Ben Cline

Ben Cline is trying to pretend that he showed up for a “debate” with his Democratic opponent in the Sixth District congressional race, Beth Macy, last night in Winchester, except, one problem.

The Small Business Freedom Alliance, a MAGA group, was the hosting party, and while I can envision a scenario in which Macy could have appeared at what would effectively be a political roast and still be able to claim victory just for showing up, she didn’t take the bait.

This one was never intended to be a “debate”; it was all about giving Cline an excuse to claim that he isn’t afraid to show up in public and defend his subservience to Team Trump.

“It was a tremendous conversation with people from the district who came out to voice their concerns and hear what candidates have to say about the issues facing our community,” Cline said in a statement from a release put out on his behalf by his campaign.

“We talked about cutting taxes and keeping the cost of living down, securing the border and maintaining safe neighborhoods. It was an excellent discussion, and I look forward to the next two scheduled debates, when maybe I will have an opponent,” Cline said.

On the “next two scheduled debates” matter: Ben, something like this isn’t “scheduled” until both parties actually agree to the scheduling.

People like Ben Cline still put stock in the country being a patriarchy, but Macy gets to have a say in the scheduling as well.

It’s par for the course that Ben Cline would want the first “debate” to be something organized by this Small Business Freedom Alliance, which advertises itself on its website as “a group of local business owners/citizens who stand against Federal and State overreach that adversely impacts our business operations.”

Yeah, they come across as being on the up-and-up.

The group’s Facebook page is a list of announcements of campaign events for Republican candidates, warnings about government coming for your guns and dark predictions about the redistricting referendum.

Its origin story, from its website, tells us that it sprang out of “three local business owners feeling very frustrated about the responses to the Covid 19 Virus from our local, state, and federal governments.”

Geez, I wonder why Ben Cline wanted this group to host a “debate”?

The others of the “next two scheduled debates” that the Cline campaign release referenced involve the Salem Rotary Club and the Harrisonburg Rotary Club.

We can just imagine how extensive those would go – around the rubber-chicken lunch, members offering up Happy Dollars because their alma mater won on Saturday, somebody leading the group in song, then the candidates getting 20 minutes to answer canned questions in 60- and 90-second soundbites.