The highly esteemed chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tim Kaine, gives The Hill and the Democratic Congressional candidates a pep talk before the August recess, and was allegedly sighted on the NBC’s Today Show with Matt Lauer this morning.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-…
“If you distance yourself from the president, you can pour cold water on the excitement about what he is doing,” said Kaine, who alluded to Democrat Creigh Deeds’s problems
“What is the alternative?” he said. “When the – when the Republicans were in control during the Lost Decade, Americans lost 8 million jobs. We gained 700,000 private-sector jobs this year. We’re growing again.”
{Historical footnote for Kaine’s spotty memory. Creigh Deeds ran for the Governor of the state of Virginia. Creigh Deeds actually was against the Public Option in the health insurance bail out bill, just like President Barack Obama turned out to be. He lost.
I believe the saying is, re Blue Dogs trying to be relabeled Republican Lites, if you are presented with the choice of an imitation or an original, if they cost the same, voters will pick the original every time. }
From the transcript of the Today Show Mon Aug 9, 2010
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/…
Matt Lauer NBC:
so the president is out there campaigning for some candidates. others don’t want anything to do with him. i want to take you back to election night 2008 in that scenic grant park when the president walked out onto that stage. i mean, you had to hope — democrats had to hope — this was going to be a president who was going to open up new political territory for the party. and here you’ve got a president and some candidates don’t want to be seen with him. what happened?
Tim Kaine, DNC Chairman:
well, i think the candidates who are worried about it are making a mistake because i think this president still is doing the great work that the americans expect of him. the president and i met a month after that in grant park , and we talked about the fact that midterms will be very tough because they always are. since teddy roosevelt was president, the average midterm involves the party in power losing 28 house seats, losing 4 senate seats. and look, it’s a tough time economically, and that means it’s volatile. but the democrats have been doing the work necessary to get the nation going again. as the president says, the car was in the ditch. we’re getting it out of the ditch with job creation , with a new energy strategy, with infrastructure investments.
Matt Lauer:
here’s what frank rich wrote in the paper over the weekend concerning the democrats’ prospects for the midterm elections . he said, quote, they are doomed to fall short if they don’t address the cancer in the american heart , and that’s joblessness. we saw the latest figures come out. 9.5% unemployment as of friday. even if there is a series of small miracles between now and the midterm elections , governor, you know that number is going to be unacceptably high when people go to the polls. so why shouldn’t they hold democrats accountable?
Tim Kaine:
because, matt, what is the alternative?
/snip
well, i think, matt, what they mostly want to hear is the record of accomplishment. and so whether it’s health reform that helps the middle class with medical bills, credit reform, wall street reform or recovery that’s investing in green energy and made in america jobs, we always lead with the things we’ve done.
