Shades of Sacrifice

The Bwana Brood recently visited The Happiest Place in the World, and while there was reminded yet again of the sacrifices made to allow this country to live free.

We were on the monorail following a memorable dinner at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort, where me and the WMD were photographed with Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Pluto, and other Disney characters. The monorail back to the Magic Kingdom to get back to our bus routed us to other resorts first. We found ourselves on a crowded car that included a man on one of the motorized scooters that can be rented by those who might have difficulty walking around the various parks.

The car was dark, but there was enough light to realize the gentleman on the scooter had a prosthetic right leg. He looked to be in his mid-late thirties, clean cut, conservative cut dark hair, muscled arms, and a serious look that suggested to me he had seen some things-a look that softened when he looked over and talked to a woman I assumed was his wife and three very sweet young girls. The prosthetic leg resembled the government issue models I had recently read about in an online article about the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also in the car was a loud bunch who would not shut up and went on about how crowded things were and hot they were-the kind of mouthy folks who just drive you up a wall. Their kvetching was clearly getting to the wife, who after they had said about ten times in two minutes how hot it was piped up with, “Well, it’s not as hot as it is in Fallujah”.

Dead silence in the car…and the man on the motor scooter calmly patted his wife’s hand, turned to the now silent noisemakers, and said “you are right, it was awfully hot out in the resorts today”.

About then we pulled in the the Central Transportation Terminal, and the chief noisemaker asked the man where they were staying. “Shades of Green” was the reply. Soon the car came to a stop, the man, his family, and the noisemakers all disembarked.

For those not in the know, Shades of Green is an Armed Forces Recreation Center on the WDW property. You have to be active duty or retired to stay there.  Clearly the man on the motor scooter was a fellow who had seen some things.

On this Fourth of July, remember the bravery, courage, and vision of the Founding Fathers. Remember those who have paid the ultimate price over the years to maintain that vision…but don’t forget the sacrifices made every day by folks like the Man on the Motor Scooter and his family.  Though the degrees and shades may differ, the sacrifice is just as real and sometimes just as permanent.

I know that after that short monorail ride, the Bwana Brood won’t.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Sarah Palin: WTF?

I think the title says it all…but my honorary membership in Bloviators Anonymous requires me to continue.

What in the world is she thinking?  Let’s assume Governor Palin wants to run in 2012.  How is her cause helped by bailing out out now as opposed to serving to the end of her term?  Who is advising her?

I truly am amazed at this.  While I understand the difficulty of governing while campaigning, she has not even gotten through three quarters of her first term in office!  Does she really think that bailing now will be hailed as a good thing?  Does she really think avoiding lame duck status will work in her favor?  Has anyone ever gotten a positive bounce for quitting?

Strange-the GOP governor who should be resigning isn’t and the one who shouldn’t be is.

This is one of those decisions that just makes you scratch your head and say “h’mmmmmmmmmm…”

Somehow I feel somehow at fault.  Last year as we prepared to come home from a late vacation we got word that John McCain had tabbed Palin as his VP choice.  This year, as we settle in after arriving home from an early vacation we get word that Governor Palin is stepping down.

Looks like I better start vetting my vacation plans with the RNC.

Back from The Mouse

Preparation made the difference-and now after weeks of ending school, packing, and heading off to Florida and back (with a stop in Ashland at the Smoky Pig), we are back…and set to get back to the blog world. After one has one’s mind cleared by repeated runs on the Expedition Everest rollercoaster ride, there is much to discuss! SWMBO would not let me on the Rockin’ Rollercoaster for fear of too much knee stress, but the long lines did provide me with new clarity on various political topics.

More to Come!

The Tragedy that Made Careers

I was ruminating on the ascent of Creigh Deeds, and a little lightbulb exploded in my head…and it occurred to me that but for one terrible life turn, the Commonwealth would likely have been spared both Tim Kaine and Creigh Deeds.

I refer, of course, to the untimely passing of Emily Couric.

Emily Couric defeated Ed Robb in 1995 and quickly developed a loyal following in the Democratic Party.  Following her reelection in 1999 she made it clear she would be a candidate for the Dem nomination for Lt. Gov in 2001, and her popularity was such that most pundits saw her getting the nomination unopposed.

Then lightning struck.  Senator Couric was diagnored with pancreatic cancer came in July 2000.  While she took on the co-chairmanship of the State Democratic party, she gave up her LTgov candidacy.  Senator Couric died in October 2001.

With her withdrawal the LG field opened wide, and the Mayor of Richmond became a player.  He was little known outside the city.  He became mayor by virtue of winning a ward election to the City Council and then being tagged by his council members to be mayor.  The Mayor leveraged that small base, won a plurality primary, got a weak GOP opponent in the fall, and emerged as Lt Governor of Virginia-and four years later permanently dropped “The Mayor” in favor of a different title…”The Gov”.  As you know, this is the story of Tim Kaine’s rise to power.

Meanwhile, back in Central/Western Virginia, they held a special election to determine who would succeed the late Senator Couric.  Waldo Jaquith tells the story:

In 2001, after Sen. Emily Couric’s death, a special election was held to determine who would fill out her term. The 25th senate district contains Charlottesville, of course, so we knew that we could just select a nominee from among ourselves. The folks we expected stepped up to vie for the nomination: former Mayor Nancy O’Brien, City Councilor Meredith Richards, Al Weed…plus some delegate from Bath County (wherever that is), Creigh Deeds. We held the nominating convention in Charlottesville one Saturday morning, for which it was pretty clear that a woman was going to win, it was just a question of which one. But then we arrived that morning. Del. Deeds had filled a whole bus with folks from Alleghany, Bath, Buckingham, Buena Vista, Covington, and Rockbridge (not a single one of which any of us Charlottesville muckity-mucks could have picked out on a map.) He had slick-looking brochures, palm cards, and stickers. None of our candidates were even close. When we went into the balloting process, damned if that Deeds fellow didn’t lick everybody in the first round of voting, getting a majority of votes on the first ballot. He knew that the voting would be weighted by municipality, he knew how to campaign—not the deal-cutting like in Charlottesville, but really campaign—and he sure knew how make folks underestimate him. We never saw him coming, but we sure adopted him as one of our own real quick. Just a few weeks later he licked his Republican opponent in a landslide victory…

As you know, two days ago that same Creigh Deeds won the Democratic nomination to succeed Tim Kaine.

In my lifetime Virginia has often had its political waters roiled by an untimely passing. Sarge Reynolds death from cancer gave Henry Howell his shot at Lt. Gov and then Governor and accelerated the movement of conservative Democrats to the GOP. Rick Obenshains death in 1978 allowed John Warner to run (and win) in that year’s senate race.

Death has played in other races. Strom Thurmond went to the Senate when he did and the way he did by virtue of the truly untimely death of the incumbent SC US Senator. Jean Carnehan went to the Senate in 2001 after her husband died in a plane crash while running against (and eventually defeating from the grave) John Ashcroft.

Death has been a player in politics for years. But these other deals were one-off successions or driven by ideology. You don’t often see a political death having a direct impact on the make up of statewide tickets almost ten years after the event took place.

Thus endeth today’s history lesson…

I am Shocked, Shocked to see McAuliffe…

…be less than scrupulous with the truth!  No-really, I am!

I just caught up to the Vivian Paige observation that Virginia State Firefighters Assocation is not pleased with the Terry McAuliffe campaign for not being entirely truthfull in his claim that he is backed by firefighters.

But should we be surprised at this conduct? After all, this is the candidate that the WaPo caught in a complete falsehood (yes, we are avoiding the “L” word) regarding the use of third grade reading scores to predict prison populations…and when challenged on the matter Delacey Skinner of the McAuliffe campaign replied they were sticking with the position because they were “comfortable” with the formulation as “shorthand”…even though it is completely untrue as to policy in Virginia.

Ah, Captain Renault would be pleased:

 

I am reminded of the parable about the scorpion-perhaps Terry McAuliffe is not to be blamed…perhaps it is just his inherent nature.

Democratic Primary Day-Voting, Tradition, Signs, and the Poster Boy

As we luxuriate in the swelling lack of attention to the Democratic Primary today, a few things come to mind.

Republicans do not let Republican friends vote in Democratic primaries

Although my first vote was a youthful one cast for Henry Howell in the 1977 Democratic Primary, age and experience have taught me that no real good comes from crossing over in a year like this.  The GOP picked their guys, let the Dems pick theirs, and then may the best candidates win in the fall.  This course-which forces each side to pick the candidates THEY want, and then have those picked candidates champion their positions in the fall-ensures the public gets a clear view of that each party wants to say and how they want to be represented.

Where’s Jody?

Traditionally candidates for office campaign.  Hence, I do not understand the nearly complete absence of Jody Wagner in the campaign.  As a longstanding Democratic cabinet member if there is anyone who can carry on the Warner-Kaine legacy, it should be her.  Of course, that legacy is lack of transparency in budget negotiations, failure to account for funds, failure to offer fresh leadership…Oh, now I understand the nearly complete absence.

Sign Wars

I keep seeing lots of signs for McAuliffe and WaPo for Deeds signs…a few for Mike Signer…and almost none for Brian Moran.

The Poster Boy…

I think we are seeing that regardless of what happens today that the real poster boy for the Virginia Democratic Party is…Brian Moran.  Moran ran this year seeming to think that he was owed the nomination as the dutiful leader of the Dems in the HOD, and that he could easily get past Brother Deeds without offering a record of substantive legislative accomplishment or ideas to address pressing state issues, instead hoping the House GOP would implode and he would be handed power on a plate.  In fact, Moran apparently thought he could do so and avoid questions about why he was unable to make his ideas policy.  Now its primary day and the Dutiful Son may run 3rd of three.

I think what whomever the Democrats select this year is going to have that same problem.  You cannot hold the governors chair for eight years without substantive achievement simply by blaming the other party.  The Democrats and their leadership in both houses have preferred to sit back and let the GOP implode in intra-party squabbles rather than offer up their own ideas-and let them get beat-so as to create a contrasting record.  Governor Warner misrepresented the need for the 2004 tax increase, and Governor Kaine has regularly and willingly taken on positions in office that are contrary to what he campaigned on in 2005.

We shall see what the electorate thinks of all this in November…but for now, we may be seeing in the Moran implosion a rumble of what is waiting in Democrats who run in November as the heir to the Mark and Tim show…

An Almost D-Day Story…

When I was young my father took me to see a re-release of “The Longest Day” at a movie theater in Fairfax.  I forget the operating name, but it’s the one on Rte. 50 that was converted to a car dealer many years ago.

On the drive home I asked him if he landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944…

“No, I came ashore at Normandy off a troop ship and a landing craft on August 8, 1944″…and then, after a pause, he said, “But do you now what day Hitler started pulling his troops out of the Hedgerow country?

Having already seen “Patton”, I understood the importance of this action.  “No, sir…when?”

“August 9, 1944.  And you know why he pulled out that day?”

“No sir…why?”

“Because he was told I landed at Normandy on August 8, 1944!”

The young men who boiled out of the landing crafts on D-Day and continued to crowd onto the Beaches through the summer of 1944 saved the world by waging ”war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime” (as Mr. Churchill  put it in 1940). 

It was not an easy path. All gave some, some gave all. 

It has become all too easy to refer to them as The Greatest Generation.  But let’s not forget behind the title the courage, the drive, the sheer refusal to stop that caused these young men to climb Point du Hoc, sweep to and through the hedgerows, slug it out toe to toe with the Wermacht in the bitter winter of 1944, refuse to buckle to the terror of the Buzz Bombs, slash through the Siegfried Line, liberate the Death Camps, and ultimately destroy the Nazi menace and the threat “of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of a perverted science.” (also Winston)

Each day we lose a few more of them-my father passed last September.  So on this lovely June 6 let’s not just pause to remember a day when so many gave so much.  If you get the chance, actually pause and thank one of them…because in the not so distant future the boys of Pointe du Hoc and those like them will be gone.

And when that time comes, the only way to thank them will be by following the example and keeping the memory fresh and green.

Cooch-Roses for Marshall?

When The Cooch sends out his thank you cards for his AG nomination, I hope he sends a big bouquet of roses to Bob Marshall.  While there is no empirical evidence to prove it, I have a hunch I hit things on the head in January of 2008 when I wrote (in part):

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But the real winner of Bob Marshall’s quixotic candidacy?
My State Senator; the only GOP State Senator in Fairfax County; the one, the only…the man, myth and legend known to many simply as “The Cooch”-Ken Cuccinelli…
Cuccinelli is one of Marshall’s prominent supporters, a member of his exploratory committee. There will be times when Marshall cannot attend meetings, even local mass meetings, and will need surrogate speakers to carry the flag…and who will be waiting? The Cooch!

The Cooch has the chance to travel the Commonwealth proselytizing for Marshall, and at the same time show himself to party activists in ROVA who are not familiar with him. They will have the chance to encounter Cooch for the first time not as a candidate but as a genial, effective speaker. They will be impressed with his presentation skills and with his ardor in supporting the candidate of his choice…and when time comes for his run in 2009, many months after the Marshall candidacy has been disposed with, these same party activists will remember meeting The Cooch up close and personal.

They are going to remember how well he came across. They will remember how he was the only GOP Senator in Fairfax County to win his election. They will remember the ardor and the effectiveness…and they will say, “I like him…I think I will back him for AG”.

The Bob Marshall candidacy will provide The Cooch a much smoother path to the 2009 AG nomination, and maybe…just maybe…even farther.

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Dollars to donuts that opportunity touring the state gave the Cooch a critical edge over Brownlee and Foster,  It got him out in front of convention delegates and allowed him to sharpen his style, comfort level, and campaign planning-all while campaigning for someone else-and gave likely delegates seeing him for the first time a chance to see him as an advocate and not as a candidate.

Uh, Cooch…better make that two bouquets…

WaPo Political Sense…

I could not help but notice that in today’s WaPo print edition the GOP Convention warranted an article buried inside the B-section. 

Meanwhile, the Creigh Deeds bio puff piece was on the front page of the Metro section.

Remember this the next time someone tries to sell the canard that the WaPo is objective in its political coverage…and that is not even before we return to the subject of columnist Marc Fisher, who-if the WaPO was honest-should have some portion of his salary listed as an in-kind contribution to the Virginia Democratic Party.

VA AG…where I stand, and What will Happen

The last 40 days or so have been full of too much to do and too little time do it in, so blogging fell off the table completely as there was not enough time in the day to think outside the box, challenge orthodoxies, seize the moment to be a change agent…well, that’s enough cliche’s to start the day.

Suffice it to say that during the past few weeks I have been able to follow the GOP Trench War, the Dem Hot Air War, and the Dem Exhaustion offensive…but more about the dems later.

The question was put to me over at TC who am I for in the AG race?

Answer: I am still with the Cooch, and were I going to be a delegate I would vote for him.

My reasoning may be highly impractical, but that’s how it is.

You may ask why is this, and it is a very simple answer.  To quote Sancho Panza, “I like him”.  Moreover, I hate to be ignored.

There is more than adequate reason to not back him.  Were the roles reversed, he undoubtedly would not back me for a GOP nomination as I don’t fulfill his litmus test on the issues.  I have a personal reason not to back him, as he helped deny my friend Mike Polychrones the GOP nomination in 2003 to run for an open delegate seat. 

Cooch’s candidate lost that election.  Ironically, now the Cooch is fighting for the chance to oppose the Democrat who DID win that election, Steve Shannon.

So why am I with him?  As noted, I like the guy.  I enjoy talking with him.  He is engaging and comes across well in person.  Given the way that Jerry Kilgore was slagged in 2005 for his appearance, accent,  and lack of personal impact, I think it a good thing to have a candidate who comes across well on the stump.

Next, he knows how to run a campaign.  It would have been very easy for him to lose in a heavily democratic district in 2007, but he ran smart and he ran tough and ran a race that no one thought he would win.  Given our recent history of statewide candidates who focus on frills instead of fundamentals, it will be a benefit to have folks up and down the ticket who have run tough races and know what to do and what not to do in a general election.

Now it may be that Mr. Brownlee and Mr. Foster are equally or even more impressive than The Cooch-but I wouldn’t know.  I have not seen or met them, and that face to face sizing up has always been a prime criteria for me in choosing a candidate to back.  I have not been invited to the typical convention meet and greets that dot the pre-convention landscape, either under my blogging pseudonym or under my real name.  I have not had the chance to meet them, and they have not solicited my support…and if they don’t want my support-well, you get my drift.

By the way, I find myself in an ironic situation. For the last several election cycles I have commented that the Democratic candidates do not send me campaign materials, and each time I am told by a variety of folks (and in a wide variety of tones) that Democratic candidates are not going to send campaign material to anyone who voted in a GOP primary in the last x years-it is not cost effective!

So given that I do vote in GOP primaries, and was a voter in the Fairfax County Special Elections for Board Chair and for Braddock Supervisor, one would think I would be a prime target for folks seeking convention delegates.  The Dems have already written me off as highly partisan, I should expect a path of GOP candidates streaming to my door…except they didn’t.  No mailings from Brownlee, perhaps one from Foster, no phone calls or meet the candiate invites from either.  I can only assume they wrote me off as a GOP in the Cooch Senate district…in which case they must not have expected me to back them.

Ah, but I digress.  Let us continue…

There is some comment that since he was “the only person who could have won my senate district in 2007″, he should stay there and hold the seat for the GOP.  That is a nice bit of oppo logic, but since when in the USA is it considered a good thing to restrict folks who are successful…I mean, outside of high tax proposals floated by liberal democrats?

Now The Cooch is not perfect.  His shortcomings, perceived or real, have been hammered over at Too Conservative ad absurdum.  But he is the one I went into this backing, and that is where I stay.  I have no problem backing Messrs Brownlee or Foster if they are on the ticket, but until then Iam with The Cooch.

However, prior to that there is a little matter of voting…and here is what I see happening…

First, the convention will likely pass the Low Man out rule, to take effect following the second ballot.  It makes too much sense, and unless either Cooch or Brownlee decides there is a benefit to them to extend the voting or they have philosophical problem with limiting voting.

If that rule passes, then I think you have a Cooch win on ballot #1 or 2, or a Brownlee win on ballot #3.  Cuccinelli is the natural favorite of your typical conservative convention delegate.  He will have the true believers, he will have the folks who think Jeff Frederick got the shaft, he will have all those folks he met while campaigning for Bob Marshall last year.  He will come in strong, and if he comes in so strong he has a majority he wins on the first ballot, and if real close even on the second ballot.

But if they get through two ballots and Cooch has no majority, then the low man goes.  If that low man is Foster, then his folks will likely go to Brownlee.  Foster seems to be more ideologically sympatico with Brownlee than with the Cooch, and I suspect that if his folks had any real feeling for Cooch they will break to him on Ballot #2.

So there it is.  I am with the Cooch, who wins on the first or second ballot…or not at all.