Mark Sell Becomes LCRC Chairman as Loudoun Voters Reject the Politics of Demonization

I would like to take a moment to congratulate Mark Sell on winning the race for LCRC Chairman this past Saturday. He and Candace Strother ran very clean campaigns built around continuing to advance conservativism and continue the winning momentum in Loudoun. They were able to get almost 1,000 people to vote in the election and both campaign structures will be very useful in the years ahead.

Mark Sell is a committed conservative of both the fiscal and social variety. He worked very hard to pass the Marriage Amendment in 2006, and has attended as many Tea Party events as possible over the past year. He constantly volunteered with the door to door effort this past fall as he does every year for the Republican ticket, and received Ken Cuccinelli's endorsement. He knows how to campaign and recruit volunteers, and is committed to our conservative values. He will make an excellent chairman.

While Glen Caroline and Candace Strother have been very gracious in their congratulations to Mark Sell, some of Candace's supporters are very reluctant to unite behind Mark Sell after the vote. Some are taking a we will support him if... approach, (which I respect and understand) while one of Loudoun's most prominent bloggers has continued to show nothing but vitriol and hatred for Mark Sell and his supporters following the election.

The blogger I am talking about is Loudoun Insider. Following the election he wrote one of the most vile and divisive posts in his history. The day before the election he said that if you voted for Mark Sell you would be sending the LCRC back to the dark ages. In a comment on another post that day he called Mark a woman, and after the results came in he called Mark a name I will not repost on this blog. Using this kind of rhetoric about Mark and his top supporters does nothing to build the party. We can and should debate the merits of electing different people, and dig into what they believe, but name calling and ad hominem attacks of this sort have no place in the political dialogue. If you want to argue this party should be a big tent and an accepting party, then you are a hypocrite to demonize people who have worked hard in it over the years.

I am thankful to the voters of Loudoun for rejecting the politics of demonization, and I am thankful that Mark Sell's supporters refrained from this kind of personal mean spirited politics.

Tim Kaine for DNC Chair

As we prepare for today's debate between the Republican candidates for party chair, the media is buzzing with the news that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has been nominated by Barack Obama to be the new Democratic Party Chair.  This should be very interesting.  

When you think of Governor Tim Kaine, what do you think of as his accomplishments?  Honestly it seems to be the national media attention he has received.  It began with the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union Address in 2006, and then this year has been round the clock media coverage with Kaine's support for Obama.  

It appears this is simply a pay back by Obama for political support during the presidential race.  Governor Kaine has accomplished very little as governor.  One of the biggest issues of his campaign was solving the transportation issue.  Governor Kaine has failed on that front, and spent this year campaigning instead of solving that issues, and now he faces a multi million budget shortfall and will be only a part time governor now.  

Even on the political front Kaine has failed.  He has failed to defeat some of his top targets in the general assembly: Ken Cuccinelli, and Jeff Frederick.  He has failed to unite his party heading into this year's executive elections in Virginia, and even with the nationwide destruction of the Republican brand he was only able to take a slim lead in the senate, and failed to take control in the house.  Honestly most of the Democrats recent success in Virginia is due to Mark Warner and not Tim Kaine.  If Kaine brings that kind of success to the DNC, the Republicans might really have a chance in 2010.

The other interesting thing with Tim Kaine as Democratic Chair is his arched left eyebrow.  Tim Kaine's arched left eyebrow has earned him such nicknames as "Tim Eyebrow Kaine" and "Unibrow."  

Seriously, how does a picture like that not make you laugh?  

On a more substantive note Governor Kaine can also be something of a loose cannon.  When he was basically campaigning for the vice presidential nod, Governor Kaine received a lot of flack over comments he made during the Georgia/Russian conflict over the summer while talking about Barack Obama's diplomatic abilities.

“It was a bad crisis for the world. It required tough words but also a smart approach to call on the international community to step in. And I’m very, very happy that the Senator's request for a ceasefire has been complied with by President Medvedev.”

The problem with this quote was that the Russians did not agree to a ceasefire at that time, McCain had called for one earlier, and it reveals a certain sense of pompous arrogance to think that just because Obama called for it, it happened.  I was going to post a You Tube video of the comment so you could see the eyebrow in action, but all the videos of it I could find said "This video has been moved due to terms of use violation."  I wonder why You Tube really removed that video...

After the election, Kaine also made another revealing statement.  It didn't receive anywhere near as much flack since it wasn't said till after the election.

“Let’s be realistic,” Kaine said, using the words “challenging times” several times in his remarks to VSU officials, faculty and students. “You don’t run for governor to make budget cuts.”

If only this statement was made before the election it might have been interesting.

I have also noticed a general inability for Kaine to accurately use historical references in major speeches including his inaugural address, the Tech shooting speech, and his state of the commonwealth addresses.  I wonder if the national media will pick up on that as Governor Kaine receives more national attention.

It should be very interesting and a lot of fun having Governor Kaine as Democratic Party Chair, hopefully we can win big in Virginia in 2009, and then in the midterms.  Meanwhile, for the good of the commonwealth, I hope we can fix the financial state of the commonwealth and the transportation issue in the upcoming session.

No Hypocrisy Doesn't Exist

Remember the beginning of 2006 during the Jack Abramoff Scandal? Pictures of President Bush and Jack Abramoff surfaced, and President Bush and the Whitehouse were under fire for the "close" connections they had with Jack Abramoff. These pictures were "proof" that President Bush was corrupt.



Well today as Matt Drudge has been reporting on the arrest of Governor Blagojevich, he has put this picture at the top of his website.



It is a picture of Barack Obama and Governor Blagojevich smiling, shaking hands, and talking. I wonder if Obama will come under as much criticism as a result of this picture with Governor Blagojevich as Preisdent Bush came under as a result of the picture that surfaced of him and Jack Abramoff.

The thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat

In Virginia if the margin of victory in an election is within .5%, the loser may request a recount.

Over the past three years Virginia has had three races that have fallen within the .5% margin of victory.

2005

Initial reults reported Bob McDonnell defeated Creigh Deeds in the race for Attorney General's race by 323 votes.

2006

Jim Webb defeated incumbent senator, George Allen, by 9,000 votes out of over 2 million votes cast, a margin of victory of about .45 %

2007

After the canvassing was completed in the race for Virginia's 37th senate district, Ken Cuccinelli was still leading Janet Olsezek by 92 votes, a margin of .2%.

So what's the point of all these boring numbers? I just want to take a moment to point out who it was that called for recounts. Only the Democrats can't handle being defeated. Creigh Deeds dragged the state through a recount, and spent thousands of taxpayers dollars to make sure we counted everyone's vote. When the recount finally ended in the middle of December, Bob McDonnell's margin of victory actually increased by thirty seven votes. In 2006 with control of the senate hanging on t outcome of his senate race, George Allen chose not to drag the state, and the country, through a recount. He waited to see the results of the canvass, and then stepped out in front of the cameras, thanked his supporters for all their work, thanked teh state for electing him before, and then conceeded. Now in 2007 after the canvass was completed, Janet Olsezek, or was it her campaign manager, has called for a recount in one of the closest VA state senate races ever.

But why would Janet pull the people she wants through a recount and spend thousands of taxpayers dollars on this? Is there anything to indicate that the recount could change the outcome of the election? No. The canvassing changed nothing, and the provisional ballots actually gave Ken one more vote. No concrete accusation of voter fraud have been leveled. So why cal for a recount unless you simply can't stand losing?

While many things can be learned from George Allen's senate race, one lesson is when you have lost, be willing to concede. The only to call for a recount would be if there are serious instances of voting fraud, like more votes cast in a county than its registered voters. Virginia has never had major voter fraud, and there has never been a real reason to call for a recount. Anyone that loses a close race should have the courae to concede.

Memo to Democrat candidates: While defeat is agonizing, don't be too shocked if you lose while running against the rising conservative stars in Virginia.