Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Editorial: Rep. Virgil Goode's latest foray into the politics of fear goes too far.
From the RoundTable blog
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Rep. Virgil Goode's latest foray into the politics of fear goes too far.
Granted, distorting opponents' views in political campaigns is so commonplace that the practice barely garners a public shrug. A recent Goode TV attack ad is something different, though, and warrants voter disgust.
Way beyond simply and only slightly distorting his opponent's stand on domestic oil drilling, the Republican incumbent in Virginia's 5th Congressional District distorts Democrat Tom Perriello's appearance. And the distortion seems designed to encourage ugly nativist fears.
As a voice-over warns viewers that Perriello is "wrong for Virginia," the ad shows a still image of the candidate shaded so darkly that he could be Middle Eastern -- or perhaps Hispanic. Voters can see whatever "other" stirs their distrust.
Yet, as the photo running with this editorial makes clear, Perriello is neither of these. He is plain vanilla white, born and raised in the 5th District.
Of course, the image readers see on this page is not the image tampered with in the ad. That photo is a shot of the candidate looking slightly disheveled and sporting a short, dark beard. With shading, the challenger becomes virtually unrecognizable.
Perriello's campaign has cried foul, and rightly so.
Goode's recent history makes the distortion suspect on the basest level of nativist demagoguery.
Two years ago, in a letter to constituents worried about a Muslim congressman-elect photographed with a Quran instead of a Bible, Goode decried the prospect of "allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country."
In that light, Perriello's tailor-made swarthiness seems more than passing odd.
The Democrat's campaign has asked Goode to pull the ad and he has refused. He points out that it simply says he wants to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Perriello doesn't. But the ad also says he opposes offshore drilling, though he does not. Demanding fair and balanced campaign ads might be asking too much.
Demanding ads free of subliminal fear-mongering is not. Goode should drop it.
