On Wednesday the Nelson County Times reported that the 5th District Democratic Convention was going to be held at the Nelson County High School on May 19th. Suddenly 4×8 Hurt for Congress signs began appearing along Route 29 in Nelson County.
In the video you can listen to Mr. Hurt’s speech at the 5th District Republican Convention which was held at Hampden Sydney College. He spends nearly two minutes speaking about how pleased he was when while driving home from Washington on Friday evening he crossed into Nelson County and saw the first Hurt 4×8 sign and by the time he got through the County he had seen at least 10 of them. He also speaks of “100 yard signs” placed in the median in front of the school on Saturday morning and calls the Democrats “cheerleaders.”
My original thought about the signs was that it was just a petty ploy by Republicans which would give them a good laugh and others from within their party would pat them on the back for being so clever. I saw Mr. Kendall and his friend putting the signs up in the median and on school property Saturday morning.
I admit that I find it very odd that Mr. Hurt would take almost 2 minutes of his 12 minute speech talking about the signs and childishly reveling in the telling of the story. He goes so far as to recognize Steve Kendall and another individual for placing the signs.
Hurt talks about President Obama coming to Charlottesville during the 2010 election in support of Tom Perriello and says that his presence may have helped Tom, but it helped Republicans even more. Perhaps Mr. Kendall and Mr. Hurt did not think through the unintended consequences of their own actions. By placing those 4×8 signs on Wednesday and Thursday, did they think “the cheerleaders” would just be angry or ignore the signs? Are they not “clever” enough to determine that attempts to agitate “the cheerleaders” might have the same effect they claim elected Robert Hurt in 2010? Did they not think Democrats would be energized by their childish behavior? We can’t answer those questions definitively today, but on November 6th Mr. Hurt and Mr. Kendall might think back to the days leading up to May 19th and wonder if they should have been so brazen and petty as to mock not only the 300 Democrats gathered at Nelson County High School, but the small “d” democratic process they so proudly claim to embrace.
No need to listen to the balance of Hurt’s remarks, because as usual Hurt has nothing to say other than Republican talking points. He still has not come up with an original thought.
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