Thoughts on the RPV State Convention

Most of my thoughts on the first day I already posted. However I would like to add a few more thoughts and then list off the highlights from Saturday.

1. I think it is ironic that a party that supposedly believes in transparency in government has so little in its actual operations. While Kay Cole James is an impressive person she was selected as the chairman of the convention. Why did McDonnell have to send out an e-mail urging people to vote for her, and why was her name written in the convention program as the temporary chair? What difference would it have made to have a regular vote on the issue? The disdain the party leadership has for people thinking and acting independently was driven home when a congressional district chairman came down and asked another party leader if he should consolidate a large unit so they could shout down any amendment to the rules, or effort to put in a different convention chairman. Who cares what the people think let's script and direct them as much as possible. Again I think Kay Cole James is amazing. This is simply a comment about the state of our party leadership that selects a party chairman and convention chairman for us.
   
2. Some people jokingly referred to the convention building as the Temple of Bob McDonnell. This resulted from the fact that as an uncontested nominee he still won the sign war, and his staff were given special access to the convention hall that other campaign staff were not.
3. As a Cuccinelli volunteer I have to say it was a very impressive operation. Friday night with a number of our supporters attending gala's and dinners we put fliers on every seat in the convention hall in under an hour. While the blue and red shirted Cuccinelli volunteers weren't as distinct as the neon green Brownlee supporters, they were everywhere passing out stickers, brochures, flags, and keeping track of their delegations.
4. No matter how many things Republicans may disagree on or mess up, Republicans know how to be patriotic. Whether it was Lauren Giere, or the UVA acapella group singing the national anthem, reciting the pledge of allegiance with thousands of fellow Americans, the red white and blue everywhere, or Adnan Barqawi's speech Republicans know how to make one proud to be an American.
5. This was Cuccinelli's convention. He was the reason many of those delegates were their. If anyone doubted it before Saturday, the loud sustained applause that erupted when the nominations chair said his name reinforced the fact. Just like at the Dulles rally, he received louder applause than anyone else. Ken is bringing the excitement to this party right now.
   
6. Mike Farris's name recognition increased as a result of this convention. Bolling used Dr. Farris's endorsement repeatedly in the leadup to the convention and even mentioned him in his speech. (Bolling was also the only person to reference homeschooling in his speech. Thank you Bill for recognizing the importance of homeschooling.) Many people also mentioned how a certain energy has returned to the party that they hadn't seen since Dr. Farris ran in 1993. If Dr. Farris wants to run for office later this convention may of helped bring his name back into people's memories.
7. Convention speeches matter!! While the organization before and during a convention are critical so are the speeches given by the candidates. Bolling's speech reminded voters that he is a tried and true conservative who has accomplished many things for the party and has won elections. It was a very uplifting speech. Muldoon reinforced the fact that he was running a "slash and burn" campaign. His speech was vitriolic and one long hit piece on Bolling. He failed to ever bring up his own revord and accomplishments. It drew a number of boos and probably lost him votes. In the AG contest Brownlee gave a very solid speech. He didn't use notes or a podium which was very impressive. However he essentially gave his stump speech which many of the delegates had heard before. While Cuccinelli talked about the same issues he has discussed on the campaign trail, he went about it an entirely different way. Using the Don't Tread on Me flags was a stroke of genius. It played well to the audience and reminded the convention that Ken is the candidate who will fight to limit the size of government. Some suspect that the speech pushed Ken over the edge and gave him a first ballot win. The final speech to mention was Bill Stanley's speech. Few people knew Bill and he needed to wow the audience. While he gave a good speech, his poor clock management probably didn't help him.
8. I was very impressed with the RPV outreach to new media. They did a very good job with Blogger's Row, and the attention the candidates showed to the bloggers demonstrated that it wasn't just a show.
9. Overall it was an excellent convention that recharged and united the party as move forward to victory in November.
   

Obama Update

The past two days have seen some interesting developments from President Obama.

Probably the biggest piece of news is that Obama declared June Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. In the proclamation he rattles off all the supposed benefits the LGBT community brought to America. Including working hard in the federal government, leading in the art and business communities, and mobilizing the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

He concludes the proclamation by baking a call for giving the LGBT community equal justice under the law.

As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

When you remember how Obama refused to sign the traditional Day of Prayer proclamation last month, this proclamation makes it very clear what the president values.

Obama also reversed one more of his campaign promises by agreeing to tax health benefits. This was an issue he was hitting McCain pretty hard on during the general election. This latest reversal makes people echo Brian Kirwin and ask, "Do campaigns matter anymore?" This is why previous stances and votes on issues are more important than campaign rhetoric.

The third and possibly the scariest Obama information actually comes from Russia. A Soviet-era newspaper still published in Russia carried an opinion piece entitled "American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper." The article described how America has has descended into Marxism. It refers to the government takeover of GM, changes in education, and election of President Obama as proof of this descent.

One very interesting quote describes the decay of American churches. He seems to understand the importance of churches in preserving liberty better than most Americans.

"Their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different ‘branches and denominations’ were for the most part little more than Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega-churches were more than happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the ‘winning’ side of one pseudo-Marxist politician or another."

Whether or not we are a full fledged marxist nation is debatable, but it is true we are close to crossing that point. We need to unite and turn this country back to freedom.

Another New York Special Election?

The end of March New York had a special election to fill seat vacated when Hillary Clinton's senate seat. It appears that within the next month we will have another congressional special election in New York. This will be in New York's 23rd congressional district. Obama selected Rep. John McHugh the ranking member on the armed services committee to serves as the new Secretary of the Army. This is a very rural district that has a Republican congressman, but voted 52% for Obama. It will be a critical election as Republicans need to hold onto all their seats. At this point the early favorite to be the Republican nominee is McHugh's chief of staff, Robert Taub. Hopefully the NRCC does not ruin our chances of winning this time by running very negative adds.

Adnan Barqawi explains what it means to be an American.

One of the convention highlights was Adnan Barqawi. He is a recent Virginia Tech Graduate who was a part of the Cadet Corp. He and his family immigrated from Kuwait when he was 17, and he explained to the convention how he fell in love with this country, and what it means to be an American and live the American dream.

"I do not call myself an Arab-American or a Middle Eastern-American, but an American. Some Americans need hyphens in their names, because only part of them has come over, but when the whole man has come over heart, and thought and all the hyphen drops of its own weight."

Please listen to this truly inspirational young man. It will brighten your day.





He was such a popular speaker that a group has already popped up for him on facebook that already almost has 200 members. This young man has a bright future ahead of him. Thank you Adnan for reminding the convention what it means to be an American and the importance of personal responsibility.

GOP Ticket Stops at Dulles

Yesterday the McDonnell/Bolling/Cuccinelli ticket made a six stop tour of the commonwealth. I had the opportunity to attend the rally in Dulles. A group of about 50 people with a couple camera crews packed into a small conference room for the event. Sen. Jill Vogel introduced the candidates and all three of the candidates shared their thoughts on the major issues facing the commonwealth. Just like at the convention, Cuccinelli received the loudest and longest sustained applause. It seems clear that he brings energy and enthusiasm to the ticket. I hope McDonnell sees that and takes advantage of it.

McDonnell made the point that this is the most experienced ticket in Virginia history and detailed the combined number of elections won and years in public office served by the ticket. All the candidates focused on energy and jobs (with a special focus on cardcheck) and acknowledged that those issues would play a major role in the campaign. McDonnell used the "Just Say Yes" portion of his convention speech. (Something that seems a little forced.) He also emphasized the importance of results over rhetoric. Bolling brought up the importance of school choice, and Cuccinelli mentioned the importance of doing everything in accordance with the constitution. He made the point that we should have solutions the founding fathers could support if they were here today and understood 21st century America.

It was an energetic event with people excited about winning in November and working hard to make sure we win. Please check out these reports on the Weyers Cave and Norfolk events.