05/23/13: A candidate soaked in vinegar

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

THE OLD saying goes, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Somebody might want to mention that to E.W. Jackson.

Jackson, a minister from Chesapeake, won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor at last weekend’s convention. It took four ballots for the 8,000-plus delegates to make their choice, but Jackson, who has never held elected office, led the whole way.

While some of the other candidates — there were seven in all — relied on fancy videos and well-known politicians to introduce them, Jackson simply walked onto the stage and spoke. Using oratorical skills no doubt acquired in church and the courtroom — in addition to being a minister, he is an attorney — Jackson fired up the attendees.

Of course, the red meat in the speech helped: Jackson was careful to include in his seven minutes references to the Second and 10th Amendments , property rights, traditional marriage and school choice. On the latter, he said, “There is no liberty where children are indoctrinated instead of educated.”

Some have said that the speech Jackson gave was nearly identical to those given during his 2012 run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. It certainly seemed more appropriate for a Senate candidate. There was little mention of Virginia and no mention of the office of lieutenant governor.

Nor was there any mention of the incendiary statements of Jackson’s past. It didn’t take long for videos of Jackson to spread across the media: his calling gays “perverts;” his saying that “the idea that Barack Obama is a Christian is laughable;” his lamenting that blacks are “going into the slave market voluntarily” by supporting the Democratic Party; and his opposition to emergency federal aid in the case of natural disasters because he doesn’t think “there is any constitutional authority to do it.”

There’s more — a lot more. But none of this is on Jackson’s website. There, Jackson has his own Hope and Change thing going on. He wants to “Inspire and Unite” Virginia to “set freedom’s torch ablaze again.” But if he believes these things — and he has said that he stands behind his statements — why are they conspicuously absent on his website?

Jackson has already proven his appeal to the wider Republican electorate by finishing fourth in the four-way primary for Senate, a contest in which he garnered less than 5 percent of the vote. That he won at a convention says more about that process than anything.

Watching some Republicans try to distance themselves from him is quite excruciating. Some of Virginia’s congressional representatives are declining comment. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling said that Jackson’s remarks “are simply not appropriate.”

And it’s not just his words that are a concern, but his deeds. Jackson fought plans to desegregate public housing developments in Boston. He set up a political action committee to elect conservative black candidates in districts represented by members of the Congressional Black Caucus — then spent more on consulting fees to himself than he donated to candidates.

Our two-party system makes it nearly impossible for a third-party candidate to win. It is imperative that the parties nominate the very best candidates that they can find.

Competition is good. It brings to the fore, among other things, new ways of thinking about old issues. A spirited campaign in which each candidate has a shot at winning is about as good as it gets.

Both parties have been guilty of choosing poorly, the result being a landslide victory for the other. That doesn’t help our political process one bit.

To be successful in November, Jackson has to win not only the votes of convention-goers, not only the votes of Republicans, but also the votes of independent voters and conservative Democrats.

How he intends to do that with all the vinegar he has spewed is beyond me.