Progressive America: New TV ad targets Kaine’s fiscal policies with bogus claims and flagrant misrepresentations

Monday, June 25, 2012

New TV ad targets Kaine’s fiscal policies with bogus claims and flagrant misrepresentations

The Koch brothers financed Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian foundation, released a new Television ad targeting U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine of Virginia.[1] The 32 second ad attempts to paint Tim Kaine as a “deficit spender” and a tax hiking paragon in typical sound-bite fashion.

Aside from the usual rhetorical flourishes, a quick look at Americans for Prosperity’s official website demonstrates the group’s focus on reducing the size of government and lowering taxes.[2]

According to AFP’s Virginia director, Audrey Jackson, Tim Kaine “can’t spend your way to prosperity or tax your way to economic freedom.” As usual, no evidence was given to substantiate these bogus claims.

As is often the case, however, what conservatives and economic libertarians take as gross spending of taxpayer money is the soundest way to stimulate our nation’s economy so that more American’s can experience economic freedom.[3] In other words, “short-term stimulus with long-term discipline.”

Tim Kaine has always been a proponent of fiscal discipline[4], which is why Virginia retained its triple A bond rating under Tim Kaine’s tenure as Lt. Governor and Governor of Virginia[5].

But as Tim Kaine acknowledged, cutting your way out of a fiscal challenge is a recipe for further disaster, a recipe that economic libertarians and conservatives seem all to ready to cook up.[6] Kaine noted that “The all cut approach is a weakening approach, not a strengthening approach.”

Because we as individuals tend to see those political candidates who we PERCEIVE to share our own policy views with rose-tinted glasses, we tend not to see the sound policy positions of those political figures who we do not identify with. For all of the criticism Tim Kaine has received about his economic policies, this is one area in particular that Tim Kaine can hardly be assailed on.

Instead of questioning Tim Kaine’s economic history, let’s continue to question the motivations of the Koch brothers and their plethora of well-funded “foundations,” think-tanks, Super PACs, and the list goes on. What would an America look like as the Koch brothers envision it? Yes, I shudder at the thought too!