, Columnist
Why Democrats' Race-Baiting Often Backfires
In Virginia, liberals' indiscriminate attacks on Republican Ed Gillespie ignore the real issues.
No arguments.
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Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, is in the dock. His crime, judging from outraged liberal commentary? He seems to have noticed that certain liberal positions aren’t popular.
His campaign is “vile and dishonest,” writes E. J. Dionne Jr. It represents “white identity politics,” tweets Chris Hayes. He’s following a “poisonous strategy for the nation and Virginia,” according to the editors of the Washington Post. Reporters as well as pundits have accepted this story line: Jonathan Martin informed New York Times readers that Gillespie is running “a racially tinged, divisive campaign.”