I spent more time than I like to admit escaping the demands of living life in proper “society,” with the endless rules, cotillions, and uncomfortable clothing, but the lessons of my childhood remain largely intact despite my best efforts to forget them.
So when I see behavior that so clearly violates every rule of polite company, it offends. Yes, I know … I follow politics. But politics is one place these rules should govern … where they used to govern … there are some things that were simply not done.
The only place I can find any resemblance to political etiquette today is in the spirit of the “meet and greet,” but the practice of that is falling short of proper as well. We’ve forgotten so much.
Anyhoo … the failure of these standards over the past couple of decades is a direct result of the voting public’s apathy. The political environment has become so toxic, that the very people who are working to get your vote are treating you like a stupid child … and you’re letting them.
Well, that’s rude, so let’s unpack a bit of it.
This year is unusual for several reasons, but the unprecedented amount of money being wasted by two of the candidates for Governor, Pete Snyder and Glen Youngkin … in a GOP nomination battle … is obscene. Upwards of 2 mil [1] as of March 12. The lies being thrown around should be disqualifying for all of them, but they are counting on you … never knowing they are just slinging mud.
The Republican Party of Virginia nomination process for this cycle has been challenging [2] to say the least. In addition to the issues with RPV (that are still raging) the rise of PACs coupled with political consultants with no observable … (hmm, the proper word can be hard to find) … have all animated this unusual season.
The Virginia Cornerstone PAC was reportedly set up by a gentleman named Chris Jankowski. The consensus between my very well-informed sources is that he is working on behalf of the Snyder campaign, but I can’t prove it with a link. They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars simply being ANTI-Glen Youngkin. Not pro anything, just anti-Glen. What a waste of money.
So, what does all this cash buy you? Well, it buys you some decent opposition research [3] that basically says … nothing. Mr. Youngkin is a successful businessman. But that just can’t be … so … he must be married to … China! This PAC is so desperate to smear Youngkin that they have taken to posting attack videos on him. It tells me that someone is very worried about Glen Youngkin.
But Pete Snyder has been taking a few punches to the gut as well. The Commonwealth Conservative Fund is spending equal money trying to convince voters that Snyder is a sneaky Anti-Trump who works for Democrats.
There are folks that have been inundated with glossy mailers and robocalls … and the delegate lists are not even completed yet. Poor delegates.
Now, to me, the smart money understands the idea that all this Trump-is-my-personal-hero messaging will be helpful in a convention of conservative Trumplikins (my guess is less than half are that loyal) but they have one glaring problem.
Trump lost Virginia … twice. So, if either of these two wins the nomination, they walk into the general election, against a well-funded T-Mac, with a serious handicap. They’ll lose with Trump as a ball and chain. Sorry, but there is just no getting around it, and I’m not sure there is any pivot that would swing that far.
But the point of wasting this money on a simple nomination is really simple, and I don’t need to spend like a drunken sailor to cut to it. Youngkin and Snyder are two really rich men, running for Governor in a crowded field, focused on each other.
And they are campaigning like we are all too ignorant to see through the bullshit. The mud they are slinging at each other is just that, and they should both be above it.
Besides, there is enough honest dirt on the faux-self-righteous-windbag … Chase, to keep them both very, very busy … but that’s a different story that I’ll tell before it’s over.