I just got back into Henry County. Let Bailey, my dog, go out into the yard and pee on stuff. He really seems to enjoy doing that. I'm about ready to kick off the boots and let the events of the day filter out.
I spent most of the day on "blogger's row". RPV really set up a great facility for us, with the expected glitches, of course. Nothing serious, just a tripped breaker here and there, but all soon sorted out. Thanks to all those who worked that area.
Even though I spent time on blogger's row, I didn't actually write anything while I was there. I did find a few stories to tell, but that will come later. Tomorrow I'll write up an analysis of the day and tell a few of the stories I came away with.
See you tomorrow, good night all.
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Answers Please, Brian Gentry
A lot of to do going on about the infamous robo call. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I immediately associated it in my mind with the Cuccinelli campaign. Right or wrong, I'm sorry, That's the way I called it.
Did Ken himself approve it beforehand? Not likely. Did Ken himself approve it immediately after it first aired? Possibly.
Is it a major blunder for the Cuccinelli campaign? Most definitely.
The man(?) behind it seems to be one Brian Gentry. A paid stooge for Bob Marshall in a previous campaign. At least Brian proudly claims responsibility for the weakly supported evidence on the website noted on the call in question.
A couple more questions before I get to my astute analysis.
Brian has called Bob McDonnell a "liberal". Brian claims that John Brownlee is anti-2nd amendment. Brian is an idiot.
Wait. Those are not questions, are they?
No. Those are facts. The few facts that can be discerned from reading Brian's website. There are few facts about John Brownlee on a site that purports to expose Brownlee facts. Many innuendos and suppositions, but few facts.
Back to those questions now.
Question one. Brian is on record as a paid performer for Bob Marshall. Does Brian have an equally long record as a Republican?
Question two. Is Brian a member of any Republican committee?
Question three. And perhaps the most important of all. Is Brian affiliated in any way with either the Cuccinelli or Foster campaigns?
Answers please, Brian. Or Ken. Or Dave.
Did Ken himself approve it beforehand? Not likely. Did Ken himself approve it immediately after it first aired? Possibly.
Is it a major blunder for the Cuccinelli campaign? Most definitely.
The man(?) behind it seems to be one Brian Gentry. A paid stooge for Bob Marshall in a previous campaign. At least Brian proudly claims responsibility for the weakly supported evidence on the website noted on the call in question.
A couple more questions before I get to my astute analysis.
Brian has called Bob McDonnell a "liberal". Brian claims that John Brownlee is anti-2nd amendment. Brian is an idiot.
Wait. Those are not questions, are they?
No. Those are facts. The few facts that can be discerned from reading Brian's website. There are few facts about John Brownlee on a site that purports to expose Brownlee facts. Many innuendos and suppositions, but few facts.
Back to those questions now.
Question one. Brian is on record as a paid performer for Bob Marshall. Does Brian have an equally long record as a Republican?
Question two. Is Brian a member of any Republican committee?
Question three. And perhaps the most important of all. Is Brian affiliated in any way with either the Cuccinelli or Foster campaigns?
Answers please, Brian. Or Ken. Or Dave.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
RPV Convention
It's the last week of school. Friday will be the last day of school, but I won't be there. Not for long anyway. I'll be leaving fairly early on Friday, heading to Richmond where I'll be a delegate to the Republican party's state convention.
Bob McDonnell will be our candidate for Governor. That has been long ago settled.
As delegates, we will have several items to decide. We gotta pick a Lt. Governor candidate. Easy. I'll get to that later.
We need to come together on a choice for Attorney General. This one is a bit tougher, but I'll get to it a bit later too.
And we have to choose a new chairman for the group, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.
The recent L'affaire Frederick being still fresh in everyone's mind, this may be the toughest choice as well as the most important of the weekend. In many ways this one election will set the stage for the future of our party in Virginia. Not only will this be a referendum on which of the two candidates, Pat Mullins or Bill Stanley, will lead our party, this is in many ways a referendum on the vision and leadership of our state central committee.
After dumping Jeff Frederick, in a manner that was widely criticized, the state central committee installed Pat Mullins as chairman. Pat may be a great guy. I don't know. The Virginia political expert I rely on to advise me on such matters does not know him either. He's a local unit chairman in the same congressional district as my expert adviser, but still unknown.
Bill Stanley, on the other hand is also a local unit chairman in my expert's district. I've met Bill Stanley. I don't really know Mr. Stanley. But I've met him, he's very likeable, he's a good conversationalist, and he seems trustworthy.
I've received many emails from Mr. Stanley, I suppose you have too. I've received one mailer from Mr. Mullins. I've also received one mailer from Stanley.
In his emails and mailer Mr. Stanley has outlined many innovative ideas and plans. Mr. Mullins has touted his endorsements. Endorsements are good. I'm essentially putting forth some endorsements here today. I like endorsements.
I like ideas and plans better, though.
Right now I'm leaning hard toward Bill Stanley. Before I can fully endorse him though, I feel it is only right that I actually meet Mr. Mullins. That won't happen until Friday afternoon at the earliest, so I'm tentatively endorsing Bill Stanley for Chairman. If that changes you'll be notified early Saturday before the voting begins. No update will mean that Bill Stanley remains my choice.
Now let's move to the easy choice. Bill Bolling is and will be our next Lt. Governor. I see no point in even mentioning his opponent's name. A solid conservative to the core, Bill, with roots in SWVA and a conservative record in Richmond that is unequalled, will leave the convention with 70 plus percent of the delegate vote. Bill Bolling has a proven record to stand on.
Now the tough one.
No question about it, Ken Cuccinelli is my hero in the Virginia Senate. When Ken first announced his intention to run for attorney general, I wholeheartedly supported that move. Remember though, that was when he was a lone candidate in a field that has since grown by two. Two other excellent candidates have since joined Ken in his quest to be our next attorney general.
Dave Foster is a candidate I could, (and will), support in the future. Dave will someday make a great Lt. Governor candidate, a great AG candidate, or even a great candidate for Governor. But not yet. Not quite. It's not that Dave is not ready. Instead, we as a party are not ready for him.
What I mean by that is the reason that John Brownlee has my enthusiastic support for AG.
My history with John Brownlee goes back to sometime in 2002 when he prosecuted my BOS member. You can read about that here.
There is more to my support for Mr. Brownlee than that though. As early as last Summer John assured me that he would not oppose Bolling for the Governor spot next. He promised to hold out if Bill Bolling decides to run for the governorship after McDonnell.
Our party has a line-up that is pretty much unbeatable for the next 12 years if, and only if, our candidates agree to work together.
On Friday I'll be asking both Dave Foster and Ken Cuccinelli their plans for the future should they win the AG nomination. Their answers will be posted here on Saturday morning.
Until then I don't see anyone persuading me to change from my wholehearted endorsement of John Brownlee.
So there you have it. For what it's worth, I'll be voting Saturday for the following;
Bob McDonnell will be our candidate for Governor. That has been long ago settled.
As delegates, we will have several items to decide. We gotta pick a Lt. Governor candidate. Easy. I'll get to that later.
We need to come together on a choice for Attorney General. This one is a bit tougher, but I'll get to it a bit later too.
And we have to choose a new chairman for the group, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.
The recent L'affaire Frederick being still fresh in everyone's mind, this may be the toughest choice as well as the most important of the weekend. In many ways this one election will set the stage for the future of our party in Virginia. Not only will this be a referendum on which of the two candidates, Pat Mullins or Bill Stanley, will lead our party, this is in many ways a referendum on the vision and leadership of our state central committee.
After dumping Jeff Frederick, in a manner that was widely criticized, the state central committee installed Pat Mullins as chairman. Pat may be a great guy. I don't know. The Virginia political expert I rely on to advise me on such matters does not know him either. He's a local unit chairman in the same congressional district as my expert adviser, but still unknown.
Bill Stanley, on the other hand is also a local unit chairman in my expert's district. I've met Bill Stanley. I don't really know Mr. Stanley. But I've met him, he's very likeable, he's a good conversationalist, and he seems trustworthy.
I've received many emails from Mr. Stanley, I suppose you have too. I've received one mailer from Mr. Mullins. I've also received one mailer from Stanley.
In his emails and mailer Mr. Stanley has outlined many innovative ideas and plans. Mr. Mullins has touted his endorsements. Endorsements are good. I'm essentially putting forth some endorsements here today. I like endorsements.
I like ideas and plans better, though.
Right now I'm leaning hard toward Bill Stanley. Before I can fully endorse him though, I feel it is only right that I actually meet Mr. Mullins. That won't happen until Friday afternoon at the earliest, so I'm tentatively endorsing Bill Stanley for Chairman. If that changes you'll be notified early Saturday before the voting begins. No update will mean that Bill Stanley remains my choice.
Now let's move to the easy choice. Bill Bolling is and will be our next Lt. Governor. I see no point in even mentioning his opponent's name. A solid conservative to the core, Bill, with roots in SWVA and a conservative record in Richmond that is unequalled, will leave the convention with 70 plus percent of the delegate vote. Bill Bolling has a proven record to stand on.
- A 100% pro-family voting record from The Family Foundation
- A 100% pro-life voting record from the Virginia Society for Human Life
- Endorsed by the Virginia Society for Human Life (2005)
- Supported parental notification and consent legislation, a ban on partial birth abortions and higher patient safety standards for abortion clinics
- Cast the tie-breaking vote to deny state funding to Planned Parenthood
- Fought to restore abstinence education funding that Governor Kaine stripped from the budget
- Led the fight to pass the Marriage Amendment
- Has opposed every tax increase proposed by Governors Warner and Kaine
Now the tough one.
No question about it, Ken Cuccinelli is my hero in the Virginia Senate. When Ken first announced his intention to run for attorney general, I wholeheartedly supported that move. Remember though, that was when he was a lone candidate in a field that has since grown by two. Two other excellent candidates have since joined Ken in his quest to be our next attorney general.
Dave Foster is a candidate I could, (and will), support in the future. Dave will someday make a great Lt. Governor candidate, a great AG candidate, or even a great candidate for Governor. But not yet. Not quite. It's not that Dave is not ready. Instead, we as a party are not ready for him.
What I mean by that is the reason that John Brownlee has my enthusiastic support for AG.
My history with John Brownlee goes back to sometime in 2002 when he prosecuted my BOS member. You can read about that here.
There is more to my support for Mr. Brownlee than that though. As early as last Summer John assured me that he would not oppose Bolling for the Governor spot next. He promised to hold out if Bill Bolling decides to run for the governorship after McDonnell.
Our party has a line-up that is pretty much unbeatable for the next 12 years if, and only if, our candidates agree to work together.
On Friday I'll be asking both Dave Foster and Ken Cuccinelli their plans for the future should they win the AG nomination. Their answers will be posted here on Saturday morning.
Until then I don't see anyone persuading me to change from my wholehearted endorsement of John Brownlee.
So there you have it. For what it's worth, I'll be voting Saturday for the following;
- RPV Chairman; Bill Stanley
- Lt. Governor; Bill Bolling
- AG; John Brownlee
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
School's Out For Summer
School's Out For Ever!
Alice Cooper said it in song years ago.
School's not really out forever, but for the next couple of months school's out for me. I'll be working with a couple of students on their summer school courses, and I'll be working on getting our newest campus in Ridgeway Virginia ready for next year. But I'll have much more time for frivolities like blogging in the next few months.
I'll also be launching a new Virginia political magazine this summer. I'm really excited about this new project. Similar in content to Jim Bacon's excellent "Bacon's Rebellion", but going a few steps further, I have high hopes for this new project. I'll keep you updated on the progress here. I have a couple of well known Virginians signed on as regular writers, but I need more. Please contact me if you would like to apply for a liberally unpaid position as a regular columnist.
Alice Cooper said it in song years ago.
School's not really out forever, but for the next couple of months school's out for me. I'll be working with a couple of students on their summer school courses, and I'll be working on getting our newest campus in Ridgeway Virginia ready for next year. But I'll have much more time for frivolities like blogging in the next few months.
I'll also be launching a new Virginia political magazine this summer. I'm really excited about this new project. Similar in content to Jim Bacon's excellent "Bacon's Rebellion", but going a few steps further, I have high hopes for this new project. I'll keep you updated on the progress here. I have a couple of well known Virginians signed on as regular writers, but I need more. Please contact me if you would like to apply for a liberally unpaid position as a regular columnist.
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