During an 83rd HoD District forum this week, a question about the proposal to privatize Virginia's ABC stores was posed by the moderator. Apparently Dr. Stolle saw this as a teachable moment, decided to violate the "all politics is local" rule, and doing so, his inner Delegate Purkey (R-82nd) emerged.
Stolle launched into an attack against the General Motors bailout, mischaracterizing it as a federal takeover. His "facts" were of the fabric woven by the "entertainers posing as serious political analysts" genre. And his analysis was plain wrong. Further, if you follow his logic, apparently we should dump our mutual funds immediately and the hedge funds must be halted. After all, we aren't getting our proxies from those holdings either. This is the same sort of diatribe you come to expect if you follow Delegate Purkey even casually. He is known for, what should be for Purkey, embarrassingly disconnected tirades. And what was being asked by the moderator was simply not answered at all. He did, however, charge that the money that was pumped into GM has gone into someone's bank account. Someone ought to call the FBI. Neither the question about the principle of state ownership, nor, in the end, the specific question about Virginia’s ownership of the ABC stores was answered.
On the other hand, the incumbent, Delegate Joe Bouchard, answered both portions of the question directly. And, he pointed out that, most recently, privatization of this particular state business, a pet proposal of Republican standard bearer Bob McDonnell, has been blocked by Republican members of the House of Delegates repeatedly.
Invoking national issues in local races isn't getting much traction this year. It was only coincidently beneficial in the previous two cycles because of the overwhelming negatives provided by the Bush administration. This year's negative takes of the national landscape, though strongly held by the ten percenters who rely on “commentary as news,” are not resonating with the general electorate. It didn't resonate with the audience at the candidates forum in the 83rd District, not only because it is not local, but also it is about as relevant as Bob Purkey's 20/20 hindsight critique of the state budget projections or his contemporary criticism of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield divestiture by the state, about which I will write in time. I have suggested to Dr Stolle that his party should muzzle Babbling Bob. Of late, Purkey has been silent in mixed company. Maybe that is inadequate inoculation and they should quarantine him too.
Cross posted at VBDems
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