Elaine Luria Clutches Her Pearls
One thing you can say for Elaine Luria: She was a terrible congresswoman, but she’s a damn good actress.
Here she was yesterday, pretending to have a case of the vapors after Rep. Jen Kiggans agreed with a radio host who said Hakeem Jeffries - who spent about $30 million meddling in the Virginia’s illegal referendum - should keep his cotton-picking hands off Virginia.
This, from a woman who proudly hobnobs with Ralph Northam, the guy they called “coonman” in college and who was photographed in black face. (Or was that him in the Klan robe, I can never remember.)
Luria also supported a man for attorney general who wanted to put “two bullets” in the head of a political opponent and also wanted his little children to die.
And there are lots of photos of her with Louise Lucas, which may prove problematical should indictments rain down on the Portsmouth Democrat.
I must say, Luria and the rest of the Democrat theater kids in Congress gave peak performances yesterday. They were SO indignant, SO offended, SO miffed. They couldn’t believe how “vile” and “racist” the term “cotton picking” is.
They clearly got their talking points from the DNC and obediently began banging away on X.
It was the moment they’d been waiting for and right on cue, they began chanting “RACIST” and demanding that Rep. Jen Kiggans resign from Congress.
Performative. And stupid.
Here’s what supposedly triggered them:
During a Monday interview with Rich Herrera on “Richmond’s Morning News” Kiggans was asked about the midterm elections and Democrats’ redistricting efforts in Virginia. The conversation went something like this:
Herrera: “If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics then I suggest he do what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing. Leave New York, move down here and run for office and represent us. Otherwise, keep your cotton picking hands off Virginia.”
Kiggans: “That’s right. Ditto. Yes, yes to that.”
Ooooh. She might as well borrow Northam’s Klan hat. How dare she not object to a hackneyed colloquialism that’s been used as a stand-in for cuss words for decades?
Kiggans responded this way:
Luria, who was beaten by Kiggans in 2022, was absolutely giddy when she heard the recording. As of this writing, she’s Tweeted about how shockingly racist Kiggans is eight times.
Luria knows Kiggans is not a racist. And Luria knows this is much ado about nothing.
She doesn’t care.
Elaine Luria is a transactional politician who will say or do anything to win.
Virginia Democrats are making a lot of noise right now because they’re going through a rough patch. This cotton picking dust-up is a diversion from their obscenely expensive redistricting debacle, from the Louise Lucas FBI raids and from Attorney General Jay Jones misspelled court pleadings. Oh, and let’s not forget that Virginia Democrats can’t agree on a budget. They’re looking more and more like a rudderless crowd that can’t shoot straight.
And hold on one cotton picking minute: It’s worth noting that plenty of white people picked cotton. The first recorded use of the term “cotton picking” - according to Merriam-Webster - was in 1917, long after slavery had been abolished, so it’s unclear how this expression came to be considered racist.
You do you, Democrats.
But the party that embraces Ralph Northam and Jay Jones doesn’t have the moral authority to lecture Jen Kiggans about anything.
