Jay Warren on "the most negative closing statement I have ever seen"

Did you think Brian Moran was just a wee bit negative and nasty last night? Obviously, many Moran supporters don't think so, while many Deeds and McAuliffe supporters see it exactly opposite. But what about a neutral observer, aka a reporter? If you're interested, there are a couple of things you might want to see.

First, watch this video of WSLS political reporter Jay Warren and Brian Moran starting at 2:58. [Note: From his bio, "Jay Warren is an award-winning journalist who's been with WSLS since 1998...He is also WSLS's senior political correspondent.]

Jay Warren to Brian Moran: "Your entire closing statement was an attack on Terry McAuliffe. Why not say something positive about your record?"

Brian Moran: "I have a great record."

Jay Warren: "Why didn't we hear that, you talked about him for the entire closing statement?"

Brian Moran: "For 90 minutes I talked about my record of fighting for Virginians as a prosecutor, legislator, Democratic leader."

Hahahahahaha.

Now, check out this blog post, entitled "Moran’s negative debate tone," also by Jay Warren.

I’ve covered a lot of debates. Rarely are there real fireworks or knock out punches. Usually, candidates are coached to be reserved, to show little personality, take few chances, and do no harm. Generally, it’s the easiest way to survive the debate. Apparently, Brian Moran didn’t get this memo.

Now, let’s be clear… all three candidates threw some punches. But, none as hard or as often as Moran. At one point he and McAuliffe were in a shouting match over, of all things, negative campaigning. Then Moran took it to an entirely new level when he used his ENTIRE closing statement to attack McAuliffe. He closed with two sentenc[es] saying he’s the strongest in the race. That’s it. Nothing else about him or his record. Just an all out attack on a fellow Democrat. And, the attack wasn’t on the issues. Instead his criticisms focused almost exclusively on more personal issues of McAuliffe’s business dealings, leadership style, and campaign tactics. It was the most negative closing statement I have ever seen.

As if that's not rough enough, there's more where that came from, basically confirming everything that supporters of Creigh Deeds and Terry McAuliffe have been saying for months now. Fascinating.