Tim Kaine: Catholic of Convenience

One surefire way to spot an election year is to check Tim Kaine’s closet. If he’s been rummaging around inside, looking for his clerical collar, someone is going to be voting in November. This time Kaine is being introduced to a new, nationwide electorate as the senator from Virginia joins Hillary Clinton on the Democrat ticket. Kaine’s role in 2016 is an expansion of his usual Virginia performance as “designated Christian.” His nationwide rollout as the theological counterpoint to Hillary’s aggressively secular reputation generates unintentionally funny coverage. Kaine’s being a Christian and a Democrat is so novel, it’s newsworthy! The media’s sympathetic coverage treats publicly announcing your belief in God is a disability that successful politicians work to overcome. That’s why a candidate caught with a church bulletin in his briefcase is geometrically more frightening to the Bernie Bros and the rest of the pagan Democrat base than Tim Kaine in a turban and a suspiciously bulky down jacket in August.

---

---