by James A. Bacon

Are you kidding me? A couple of days ago I received a four-page mailer from the Cantor for Congress campaign plastered with the headline: “Liberal College Professor David Brat.”

The flier showed a picture of Brat, an economics professor at Randolph Macon University, with a graduation hat superimposed on his head and and appearing next to a photo-shopped image of former Governor Tim Kaine. Brat’s offense? He served on the governor’s Board of Economists and “stood by” while Kaine “proposed over $1 billion in tax increases,” “sat idle” while Kaine advocated raise car taxes, and even “continued to serve Kaine” after Barack Obama appointed him to chair the Democratic National Committee!”

Horrors! Brat must be one of those loonie lefty college professors! Not only is he connected to Tim Kaine, he’s just one step away from Barack Obama!

Actually, Brat is running to the right of Cantor on the grounds that the Henrico congressman and second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives is squishy and ineffective in his determination to shrink the size of government and reduce deficits. I know Brat and I’ve seen him speak, and there is no way anyone with an ounce of integrity could portray him as anything other than a rock-solid conservative.

What Cantor’s despicable ad omits to mention is that the Joint Advisory Board of Economists is comprised mainly of independent economists unaffiliated with either the governor’s administration or the General Assembly. The non-political board does not advise the governor on policy but on “economic assumptions and technical econometric methodology” that go into state budgetary forecasts. Most people would consider it a good thing for Virginia’s governor, regardless of political party, to receive the best technocratic advice possible when preparing their budgets.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Factcheck.org actually looked into the claims made in the flier and elicited this response from Ray Allen Jr., a political adviser to Cantor:

He told us the ad makes two factual claims, and that ”no one is disputing the actual facts.”

But the facts are juxtaposed in such a way as to invite people to draw a totally inaccurate conclusion. What a weasel! And Cantor is a weasel for allowing such a flier to be published in his name.

I’ve always been sympathetic to Cantor knowing that he is pitted against serial spinners and dissemblers in the Democratic Congress. With this ad, however, Cantor shows that he’s no different than the rest of the prevaricators in the nation’s capital. If you’re not part of the solution, Mr. Cantor, you’re part of the problem. Apologize for this ad and clean up your act… or leave. The American people may not agree about much but we are united on one thing: We want our leaders to tell the truth.