Nigel Farage is mounting a drive to recruit UKIP supporters from ‘white, working-class’ Labour voters who feel abandoned by Ed Miliband’s party.

***

VSP SEARCHING FOR SUSPECT VEHICLE IN EARLY MORNING I-81 ROAD RAGE INCIDENT IN ROCKINGHAM COUNTY

VSP is investigating the shooting into an occupied vehicle that resulted in the wounding of a tractor-trailer driver.

The incident occurred on May 25, 2013, at approximately 12:30 AM on Interstate 81 southbound at around the 245 mile marker in Rockingham County. The incident appears to have been the result of a road rage incident between the tractor-trailer driver and the driver of a passenger vehicle.

The tractor trailer was southbound in the left lane when the driver of the passenger vehicle shot into the passenger side of the tractor trailer. The bullet went through the tractor trailer’s passenger door and struck the driver the right leg. The tractor trailer driver attempted to follow the passenger vehicle but lost it in traffic as they entered Augusta County.

The tractor trailer driver pulled into the rest area located at the 232 mile marker and reported the incident to the Virginia State Police. The passenger vehicle was last seen continuing southbound on I-81 and is described as a Chrysler PT Cruiser or Chevrolet HHR type vehicle blue in color.

The driver of the tractor trailer a 43 year old male from Arizona was taken to Augusta Health Center for medical treatment with what was described as non life threating injuries.

Trooper D. M. Fisher of the Virginia State Police is the investigating trooper of this case. Anyone who has any information about this incident is asked to contact the Virginia State Police at (540) 829-7771.

There is a loophole in state election law that doesn't require reports just before a convention the way they are required before a primary.  The fundraising totals listed here are through the most recent finance reports, ending March 31st.  Given the pace of campaigning the last two months, these numbers are going to go even higher per vote when the final reports come out.

Maybe next time convention delegates should just ask for a check?  Seriously, I think some of these totals may exceed $1,000 per vote once the final reports are in.

Cost Per 1st Ballot Vote At 2013 RPV Convention
Jeannemarie Davis $721.71 per vote ($412,819/572 votes)
Pete Snyder- $644.48 per vote ($729,554/1,132 votes)
Corey Stewart $535.09 per vote ($703,644/1,315 votes)
Rob Bell $287.05 per vote ($1,023,337/3,565 votes)
Scott Lingamfelter $281.95 per vote ($262,503/931 votes)
Susan Stimpson $162.74 per vote ($211,886/1,302 votes)
Steve Martin $141.21 per vote ($55,920/396 votes)
Mark Obenshain $121.58 per vote ($533,475/4,388 votes)
E.W. Jackson $59.91 per vote ($140,848/2,351 votes) 

With thorough reflection, I have decided I will not seek the Republican nomination for the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors, District 3 vacancy.

After last weekend's Republican convention, I have carefully considered my own personal beliefs and values, and while I am committed to both fiscal and family conservatism, I simply cannot condone the party's drift toward an extremist, evangelical movement made evident by the nomination of E.W. Jackson for Lieutenant Governor.

The display of intolerance projected since last week's convention is not something I can be complicit to; in fact, it represents everything I have raised my daughter not to be. Our government is founded, and laws constructed, upon the Judeo-Christian ethic and the Constitution promotes tolerance and protection for people of all backgrounds, not an insatiable persecution of the dissimilar in the name of Christianity.

We have serious problems and are in need of leaders who are willing to provide viable solutions. Instead of obsessing over select personal choices and lifestyles, we need to focus on fiscal responsibility, job creation and the promotion of economic development opportunities. Over the next few weeks I intend to evaluate my options and compose a plan to properly promote the local Republican Party which is less focused on negativity and more responsive to and representative of all in our community."

When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. — Will Rogers (from here)

Check out Virginia’s Cuccinelli Battles Democrats, Media. When Conservatives run for political office, they become soldiers in an information war. Their opponents and the Social Democrat news media do not offer solutions for our state’s problems. Instead, they sling mud.

Here are the candidates.

• Candidate for Governor: Ken Cuccinelli
• Candidate for Lieutenant Governor: E. W. Jackson
• Candidate for Attorney General:  Mark Obenshain

Each is running on a solid Conservative platform, and the people who every year waste trillions of our tax dollars to steal billions don’t like them.  Surprise! Surprise!

What do these men stand for? Here are the key speeches they made at the Republican Party’s nominating convention in Richmond, VA.

Candidate for Governor: Ken Cuccinelli

Note that Cuccinelli makes it clear where he stands, and he is willing to defend his beliefs in debate with his opponent.

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor: E. W. Jackson

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor E. W. Jackson has become a special target for government big spenders. What kind of nonsense is the Washington Post peddling?

Cuccinelli, who is expected to face Democrat Terry McAuliffe, declined to comment when asked about some of Jackson’s more controversial statements. He noted that he sometimes disagreed with Obenshain in the Senate, but all three share a commitment to constitutional “first principles.”

“I am just not going to defend my running mates’ statements at every turn,” he said in an interview. “They’ve got to explain those themselves. Part of this process is just letting Virginia voters get comfortable with us, on an individual basis, personally.” (from here)

Oooh! E. W. Jackson has said something radical, but what something? Why didn’t Cuccinelli defend him? Listen to why the folks at the convention cheered so wildly at his words. What could Cuccinelli say that Jackson cannot say better himself?

Candidate for Attorney General:  Mark Obenshain

Candidate for Attorney General Mark Obenshain seems a bit staid. Of the three, he is the least unconventional, but he is steady, intelligent, and dependable. His record says he will be there when we need him.

BONUS: Threshold

Here is a video that the party played between the speeches at the convention.  It lays out the difference between the Conservative and the Socialist Democrat visions.

Update:  Related articles

Here are the top “related” articles selected by WordPress.

• The Virginia GOP blows it (washingtonpost.com)
• “It’s Time to End the Slavish Devotion to the Democratic Party” Says E.W.Jackson [VIDEO] (praiserichmond.com)
• Republican Ticket Statewide “Fly Around” Lands in Roanoke (theroanokestar.com)
• Virginia GOP Chooses Cuccinelli-Jackson-Obenshain Ticket: Republican picks for statewide office have notorious records of anti-LGBT animus (metroweekly.com)
• GOP Ticket Rallies in Albemarle County (newsplex.com)

What does the news media want to talk about? The answer is Bishop E. W. Jackson’s stance on “social” issues.

Typically, Socialist Democrats and the news media sidekicks complain the Conservatives want to force their religious morals on everyone. Hogwash! There are few busybody Christians, but the fact is the Socialists on projecting their own motives on their opponents.

Look at our government’s budget. Socialist Democrat have packed that exploding monster full of spending on SOCIAL programs. At the same, using “civil rights” and environmentalism as their excuses, Socialist Democrats use the tax code and endless regulations to stick their noses into what services businesses can provide, what businesses can sell, and who businesses can hire.

Continue reading »]]> http://thewritesideofmybrain.com/2013/05/25/365-things-i-believe-gain-and-loss/feed/ 0 http://citizentom.com/2013/05/25/a-memorial-day-devotion-for-christians/ http://citizentom.com/2013/05/25/a-memorial-day-devotion-for-christians/#comments Sat, 25 May 2013 13:32:49 +0000 Citizen Tom http://citizentom.com/?p=19782 Continue reading →]]> In A Memorial Day Devotion for Christians, Rob Barkman provides a Christian perspective where one has too often been lacking in recent years.

Memorial Day is a day that is set aside to remember, and honor, our brave soldiers who have given their lives to protect our land and keep us free.  It began as a day to honor our Civil War dead, but after World War I, it was expanded to include our war dead from all the wars in which America was involved.  Go to http://www.usmemorialday.org/ for more information.

According to http://www.historycentral.com/wars.html , our country has fought in 12 wars (not counting the Afghanistan War which brings the updated total to 13.)  In every one of these cases, we have asked the young people of our nation to be willing to give their lives in the name of freedom (for us and others in foreign lands.)    The sacrifices these young men and women have made can never be totally comprehended nor can they be repaid by us.

Just stop and think about a little of what these wonderful young people have given up for us.  At the very least, they have given years of their life, time away from their families, to serve their country which they love. They have given us any chance of setting down “roots”, having to move from base to base once every 3 to 4 years.   Many will be physically disabled the rest of their life, having the use of one or more of their limbs taken from them.   Scores have been mentally disabled resulting in them being unable to handle day to day living.   And thousands upon thousands have given the ultimate sacrifice, their life, so that we can continue to enjoy our lives living safely in a land of freedom.

We can never begin to understand what they went through, and are continuing to go through, all because they love their nation and the freedoms we take for granted everyday.  We can never begin to repay them and their families for the sacrifices they have made for us.  It seems as if saying “Thank You” just isn’t enough.

THE SCRIPTURE:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

(Joh 15:12-14)

(continued here)

English: Picture of the medal of honor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When a young man or woman chooses to enter military service, few fully appreciate the sacrifices they have offered to make. Instead, recruiters speak of adventure or educational benefits. And yet the United States of America’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, does not hide the truth. Most recipients receive the medal posthumously.

In a Christian nation, military service is about protecting family, friends and countrymen, and any nation where soldiers serve for Duty, Honor,  Country is blessed.

Related articles

• Memorial Day Reflections (lmurray68.wordpress.com)
• Memorial Day Honor Those Who Have Fallen in The Defense of Freedom (americanfreedombybarbara.com)

Reblogged from That Mr. G Guy's Blog:

I have younger brothers who participated in the Boy Scouts. I never did. I was so soured by the Cub Scouts (a sissy organization run by mothers ;-) ), I wanted no part of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Well, in hindsight I must admit I made a mistake. The men who ran the scout troop my brothers joined actually let them do something besides drinking milk and eating cookies.

Unfortunately, the BSA's leadership has lost sight of their mission. For the sake of corporate donations and favorable news coverage, the BSA leadership seems bent on giving up the organization's principles. These principles are expressed in the Scout Law.

Consider what Robert Baden-Powell wrote the original Scout Law, and note that in 1911, he decided to add these words.

A SCOUT IS CLEAN IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED. Decent Scouts look down upon silly youths who talk dirt, and they do not let themselves give way to temptation, either to talk it or to do anything dirty. A Scout is pure, and clean-minded, and manly.

The Boy Scouts once used the lure of the great outdoors to coax boys into becoming morally straight, responsible young men. Even though practical experience and medical knowledge clearly shows same-sex sex is unhealthy and self-destructive, now the BSA has begun to adopt a more worldly, politically correct attitude about sex.

Same-sex sex is not pure, clean-minded, or manly. Nonetheless, the BSA appears bent upon accepting unrepentant homosexuals into its ranks.

No human institution survives forever, and so it is with the BSA. When corruption sets in, often there is only one alternative. Begin anew.

E.W. Jackson, GOP nominee for Lt. Governor:

Mark Obenshain, GOP nominee for Attorney General:

Here's Rob Bell who challenged Obenshain for the nomination for Attorney General.

Jeannemarie Devolites Davis was out on the first ballot for Lt. Governor after this speech:

The last man standing against Jackson after three ballots was Pete Snyder, who couldn't get the majority he needed on ballot four.

Because I’m a concerned citizen who very much wants to support the success of our county government, I thought I’d take a moment to craft an alternative design for the county’s apparently desperately-needed rebranding effort that I would offer to Prince William County free of charge.  My design criteria are that the rebranding accurately reflect what the county is, utilize a widely recognized symbol that would easily be associated with county government, and strongly communicate the sense of awe and magnificence that residents, visitors and business partners should have when they think of Prince William County government.

Dear readers, may I present you with my version of the County’s logo, which I call “Queen Melissa The Merciful.”

(more…)

LaRock Criminal Case NoSSN 1

With no other context, these might seem quite damning. Except LaRock isn’t exactly running from it. Quite the contrary. He has addressed the issue on the front page of his campaign website:

Early last year, a large sign advertising a West Virginia “adult” store was posted on Rt. 9 just a few feet from the road near my home.

This offensive sign was posted illegally.

For weeks, parents complained to Loudoun County that their children were exposed to this disgusting sign that included a lewd photo of a woman.

After weeks of authorities doing nothing to make the owner remove the illegal sign, I removed it and threw it away. That is what happened, no arrests, no trespassing, no court orders. Joe has made that up to manipulate voters. And rather than trying to hide the story, we gave the whole story to a blogger and it was published almost three months ago.

Indeed it was. What’s more, LaRock turns the matter around entirely and tosses it back at May, who has used the arrest record in a mail piece:

The truth is that I have never been arrested in my entire life.

Why does he campaign this way?

May is using vicious, negative personal attacks, and will continue to do so, trying to distract voters from the facts of his voting record.

As to what appear to be conflicting claims about the arrest, Greg Letiecq has a solution:

So was LaRock trying to hide something? No. Was he arrested? The paperwork seems to indicate that but in the quite likely case that LaRock was not taken into custody his statement that he was never arrested from his perspective could be absolutely honest, albeit technically inaccurate according to a check mark on a form.

My suggestion for the remaining weeks of this race is LaRock send out a mail piece with him tearing up porno advertisements with “Go ahead and arrest me for this!” emblazoned across the top while Joe May can send out a mail piece of him posing with a West Virginia business owner talking about how he’s the only candidate in the race that respect the rule of law and private property rights.

For technical marks, they both get failing grades here. As for the rest, it’s your call.

Mercifully, the primary is June 11th.

Alea iacta est…the Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

Usually, it’s the coverup, not the crime. But in this case, it’s both.

This week’s winner, Bookworm Room’s Is the IRS scandal the worst political scandal in American history? I say “yes examines the IRS scandal in a great piece that went fairly viral this week Here’s a slice:

There’s been a lot of debate swirling amongst the pundits lately. Is the Watergate cover-up worse than the Benghazi cover-up or vice versa? Is the only scandal that matters the Justice Department’s decision to tap Associated Press phones, because that’s the only one that the media will care about? What did Obama know and when did he know it?

Ignore all that. The absolute worst scandal that’s emerged lately, and the worst administration scandal in American history is the IRS scandal. Why? Because you, the People, became the targets of a comprehensive federal government effort to stifle dissent, one made using the government’s overwhelming and disproportionate policing and taxing powers.

All of the other scandals, going back to Andrew Johnson’s post-Civil War scandals, Warren G. Harding’s 1920s Teapot Dome scandal, Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Iran-Contra, and Clinton’s Oval Office sexcapades have actually been narrowly focused acts of cronyism, garden-variety political chicanery, or personal failings. It’s been insider stuff.

The IRS scandal, by contrast, is a direct attack on the American people. Right now, Progressives throughout America are pretending that this scandal doesn’t matter: “Obama wasn’t involved.” “Tea Partiers had it coming because they’re all corrupt.” “Obama would have won the election anyway.” “It was just a coincidence that the only groups that had their applications scrutinized, sometimes for years, were politically conservative. It means nothing that, when one group changed its name to sound Progressive, its application was approved in only three weeks.” “This is just a bureaucratic snafu.” “It’s a few rogue agents in Ohio.”

Those who offer these excuses are either morally flawed themselves or delusional idiots. Pastor Martin Niemoller, who once supported the Nazi party, finally and famously figured things out after World War II:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

Once a government gets the bit between its teeth and starts targeting special interest groups, that is the end of freedom, not just for those first groups targeted, but for everyone.

Okay, that was the throat-clearing. Now it’s time to add the latest chapter in the long list of examples showing that the IRS engaged in a politically motivated witch-hunt against people who don’t toe the Progressive/Democrat party line:

The Thomas More Society (a Catholic organization) says that an IRS office in California ordered a group called “Christian Voices for Life of Fort Bend County, Texas” to detail the meaning and content of the prayers they offered. That was not an isolated event. IRS agents demanded the same information from “Coalition of Life of Iowa,” which was required to explain what went on at the group’s prayer meetings.

When Rep. Aaron Schock (R., Ill.) asked outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller whether these were appropriate questions, Miller didn’t even have the courage to say “no.” Instead, he said meaninglessly that “It pains me to say I can’t speak to that one either.”

In our non-Council category, the winner was the one and only Mark Steyn with The Autocrat Accountants submitted by The Watcher. It’s pure Steyn, as he looks at the IRS scandal and its deeper implications with his usual brilliance. Do read it.

OK, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 1/3 votes! Bookworm Room – Is the IRS scandal the worst political scandal in American history? I say “yes
• Second place*t* with 2 votes – Joshuapundit – DHS Is Training Law Enforcement To Give Muslim Brotherhood, Radical Islamists A Pass
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – The Noisy Room- The Enemy Among Us – Even in Idaho
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet- #Scandalpalooza
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote –GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD - Shock And Shush
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator- Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano going back…
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor - Scandal Scorecard
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews –Glenn Greenwald or the douchebag’s lines of defense
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote –Rhymes With Right – My Response To @WhiteHouse #ObamaCareInThreeWords Meme
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –The Colossus of Rhodey –New “Scotty” Spouts Off on the New Trek’s Politics
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Autumn Sandeen, a Sailor with No ESWS Pin?
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! – VA GOP Convention: Conservatives and TEA Party Send Republican Establishment a STRONG MESSAGE! Overcome DIRTY TRICKS and WIN!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Mark Steyn-The Autocrat Accountants submitted by The Watcher
• Second place with 2 votes – Doug Ross@Journal – That Crazy Benghazi Conspiracy Theory? It Just Got Less Crazy submitted by The Right Planet
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – American Thinker/Thomas Lifson –Never Mind Impeachment; Keep your Eyes on the Prize submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fourth place*t* with 1 1/3 votes -Caroline Glick-Obama and the “Official Truth” submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes A.J. Adler/The Algemeiner -A Campaign of Willful Blindness on Terrorism submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Ta-Nahisi Coates/The Atlantic How the Obama Administration Talks to Black America – submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Contentions – Exploit Hizballah’s Vulnerability submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Jonathan Rosenblum –The Price Of Blindness submitted by Joshuapundit
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Amil Imani –Saluting Pamela Geller: a Champion of Liberty submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Big Jolly Politics – The Real Scandal with the IRS: Organizing for Action and the Chicago-style Misuse of Governmental Power submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Reason.Org –The Myth of the Scientific Liberal submitted by The Razor
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Kirsten Powers/Daily Beast –How Hope and Change Gave Way to Spying on the Press submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Source:

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results

Continue reading »]]> http://thewritesideofmybrain.com/2013/05/24/what-have-we-learned-about-the-irs-this-week/feed/ 0 http://blog.vivianpaige.com/2013/05/24/icymi-a-candidate-soaked-in-vinegar/ http://blog.vivianpaige.com/2013/05/24/icymi-a-candidate-soaked-in-vinegar/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 14:52:18 +0000 Vivian J. Paige http://blog.vivianpaige.com/?p=23049 Continue reading »]]> My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-PIlot Thursday. I really tried not to write about the Republican candidate for LG, but when I opened my paper Wednesday morning and saw this political cartoon, I knew I had to.

The national press has had a field day with Virginia since last weekend’s RPV convention. I don’t expect it to stop; after all, there isn’t another election in the country this year, save New Jersey – and that one is pretty much over.

There’s an old saying in politics that Democrats fall in love, while Republicans fall in line. Some Republicans, however, haven’t gotten the memo:

So just how toxic is Jackson, who once said homosexuals were “very sick”?

“I’m not going to comment on him,” said Rep. Frank Wolf of Jackson. “I endorsed Ken Cuccinelli, I think he’ll do a great job. I’ve worked with him on prison reform, and he’s a very good candidate.”

But Jackson?

“No, I’m not saying anything.”

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who also had endorsed Cuccinelli — and even appeared at an event with both men in Roanoke on Monday — did not return repeated requests for comment.

Rep. Rob Wittman speedily walked away from a reporter when asked about Jackson. Subsequent, repeated calls to his Capitol Hill office went unreturned.

Will this be the year that the old saying is turned on its head? We’ll know in 5+ months. In the meantime, expect a continued onslaught of national coverage of Virginia.

My column appears in The Virginian-Pilot every week, usually on Thursdays. You can see the columns as they are published here, or navigate to them from the PilotOnline.com homepage by clicking on Opinion and then choosing my name at the bottom of the dropdown list. You can also see the columns by liking my Facebook page. Although my column appears weekly, I am not and have never been an employee of The Virginian-Pilot.

Continue reading »]]> http://thewritesideofmybrain.com/2013/05/24/365-things-i-believe-for-my-soul/feed/ 0 http://bearingdrift.com/2013/05/24/mcauliffes-energy-flip-flop-its-a-good-thing/ http://bearingdrift.com/2013/05/24/mcauliffes-energy-flip-flop-its-a-good-thing/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 13:19:17 +0000 Norman Leahy http://bearingdrift.com/?p=47655 The Republican campaign apparatus is, rightly, taking great glee in Terry McAuliffe’s volte face on offshore oil drilling. Four years ago, he was against it. Now, he is for it. It’s a flip-flop! Everybody into the pool!

Of course it is. It’s also not the first. Earlier this month, McAuliffe changed his tune on coal. He’s also been on both sides of the state’s uranium ban.

Has his position on harnessing the power of chicken waste changed, too? We shall see.

But what do all of these policy gymnastics really mean?

On offshore drilling, McAuliffe is simply falling in line behind Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. Their legislation to open Virginia’s offshore areas to energy exploration gives McAuliffe political cover.

But even more, McAuliffe has built his entire campaign around job creation. As the energy booms in the Dakotas and elsewhere have shown, when energy resources are exploited, jobs and economic growth follow. In a very big way. It would be utterly foolish, then, for him to play to the environmental lobby (whose votes he does not need) and say “no” to any and all offshore exploration.

McAuliffe’s potential ticket mates don’t have that luxury. They still have a primary ahead of them, which helps explain why they are toeing the line on energy bans of various sizes and stripes.

Should we gloat, then, over Terry’s flip-flop? For a moment, sure. It is rather stark. But at least he flipped in the right direction — for more energy development and for the economic growth it will generate.

We should welcome his embrace of reality, however belated and however politically motivated it may be. And then we should make him stick to it.

From a Former Cuccinelli Staffer to a Former Bolling Staffer

At 2:00 am on a Friday morning, sometimes there is nothing better to do than to read through the Virginia Republican blog role. As I was scanning through the posts, I came across another article about the 2013 RPV Convention. I almost didn’t give it a second thought. Titled “We should have had a primary instead.”, it started like any other article where the author is upset with the candidates selected this past weekend. The formula for these posts goes as follows:

1. Congratulations to the winners. I want to make it appear as though I’m not bitter by starting out on a positive note.
2. I’ve told you rascally Republicans from the beginning that we should have a primary. Let me continue beating the dead horse.
3. This is what is wrong with the candidates that the majority of grassroots Republicans chose in a convention.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. That’s one of the many beautiful aspects of the Republican Party. But please stop perpetuating your opinions as facts. For example:

1. Unfortunately, for Cuccinelli, he’s never really been tested on the statewide level. Let’s be honest, In 2009, Bob McDonnell had a huge coattail affect, and Ken Cuccinelli’s margin of victory would have been a lot less would it not have been for McDonnell.

I’m sorry. Did you miss the part when Ken ran as an unapologetic Conservative in blue Northern Virginia three separate times and won? (State Senate District 37: in 2002, Cuccinelli won by 55%, in 2003 won by 53%, and in 2007 won by 50.02%)

Granted, this isn’t statewide, so let’s take a look at the 2009 statewide results: McDonnell won by 58.61%, Bolling won by 56.61%, and Cuccinelli won by 57.51%. Yes, McDonnell beat Cuccinelli by a little over a percentage point. But if the State Senator was riding the ticket’s coattails, how did he end up outperforming the sitting Lieutenant Governor?

2. After cruising by two easy wins in 2009, he won a convention with no opposition. How is it possible that he has been politics for so long and has remained untested?

Please forgive Ken for running a tight ship and winning a three-way convention. And forgive him again for giving Virginian’s more than one choice for the Republican Gubernatorial candidate. Would you be making the same statements if no one ran against Bolling? If the shoe were on the other foot, “After cruising by two easy wins in 2009, he won a convention with no opposition” would apply to him too.

3. Even though George Allen was not the perfect candidate, he was the most electable candidate in 2012.

Really? I’d say Tim Kaine was the most electable candidate.

My biggest problem with this article: these points have been repeated over and over and over since the beginning of 2012. The convention has come and gone, the candidates have been chosen, and WE KNOW THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST CONVENTIONS. Can we please move on? The Democrats sure have. -

“No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone”.

This is great and I am so happy this has happened. All children can benefit from scouts. All my children are in it and one is an Eagle so far. I can’t say enough about how much the program does that helps boys have fun and become men.

We need to go the rest of the way. There are good parents who are openly gay who deserve to be scout leaders and from whom our children can learn much. And I don’t mean anything sexual. Sexual matters are completely irrelevant to scouting as sex is not a subject of the program (outside of Child Safety training).

I have been advocating for this for some time and have had several people in the blogosphere say that scouting is what it is and if I don’t like it, I should go form another group that allows gays. Well…. Scouting is NOW accepting of openly gay scouts. And will shortly allow openly gay leaders. Should I say it is your turn to go find another organization? I won’t. I want to see your kids get the benefits that scouts offer – just like every other kid.

By the way, Scouting has excellent Islamic and Jewish troops and programs. My kids are in a regular and excellent local troop, but I know the Islamic troop leaders and they run excellent troops.  This weekend there is a joint Jewish and Muslim Camporee at Camp Snyder that I will be attending.  It will be fun and strengthen the bond between our two communities.

I would be interested in knowing how many other on here are or were involved in scouts.  I never was a scout as a kid, but involved my kids and have been very happy.  One Eagle, One First Class, and One Webelo.

With all that being said, I still believe it would have been better to have had a primary instead of a convention. I’ve written about this before, but here are some reminders of pro-primary arguments:

- Conventions cost the party a great deal of money

- Some people have long distances to drive (People living in Bristol, VA have to drive 5 hours to get to Richmond)

- Primaries discourage members of the military, minorities, youth, and low income families from voting

- More “extreme” candidates are given equal time with more “electable” candidates

- Conventions require all day participation, primaries can be done to or from work

- You cannot vote “absentee” in a convention

Now, let’s focus specially on the 2013 convetion. There are several reasons why this convention proved yet again to me that primaries are a better way to nominate a candidate.

Ken Cuccinelli remains untested

There are many in the VA GOP who worship Ken Cuccinelli and think that he can do no wrong. This makes for a bad general election strategy. Unfortunately, for Cuccinelli, he’s never really been tested on the statewide level. Let’s be honest, In 2009, Bob McDonnell had a huge coattail affect, and Ken Cuccinelli’s margin of victory would have been a lot less would it not have been for McDonnell. In addition, everybody knew that he was going to win the 2009 convention. Even supporters for Brownlee and Foster knew that they had an uphill climb. So where does this leave us now? After cruising by two easy wins in 2009, he won a convention with no opposition. How is it possible that he has been politics for so long and has remained untested?

As you probably know, at one point RPV considered a primary. I believe that had Cuccinelli won a primary he would be a stronger candidate. Primaries require statewide organization, and an army of volunteers and donors. While primaries are more work for the candidate, it is a good “practice run” for the general election. For a convention, candidates have a list of everyone who is planning on attending; these people theoretically are voting GOP in the general election anyways. This waste valuable time and resources on a population that should already be supporting you.

Every VA Republican right now is taking Terry McAuliffe for granted; it would be foolish to do so. Not only is he a stronger candidate after his 2009 campaign, he has massive donor and campaign connections that any candidate would be jealous of. 2013 will not be a repeat of 2009. One recent poll had Terry McAuliffe at 43% with Ken Cuccinelli at 38%. This race will remain tight until election day.

A Likeable, yet unelectable LG candidate has been nominated

Everybody who meets E.W. Jackson says he is a nice guy. I’ve met him a few times, and I agree. In 2012, he received 5% of the vote in a GOP primary, and yet, in 2013,  he won the nomination for another statewide race. If he loses the general election, I believe that this is a perfect example showing that conventions nominate more radical candidates, while primaries nominate candidates more likely to win. Even though George Allen was not the perfect candidate, he was the most electable candidate in 2012.

 E.W. Jackson’s un-electability has already been noticed by several members of the VA GOP as well as several die-hard Ken Cuccinelli. Jackson’s  comments about gay marriage have already hurt Ken Cuccinelli, causing Cuccinelli to distance himself from him.

Big Weekend for College Graduations

Now, I have not been to many GOP events for quite some time (mainly because of grad school), but I was planning on attending the 2013 GOP convention, and even signed up to be a Delegate. Yet, I did not attend because I was out of town, attending my cousin’s graduation from college. In addition, I know for a fact that the University of Virginia and George Mason University both had their commencement exercises during convention weekend. How are young people supposed to be excited about the 2013 elections if they cannot participate in the nominating method? In addition, lets not forget the potential hundreds of friends and family attending graduations that would have been voters in a primary. This was a huge lost opportunity. Did no one think to look at a calendar to make sure that no major events were occurring?

In summary, I believe a primary would have been better for our 2013 statewide candidates. But I guess we’ll all know for sure on November 6th.

]]> http://rednova8.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=7387 0 http://masonconservative.typepad.com/the_mason_conservative/2013/05/tim-hugo.html http://masonconservative.typepad.com/the_mason_conservative/2013/05/tim-hugo.html#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 04:11:29 +0000 Chris http://masonconservative.typepad.com/the_mason_conservative/2013/05/tim-hugo.html  In the hoopla surrounding E.W. Jackson’s dominating win at the RPV Convention, a quiet thing happened that impressed me and perhaps tipped the hand of the party as to where it looks to the future.  Though it probably wasn’t noticed by the rest of the state, many of us in Northern Virginia had our Spidey-sense go off when we saw that Del. Tim Hugo was named convention chairman.  I know it is a largely symbolic post, the previous two being Kay Cole James (2009) and Bill Bolling (2008), but going into this everyone knew there would be more than one ballot.  The fact that Hugo was asked to manage this is a signal that many in Richmond, and in the House of Delegates, understand where the future is.  

  I know Hugo a little bit and I have always been impressed with his ability to remain popular in Northern Virginia without selling out his principles.  It isn’t always easy.  In a way, he reminds me Cuccinelli in that he’s figured out Richmond, which is rare for ambitious NOVA pols.  In this area, we only care about federal and local government, largely ignoring with our noses firmly in the air what is going on in Richmond.  Since his election just over a decade ago, Hugo has risen fast in a chamber notoriously hostile to Northern Virginia.  While some may look at this as a ceremonial honor, it strikes me that some thought was put into who would be the choice to chair the Convention.  Hugo is the kind of guy that all the factions like and respect.  I suspect when Speaker Howell decides to retire, conventional wisdom tells us Kirk Cox moves up, but it might not be for long.  Ff the visibility and trust given to him last weekend is any indication, Hugo might be the future for the House Republicans if not beyond.

“I learned a long time ago in government that governing has to be about more than breaking the dishes,” said the two-term lieutenant governor who has served under both a Democrat and a Republican governor. “It has to be about solving problems and getting things done. And to do that, sometimes you have to compromise.”
...
“I think our party is a party in search of an identity,” Bolling told Watchdog.org. “It all starts with the kind of candidates we nominate and the kind of campaigns we run.

“Clearly the (Virginia GOP) is prettily solidly controlled by tea party groups and the Ron Paul folks. The result of that has been the party has been pulled further to the right and that makes it more difficult to connect with moderate and independent voters you need to win elections in Virginia and it makes it more difficult to govern once you get elected.”

“The solutions to the challenges facing our state will not be found in the extremes,” Bolling said. They won’t be found on the right extreme, and they won’t be found on the left extreme. The answers to the challenges facing Virginia will be found in the mainstream.”

What is the culture war about? To a large extent, it is about whether individuals still matter.  Consider this excerpt from Individuals Used To Matter from NooneOfAnyImport’s Blog.

The devil’s in the details.

Even the smallest decision can resonate far beyond its initial design.

Older son learned to read early.  We naively expected schools to take this skill into account, but by the final year of his brick-and-mortar experience, we knew that would never happen.  In third grade, the slow and thorough application of “reading strategies” to standardized (and therefore lame) material was not only the norm but mandatory, regardless of a child’s reading level.

They have to go through this process, I was told.  Even if they can mechanically read the words, they won’t be able to comprehend the meaning unless we use these strategies to teach them, I was told by Educators Who Are Well Meaning But Shall Remain Nameless.

Now consider what C. S. Lewis said in the preface to a short story he wrote, Screwtape Proposes a Toast. Here is an excerpt from that.

In my view there is a sense in which education ought to be democratic and another sense in which it ought not. It ought to be democratic in the sense of being available, without distinction of sex, colour, class, race, or religion, to all who can—and will—diligently accept it. But once the young people are inside the school there must be no attempt to establish a factitious egalitarianism between the idlers and dunces on the one hand and the clever and industrious on the other. A modern nation needs a very large class of genuinely educated people and it is the primary function of schools and universities to supply them. To lower standards or disguise inequalities is fatal.

If this sounds harsh, I would observe that the opposite policy is really devised to soothe the inferiority complex not of the idlers and dunces but of their parents. Do not be in the least afraid that those who live out their school-days—which should be brief—on the back bench of the lowest class will suffer any trauma when they see promotion and honours and official approval going to the diligent minority. They are stronger than it. They can punch its head and kick its stern. All the distinctions they really care about—the popularity and the success in games—go not to it but to them. They enjoy their school-days very much. Our real problem is to see that they impede as little as possible the purposes for which school really exists. (from here)

What was C. S. Lewis writing about? Screwtape Proposes a Toast is the sequel to The Screwtape Letters.  In his stories about Screwtape, an administrator — a senior devil — in the bureaucracy of Hell, the Lewis imagines how devils might tempt us into their realm. Screwtape Proposes a Toast acknowledges the Devil’s “finest” accomplishment, government-run public education and the overriding importance it places upon student self-esteem.

self-esteem
n 1: a feeling of pride in yourself [syn: self-pride]
2: the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect: “it was
beneath his dignity to cheat”; “showed his true dignity
when under pressure” [syn: dignity, self-respect, self-regard]

Self-esteem is about pride.  When our pride separates us from the love of God and overrides our responsibility to love our neighbors, pride becomes a sin (see THE SEARCH FOR THE MOST VIRTUOUS VERSATILE BLOGGER — PART 5).

Wilder said Thursday he hasn’t made up his mind about anyone yet in this year’s contest. As candidates from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe to Republican lieutenant governor nominee E.W. Jackson troop by seeking his advice or blessing, Wilder shared some thoughts about the field, beginning with McAuliffe.

“He has got to get gravitas. He’s got to have convictions, to show that his election means something real, something tangible,” Wilder said.

As for Jackson, Wilder said the Chesapeake minister paid a visit a couple months ago. They talked about the potential for Jackson to make history as only the second black candidate nominated by Virginia Republicans for statewide office since Maurice A. Dawkins ran for the U.S. Senate in 1988.

Wilder wasn’t dismissive of Jackson at all, though.  While Wilder took some exception with the direct language Jackson has used to describe Planned Parenthood, Wilder empathized:

“It’s so absurd,” Wilder said — though he added that he also understands why Jackson and other African American opponents of abortion express alarm about the disproportionate abortion rate among blacks.

“He can make that case. But that’s a matter of personal belief,” Wilder said. “That’s fine in the pulpit. That’s fine in the street as it relates to your opinion.”

…but the fact that Wilder acknowledges the truly horrific fact — and it is not widely known — that 2/3 of all abortions are inflicted upon minorities is a chilling statement of its own.

-Rep. Justin Amash, R-MI

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