Kaine Hand-Picked By President Obama To Run Democratic National Committee
“[B]y All Accounts, Kaine And Obama Are As Close As Two Politicians Can Be.” (Chris Cillizza, “The Case For Tim Kaine,” The Washington Post’s The Fix, 7/9/08)
“It’s Official: Obama Taps Kaine To Head DNC.” (Dale Eisman, “It’s Official: Obama Taps Kaine To Head DNC,” The Virginian-Pilot, 1/9/09)
“[Kaine] Was Mr. Obama’s Handpicked Democratic National Committee Chairman, And He Has Made No Real Effort To Distance Himself From The President.” (Jonathan Weisman, “A Hunt For Split-Ticket Voters In A Tight Virginia Senate Race,” The New York Times, 7/19/12)
Kaine Said Being Party Boss Of The DNC Wasn’t One Of The Most Partisan Jobs In The Country
Kaine: “George, My Job Was Not The Most Partisan Job In America At The Time Because You Can Look At The Way I Conducted Myself And There Were A Whole Lot Of People That Were More Partisan Than Me.” (Tim Kaine, Capitol Correspondents Association Debate, 12/7/11)
As Party Boss, Kaine Engaged In Nasty, Partisan Rhetoric
Kaine Compared The GOP To Cannibals. “They also commented on the fractions and infighting in the Republican Party, with Kaine comparing the GOP to cannibals.” (Amanda Terkel, “DNC Chair Tim Kaine Compares The GOP To Cannibals: They’re ‘Turning Their Energy And Ferocity On Each Other,” The Huffington Post, 9/14/10)
Kaine Said Republican Party Is “Turning Into The Donner Party.” “‘What we’re seeing in the Republican Party is that they invited the Tea Party in and it’s turning into the Donner Party, in some instances, because they’re turning the energy and the ferocity against each other,’ said Kaine in response to a question by the Huffington Post, referring to the infamous group of 19th-century American pioneers who eventually had to turn to cannibalism to survive.” (Amanda Terkel, “DNC Chair Tim Kaine Compares The GOP To Cannibals: They’re ‘Turning Their Energy And Ferocity On Each Other,” The Huffington Post, 9/14/10)
Kaine – “Tea Bag Party”: “On the Republican side, we see a party that is narrowing geographically, narrowing ideologically and narrowing demographically. . . There is a corrosive and consistent fight within the tea bag party.’” (Elyse Siegal, “Tim Kaine: ‘The Tea Party Movement Is Savaging The GOP,’” The Huffington Post, 3/18/10)
Kaine Said It Would Be “Nuts” To Elect Republicans. “Kaine said returning the Republicans to power this fall ‘would be like giving the keys back to Herbert Hoover in the middle of the 1930s,’ a reference to the Republican president who oversaw the country’s slide to the Great Depression. ‘We’d be nuts to do it. And that’s why we have to fight so hard.’” (Philip Rucker, “Kaine To Dems: ‘We Need To Have The President’s Back,’” The Washington Post, 9/8/10)
Kaine Said Republicans Ruined The Economy And Obama Saved It. “‘This election is going to be about a choice,’ Mr. Kaine told a Monitor-sponsored lunch for reporters. ‘One party put the economy into a ditch, stood by and watched it collapse, not really willing to pull the rip cord on the parachute. The president has come in and taken bold action … to turn the economy around, to start climbing again, to tackle big problems that have bedeviled earlier administrations.’” (Dave Cook, “Tim Kaine: Democrats Are The ‘Results Party’ In 2010 Election,” The Christian Science Monitor, 4/28/10)
Kaine Said Republicans Are Obstructionists To Obama’s Agenda. “‘Democrats under President Obama’s leadership have been a results party, and that is what Americans want,’ Kaine argued. ‘The Republicans, on the other hand, have been a party of obstruction…. We think Americans will reward results rather than obstruction, and we think we have a capacity to do much better in these midterms than a lot of people think.’” (Dave Cook, “Tim Kaine: Democrats Are The ‘Results Party’ In 2010 Election,” The Christian Science Monitor, 4/28/10)
Kaine: “This Is Just The Latest Battle In The Corrosive Republican Intra-Party Civil War.” “‘That the Tea Party would consider Bob Bennett — one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate — too liberal just goes to show how extreme the Tea Party is,’ Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. ‘This is just the latest battle in the corrosive Republican intra-party civil war . . . If there was any question before, there should now be no doubt that the Republican leadership has handed the reins to the Tea Party.’” (Amy Gardner, “Tea Party Wins Victory In Utah As Incumbent GOP Senator Loses Bid For Nomination,” The Washington Post, 5/9/10)
Kaine: “Far-Right Platform Full Of Conservative Myths And Conspiracy Theories.” “Kaine whipped through a laundry list of recent instances leading up to Paul’s win in which he claimed the Tea Party’s influence has divided Republicans. Tea Partiers, Kaine said, had ousted Sen. Bob Bennett (R) in Utah, ‘split the Republican electorate in two’ in the Florida Senate race, forced Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to ‘reverse course on life-long political positions’ in his re-election bid and ‘hijacked’ this month’s Republican Party convention in Maine– approving a ‘far-right platform full of conservative myths and conspiracy theories.’” (Felicia Sonmez, “DNC Chair Tim Kaine Casts The Tea Party As ‘Corrosive And Divisive,” The Washington Post’s The Fix, 5/19/10)
As Party Boss, Kaine Championed The President Health Care Tax Law, And Said It Would Be Great For Democrats… Politically
October 24, 2010: On ObamaCare, Kaine Said When The American People “Immediately See The Benefits,” ObamaCare Would Be “A Great Thing Politically For The Dems.” AMANPOUR: “You mentioned health care. I want to say something that you, yourself, said about this issue when it comes to elections.” KAINE: “OK, great.” (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAINE: “When make this happen, and people immediately see the benefits that are going to come their way, I think this is going to be a great thing politically for the Dems. And we’re trying to show members that they’ve got their constituents behind them if they vote with the president.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 10/24/10)
DNC Convention Speech In Charlotte A Reminder Of Kaine’s Partisanship As Party Boss
“Kaine’s Convention Appearance Is A Reminder That His DNC Partisan Post Cemented His Ties To The White House And President Obama’s Most Controversial Initiatives — Particularly The Economic Stimulus And The Health-Care Law…” (Ben Pershing, “Kaine’s Leadership Of DNC Could Have Repercussions In His Senate Campaign,” The Washington Post, 9/3/12)
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