Politicians Need a Repudiation-Demand Wizard

If Microsoft and Google have not yet created a campaign-rhetoric wizard, they probably should. Heaven knows there’s a natural market in Virginia for one.

As things stand now, every time a political organization wants to take a shot at the other side, it is forced to write the whole thing out from scratch. This wastes immense time and energy, given that most of the daily attacks essentially recycle the same material over and over.

Take the ever-popular demand that an opponent repudiate someone else’s remarks.

It’s a handy device: If the opponent takes the bait and denounces a member of his own political party, he creates division. If he ignores the bait, then the campaign can accuse him of sharing views that are beyond the pale.

Both sides play the game with enthusiasm. Here are just a few examples: In 2005, Republican Party of Virginia chairman Kate Obenshain Griffin called on Tim Kaine to repudiate remarks made by Democratic Party chairman Richard Cranwell about higher taxes. Two years later, Mitt Romney called on Democratic presidential candidates to repudiate MoveOn.org’s attacks on Gen. David Petraeus. Last year, GOP presidential candidate John McCain was called upon to repudiate comments by RPV chairman Jeff Frederick comparing Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden. Earlier this summer, the National Jewish Democratic Council called on House Minority Whip Eric Cantor to repudiate remarks by Rush Limbaugh comparing Obama and Hitler.

In April, the Democratic Party of Virginia called on Bob McDonnell to apologize for and condemn comments former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made about Northern Virginia. And the other day Virginia Rep. Tom Davis said Creigh Deeds “doesn’t speak the language” of the Northern Virginia business community. House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong promptly called on McDonnell to repudiate the remarks made by his fellow Republican.

McDonnell’s now-infamous grad-school thesis has provided rich repudiation-demand fodder. Early last month, three Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates called on their Republican opponents to repudiate it. Likewise, Tom Shields—a Democrat running against Henrico Del. John O’Bannon—recently called on O’Bannon to repudiate McDonnell’s “radical agenda.“

This prompted a blogger to note that Shields had not yet denounced the dubious activity at various ACORN offices: “Is Shields in favor of prostitution, especially child prostitution?“ If you’re going to ask “that”, chimed in an anonymous commenter, then by the same reasoning we should ask if O’Bannon is in favor of illegal drug use—because he hasn’t yet denounced Rush Limbaugh’s abuse of prescription painkillers.

The mention of ACORN calls to mind a close cousin of calling on someone to repudiate something said by somebody else: calling on someone to give back money donated by somebody else.

The other day Republican Party of Virginia chairman Pat Mullins called on all three statewide Democratic candidates to return campaign donations they had received from the Service Employees International Union. Why? Because the SEIU’S president sits on an advisory council for ACORN. Likewise, in August Stafford County Democratic Committee chairman Marc Broklawski called on House Speaker Bill Howell to return campaign donations received from a political action committee set up by Republican Del. Phillip Hamilton, now the subject of investigation into a sinecure he sought at Old Dominion University.

Sometimes candidates really have to reach. Two years ago, State Senate hopeful Karen Schultz called on her opponent, Jill Holtzman Vogel, to return “her share” of the money her husband’s law firm had received for lobbying on behalf of the American Immigration Lawyers Association—which Schultz accused of promoting amnesty for illegal aliens.

Perhaps there should be a rule requiring no more than two degrees of separation between a candidate and the person/money he or she is supposed to repudiate/return. Otherwise, we might soon be hearing Republicans demand that Creigh Deeds repudiate the ravings of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—since, after all, Deeds knows Tim Kaine, who knows Barack Obama, who has met Palenstinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has probably met someone who has met Iran’s political leader.

There’s no cut-and-paste template for hurling such demands, at least not yet. But there might be a cut-and-paste template for meeting them. After having repudiated the views of televangelist John Hagee, as well as talk-radio host Bill Cunningham’s disparaging use of Obama’s middle name during a campaign stop, last year John McCain issued a blanket repudiation on Fox News of “every statement made by any fringe person in the Republican Party.“

His critics said it wasn’t good enough.

“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.“
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Contact A. Barton Hinkle at (804) 649-6627 or .