Why in Virginia, Federal is a 4-Letter Word

Yesterday, Democrats across the Commonwealth herded to churches, elementary schools, and all manner of polling places to choose the rest of Terry McAuliffe's ticket. 

Ralph Northam's hard swing to the left paid off, he should probably send a thank you card to E.W. Jackson for a very nice push near the finish line. Jackson's questioning of Chopra's knowledge of the now-infamous Federal PRISM program was an important step to defeating the former Federal Chief Technology Officer. Jackson's recent ad slammed Chopra for his ties to the Obama administration and the proverbial scandal fountain that has erupted at the White House in recent weeks.

Jackson may have uncovered a key advantage here, knocking Chopra based on his Washington past. Virginia voters showed a bias (the correct one, I would argue). They are suspicious of ties to big greasy Washington politics. They're worried about the tactics that those federal ties bring into the election. Of course, knowing that, their choice for a gubernatorial candidate now makes zero sense.

Instead, Dems turned to a pair of state senators. Northam's no fed, but he did have to swing pretty far to the left to convince some skeptical money-trees on the left (see: Planned Parenthood and the Washington Post) that he will be a photo-negative of the conservative GOP ticket this year.

Mark Herring edged out prosecutor Justin Fairfax, even in his home county (insert pun here) for the AG nod as well. Herring, a Loudoun native, was not expected to carry Fairfax County, which was by and away the largest voting force in this election, covering almost fifteen percent of the total votes in the race. But he took it by a pretty comfortable 1,564 votes.

Yesterday showcased a bit of the sweat that Dems are putting on the Lieutenant Governor's office in this election particularly. Northam presiding over the split senate could be the last ray of sunshine to Dems fed up with the solidly red House and the prospect of Ken Cuccinelli behind the desk of the Governor.

But the real mystery of the Democratic primary...where were they? Turn-out at primaries is generally low thanks to an apathetic populace, but state-wide less than 140,000 votes were cast in the Attorney General contest. That's roughly two and a half percent of Virginia's registered voters. The LG race only came in a few thousand higher.

Where are the blue tides that Obama rode to victory last year? Have their dreams of hope and change abated? Are they inclined to reasonable thought now that they know their fearless leader listens to their conversations too? Are the Dems fed up with their choices? Either way, an apathetic and divided Democratic party can only mean good things for Cuccinelli, Jackson, and Obenshain in the fall.

VA GOP Caucus

vagopcaucus.blogspot.com

Megyn Kelly Reminds Us, Republican and Sexist are not Synonyms

It is not often that pen gets put to paper here and it is not about something negative that has bubbled its way forth to my attention. Last week there was an excellent segment on the news that I would like to call attention to...

Megyn Kelly featured pundit Erick Erickson, of the (admittedly Republican, but that's not the point) blog RedState. Erick was defending a stance against working mothers; arguing that it is natural for the female of a species to be "submissive" and that the male of the species was the protector and provider.

Don't mention that to her

Ms. Kelly's remarks are a reminder that successful women are not necessarily the wilting flowers that Dem Terry McAuliffe would like you to believe they are, and illustrates that McAuliffe is trying to play Virginia's women to win the governorship.

The story  was referring to these new statistics. They have found that 40% of females are now the breadwinners in their homes. Erickson was in the middle of a poorly-reasoned argument that gender roles are not interchangeable (well, that's what he was trying to say anyway) and tumbled down the road to damn-near-misogyny. Kelly took Erickson's pseudo-science to the net,

"In this country in the ’50s and ’60s there were huge numbers of people that … said it was science and fact if you were the child of a black father and white mother or vice versa you were inferior and not set up for success. Tell that to Barack Obama." 

"Why is this important?" you may ask. Well, it really is heartening to see a strong Republican woman who is standing up to idiotic and archaic absolutes of gender roles without someone dropping misplaced blame at the feet of conservatism. 

The backdrop of this campaign in the Commonwealth, and Terry McAuliffe's underhanded half-truthing antics make for a lot of misdirection and smoke-and-mirrors for Virginia's women. This is the Terry McAuliffe who left his newborn and recovering wife in the car and ditched her on the way to the hospital BOTH so he could collect a check . Oh, he also got kicked out of the delivery room in 1993 for yelling at the doctor about healthcare reform.

Terry McAuliffe's respect for women only reaches the exact distance to the bank; naturally, he wants to demonize his opponent. 

Terry would have you believe that Ken Cuccinelli and all Republicans behind him are cackling boogeymen, come to take away the Nineteenth Amendment and cast us all into the Dark Ages! That is false.

This is the perfect illustration to respond to the tripe that the McAuliffe campaign is spewing about the Attorney General waging a war on women. Republican and sexist are not synonyms and that is not always acknowledged in less-than-sportsman-like Dem campaigns. Megyn Kelly has reminded us of that.

Ken Cuccinelli is no more fighting a war on women than Megyn Kelly is. Terry and the Democratic party are trying to play those women for chumps by saying so. That tired old rhetoric out of the 19-whatever Democratic campaign book is getting old and no one believes it anymore.

VA GOP Caucus

vagopcaucus.blogspot.com