Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 5. Also see the video of last night's Democratic debate, which I thought was generally excellent, although the moderators asked some silly questions and mostly ignored some really important ones, like the climate crisis.
- Democrats Duel Over Which One Is the Real Progressive (Answer: Of course they're both progressive, although with different skillsets, emphases and degrees of how progressive they are.)
- A Debate Between a Hedgehog and a Fox ("Bernie Sanders doggedly pursued his one big idea about reforming American politics, while Hillary Clinton detailed her many proposals for change." Sanders also has only one foreign policy (non)argument: Clinton voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Lame.)
- Republicans feel the burn — from each other ("After success in Iowa, Cruz and Rubio are exposed to the wrath of their opponents.")
- Krugman: Who Hates Obamacare? ("The truth is that whomever the Democrats nominate, the general election is mainly going to be a referendum on whether we preserve the real if incomplete progress we’ve made on health, financial reform and the environment. The last thing progressives should be doing is trash-talking that progress and impugning the motives of people who are fundamentally on their side.")
- Hillary Clinton will help Democrats move Obamacare forward (Strongly agree.)
- The sexist double standard behind why millennials love Bernie Sanders ("The Vermont senator’s brand of 'authenticity' is off-limits to Hillary Clinton and other female politicians.")
- Insiders: Bernie scored in debate with Wall Street slams ("But 2 out of 3 Democrats in the POLITICO Caucus think Sanders would suffer a landslide defeat as party nominee.")
- The 7 Must-Watch Moments From the Democrats' New Hampshire Debate
- Bernie’s weakness exposed: In most contentious Democratic debate so far, Sanders’ struggles with foreign policy hard to ignore (Sanders simply has little interest in or knowlege of international relations, national security, etc. Not good.)
- Marco Rubio is not a moderate: Yesterday’s Tea Party loon is today’s establishment favorite ("The Beltway media is so hungry for a GOP civil war that it refuses to acknowledge that the crazies have already won")
- Why Did Rubio Attack the President's Mosque Visit? Obama Derangement Syndrome. (And anti-Muslim bigotry, or at the minimum pandering to anti-Muslim bigots. Rubio is appalling.)
- Sullivan: Elect Justice Roush: Respect the Virginia Judiciary and History
- Editorial: Terry McAuliffe's ethics rules turn elastic
- House committee approves state tolling policy, but battle continues over I-66
- Certificate of need reform bills move; heavily lobbied fight rolls on
- Gun rights bill that is part of GOP- McAuliffe deal clears Va. Senate ("Some Democrats registered their displeasure with the bill, which expands concealed-carry rights." Every House Dem should vote against this bad deal.)
- Va. elections board officially repeals loyalty pledge at GOP request
- How abortion opponents secretly bought a Va. abortion clinic to deceive women (Disgusting.)
- Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore not giving up longshot presidential bid (He got 12 votes in Iowa and is at 0%-1% in the polls. Why is he still in this race?!?)
- Legislation advances in Virginia House to base use of school restrooms on anatomical features, not gender identity (How about we base membership in the Virginia General Assembly on the anatomical feature of having a functioning brain, unlike a lot of these anti-LGBT bigots?!?)
- Pipeline erosion control bill swept away in committee (Have I mentioned recently how awful the GOP-controlled Virginia General Assembly is?)
- Bill to require Dominion to move coal ash to landfills fails (Yet again, Dominion demonstrates that it owns our horrible state legislature.)
- Va. House declines campaign finance reform (Shocker. Let the corrupt system roll!)
- Actor George Takei to visit Roanoke in diversity push
- Our view: Oh myyy! How the Takei visit came about
- Lesson learned: Virginia Beach takes hard look at process for developer incentives
- Arlington County Board chair to face challenge in Democratic primary ("Libby Garvey angered Democrats by supporting an independent over a Democrat in the 2014 election." Actually, John Vihstadt is a lifelong Republican, no matter how many times he fallaciously calls himself an "independent.")
- Lynchburg man becomes 5th GOP candidate for Hurt’s seat
- Prosecutor: Va. Tech freshman said she was ‘excited to be part of something secretive’ (Evil.)
- Morning snow quickly departs, leaves behind windy day; Another winter storm threat early next week
