Posted on 11/04/2009 5:41:28 AM PST by markomalley
Bob McDonnell won big tonight in the Virginia gubernatorial race, as did the entire Virginia Republican party. The implications of the race will be sorted out soon enough. But one big loser is the Washington Post which may unwittingly have helped the Republican, despite their best efforts to put his opponent over the top.
On the last weekend in August the Post ran the first of dozens of stories about McDonnell's 1989 masters' thesis, in which he wrote, among other things, that working women were detrimental to families and that government should favor traditional marriage over gay unions. While they didn't know the exact target, the McDonnell camp was expecting, as one top adviser put it, a "hatchet job" from the Post. A top campaign strategist says, "We always knew we'd have to fend off some attack from the Post, probably on a social issue. But in all candor we didn't expect the thesis. It was a 20 year old paper."
The Post was off and running, harping on the story for weeks. It was, some conservatives feared, a replay of the infamous "macaca moment" (a more successful Post election obsession) which helped sink George Allen's 2006 Senate campaign.
The McDonnell camp quickly made some critical tactical decisions. First, the Monday after the story broke McDonnell held a 90-minute media call to explain his views, and answer all questions. Second, rather than respond to every potential allegation they focused on the most potent one--that McDonnell was hostile to working women. His TV ads focused heavily on this issue, featuring testimonials by his daughters and women who had worked for him.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
I’ll bet Washinton Post “numbers” are now next reporting period - ya can’t flip off half your readers without paying a price...
Nope! Allen lost because he was out of touch with Virginians and Virginia values. As Governor, he instituted the most restrictive governmental control over local school curricula imaginable (called the Va. SOLs); as senator he was little more than a rubber stamp for "Double-PeeYew" Bush. In our state, long known for military heroes and military installations, he served not one day in uniform yet talked as if he were Audie Murphy. His only claim to fame was his old man's success as the coach of the Washington Redskins (he, himself, was a failure as a U Va. q.b. where he spent most of his time either fumbling or throwing interceptions and also filing for student excemptions during the Vietnam draft) His "macaca" moment was reflective of his general incompetence)
Then-candidate (for the U.S. Senate) Jim DeMint had made some public statements suggesting that people who had children out of wedlock weren't fit to teach in public schools. Democrats and the media (one and the same, for the most part) had a field day with that one, and used it to paint DeMint as a right-wing zealot.
DeMint won that election, and by a margin in the polls that only grew bigger after those comments were made public.
This article is on the money. The Post has functioned as a DNC propaganda outlet for decades, and it’s good to see tangible evidence of its waning influence.
The Washington Post loses readers, advertisers, money, influence and relevance. They’re just a big loser.
You badly miscalculated the negative effect Obama had. See the FR article,
Chesterbrook Precinct: Republicans say today is a referendum on Obama.
"When Republican supporters of candidate Robert McDonnell are asked why they voted, a surprising number refer to "he" or "him." The folks at the Chesterbrook polling place in McLean are not talking about McDonnell or his rival, Creigh Deeds, but President Barack Obama".
The American people are beginning to see Øbama for what he really is -- an ever-increasingly anti-American socialist!
That is a great cartoon. I think it tells the whole story.
What does macaca mean? The only macaca I know of is spelled machaca. It’s an egg and beef dish.
Exactly!
The apology only added fuel to their attacks.
Frankly, I STILL don't know what the fuss was about!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
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