The progressive backlash to Hillary Clinton’s selection of Tim Kaine as her running mate began even before the news became public.
Liberal activists loyal to Bernie Sanders made it clear that the Virginia senator was an unacceptable choice because he supported bank deregulation and free trade deals. Norman Solomon, coordinator of a group called the Bernie Delegates Network, labeled Kaine “a loyal servant of oligarchy.” Abortion groups were said to be in a huff because Kaine calls himself “personally pro-life” and as governor of Virginia a decade ago he promoted adoption. He even signed a bill authorizing “choose life” license plates.
But the truth is that left wingers have nothing to worry about with Kaine. He is a reliable liberal vote whenever one is needed. The fact that he does not march in in lockstep with the protectionist left (he defends the North American Free Trade Agreement and voted in favor of “fast track” authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and the Occupy Wall Street crowd (he was one of 70 senators who signed a letter urging regulators to rethink ultra-restrictive banking rules), does not mean he cannot be counted on when the liberal chips are down.
Kaine has 100 percent ratings from Planned Parenthood, the Brady Campaign for restrictions on gun rights, the Human Rights Campaign and the National Education Association. He’s got a 90 percent rating from the left-wing Americans for Democratic Action. Meanwhile, he gets a 17 percent rating from the National Federation of Independent Businesses, three percent from Heritage Action and nine percent from both the Club for Growth and Citizens Against Government Waste.
Kaine is a staunch defender of President Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders on immigration, a proponent of the cave-in to Iran on nukes, and opposes defunding Planned Parenthood, the powerhouse of the abortion industry. The list goes on, and on.
Kaine will play a similar role in Clinton’s campaign as Mike Pence plays in Donald Trump’s. Both are polite and reserved Midwesterners (Kaine grew up in Kansas City) with a religious faith. Both are family men well liked by their colleagues. Both are seen as having sound moral character. In other words, both will bring a facade of integrity to presidential tickets that need it.
Many media reports refer to Kaine as a “moderate” or “centrist” who will help Clinton appeal to independent voters. But, like his party, he has drifted — “sprinted” might be a more apt verb — to the left in the past decade. When Kaine ran for governor in 2005, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the abortion lobbying group, refused to endorse him because he declaredly sought to reduce the number of abortions. Now they love him, sending an email to supporters Saturday with the subject line, “Now THAT’s a vice president!”
And fans of socialists Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, should buck up, too. On Saturday Kaine reversed course and came out publicly against TPP, which Clinton once called the “Gold Standard” of trade deals but now opposes as well.
Kaine may not be a class warrior in the mold of Sanders; nor does he attack Wall Street with the venom and alacrity of Warren. But he’s a reliable Democrat — which means someone who is getting more militantly left-wing every day.
