A CNN op-ed lambasted Virginia Republicans for “fearmongering” during the state’s gubernatorial election Tuesday, but offered no criticism of Democrats for doing the same.
Author S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy professor at the University of California, railed against Republican candidate Ed Gillespie’s campaign for airing ads about MS-13’s gang presence in Virginia, but he had no criticism for Democrat candidate Ralph Northam. While supposedly critical of “fearmongering,” the op-ed was devoid of any reference to the infamous pro-Northam ad which portrayed Gillespie supporters as confederate-flag-toting Nazis who want to run over minority children with trucks.
Gillespie has centered his campaign on Virginia’s violent crime and high number of members of Latino gang MS-13. And while it is true that police in Virginia’s wealthiest county are equaled–if not outnumbered–by MS-13 members, Ramakrishnan nevertheless pounced on the ads, claiming Gillespie was actually pushing hatred of Mexicans and residents of South America.
Ramakrishnan also equated Gillespie’s ad with a school board race in New Jersey in which two candidates have received anonymous mail complaining that “The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!” (RELATED: Gillespie Family ‘Disgusted’ By Truck Ad, Campaign Donations ‘Triple’)
“The only way that these racial appeals will diminish is if they are rejected at the ballot box,” Ramakrishnan wrote. “Otherwise, we can expect a far greater number of candidates, incumbents as well as challengers, working to add race-baiting advertisements and appeals to their 2018 campaigns.”
Nowhere in the piece, however, does the author voice any criticism of Democratic ads styling Republican voters as Nazi terrorists.
Published by Latino Victory last month, the ad shows four minority or Muslim children running away from a white man in a truck. The truck sports Tea Party license plates and a confederate flag in the back. It speeds toward the children as they are trying to climb over a fence to escape. The ad culminates with voice-over claiming that a vote against Gillespie is a vote against hate.
“They are infuriated,” Gillespie said of his family to The Daily Caller. “And they’re disgusted. And I understand that. I think it’s always harder on the family than on the candidate himself or herself, but it’s not pleasant, and it’s the kind of thing that makes good people not want to run for public office.”
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