also point out that he’s breaking the #1 rule of being a media darling – he’s not giving the press the wide open access they want. As the Post article notes, GreenTech’s manufacturing facilities have been off-limits to media, and that’s probably the first time he’s ever told the press they couldn’t cover something about him. That raises suspicions.
While I’ve said before I think the GreenTech issue is played out – wasting time trying to convince everyone Terry is a creep is pointless because everyone already knows that – I have to admit that I may be wrong. It’s surprising to see WaPo bluntly hit McAuliffe on this issue given how long Ken and others have been running with the story. In a campaign that has seen plenty of scandal charges and a lot of ridiculous rhetoric, that the Post is recognizing that GreenTech isn’t just your run-of-the-mill line of attack may signal that these attacks on McAuliffe are hitting harder than those of us in the punditry have been willing to admit.
I’m betting there are a lot of unhappy people on Team Terry today. If he’s lost the Washington Post, he’s lost his base.
