How devoid of any ideas, “low energy” (to borrow a phrase from his hero, Donald Trump) and all-around pathetic is 2017 GOP gubernatorial candidate and “swamp creature” extraordinaire Ed Gillespie? Check out the video clips below, from his snoozer of a kickoff Saturday in Virginia Beach, and you’ll quickly see what I mean.
The first clip (see below) is unintentionally funny, as Gillespie grouses that the 2% economic growth Virginia saw in 2015 is “lousy” and “infuriating.” Yeah, except for a few problems. First off, Virginia’s economic trends are heavily influenced by federal spending, in large part because Virginia is right next door to Washington, DC. And thanks to the Gillespie’s Tea Party Republican pals, we ended up with the monstrosity known as “sequestration” (aka “austerity”), which began hurting the country as a whole, and Virginia disproportionately, starting in early 2013. Second, Gillespie’s Virginia Republicans have obstinately refused to take Medicaid expansion money from the federal government, which is costing us over $1 billion per year. Third, Gillespie fails to mention that under Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, Virginia saw anemic growth of just 0.7%, 0.6% and 0.1% in McDonnell’s last three years (note: the one fairly good year for McDonnell was in 2010, thanks to the massive federal recovery/stimulus – which Gillespie’s Republican compatriots opposed, of course – pumping billions of dollars into our state). So, bottom line: if Gillespie thinks that 2% economic growth is “lousy,” then he also must believe that Bob McDonnell was a horrible governor and he also must blame his Republican colleagues in Richmond and Washington, DC. More likely, Gillespie simply has no clue what he’s talking about.
Now, here’s a clip of Gillespie pretending to be – or maybe he really is? – “excited” about the “new Trump administration.” Just keep that in mind next fall, when god knows what disasters Trump has led this country into, and when Trump’s approval ratings could very well be down the toilet bowl…
Next, here’s a clip of Gillespie talking about his not-so-bright ideas for increasing Virginia’s economic growth. Of course, Republican that he is, Gillespie loooves tax cuts for rich people and corporations, not that there is ANY evidence that “trickle down”/”supply side” is effective economic policy. Other than that, Gillespie spews out the usual right-wing b.s. about “burdensome regulations,” even though Virginia is already one the of the most “business-friendly” (e.g., light on regulations, low-tax, anti-union) states in the country. But wait, it gets “more stupider,” as Gillespie somehow STILL believes – despite it being debunked about a gazillion times – that there’s a “war on coal” (note: there isn’t, nor are there many coal jobs in Virginia, nor HAVE there been many coal jobs in Virginia for…decades, basically) and that if he could just get Trump and Republican Congress to stop it, then…I dunno, happy days are here again or something? Duhhh…droool. Oh, and of course Gillespie wants to drill baby drill, like his fellow Republican Sarah Palin, even though there’s no evidence that any economically recoverable oil deposits exist off the coast of Virginia, even though an oil spill could prove disastrous for Virginia’s lucrative tourism industry, and even though there’s a huge amount of evidence that clean energy is plummeting in price and growing like mad. Other than that, brilliant ideas (not!) by the “swamp creature.”
Finally, a fun one to save for last, as Gillespie – apparently on autopilot, with the same basic stump speech he mindlessly delivers over and over again – says with his usual fake enthusiasm: “I know that we can put forward a positive agenda next year and run on it…” Uh Ed? I know you’ve spent most of your career in Washington, DC and that you don’t know much about Virginia and all, but you DO realize that our elections for gov/LG/AG and the House of Delegates are THIS year, not NEXT year? OK, fine, just a slip of the tongue presumably, but it’s emblematic of how robotic and devoid of any substance this bozo is.
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