Gov. Demagogue

By Thad Hunter, Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Gov. Kaine regularly exhibits passive aggressive behaviors, which is an unsettling trait for someone who seeks to wield the levers of power.   He is a second rate demagogue – Barack Obama being an example of a first rate demagogue.  Demagogues are deceptive and unreliable people who hold fast to an agenda that is as rigid as it is well-hidden.  Personally, I can tolerate an honest Rahm Emanuel easier than a contrived Tim Kaine.

From Merriam-Webster, Demagogue: A leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.

Tim Kaine’s campaign attempts to present the image of a moderate who only wants to extend his “hand across the aisle” but that is pure marketing.  He preaches civility but eventually falls into rhetoric such as:

“What we’re seeing in the Republican Party is that they invited the Tea Party in and it’s turning into the Donner Party.”

“Republicans want fewer people to vote, not more”

[Rand] Paul, a Tea Party member, says the Civil Rights Act shouldn’t have been passed

“‘I’m going to hold those who vote responsible”, Kaine said. “When I have that open hand extended and they reject it, I don’t think they’re going to like the outcome.”

“the chairwoman of Virginia’s electoral board, Jean Cunningham , is black, that its vice chairman, Harold Pyon, is Korean-American, and that Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections, is Hispanic. So this isn’t like the old-fashioned Virginia electoral board” [this was the same Board that justified denying military absentee vote in 2008 and was found guilty in federal court]

Another example occurred last week while Tim Kaine was addressing public sector unions and the Federal-Postal Coalition last week.  Former Gov. Kaine: Attacks on federal employees ‘revolting’

Kaine said that waging war against public workers “is not a management model that works.”

Notice how Kaine starts by accusing opponents of waging another war.  In the case of the postal closures, an appropriate discussion would be to admit that the Postal Service is no longer an economical service primarily due to technology dislocation.  If he cared about postal workers as opposed to union votes, then he would have opened a reasoned discussion and listed options that would transition them into the private sector, which would maximize the number of postal workers that would retain long term employment.

In addition, his phrase “is not a management model that works” makes no sense.  There is no logical linkage between external detractors and an internal organizational structure. Tim Kaine knows virtually nothing about modes of management or private industry.  But he often uses pseudo-intellectual phrases like a wannabe professor (my career prediction if he loses.)

He went on to say:

“You and I both know that some — for one reason or another — want to make public employees the all-purpose punching bag in American political life,” Kaine said. “That, I find revolting.

“You and I” and “all-purpose punching bag” is a standard demagogic technique, which is trying to create an “it’s only you and me against the barbarians” identification.

Revolting?  That too is hyperbole and pandering.  He dismissed the fact that many Americans are deeply concerned about the negative impacts of government policy and apparent unwillingness to scale government back to within a light year of its Constitutional role.  The private sector understands the need for necessary government but we are not sure if government understands that only the private sector creates wealth and enables their existence.

This disconnect has reached the point, where in Tea Party fashion, we are no longer willing to stand for an ever-increasing government that is impacting the economy, privacy, and property rights.  A true leader would articulate the reality and suggest ways that the public section unions can scale back become part of the solution in a coherent systematic manner.

Also, during the speech he made reference again to his being agnostic on in/outsourcing.

He also said he is “agnostic” on outsourcing some federal jobs to the private sector, although he said inherently governmental jobs should always be done by federal employees.

This is not an acceptable answer for someone who wants to decide public policy that affects Virginia.  As a senator, you don’t get to vote Agnostic.  Furthermore, this issue is an especially interesting test question because you have to make a decision between two powerful sectors in NoVa.  (Kaine gave the same non-answer in the June NoVa Tech Town Hall).  Obviously he refuses to take a position that might anger one group; maybe that’s his notion of compromise.

You see, Tim Kaine for all his time is government, knows very little about governance or developing solutions.  He is an ideologue so he rarely offers unique or persuasive suggestions (well except for the abuser fees and shutting down rest stops) and he always follows the Democrat party line, for example on taxes, Cap and Trade, gun control, and immigration.

The Postal Service problem could have been relatively easy topic to tackle and offer solutions.  In fact, it could have been an ideal launching point for a more general discussion on federal government.  But instead, we saw the real Tim Kaine in operation – a demagogue who uses division.  He is no leader and he is just a field sales representative for the Democrat Party offering trite verbal bullet points filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

About these ads

Categories: Virginia Politics