Warner retires, the stampede, and other items…

As predicted earlier by many and commented on here earlier today, Senator John Warner announced today that he will not stand for reelection.  Senator Warner deserves at least his own blog piece, so lets turn to the political stampede his retirement casuses as the dominos fall and folks scramble to move up the political ladder.

One prediction was offered by Ben Tribbett as to how the dominos would shake out. Another one was offered by The Fix, Chris Cizillo’s WaPo blog. While it, like Ben focused on statewide races, it offered this observation about the mechanics of a Gilmore candidacy:

Gilmore’s biggest problem will be fundraising; Davis has been working at it for years while Gilmore has never been a prolific fundraiser. Gilmore raised $391,000 for his presidential campaign but ended June with $62,000 in the bank and $129,000 in debts. The donors who maxed out to Gilmore’s presidential bid — his loyalists of backers — would not be able to give more money to his Senate bid, creating a major question about where Gilmore’s money would come from.

Cizillo noted earlier in his piece that Davis has one million smackeroos in his campaign treasury.

The WaPo also ran an article in todays print edition where it carried the stampede speculation to the local level, noting that a Davis senate candidacy opens up the 11th district seat, which both Leslie Byrne and Gerry Connolly have eyed. If Connolly were to leave the position of Fairfax BOS Chairman to run, the article mentioned both Dana Kaufman and Sharon Bulova as potential aspirants for the position.

So, the stampede is on.

As we are about to enter the hot campaign season on Labor Day, it seems fair to address a general blog question.  I have noted before the current practice of a campaign grabing a person with an active blog and making that person their netroots coordinator.  Said netroots coordinators then (as we saw in 2006) use their own blogs to print whatever attacking stuff they want, note they posted on their blog as a private view not related to the campaign.

I have always thought this is silliness.  It is akin to a known campaign worker calling a reporter with a rumor about the opponent, and then says “remember, this isn’t from the campaign…this is from me as a private citizen!”

The newspaper wouldn’t stand for it, and neither should the blogosphere.  So, in the future this blog will treat all posts on private blogs by known netroots coordinators as coming from the campaigns they work for.  This will be part of the posting policy of the blog as of the time I get it in the posting policy section.

Warners and Gilmore and Davis, Oh My!

Senator John Warner (R-VA) has scheduled an announcement today in Charlottesville.  It is assumed his announcement will concern his putative reelection campaign in 2008.  Speculation is that Warner will announce he will not seek another term in the United States Senate.

Many are happy about this, and I imagine more than equal number will not be. However, to paraphrase a comment made at the death of FDR, his retirement will set off the damndest scramble for power this state has ever seen.

Not since the death of J. Sarge Reynolds in 1971 have so many plans been hinged or unhinged on the actions of fate of one man. James Martin at RK lists the various scenarios that kick in if Warner retires.

Personally, I hope he runs again. I don’t agree with much he has done, but John Warner has stood up for Virginia interests, especially with the armed services, and losing thirty years of seniority is not a happy thing to have happen.

By the same token, personally I do not think he will. While I think he would win if he ran, the man is 80+ and probably wants to rest. By the same token will he be so willing to let slip the office he has known and loved for almost thirty years.

Well, if he runs then I am wrong and life continues. Assuming he steps down, things get interesting.

Former Governor Mark Warner is the likely democratic nominee, and just has to be the starting block favorite. GOP congressman Tom Davis has had an eye on the Senate for years, and if rumors are to be believed got advance warning from Senator Warner that Davis should gird his loins for the 2008 campaign. Then there is Jim Gilmore, recently returned from the campaign trail after closing down a presidential nomination bid that-judging from news coverage-many people didn’t know existed in the first place. At this point I think he definitely will be a candidate.

Why, because he has to be…in fact, the same is true for Mark Warner.

I have posted before that I think different personalities are needed to be a successful governor as opposed to a successful legislator. I think both Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore, neither of whom have shown a real interest in the legislative branch. They both made their reputations in executive positions either in business or government. In fact, both men had their only losing electoral races in legislative elections-Warner, US Senate in 1996 and Gilmore, Virginia House of Delegates in the early 1980’s. About a month ago I posted why I thought Gilmore was far better suited by personality to be governor than senator.

But now the moment has come, and Gilmore has to run for the Senate, as does Mark Warner.

Tom Davis doesn’t have to run, but he will. His seat is becoming more competitive as Fairfax turns more blue, and he may think it easier to run statewide with nomination argument that he can cut into the massive numbers that were rolled up by Kaine and Webb. His wife faces a tough reelection campaign for the Virginia state senate against Chap!, and a loss in that race will further convince the local demos that they can take the 11th. Besides, Davis has wanted to be a Senator since he was a little politico. Nonetheless, Davis has options, and will run for the US Senate because he wants to, not because he has to.

Things are not the same for Gilmore and Mark Warner. While both-in my estimation-are better suited tempermentally for the governor’s mansion, their own ambitions necessitate them running in 2008. Interestingly enough, their problems are almost exactly polar opposites. All they have in common is they want to be back in public office.

Gilmore’s best shot to get back is in 2008, because he is not scaring off anyone for 2009.  LtGov Bill Bolling and AG Bob McDonnell have both indicated they will not readily give way to Gilmore for the GOP governor’s nod in 2009.  There is even the possibility of a George Allen back from the grave candidacy.  Gilmore did not leave office in a blaze of glory, and given the potential field Gilmore could actually run fourth in a nomination campaign.

But in a Senate race, he gets to go head to head with Tom Davis.  Davis is Gilmore’s polar opposite.  Gilmore is verrry conservative, Davis is that kind of creature who is a conservative to the country at large but a moderate to many elements in the GOP.  Gilmore has twice run and won statewide, plus a nomination win against Steve Agee in 1993.  Davis has a series of convincing wins for BOS and congress, but has never run statewide.   Gilmore will face a fundraising disadvantage against Davis, but that is just part of the woodwork.  If Gilmore doesn’t run in 2008, he may not have a chance to run statewide until 2012…and by then a new group of candidates will have likely emerged.  Ambition demands Gilmore run in 2008

Mark Warner has the opposite problem.  There is no one in the Democratic Party who wants to oppose him.  In fact they encourage him to run for about any office that comes open.  Warner has to run in 2008 for a few reasons:

1. He is not going to be the VP nominee.  When all is said and done, Warner has served one term as governor.  Many consider it a successful term, but it is only one term.  Moreover, he pulled from the presidential race citing family.  Can he realistically come back a year later and say things have changed so much he can take the #2 slot?  Others have better records and claims (like Bill Richardson) to the #2 slot.  He is too close geographically to John Edwards and Hillary, and I don’t know that he is too close to Obama.  Richardson is a perfect ticket balancer for Edwards, and a little less so for Obama and Hillary (two minorities on the ticket in the former case, and two Clintonistas in the latter).  But in the Obama situation how does a ticket fly that has a candidate for president with 4 years in the senate and a candidate for VP with 4 years as governor?  I don’t think it will.  Bottom line-if Mark Warner wants to go national, he has to shore up his credentials.  If he wins a senate race in 2008 (age 54 at that point), then he is well positioned for 2012 or 2016 (depending on presidential results in 2008 and 2012).

2. The Paul Trible example.  In 1988 US Senator Paul Trible announced he would not run for reelection against the announced Democratic candidate Chuck Robb.  Trible, clearly the strongest candidate the GOP could put up that year, said family concerns made him decide not to run.  Many GOP types-yours truly included-felt he chickened out in the face of what would be a tough campaign.  Robb goes on to win in 1988.  Come 1989, Trible announces he will run for the GOP nomination for governor, citing his undefeated electoral record, conservative credentials, etc.  Trible gets nailed in the GOP primary by Marshall Coleman, who had already lost a statewide race for governor to Robb in 1981 and an attempt at the GOP nod for Lt. Gov in 1985.  Coleman, however, had never backed away from a fight and many GOP voters preferred to go with the scarred contender who never ran versus the pristine, undefeated choice who hid in his tent when his party needed him.

Yeah, the prose is purple, but it’s friday AM and the caffeine is pumping! 

If Warner doesn’t run in 2008 for an open senate seat and the GOP holds the seat, then his party cred is hurt.  Like Trible, some will say Warner his in his tent when his party needed him.  If Warner has any national aspirations, he has to go in 2008 no matter how much he might prefer going back to Richmond.  Sometimes you fight the election you have to fight, and not the election you want to fight.  Again, ambition demands Warner run in 2008.

We shall see.  If Senator John Warner runs, politicans on both sides of the aisle in Virginia will scatter like leaves in an autumn wind to get out of his way.  If he doesn’t, a political domino effect kicks in with uncertain results but for one…Ambition demands Gilmore and Mark Warner run in 2008 if John Warner doesn’t-and run they will.

Truth, VT, and Blogosphere Reprehensibility

I had planned to do something fun this AM, but a post at NLS got me onto a different path, but one well trod.  Yep, this AM I am all about the ethical use of the internet.

NLS notes that a GOP campaign operative and long time Alton Foley writes that during the Virginia Tech massacre students just got up, lined up against a wall, and waited to be shot. Ben goes on to take Foley’s state senate candidate to task for hiring such a person.

Given that I had heard no such claim before, I sent to Alton’s joint to see his post. Alton goes on to say he knows he will be called “reprehensible” for broaching the subject, and links to the site Media Matters, where it is noted that several commentators asked why students did not rush the gunman. However, the discussion seems to be driven in great part by postings by Neil Boortz, of whom I was blissfully unaware until a few minutes ago.

In his April 17 program notes, cited in the Media Matters piece, Boortz asks:

How in the hell do you line students up against a wall (if that’s the way it played out) and start picking them off one by one without the students turning on you? You have a choice.

Special Emphasis-“if that’s the way it played out”?  A whole attack on murdered students based on factless speculation?

 Now we get to the root of all this, and of something that is so dangerous about blogs…because they are only as valid as the author’s integrity allows them to be.

Boortz’s first comment, and one that has pushed others, was speculation…and wild, irresponsible speculation at that. I have neither seen nor heard of any report that said students willingly lined up for execution.  His irresponsible speculation was yanked out of the muck within a day of the incident, without complete documentation of what truly happened and in complete disregard for the facts that were in hand…and many jumped onto his speculation without considering anything like…oh, say…facts.

The facts are that there was bravery to spare the terrible morning in Blacksburg, and it has been recounted at length in a variety of media outlets.  Did the students rise up en masse and attack Cho?  Apparently not.  On the other hand, given that the very human instinct to freeze and and assess when confronted with danger, I don’t think the lack of such an attack is proof of the wussification of America.  Of course, given the vitriol spewed, I ponder what would Boortz and Malkin and the rest have done in a similar situation.

But that is fodder for another feeding time.  My concern, and what i think really reprehensible here, is that so many folks accepted he Boortzian speculation as fact without checking the facts themselves…and then, long after the truth was evident, did not go back and and state they were wrong in the first place. Alton wrote:

But these reports of students willingly lining up against a wall disturb me. They should disturb you as well.

What disturbs me is a rush to judgement. What disturbs me is accepting fact as speculation. Of course the irony here is that Alton blindly accepted Boortz’s claims seems without checking facts seems to be as docile and as sheeplike as that he accused the VT students of doing.

But that is the nature of the blogosphere. Posts are only bounded by the integrity and industriousness of the blogger. If a blogger decides to write things that are not true, there will be some folks who will say “it must be true, it’s on the internet”, and accept a falsehood as truth.  Boortz threw out some trash, and then others eagerly jumped on to claim it as their own.

The ability to quickly transmit news and opinion over the internet, as well as conduct commerce, is an electronic miracle.  This from a man who was on the technology cutting edge in college because he had an electronic typewriter with an erasing tape feature. 

But the miracle brings responsibilities as well as benefits.

It is the luxury of blogs to speculate, but speculation needs to identified as such.  Bloggers, and other writers, need to be sure of their facts.  They need to be sure of their sources.  And, if they bite on the wrong hook, they need to ‘fess up in the same forum in which they offered the misstatement.  To not do so is truly irresponsible and wrong.

And that is why I take issue with Alton’s post, and consider it an example of the dangers of the blogosphere.

I have no problem with him taking a controversial position.  Free speech gives him that right, and any community is kept intellectually strong through vigorous debate of topics pleasant or not.

I have a big problem with him taking a controversial position that is based in no fact at all, for blindly following speculation without researching the facts, and then…some months later…still not coming back and correcting the original post.

That is a danger of the blogosphere, and that is why I find Alton’s post reprehensible.

Quo Vadis Due Process in Cycling?

The folks at Trust But Verify yesterday linked to a Denver Post interview with three time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond regarding doping in professional cycling.  Sadly, while LeMond brings up a number of viable concerns he also shows he is incapable of objectivity in the Floyd Landis matter.

LeMond goes on at length about Tyler Hamilton and Landis, pretty much demanding they confess to sins against the sport:

“Everybody’s entitled to defend themselves. But the reality is to go out into the public, like the Floyd Fairness Fund, and be asking people who are so gullible and who really don’t know what’s going on? I don’t know how, in a morally conscious way, that he’s able to do that.”

LeMond later demonstrates he has already judged Landis, and offered him psychological advice by telling him before the recent doping hearing:

“I told him, ‘Floyd, you may think you can get away and hide your lie, but it’s always there and it works on you and it works on you,”‘ LeMond said. “‘And in 15-20 years it manifests itself. It’s proven throughout psychotherapy and (with) psychologists and psychiatrists that trauma or lying or not being true to yourself has a dramatic effect on self- destructiveness.”‘

Lemond does not see himself as a bad guy…

“People misunderstand me,” LeMond said. “I’m not against Floyd. I’m not against Tyler. The only thing I’m against is a guy who’s not an honest person and who lives a façade, that he’s really not a good person. That’s my only issue with them. But Floyd and Tyler, you don’t see European riders who get busted and who go out on this PR campaign and try to tell everybody, ‘Believe in me.”‘

Finally, LeMond comes in for the crusher:

LeMond…believes in the French lab Landis is challenging. However, LeMond fears for the sport if Landis is proven innocent and the lab is put under heavy suspicion.

“I think if Floyd gets off because of a technicality,” LeMond said, “it would be a big blow to the anti-doping movement.”

Yep, wouldn’t want a little thing like innocence to get in the way of the movement.

LeMond is waltzing into the territory of being unethical if not a little unstable.  At one edge, I feel sorry for him.  He won in 1986 after fighting off a challenge from a teammate (Bernard Hinault) who was supposed to be helping him.  LeMond got shot in 1987, and spent 1988 in continued recovery.  He won the 1989 Tour by using bike sprint technology not previously used in the Tour to win the final time trial and propel himself into an 8 second lead.  LeMond’s 1990 victory occured without his winning any stages.

Bottom line, LeMond was a champion without instant replay moments.  None of his wins had a start to finish dominance of Lance Armstrong, nor did it have that signature stage win.  Perhaps such is fertile ground for bitterness.

Are LeMond’s comments about dopiong in pro cycling accurate.  Most likely.  Nonetheless, LeMond has prejudged Landis-so much for any concern about due process.  LeMond has effectively said there were no mistakes in the testing, despite the bulk of evidence at the Landis hearing that showed there was more than reasonable doubt that tests were not conducted properly, despite evidence of chicanery, and despite a wild variety of lab standards used to measure testosterone.

But nooooooooooooooooo, LeMond knows Landis is guilty.  So certain, he apparently thinks the only way Landis can be cleared is through a “technicality”.  He may not have noticed it, but technicalities crop up in life every day…from contracts to criminal trials. Technicalities are there to protect rights…unless you are 100% certain of something.

When LeMond takes a whack at Tyler Hamilton’s protestations, I can dig it.  I have not seen the evidence that suggests that although the “false twin” effect exists, that Hamilton had it.  Between the evidence at Landis’s trial and his accounts in his recent book, I think there is no clear certainty that Landis doped…and I wish Greg LeMond would stop prejudging his peers and let the process play out before adopting the role of sanctimonious sage and prosecutor he is suddently so comfortable in.

FOLLOW UP: This just in from Sara Best: The TdeF Greg LeMond Should Have Won. Like she says, until the mystery of the secret motorcycles is solved no one is safe.

Have the French heard of Copernicus?

Clearly, rumors of academic excellent in Europe only go so far.

Apparently the theories of Copernicus are not currently in vogue in France.

H/T to Donkey with a Trunk for alerting us to this educational spectacle!

The Michael Vick Mishegas

My time in chess tournaments and in the rag trade exposed me to rudimentary Yiddish, and one of my favorite words is mishegas, or “craziness”. Maybe it is the way you can get your teeth into it, maybe the word is real close to the word “mess”, for some reason it comes to mind when a situation goes crazy to convoluted to unbelievable to ridiculous.

So much has been written about the situation that it seems unnecessary to recount the basic facts. However, there are a few things I just have to touch on.

1. Who in the world endangers hundreds of millions of dollars in salary, bonuses, endorsements-not just in the present, but in the future-to engage in felonious behavior? My goodness, how much money does Michael Vick stand to lose? Probably more than I will make in this or in several lifetimes. Yet he went blithely about his business, choosing to engage in a violent and illegal activity, certain he was bulletproof. Well, as my sister in law is fond of saying, “not so much”.

1a. I guess it is the same type of person who labels his conduct a “mistake”:

“I’m totally responsible, and those things just didn’t have to happen,” said Vick…“I feel like we all make mistakes. It’s just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions.

Ri-iiight. A mistake is not paying a bill on time, or causing an accident through a one time action like not paying attention. A mistake is not something that carries on year after year. Bad judgement? Absolutely. But to call it a mistake is not owning up to what happened, and suggests his only real regret is that he was busted.

2. When will we reach the time when an African-American celebrity breaks the law–and since he has plead guilty, it is fair to say Vick is guilty of breaking the law–and they are not greeted with civil rights era demonstrations? As Vick plead guilty, groups of supporters stood outside the courthouse singing “We Shall Overcome”. As Michael Wilbon writes:

This went down in the former capital of the Confederacy, people singing abolitionist songs in support of a 27-year-old black man who of his own free will made outrageously stupid decisions despite advice to the contrary. Talk about a historical twist.

When I was a child that song was sung as a battle cry for civil rights…as an adult it has been sung in support of Jesse Jackson for his “Hymietown” comment, or when his second family was discovered…when Al Sharpton took up the cudgels for the lies of Tawanna Brawley, and now for a supremely spoiled athlete. A song that represented bravery and struggle and courage now becomes a punchline and a rationalization.

3. How long will the “new” NFL stay on the line? For all the horror we express about Vick and his involvement in dogfighting, I have a hunch the real NFL concern is that he was involved in gambling. In fact, I imagine that if Vick’s involvement was limited to say renting the facility to others operating a dogfighting operation, and knowing what it was used for, then the NFL indignation would be more muted. A cynical thing to say? How else do we account for wife beaters and drug users and felons making the Football Hall of Fame, accompanied by a corporal guard of sportwriters chanting “doesn’t count, didn’t happen on the field”? Why does the NFL go hog wild over cruelty to animals while turning a blind eye to countless incidents of player on human violence over the years? Again going to Wilbon:

The volume of the debate wouldn’t bother me much if there was as much outrage over other celebrity misbehavior. I’m sorry, but I don’t recall the anywhere near this much outrage when Lawrence Phillips was dragging a woman by the hair down the steps while at Nebraska. I love dogs — and grew up with one wonderful German Shepherd from 4 to 18. But I wouldn’t value his life above that of a human being.

Oh, he’s just getting started…

Drunk driving? No problem, put the guy back on the field. Wouldn’t want him to miss a snap or be a distraction. Batter a woman? No problem, trot him right back out there. Please don’t tell me battering a dog, sick as that is, is worthy of more outrage than battering a spouse or girlfriend, which we seem to dismiss now with frightening casualness.

The Michael Vick situation can only be called a mishegas. What else can you call it when an ethnic/racial group assumes anyone of their group is being mistreated no matter how outrageous the behavior PLUS a major corporation reacting with all its vigor after turning a blind eye to terrible conduct for so long PLUS a gifted athlete who tries to excuse a long running crimial practice as a “mistake”?

Other words do apply…

Bizarre…
Inconceivable…
Ridiculous…
Amazing…

But for now, mishegas will have to do.

New Addition to Pet Peeves

Like everyone, I have a set of small peeves that reallllllly annoy me.  As you might guess, folks who post comments to blog posts while ignoring what was actually written is near the top.

However, today I added one to my list of sales peeves.

I have in my time worked in any number of sales type positions.  I have sold at high end retail and low end retail.  I have sold goods door to door when I was in the Boy Scouts, and worked tree lots and fireworks booths while in adult civic groups.  I was generally a membership VP or officer in said groups, so still selling…

For years, one of my peeves happens in restaurants.  You get the check, give the waitstaff the check and an amount of money in excess of the charged amount, and sit back awaiting your change.

Said staffer will invariably look at you and say “Do you want change back?”  I hate that…it’s an attempt to run off with a tip higher than I might be planning to give.  The proper thing to do is bring back the chance and never ask the question-and probably get a higher tip in the meantime.

However, several recent trips in pursuit of souvenirs, school supplies, and other goods has added a new peeve to my list-”do you have exact change?”

Example-today I got to the Burke Wal-Mart.  My purchase with tax came to $33.02.  I had no change, and gave the clerk $34.00.  Clerk looks at me and says, “do you have $.02?”

I said, “No, ma’am”.  What I thought was “do you really think I am so stupid I don’t know $.02 is needed for exact change?  Does it really matter?  What if I have it and don’t want to use it so I can get change?”

I think such queries by sales staff are presumptive and insulting, and I wish they would stop asking them.

Yeah, I am reallllly holding my breath on that one.

Life’s A Beach!

As noted earlier, yesterday we got home from our vacation.  First came a day at Kings Dominion late last week… and then on to North Myrtle Beach for a week with the in-laws, their children, and the grandchildren. Fourteen (14) of us in a beach house…yep, it was a rocking time!

We saw some interesting things.  In Ashland, we saw a black Ford 150 pickup truck with tags that read “got ink” and had what appeared to be a set of plastic testicles handing from the trailor hitch.  Somewhere in NC, we bestowed the “I am Pretentious” award on an old style Saab with tags “Phd Phd”.  There is a McDonalds in Dunn, NC that has video screens to entertain customers in the drive up outside and fireplaces to warm customers inside.  Dolly Parton’s brother Randy has just opened a theater at Exit 171 on I-95 in Roanoke Rapids, NC.  It is visible from the interstate, and is quite the building!

Life at North Myrtle Beach, shag (the dance, not the, uh, verb) capital of the world, often seems like it is in a time warp.  Giorgio’s still sells it by the slice or the pie, they still shag the night away at Fat Harold’s, and the OD Pavillion is the home for music, food, and fun to young and old, pale or tanned.

Others change…the old five story concrete looking motel I used to stay at back in the day has been replaced by a fifteen story condo center (complete with lazy river), the horseshoe outside the Spanish Galleon is not quite as insame as it once was, and Crazy Zack’s is long gone…shoot, where can a young fellow get a beer at 0500 in NMB these days?

Maybe it was best summed up at the no name barber shop on NMB’s main street.  I went in for a long overdue haircut, and heard one of the regulars go on about some kid loitering at his store.  When asked when it started, he said, “I am not sure…the days sort of run together.”  Another regular replied, “Yep, that’s old age for you.  When you are young, the night’s blend together.  When you get old, the days run together.”

The beaches were less crowded than usual, as SC started school back in on 8.20.2007. The weather was hot, and the water was quite warm-none of this walk in slow and acclimate stuff!

Even so, there is plenty of fun to be had…and some highlights I can recommend:
-Go to Ella’s in Calabash, NC, to get some great seafood…and some might attractive t-shirts!
-If you want a great breakfast, head here in Cherry Grove, but be aware with a store name like that you might go light on the t-shirts. The food is great, the pancakes heavenly, the patrons racially diverse. Check the link, and then ponder what would happen if you opened a restaurant with that name (despite the heavy Uncle Remus focus) in NoVA…
-Want authentic Mexican? Head to Fiesta Mexicana in Myrtle Beach. Food is great, service is slow, so allow plenty of time for some great food.

We also got to play a round of miniature golf…and not just at any course, but at the home of the USPMG tour masters, the Hawaiian Rumble course. Nope, I kid you not…they even have shirt that mimics the lesser Masters golf event in August, GA.

It was a rollicking good time, replete with maximum sun and minimal sunburn…and now it is back to the grind stone, and fielding emails from folks who are irate I did not have internet connectivity while away.

Funny to think we came home from fun in the surf to weather a thunder and hail storm last night!

Back from the Beach…

Just got back from a beach vacation with the extended family, and upon arriving discovered that not only was the land line into the beach house on the fritz, but we could not get wireless access.  Among the bunch of us we tried numerous credit cards to get access for our various wireless laptops, and all to no avail.

More to come about the trip.

As for Phil R’s comments below, I think the level of maturity displayed by warnings of lawsuits speaks for itself.  One might think that if there had been no posts for an extended time, then maybe the blogger did not have access or was not logging in.

Well, time to finish unloading….more to come.

Followup-For some reason, Mr. R. chose to place his follow up comment in the “about” section, where it still sits.

The Anti-Tax Bushwhack Brigade Rides Again!

The die hard anti-tax guys in Virginia came out for the ouster of House Speaker Bill Howell.

Voicing dismay with the “abusive driver” fees in particular and the transportation plan in general, Paul Jost, President of the Virginia Club for Growth, said “it’s time for new leadership in both houses of the General Assembly”.

House Majority Whip House Majority Whip M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights), who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Howell, replied, “It is more than puzzling why a conservative group would make statements like that and help Brian Moran become speaker.”  Clearly VCAP has their own ideas on how to lead the state.

Meanwhile, the Democrats sit back and lap it all up…

I cannot say I am surprised. The VCAP boys don’t like any GOP that don’t have the VCAP seal of approval, so Brother Cox should not be so puzzled.  They see GOP types who are not on their team as apostates to the cause of low taxes.  Moreover, such apostates are worse then democrats.  There are no parties, either you are for us or against us.

You see, one can run against democrats en masse.  It is more difficult to run against the GOP as a whole, so instead they try to pick them off one at a time.  This weakens the GOP hold on the legistlature, moves the state toward the VCAP line of thinking, and potentially gives a VCAP approved GOP a chance one day to run against the whole Democratic Party in an effort to identify one part as pro-tax and the other as anti-tax. 

Great idea, huh?

There is just one little problem.  There is nothing to suggest the VCAP method has anything going for it. 

The VCAP contingent not only has not set out a vision for the state, it has refused to.

Of course, to be fair, to date neither have the GOP or the Democrats. 

The VCAP boys go down the line and talk about which taxes need to be eliminated, and point out problems to be solved.  What they don’t do is indicate how they will solve the problems, how it will be done, and justify the elimation of taxes.  They have not done a bottom up analysis of problems and offered a legitimate answer on how to deal with TRAMOB issues, immigration issues, education issues, etc.

Of course, to be fair, to date neither have the GOP or the Democrats.

Instead they sit back and pick on tactical issues rather than creating a vision for the state and where they think there ideas can take it.

Of course, to be fair, that is exactly what both the GOP or the Democrats have been doing.

H’mmmm….maybe the VCAP boys do have what it takes to run the state. Lord knows the major parties have been doing it this way for several decades.