Aren’t there any grownups at the DPVA or on the Deeds campaign? It appears not. Whoever the idiot is that is feeding pictures and other information to Ben Tribbett needs to stop – now. In case you haven’t noticed, all that such behavior does is come back to bite the Deeds campaign in the rear.
That Confederate flag photo was a desperate attempt to find the next “macaca moment,” and it failed miserably. The only thing that came out of this was a 1999 quote from Deeds about having grown up with a confederate flag in his home. Such information ends up being useful – to the McDonnell campaign. No one is going to post the whole story about how that quote came to be. All anyone is going to remember is that our choices for governor both seemed to have an affinity for Virginia’s racist past.
The Deeds campaign didn’t have to have anything to do with this whole incident – that is, until campaign manager Joe Abbey retweeted Tribbett’s tweet. Again, we are back to juveniles running the place. What was going through Abbey’s head at the time he did that only he knows, but no amount of spinning is going to remove the stain – nor the impression – that the information was being spread by the Deeds campaign.
As if they hadn’t already done enough damage, another photo appears with Bolling having a sticker on which contained a Confederate flag. First rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging! I seriously doubt Tribbett has an archive of photos, so the kiddies are at it again.
I’m calling on the grownups – DPVA Chair Dickie Cranwell and Creigh Deeds – to stop the madness. It’s beyond time to clamp down on this behavior.
That is, unless you’ve got other plans for November 4.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Great post, Vivian. Good to see there are voices that would rather discuss policy rather than nonsense.
Well said, Vivian. Doesn’t a good campaign manager check out his guy’s potential vulnerability on an issue before trying to exploit it against the opponent? The Deeds campaign really seems to be at sea.
Does Bob McDonnell update his twitter? Does anyone? What are the odds some staff member has all the passwords and does the updates? I’d say pretty darn good. So what are the odds some over-zealous staff person is responsible…
Wow, it looks like Ben is in full-on defensive mode, trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube this afternoon.
I also join your call on Cranwell and Deeds to do the right thing here and get to the bottom of it and END IT NOW.
This is not a good situation for any candidate to find themselves in, and it is a shame that a disreputable blogger has been able to effect this race in this way.
Where are the adults?