From the beginning of his campaign, those covering the Virginia governor’s race have noted that Creigh Deeds frequently gets tongue-tied in the face of a tough question. The Washington Post began its Sunday story, “Creigh Deeds was stammering, as is often his way when trying to explain a change in one of his political positions.”

The blogger Not Larry Sabato has video of McDonnell supporter Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of BET, referring to politicians who can’t communicate, “especially his op-op-op-op-opponent.”

NLS claims that this amounts to “mocking the disabled.” I’ve been digging and looking through archives, but I have yet to find any reference to Deeds having a speech impediment before that blog post.

If, indeed, Creigh Deeds has a physical impairment, then mocking it is mean and regrettable. But it’s strange that Deeds’s disability just happens to mimic ordinary stammering and tongue-tied inability to give a clear answer, and it just happens to manifest itself most obviously when he’s asked tough questions by reporters.

It’s a fairly common condition; I’ve found during my television appearances that you can think you’re prepared, the camera goes on, and suddenly there’s a Post-It note where you thought your brain was, and you’re putting words together in a manner that isn’t even a distant relative of a complete sentence. Point is, lots of people who aren’t physically handicapped stammer and stutter when the pressure is on.

Is stammering a reflection that he knows he’s been caught changing positions, and verbally flailing while trying to come up with a good excuse? Or is it that he knows his answer in his head and he can’t get his mouth to express his thoughts?

Either way, Deeds fans can’t claim that mocking their man’s speech amounts to mocking a physical handicap if no one knows that it is a physical handicap. NLS insists the physical handicap is “well known around Richmond,” even though it has, as far as I can tell, never been mentioned in any article or profile of the man, ever in a 19-year political career.

By the way, does anyone else find it . . . interesting that if, indeed, this is a genuine, medically diagnosed physical handicap, Creigh Deeds chose to pursue careers in politics and law, two fields that pretty much require clear, forceful verbal communication?