Boo Dem Infighting! Hooray Dem Blogosphere!

Today's non-scandal about Dillard was a very interesting lesson for me about local politics and the blogosphere. I think the incredible speed with which the rumor was raised, debated, and quashed demostrates the power and importance of the blogosphere and the intelligence of the campaigns in picking up the debate and engaging the blogosphere directly. For the first time, I really think the freewheeling nature of the blogosphere needn't become politically correct while politicians can remain so.

I still see big problems and big opportunities this year and next. In retrospect, I think a more progressive Dem than Marsden probably could have won in 2005. I wasn't paying attention at the time; so, I won't opine on what occurred before Marsden was nominated. I do believe that Marsden being not as unacceptable to Republicans as a more progressive Dem would be, combined with Dillard's support for JMDD, helped the Republicans (probably led by Tom Davis) allow Marsden to run unopposed this November. This will hold down turnout and help JMDD.

There's a lot we can do, however, to counter this. Chap being Chap is our biggest weapon. We should act as if Chap needs all the help he can get. I don't know how anyone with a lick of sense who's paying attention can't prefer Chap to JMDD, but, greatly encouraged by Republicans, our fellow eligible voters aren't even registering, let alone voting.

We can even turn this to our advantage, though. Tom Davis thinks he can be elected to the U.S. Senate next year. He knows that to get the Republican nomination, he'll have to act even more like a typical Virginia Republican and not just another Fairfax County insider. We have to, and I think we can easily, make the case that JMDD is just a local version of Tom. A democracy hating, greedy phony who doesn't really care about representing us, doesn't really share our values, and, because she's been part of the problem for so long, has next to no chance of being part of our badly needed solutions.

Let's keep our eyes on the prizes and defeat JMDD this year and maybe we can easily capture both a House and Senate seat next year.

Put Them Out of Our Misery

Tom Davis' prominent place in the new report by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on Members of Congress paying money and steering benefits to family members (see Andrea Chamblee's latest great analysis over at RK and elsewhere) stands as another straw on our camel's back. As Alice Marshall pointed out the other day at GOTV, Davis has added far right Bushian authoritarianism to his corruption in threatening to subpoena Valerie Plame. And, it's almost impossible to understand Davis' defending Lurita Doan, a person that even Bush's own appointee found to have broken the law and recommended that she be fired.

It seems more and more likely that Tom Davis has seen the writing on wall as far as his future representing CD-11 is concerned. An intriguing post at Rudeclerk (a site I just discovered today) suggests that had the Dems been more united and supportive, Andy Hurst would have done even better than he did and may have won. I think the late breaking and surprising Dem wave last year was realized too late to help Andy. In fact, I think that if the wave had come earlier and been more appreciated here, the Dem establishment might have pushed a more well known and experienced candidate.

One last tidbit of info, take it for what it's worth - I've heard unconfirmed rumors that Davis has lucrative private sector opportunities awaiting his retirement from public life.

Given all the above and given that Davis can wait until after this November to announce his intentions as far as his House seat goes, it really does seem that Davis might try for John Warner's Senate seat if Warner retires, and, even if Warner doesn't retire, Davis might be seriously considering not running for re-election.

If Davis has given up on his CD-11 constituents, why should we have to put up with his wife for another four years, especially when we have a far superior option in Chap Petersen?

I don't know which Dems will run for CD-11 next year. I've heard Connolly. I've heard Byrne. Hurst may try again. We're quite lucky in that, as in the case of the leading Dems for President, all of the above are way better than Davis or anyone the GOP is likely to nominate.

I say let's help Tom Davis make up his mind by demonstrating this year what we think of him. Vote for Chap this November. We'll get a better state Senator, and we'll tell Tom Davis that we're sick of him and his sordid baggage (and, no I'm not calling Jeannemarie baggage. Sordid, on the other hand,....).

are cooler heads prevailing?

A big shout out to NLS and RK, who, in recent posts, have had nice things to say about Linda Smyth, RK, in particular given its big disappointment last Tuesday.

RK should also be commended for raising the number one issue, the Iraq war, in connection with local politics. Via RK, I've learned of a coalition called No Iraq Escalation, which, last Thursday, announced a summer campaign to target Republican Members of Congress, including our very own Tom Davis. They hope to pressure the Members to reverse their stands in support of the Bush Administration's war "policies." You can be sure I've already alerted them to the great leverage they can exercise this year on Tom Davis, because his wife is trying to hang on to her seat.

Don't DeBaise Yourself. Vote Democratic.

Let's take the energy from our schadenfreude and turn it to our political advantage. If the bad guys whine about politicizing, let's never let the public forget that good government is in all our interests, and our candidates are the good government candidates.

Bush, Cheney, Rove and the rest came to town in 2001 with dollar signs in their eyes. Crooks like Abramoff were waiting to help them cash in, of course, excited to skim a bit off the top for themselves. It's so obvious that Norton, Griles, and Federici never gave a damn about the environment. If Baise didn't know that, he's too stupid to be County Board Chairman. If he did know that, he's too corrupt to be County Board Chairman. Connolly ought to win in a romp.

I'm more interested in whether the Abramoff taint that's all over Baise has also touched Tom Davis. Even if he isn't directly connected, how can Tom Davis as one of the heads, if not the head, of the Fairfax County Republicans not be compelled to make Baise come clean or withdraw from the race? And if Tom doesn't speak up, it's reasonable to ask his wife what she thinks. Every day the Davises don't demand their own party clean up its act, it's fair to conclude that such a purge would implicate themselves.

just 'cause I haven't posted in a while

Today, Tony Snow looks almost exactly like Max Headroom.

Now that it looks like Bush stashed his watch in his pocket, and it wasn't stolen in Europe, should those Europeans be insulted that Bush thought someone might have stolen it?