Is Old Virginny Turning Blue?
As Barbra Streisand famously opined in the movie Funny Girl, “ I’d rather be blue, thinking of you….
…than to imagine our beloved Virginia in danger of becoming (hide the kids) a wacko Blue state. But we may as well face up to the sorry facts of the matter, friends. For a year from now we could well be one of them, sloshing right alongside the likes of the New Yorks and Jerseys. That’s when old John Warner’s GOP seat in the U.S. Senate becomes young Mark Warner’s, a cunningly popular and rich Democrat who’s currently predicted to waltz into Washington, along with fellow president-elect _____________. That is, whoever runs for the Dems (except Kucinich); it will turn the whole country Bluer than a blue-tick hound.
How shocking. Or delightful, depending on your political coloration. A few years ago, in the long tradition of rock-solid Redness, we Virginians were a proud leader of the Old South and a huge national majority. State Republicans were riding high on the coattails of Gov. Gilmore and his “no-car-tax” banner.
Noted commentators were brooding over the national prospects of a permanent conservative political majority. Sen. George Allen was eyeing the White House. The maps depicting GOP victories were virtually all Red, with the Blue ones—either by county or state tabulations—appearing like occasional fly-specks on a large, beautiful canvas.
One analyst was happily adding to the mantra of permanence. You see, he explained, Republicans’ families are larger and typically more traditional. They aren’t fractured like the Democrats and their kids grow up more like their parents and adopt healthily conservative views, unlike the wild things spawned in drugged stupors by leftist radicals who forgot to abort them.
Alas, those latter slackjaws have turned out to vote, at least for now, Why? basically I suspect it’s because many Americans truly have come to be a teensy bit unhappy with George Bush
I’ll say. Here’s former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan, a staunch conservative, commenting the other day on George Bush’s administration: “No one wants to have worked for the biggest embarrassment in modern American political history.”
Such stuff is hard to swallow but perhaps true. I could do a little piling on myself, criticizing for instance his blown chance of addressing our illegal immigration problem by first closing the border, or his sucking up to alternative energy nuts like those promoting ethanol and windmills.
However, lest we start writing his obituary prematurely, consider a not totally novel development that might unfold further over the rest of Bush’s term in office.
I’m talking about the war in Iraq. Not many in the mainstream media seem lately to be still digging its grave. Perhaps it’s the dog that doesn’t bark, as a clue to what’s happening there. It’s no stretch to envision we’re reaching a true tipping point now or pretty soon,when it becomes clear that we are succeeding in Iraq.
Out of the question? Not at all. And if that becomes obvious to all—except the antiwar dingbats-- before next Inauguration Day that Bush and the Pentagon actually got it done, then his presidency will have been judged a success. I’m not predicting it, but certainly not ruling it out. Wouldn’t that be something?
Then maybe Virginia’s recently acquired Blue tinge might again become foot-stomping Red before long. And follow Stafford County’s example? Why not? After all, we remain mostly Red, despite the switch of a few county supervisors.
Here those supervisors’ labels don’t mean much anyway. For example, in the previous election in the Griffis-Widewater district, incumbent Jack Cavalier had been depicted as a raging liberal by his conservative Republican opponent, and narrowly won. This time, he was painted as a crusty conservative, and narrowly lost.
Why did he get beat this time? And last time, why did Democrat Kandy Hilliard in the Aquia District similarly get beat? In both cases, labels meant little. To wit: Democrat Bob Woodson beat Cavalier and Republican Paul Milde beat Kandy for the same reason. Both winners had tirelessly knocked on every door they could find in their districts.
But I digress. Beyond the supervisors, all the county’s constitutional officers, all Republicans, again swept, plus our two State delegates, State senator, Sheriff, States attorney, Clerk, Treasurer, Revenue Commissioner, and maybe even the dogcatcher for all I know.
Here’s betting it will happen next time, too, although Stafford might become just a Red speck in a bloody Blue Commonwealth.
…than to imagine our beloved Virginia in danger of becoming (hide the kids) a wacko Blue state. But we may as well face up to the sorry facts of the matter, friends. For a year from now we could well be one of them, sloshing right alongside the likes of the New Yorks and Jerseys. That’s when old John Warner’s GOP seat in the U.S. Senate becomes young Mark Warner’s, a cunningly popular and rich Democrat who’s currently predicted to waltz into Washington, along with fellow president-elect _____________. That is, whoever runs for the Dems (except Kucinich); it will turn the whole country Bluer than a blue-tick hound.
How shocking. Or delightful, depending on your political coloration. A few years ago, in the long tradition of rock-solid Redness, we Virginians were a proud leader of the Old South and a huge national majority. State Republicans were riding high on the coattails of Gov. Gilmore and his “no-car-tax” banner.
Noted commentators were brooding over the national prospects of a permanent conservative political majority. Sen. George Allen was eyeing the White House. The maps depicting GOP victories were virtually all Red, with the Blue ones—either by county or state tabulations—appearing like occasional fly-specks on a large, beautiful canvas.
One analyst was happily adding to the mantra of permanence. You see, he explained, Republicans’ families are larger and typically more traditional. They aren’t fractured like the Democrats and their kids grow up more like their parents and adopt healthily conservative views, unlike the wild things spawned in drugged stupors by leftist radicals who forgot to abort them.
Alas, those latter slackjaws have turned out to vote, at least for now, Why? basically I suspect it’s because many Americans truly have come to be a teensy bit unhappy with George Bush
I’ll say. Here’s former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan, a staunch conservative, commenting the other day on George Bush’s administration: “No one wants to have worked for the biggest embarrassment in modern American political history.”
Such stuff is hard to swallow but perhaps true. I could do a little piling on myself, criticizing for instance his blown chance of addressing our illegal immigration problem by first closing the border, or his sucking up to alternative energy nuts like those promoting ethanol and windmills.
However, lest we start writing his obituary prematurely, consider a not totally novel development that might unfold further over the rest of Bush’s term in office.
I’m talking about the war in Iraq. Not many in the mainstream media seem lately to be still digging its grave. Perhaps it’s the dog that doesn’t bark, as a clue to what’s happening there. It’s no stretch to envision we’re reaching a true tipping point now or pretty soon,when it becomes clear that we are succeeding in Iraq.
Out of the question? Not at all. And if that becomes obvious to all—except the antiwar dingbats-- before next Inauguration Day that Bush and the Pentagon actually got it done, then his presidency will have been judged a success. I’m not predicting it, but certainly not ruling it out. Wouldn’t that be something?
Then maybe Virginia’s recently acquired Blue tinge might again become foot-stomping Red before long. And follow Stafford County’s example? Why not? After all, we remain mostly Red, despite the switch of a few county supervisors.
Here those supervisors’ labels don’t mean much anyway. For example, in the previous election in the Griffis-Widewater district, incumbent Jack Cavalier had been depicted as a raging liberal by his conservative Republican opponent, and narrowly won. This time, he was painted as a crusty conservative, and narrowly lost.
Why did he get beat this time? And last time, why did Democrat Kandy Hilliard in the Aquia District similarly get beat? In both cases, labels meant little. To wit: Democrat Bob Woodson beat Cavalier and Republican Paul Milde beat Kandy for the same reason. Both winners had tirelessly knocked on every door they could find in their districts.
But I digress. Beyond the supervisors, all the county’s constitutional officers, all Republicans, again swept, plus our two State delegates, State senator, Sheriff, States attorney, Clerk, Treasurer, Revenue Commissioner, and maybe even the dogcatcher for all I know.
Here’s betting it will happen next time, too, although Stafford might become just a Red speck in a bloody Blue Commonwealth.
posted by Ben Blankenship at
11:04 AM
