Throughout class discussion, we have talked a lot about October Surprises and how they can affect the presidential candidates remaining campaign in the final days. How candidates respond to the release of whatever the “surprise” may be is very crucial to their accusation being overlooked or forgiven by the American people, especially if the surprise is inappropriate, offending, etc. When it comes to their reaction, they need to ensure that their rhetorical response is appropriate and will not further harm their chance of winning the election. As these surprises leaked to the media are a rhetorical act of another party, the candidate being targeted usually will face some kind of drama or criticism that will be meant to test their leadership or prove that they are unfit for their running role.
What I have discovered about October Surprises as I have been paying closer attention to them during this election is that they don’t just affect the presidential candidates but the vice presidential candidates as well. Just over the course of the last few days, Hillary Clinton`s running mate, Tim Kaine, has experienced what it is like to be a target of October Surprises. He has been threatened by WikiLeaks over Twitter. WL has tweeted several messages directed at Kaine. On October 20, they tweeted, “We have a surprise in store for @TimKaine.” On October 23, WL tweeted again, “We have a surprise for @TimKaine” and used the hashtag #TKSurprise. See this link to read more about the Twitter threats.
According to CBS News, Kaine has “shrugged off” the threat and explains that he has nothing to be “overly embarrassed about” but that he does have “a temper, so I mean, I imagine I`ve got an email or two out there that people might find unusual.” Kaine also said that the motives for the WL`s releases “made the documents untrustworthy” and said that “these are connected to a Russian government propaganda effort to destabilize the election.” The rhetoric of his response seems to match the rhetoric of his running candidate who has made several comments about Russia and their role in attempting to “affect the outcome of the election.” Read this link to discover more about how Clinton`s rhetorical stance on Russia shows that she believes they are attempting to “influence our election.” To read more about what Kaine said about the threats, view this link.
What do you think about the rhetorical stance Kaine is taking on the threats towards him? Do you think he should respond differently or be more proactive? Most importantly, what do you think about Kaine matching his response to the same response his running mate has said about the Russian Government as he is trying to relay the same rhetorical message she is when it comes to the Russian Government?
Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-kaine-shrugs-off-targeted-wikileaks-threat/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/19/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-blames-russia-putin-wikileaks-rele/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/24/tim-kaine-wikileaks-warning-i-suspect-its-big-yawn/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/vice-presidential-nominee-shrugs-off-threat-wikileaks-182835074–election.html
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Erin Shattles
You have raised an interesting point regarding vice presidential candidates and October surprises. Although vice presidential candidates are given a little more leeway in what resurfaces from their past, a major story could hurt their running mate as a good presidential candidate should select trustworthy and reputable leaders to serve the country. In the case of Tim Kaine, I doubt WikiLeaks has anything catastrophic enough to seriously damage him or the Clinton Campaign; however, should whatever WikiLeaks releases truly be damning, Tim Kaine’s brushing off of the threat by saying he has nothing to be “overly embarrassed about” will come back to haunt him.
You have raised an interesting point regarding vice presidential candidates and October surprises. Although vice presidential candidates are given a little more leeway in what resurfaces from their past, a major story could hurt their running mate as a good presidential candidate should select trustworthy and reputable leaders to serve the country. In the case of Tim Kaine, I doubt WikiLeaks has anything catastrophic enough to seriously damage him or the Clinton Campaign; however, should whatever WikiLeaks releases truly be damning, Tim Kaine’s brushing off of the threat by saying he has nothing to be “overly embarrassed about” will come back to haunt him.
Kaine should be saying nothing until the evidence the tweet supposedly has, is leaked to the public. If that happens then Kaine should react appropriately with whatever the email is. Kaine could identify something else he did and draw negative light to him and his running candidate Hillary because it’s so close to Election Day.
While I agree with the comment above about how Kaine should not be addressing these “threats” until actual information is made public, I am impressed with the way he humorously and honestly addressed what the emails could be. Rhetorically speaking, I believe it was a very strong move in connecting with voters. While very few people are under the view of the public eye in the same way VP and Presidential candidates are, we all have an email or two that we would not want shared with the public and Kaine realizes that and connects voters in that way. I think the claim he made about these threats being from “Russian government propaganda” may have missed the mark just a little but overall, he has handled these threats in a rhetorically strong way. If these threats ever become anything more, it will be interesting to see how Kaine and his team address this new “October Scare”.