It’s as if Post reporters made a conscious decision to confront my post yesterday.
If I were [Leslie Byrne], I’d be battling the media from day one whenever they write off the race as a classic fight between liberals and conservatives.
Mike Shear and Chris Jenkins in today’s story:
Voters also nominated Leslie L. Byrne, a former state senator and member of Congress, as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, rounding out the three-person ticket with a classic liberal politician.
So what is a classic liberal? If you think you have a definition that is substantive, please also give me your definition of a “classic conservative.”
They also write:
Republicans chose Sen. Bill Bolling (R-Hanover) for lieutenant governor and Del. Robert F. McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach) for attorney general. Both men defeated candidates who campaigned with the backing of centrist Republicans and moderate business executives.
So who are the classic conservatives? Bolling and McDonnell or Baril and Connaughton?
If I were Byrne’s media advisor, I would be on the phone this morning to Shear and Jenkins. The drumbeat of lazy labels will serve neither voters nor Post readers well. Already, the GOP is using the well-worn canard of accusing the Kaine/Byrne/Deeds ticket of being “liberals,” as if that’s all you need to know about them to intelligently cast your vote. That’s certainly the right of any politician, but journalists ought not abet the tactic by regurgitating it.
I’ve sent this post to Jenkins and Shear and Post Ombudsman Mike Getler, and I invite others to, also. They’ll listen if they hear it enough.