Editorial
There’s a fine line between boisterousness and boorishness, particularly when it comes to enthusiastic partisan gatherings like the ones for the political stump speeches at Glen Maury Park during Buena Vista’s annual Labor Day festivals.
One could credibly argue that the line was crossed Monday when passions were vigorously on display in response to speeches delivered by the six major party statewide candidates who all came to the park for the first time in 12 years.
Loud screams from hecklers on the Democrats’ side of the pavilion made it difficult for many in the audience to hear what the Republicans were saying when they gave their speeches. There was admittedly a much larger contingent of Democrats on hand than has been the case for a very long time. A local Democratic official said 250 were in attendance at the party’s breakfast at Parry McCluer High School.
Responding to jeers during her speech, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Republican nominee for governor, said derisively, “That’s what the sound of tolerant people sound like. They don’t give people the opportunity to speak. But they love everybody more than Republicans, apparently. They’re rude and they’re crude. That’s what they do.”
Responding to signs of Democratic supporters that were being waved at him while he spoke, state Sen. Chris Head declared, “Those [points he’d just made] are facts and stupid signs that say ‘not true’ when they are demonstrably true should be taken down because you are delusional.” Jade Harris, a former Glasgow vice mayor and a 2023 candidate for the state Senate who was speaking for an absent candidate Monday, said, “The days of pissing on our legs and telling us it’s raining are over. This regime [the Trump administration], and its enablers” – here she named the Republican candidates on stage – “aren’t here to govern, they’re here to control. It doesn’t matter if your child goes hungry, your hospital closes or if you lose your job, as long as they can collect that taxpayer check and make the orange man grunt in their direction, they’re satisfied.”
The crassness of some of the remarks heard Monday crossed into a level of incivility we haven’t much heard, at least from the stage, at Buena Vista’s Labor Day celebrations of past years. We applaud boisterousness. We condemn crassness.
Another point we should make clear is that it’s wrong to try to shout down a political opponent. It’s fine, even encouraged, to display your enthusiasm for your preferred candidate. But, please, give the opposing candidates an opportunity to be heard. We want to hear all points of view, as should everyone who attends these yearly festive kickoffs to Virginia’s political campaign season.
Underscoring this point was John Reid, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, during his remarks, when he said, “One of the things the people I’ve worked for have always tried to do is give respect to the other side.” Gesturing toward the Democrats on the other side of the stage, he said simply, “I appreciate the fact that you’re here.”
