After the VP Debate, Virginia is Breaking Up with Tim Kaine

Good grief.

Tim Kaine was terrible last night, an embarrassment of a sitting Senator, former Governor, and most concerning for the Clinton campaign, an embarrassment of a potential Vice President.

Make no mistake, this was not the Vice President the Clinton campaign was committing to when it granted Kaine his 8+ year wish to be tabbed as a running mate. This was the petty politician who tries too hard, falls flat, accomplishes nothing, and fails to resonate, the politician that Virginians have come to know and expect when it comes to our junior Senator.

Kaine was uncouth, rudely interrupting his opponent, Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. His frequent interrupting was immediately disliked, near universally, and somehow, even more so than Donald Trump’s never-ending interruptions last week. His eagerness to deliver pre-determined attack lines fell flat*, as did his attempts to attach Trump’s disjointed positions to Pence himself.

*just like Hillary’s moronic ‘Trumped Up Trickle Down’ line…seriously y’all, it’s just sad

Indeed, this was the Tim Kaine that Virginians have been all too familiar with. This was the Tim Kaine who demanded more than $1 billion in new taxes on his way out of office, a budget so toxic not a single Democrat in the General Assembly supported it. This was the Tim Kaine who closed rest areas across the Commonwealth, and refused Republican calls to audit state books for additional funds to keep them open, only to have his successor find more than $1 billion (with a B) in unused funds sitting in the Virginia Department of Transportation alone. And, most importantly, this was the Tim Kaine who’s vanilla gubernatorial term single-handedly ushered in the single largest Republican landslide in a generation.

Tim Kaine is a terrible ‘attack dog’, as we Virginians have known for years now. His appointment as DNC Chair showed that, as well as his campaign stops for Creigh Deeds and Terry McAuliffe. Always perceived as a genial, overall ‘nice’ guy, as a candidate, Kaine leaves everything to be desired.

Kaine clearly had one job: remind voters Trump was running for president, remind them he was terrible, and remind them as many times in two hours as humanly possible. With such a broad objective, Kaine tried way too hard, somehow turning off independents, Hillary and Trump leaners alike. In the snapshot punditry immediately after the debate, there was near universal agreement: Mike Pence was by far the victor, and Kaine was by far the loser. Worse, Kaine was perceived as peevish, trying too hard, and rude. It was not a good night for Kaine, and by extension, Virginia.

Yes, America, we’ve become quite used to having this boring politician stick around for far too long, as many of you felt watching the Vice Presidential debate tonight. Tim Kaine has found himself in politically advantageous positions for more than a decade, first moving from mayor of Richmond and lucking into a Lieutenant Governor slot facing a lackluster Republican ticket in 2001. Moving towards the Governor’s seat, Republicans made the inexplicable decision to make Kaine’s personal religious views a political issue, rather than his empty resume. That politicization backfired Kaine right into the Governor’s mansion, where he spent 4 years assembling an empty resume and failing to establish any sort of legacy. After 2 years of quiet, Kaine resurfaced when Jim Webb declined to run for reelection. Coasting on Obama’s 2012 coattails and despite another vanilla campaign, Kaine again inexplicably escaped defeat, falling into higher office. And now here we sit, with Kaine elevated, lackluster and boring, and fortunate enough to again face a lackluster (but Lord knows, not boring) opposing ticket and looking likely to ascend to the second highest office in the land.

Virginia has been prepared to ditch Tim Kaine since his coattail victory in 2012. Kaine’s reelection bid in 2018 was always an uphill battle; with no record, no legacy and no accomplishments, Kaine would have a hard time asking for six more years. Thus, his constant public maneuvering for Vice Presidential consideration from both President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s subsequent campaigns. With a sub fifty percent approval rating, Kaine has been on the wrong side of Virginia for nearly eight years now, since he left the Governor’s office and Virginia far worse off than when he took office.

After last night’s Vice Presidential debate, and his complete rejection of the Virginia Way, the better form of governance, conversation and debate, we can make things official.

Tim Kaine, we’re done. And thankfully for us, you’re likely done, for good, in Virginia.

**this post fails to mention Kaine’s repeated abandonment of his elected offices: Mayor of Richmond to run for Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant Governor to run for Governor, Governor to run the DNC, and now Senator to run for Vice President; selling appointments for $18,000 vacations, but such things will never be forgotten in the Commonwealth, and we take heart knowing that Tim Kaine can never, ever, EVER win a national election