The Republican candidate challenging Delegate Joe Bouchard (VA-83rd) went to the Senator Tex Wagner (VA-7th) trough of energy and economic obfuscation once too often and ran smack into reality. The GOP is a party that decries the deficiency of public education all the while playing games with numbers and facts.
Having backed away from his earlier position that the Navy has no issue with drilling in the Virginia Capes, Stolle thought he had found a comfortable tact by leading with the Navy's cordiality and extending that to the illogical conclusion of an agreement to drill. In response to a question about offshore drilling this week at a forum sponsored by Lynnhaven River NOW, he wove a fanciful tale that implies Navy acquiescence, followed by exploration, discovery of a substantial hydrocarbon deposit, and delivery of sustainable jobs. However, schemes such as these do not survive the light of day well. And, purposefully avoiding the intellectual rigor of seeking the facts prior to developing conclusions, he assumed that Delegate Bouchard would stand by while he offered up a Wagnerian slight of hand.
Bottom line: get your facts or someone else will. Bouchard has always had them and he offered them up to you right there. As it turns out, before the forum, I mentioned to Dr. Stolle that Rear Admiral Metz, USN (Ret) recently complained that only a couple of Republican locals ever take him up on his offer to discuss Navy issues. Dr. Stolle was not on Metz's list of those who had. However, knowing that contacting the Department of the Navy would not yield an outcome appropriate to support his position, I doubt that Metz or the Navy (or NASA, for that matter) will be hearing from him. But here are a couple of other suggestions to buttress the argument: identify oil companies that list offshore leaseholds off Virginia at the top of their bidding/exploration priorities; get commitments from drilling companies (real ones with earnest money, not red herrings) to locate construction and maintenance facilities in Hampton Roads; find industries that will locate on the Virginia Eastern Shore to replace the economic engine equal to the loss of the NASA facility. Those would be facts appropriate to the argument. Numbers (all of them), not nuance. Facts (both sides), not fancy.
Cross posted at VBDems
Blue Virginia
