Even worse than the usual adjectives - "socialist," "liberal," "tax and spend liberal," "commie," "Democrat" (without the "ic" at the end), "terrorist," etc. - Republicans use to "insult" Democrats, there's one that is particularly even by their own standards. Here it is, in reference to Tom Perriello's courageous, principled vote for clean energy, getting off of Saudi oil, and protecting the environment by capping carbon emissions.“Tom Perriello’s national energy tax vote was the defining moment of his short career,” NRCC spokesman Andy Sere said, adding that voters in his district who once thought of him as “that nice young man … is actually a smug globalist who cares more about his Daily Kos cred than the farmers, laborers and middle-class families in his district.”So, there you have it the worst insults they can possibly hurl at Tom Perriello include "smug" (I know Tom very well, and he's the last person I'd call "smug"), a "globalist" (you mean, like when he fought to bring down vicious, war-criminal dictators in Africa?), and - the absolutely most heinous insult of them all - having "Daily Kos cred." I mean, my god, can you imagine the equivalent on the Republican side, having "Bill O'Reilly cred" or "Glenn Beck cred" or "Rush Limbaugh cred" or "Michelle Malkin cred?" Yeah, it would be horrible and I know that no Republican would ever be caught dead appearing on any of those shows, blogs, etc., or even accepting praise from those folks (note: just to be clear, I am NOT drawing an equivalency between Daily Kos on the left and Bill/Beck/Rush/Michelle on the right; overall, Daily Kos is mainstream progressive and Democratic, while the right wingers I mentioned are John Bircher nutso).
More substantively, since when does voting for protecting "god's creation" count as left wing? Since when does voting to create millions of good, American jobs that can't be outsourced count as "liberal," "socialist," whatever? And since when does wanting to break America's "oil addiction" and get us off of dependence on Saudi Arabia (source of 15 or 19 hijackers on 9/11, I'd remind everyone) - something George W. Bush, that far-left loon - talked about doing, count as anything but patriotic? That's the kind of "cred" Tom Perriello has, in addition to his deep concern and hard work for the people of his district. If Republicans want to run another far-right-wing, flat-earth, anti-science, racist/homophobic/xenophobic candidate like Virgil Goode (or even Virgil himself), I say "bring it on" - we'll match Tom's cred against your guy's cred any day of the week.
UPDATE: Check out the Roanoke Times editorial, which says that Tom Perriello's "[c]limate change vote was a matter of national security, not politics." The Roanoke Times concludes that "A principled stand will beat obstructionism almost every time." I hope they're right.
