A Boston native, a baseball shrine and a baby’s first game are some of the photos in round 2 of the Ultimate Fan contest. Vote for your favorite!
This is a great ad — Reaganesque in more than a few ways. But can former Rep. Anthony Weiner overcome his prior misadventures on Twitter, and the deception he initially engaged in to cover up his sexting? Can he be elected mayor of New York City? That seems like a tough nut in the toughest city in the country.
Republican Lt. Gov. nominee E. W. Jackson with his axe | Courtesy Roanoke Tea Party
The last time we featured Bishop E.W. Jackson on this humble blog, it was as a caption contest back when he was running for the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate from Virginia. I asked you to replace the slogan on the axe and put some thoughts in the clergyman’s head.
We had two winners for that. One was: Axe The Tax, ‘I’m starving,’ by Uptheriver.
Another was TEA PARTY PROPERTY! ‘I’m really the one that’s the tool. Hope they don’t notice,’ by Miriam.
Now that Jackson is the official GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. And the Roanoke Tea Party is taking some credit for that.
And, some of his real-life utterances are getting a lot of press.
Allow me to run down some of his greatest hits:
On the odd and racist notion that black Americans should be counted as 3/5ths of a white person, for census purposes: “The 3/5ths clause was an anti-slavery amendment. Its purpose was to limit the voting power of slave holding states.” Read more »
Roanoke.com
Note from Dan: Al Bedrosian won a drawing this morning that followed a tie in Saturday’s GOP firehouse primary. That makes him the Republican nominee for Roanoke County supervisor from the Hollins District. Because opening prayers at supervisors’ meetings have been debated before the board recently, and because Bedrosian has specifically made that a campaign issue, the following essay he wrote seems relevant. It was published in The Roanoke Times in 2007.
By Al Bedrosian
As a Christian, I think it’s time to rid ourselves of this notion of freedom of religion in America.
Now that I have your attention, let me take a moment to make my case. Freedom of religion has become the biggest hoax placed upon the Christian people and on our Christian nation.
When reading the writings of our Founding Founders, there was never any reference to freedom of religion referring to a choice between Islam, Hindu, Satanism, Wicca and whatever other religions or cults you would like to dream up. It was very clear that freedom to worship meant the freedom to worship the God of the Bible in the way you wanted, and not to have a government church denomination dictate how you would worship. Read more »
Mike Bailey (left) and Al Bedrosian
In case you were napping over the weekend, there was a cliffhanger Republican primary in the Hollins district for the party’s nomination for Roanoke County Supervisor.
Mike Bailey, the former county GOP chairman, tied with Al Bedrosian, whom the Roanoke Tea Party considers a almost the perfect candidate. Bedrosian ran for public office before and one year almost knocked off Del. Dick Cranwell,D-Roanoke County the then-House Majority Leader.
The Bailey-Bedrosian tally was 389-389, and the party is going to resolve the tie at 9:30 Tuesday morning, at the Roanoke County Administration Building, by drawing lots from “a dark bag.” Whichever name is drawn will get the nomination.
Why “a dark bag?” That’s the mystery. The term conjures many images, not least of which is a tool in a magician’s repertoire of gimmicks and trickery. There also are some black magic implications.
Bedrosian, who apparently believes nonChristian faiths should prohibited in the United States, might be unsettled by that. Why not a coin flip? Is that too simple? Would the candidates squabble over who got heads and who got tails?
Jesus, who cares?
Why not a game of rock/paper/scissors? They could video that, which would be a hoot. Or a contest of mumblety peg? Or maybe an arm wrestling match — or mud wrestling!
In the newsroom, we wondered aloud about settling it with a game of Jenga. That was the game Mitt Romney played with his sons on election night back in November, before his campaign came tumbling down.
On this blog, one wag suggested resolving the tie with the game Say’n taters. Don’t ask me what that is. It sounds vaguely dirty.
What about a duel, at 30 paces, in Green Hill Park. The founding fathers were in favor of those. And we know guns are allowed there — remember the picnic last summer by Virginia Citizens Defense League? It’s just that firing guns is unlawful in Green Hill Park. Drat! Maybe they could use paintballs as ammo instead.
The funniest suggestion I heard all day Monday came from a colleague in the newsroom. I’d give him credit, but I’m not sure he wants it. It had a few of us almost on the floor, holding our sides.
“They should have a kid-slapping contest!” he exclaimed. I laughed so hard I got dizzy.
That would be unfair, though. Al Bedrosian, the ex-college bodybuilder and Xerox salesman, is far more experienced at that than Mike Bailey, the milquetoast insurance salesman.I can’t wait to see who wins.
Gov. Bob McDonnell | AP Photo
Mitt Romney passed over Gov. Bob McDonnell as his running mate in the 2012 election, in favor of the Rep. Paul Ryan, a congressman who has a bit more stature than McDonnell in more ways than one.
Then CPAC snubbed the governor by not inviting him to their annual conference of right-wing wackos.
But none of that has dimmed speculation that McDonnell would himself make a run for the top of the GOP ticket in 2016.
Today, more fuel got poured on that fire, when McDonnell’s Opportunity Virginia PAC sent out this email:
“Dear Friend,
Last night The Washington Post released a new Virginia poll.
Read more »
AP Photo from CBS News
Gov. Bob McDonnell has come under all kinds of questioning lately about his relationship to Jonnie Williams, CEO of Star Scientific, a company that makes some kind of nutritional supplement from tobacco. Much of it focuses on the $15,000 in catering Williams covered for the governor’s daughter’s wedding, and the the nettlesome fact that McDonnell initially failed to disclose the gift.
This morning on a Richmond radio station, McDonnell explained why. It was a gift to his daughter — not him! Of course! Why didn’t we realize that before now?
From Roanoke.com:
Gov. Bob McDonnell says he always viewed a $15,000 check from a political backer to pay for catering at his daughter’s wedding to be a gift to his daughter, not to him, and felt no need under the law to report it.
I’m sure the FBI, which is investigating the case, will find this interesting. No doubt they will carefully scrutinize the payee line on that check. While the probe drags on, there’s an important lesson for us all to keep in mind: Invite Jonnie Williams to your daughter’s wedding! You might want to enclose the catering contract with the invitation.
(BTW McDonnell isn’t the only pol facing questions over “gifts” from Jonnie Williams.)
I wonder what Miss Manners would say?
Robertstown, Ga. | Wikimedia Commons
Dan,
I read your article about the Tea Party forum with interest. I also spoke just last night with Joe McNamara about the candidate forum with the Tea Party.
What you may not know is that the current extremist conservative group that controls the Roanoke County Republican Party will not allow ex-members of the Executive Committee back into the party if they believe that they are not conservative enough. The current chairman is professional political staffer who works for Ralph Smith. He is firmly behind this extremist group and their passion and ability to turn out volunteers. Read more »
What the heck has happened to politics in Roanoke County?
For evidence of its depressing state, you need look no further than the Roanoke Tea Party’s forum Thursday night for Republican candidates for the Board of Supervisors.
Tea Party hijinks have more or less driven Republican supervisors Richard Flora and Mike Altizer into announcing their retirements. Now, unfortunately, the Tea Party has hijacked the GOP issues agenda. The result was lots of hot air wasted on things that are part mundane, part insane.
One was the county’s membership in an environmental organization, ICLEI — Local Governments for Sustainability, which has long been thorn with the Tea Party.
Another was whether the county should have wasted taxpayer dollars fighting for unfettered prayer at board meetings. A third was whether restrictions on backyard chickens violated the constitution.
Loony-bin issues are bad enough. But the Roanoke County Democrats seem in even worse shape. Their problem is loony-bin infighting.
A bitter leadership struggle between former party chairman Richard Evans and Brian Lang, the current chairman, has hamstrung the party and dragged it into both civil and criminal court.
READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.
Grafic by Dan
Note from Dan: Some of you will remember the video below, from March 2012, when police in Richmond mistreated women who marched on Capitol Square to protest Virginia Republicans’ “War on Women.” Well, it’s happening again tomorrow, and below, Sally Foster Mullikin tells us a little about it. She’s a Franklin County native who now lives in Richmond, where she’s active in a number of causes.
By Sally Foster Mullikin
Roanoke’s demographics have been forced into the spotlight of Virginia politics. Last year, starting in February, women throughout the State of Virginia and beyond descended on our State Capitol in response to Del. Chris Head’s (R-Roanpoke) co-sponsorship of the Transvaginal Ultrasound bill (along with Lynchburg’s Kathy Byron who drafted and sponsored it).
The women of Virginia were furious over this as well as a personhood bill and many other attempts by the General Assembly to force government into our uteruses. February began with a protest called “Speak Loudly with Silence” where nearly 1500 or more women, men, and children lined the streets of the Capitol from the administration buildings to the house chambers.
My fondest memory was Senator Donald McEachin with tears in his eyes walking the gauntlet of silent protestors saying, “thank you for standing up for your civil rights, God bless you.” After that initial rally, women’s rights supporters picketed the Governors Mansion and ultimately were arrested sitting on the steps of the State Capitol. (The essay continues below the video)
. Read more »
. . . was about the contest for Roanoke City Sheriff. Could either one of these guys get elected dogcatcher these days?
Photographed, and photoshopped, by Dan
