Video: Meet the Abortion, Sex-Obsessed Teapublicans Who Nominated Cuccinelli, Jackson, Obenshain

Thanks to Ben "Not Larry Sabato" Tribbett; here's some more fascinating video - which I've summarized with a few illustrative quotes - from the Virginia Republican Party Convention a few weeks ago. Just remember, these are the (extreme, sex-and-abortion-obsessed people) who nominated Ken Cuccinelli, EW Jackson and Mark Obenshain. After watching this video, I think you'll understand why they did! *"I'm not a big fan of contraception, frankly...pretty soon I guess we'll hand [morning-after pills] out to babies." *"Millions and millions of babies that are being murdered, slaughtered." *"These are people who chose to take human life for a living..." *"It's the abortion issue, it's the mass slaughter of innocent children that I believe that EW and Cuccinelli as well are against." *"One thing...would be to ensure that there's never any funding for Planned Parenthood or for any type of family planning clinics in Virginia...I think that's something, if we do elect a Republican Lt. Governor, we would be able to perhaps get that through." *"...our state is very supportive of the foundation of marriage being between one man and one woman." *"EW Jackson...is truly Obama's worst nightmare." *EW Jackson is "not offended by color issues." *"Northern Virginia ought to be cut off from the state."

Two Virginia Republican Women Blast Cuccinelli, Jackson, Obenshain: "This is the worst ticket EVER!

I just got off a conference call with former Republican and Independent Delegate Katherine Waddell, and former President of the Virginia Federation of Republican Women Jan Schar, responding to yesterday's Politico article, Ken Cuccinelli suggested Planned Parenthood is racist. As that article reported, Cuccinelli "made reference to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, who's sometimes accused of racist motivations for building clinics in low-income and black areas of the country."Actually, Cooch didn't just make "reference" to Sanger, he specifically endorsed the crazy conspiracy theory regarding "Margaret Sanger's letters about the Harlem Project, and what she wanted to do," namely placing "abortion clinics" in African American neighborhoods - for nefarious ends (e.g., "eugenics"). What I find particularly fascinating - and outrageous, unacceptable, crazy, etc. - is how similar Ken Cuccinelli's rhetoric is to his running mate E.W. Jackson's, both in terms of the crazy conspiracy theories, and also in suggesting that women's health care provider Planned Parenthood is somehow a racist organization! On the conference call, former Delegate Waddell (R/I) decried Cuccinelli's "dangerous...anti-woman health agenda."  According to Waddell, we haven't even "scratched the surface of how extreme Ken Cuccinelli is." She says it make "absolutely no sense to accuse Planned Parenthood of being a racist organization; it's an organization which brings much needed health care to many." "But then again," Waddell added, "nothing about the Republican Party these days makes any sense." Waddell said she's "completely embarrassed and mortified by the Republican ticket of Cuccinelli and Jackson," asking, "What are they thinking?" In Waddell's view, "This is the worst ticket ever." The bottom line, in Waddell's view, is that Ken Cuccinelli's and EW Jackson's "outrageous conspiracy theories about Planned Parenthood...[are] not a mainstream position within the Republican Party, nor is it something that Virginians want their next governor to make a priority." The problem is, "Cuccinelli and Jackson will leave no stone unturned in their mission to take constitutional rights away from women...even if it means resorting to racially insensitive fear mongering."  In the end, according to Waddell, we "simply cannot and will not allow these men to take control of to the government of Virginia." Jan Schar said she was "extremely disappointed that the Republican Party of Virginia has seen fit to nominate three candidates of such extreme ideology...[with] a preoccupation with things that are not important to Virginians on a daily basis." Schar added that although she's been a Republican for years, "I simply cannot support them," as they'd "end a woman's right to make her own health care choices, including access to birth control." Even worse, Schar continued, "to think that they'd attack Planned Parenthood, which does so much good for women in Virginia" (e.g., mammograms, cervical cancer checks, "all forms of women's health care")..."to call them a racist group is simply beyond the pale and hopefully will frighten Virginians from voting for them."  As with Waddell, Schar warned: "This team of three would take us back to their ideology," they "won't leave their political ideology at the front door of the Attorney General's office...or the Governor's office." She concluded that all this "concerns me greatly," and that "I know so many Republicans who just can't support [this ticket]." Let's hope.

"Can You Still Win an Election If You're Against Gay People?"

Can you still win an election if you're against gay people? It's an important question for Virginia this year. ... "Even those people who are, based on their faith, against homosexuality, they do not want someone who is going to legislate based on hate toward any group," said Mo Elleithee, a Democratic consultant and a veteran of Virginia politics. "It is disqualifying. Nothing else he says is ever going to be heard."The campaign for lieutenant governor is a good test case in a purple state, but it's not perfect. Jackson, who is black, also compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan and suggested that President Obama holds a Muslim worldview-meaning that he'll not only be labeled antigay, he'll also be labeled as an extremist. Some Republicans continue to believe that although he faces a daunting challenge, Jackson could still win. And Republicans and Democrats agree that even if Jackson, whose invective personally maligns the gay community, loses in November, opposition to gay marriage will still remain politically viable. Also note that Ari Fleischer, who was George W. Bush's press secretary, tweeted, "Jackson's antigay slurs are indefensible." The question is, are there enough Virginia Republicans and independents who will refuse to vote for an ant-gay bigot in the year 2013? If so, then that pretty much eliminates not just EW Jackson, but also his ticketmates Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Obenshain (note the Human Rights Campaign called this ticket "rabidly anti gay," and they're right). Regarding Cuccinelli, there's a massive amount of evidence that he's a homophobic bigot. For now, I'll just quote the Virginian Pilot, which wrote that Cuccinelli: ...declined to commit to a nondiscrimination policy against gays and lesbians observed by former Attorney General Bob McDonnell: "My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They're intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law based country it's appropriate to have policies that reflect that... They don't comport with natural law. I happen to think that it represents (to put it politely; I need my thesaurus to be polite) behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society."To put it politely, Cuccinelli's election would bring embarrassment to Virginia, instability to the state's law firm and untold harm to the long list of people who don't fit his personal definition of morality. Yep, that just about sums it up.Finally, as for Mark Obenshain, he walked out of the chamber rather than vote on Judge Tracy Thorne-Begland's confirmation, simply because Thorne-Begland is openly gay. Also, Equality Virginia gave Obenshain a ZERO rating in 2012, and an also abysmal 25% rating in 2013. Any further questions about this anti-gay ticket from hell?

Dems Fighting Over Guns...In 2009 and 2013

As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And in the case of Virginia Democratic, statewide primary candidates fighting over guns, the saying certainly applies. Thus: Four years ago, almost to the day, we had Moran Hits Deeds Hard on Guns, Moran Calls Deeds' Gun Views "Very Extreme" and McAuliffe Goes Off On Deeds and Guns. Ah, the good ol' days. :)And today? Well, I just received not one but TWO mailers from the Aneesh Chopra for LG campaign, calling out Ralph Northam for gun votes he's taken. See here and here for one of those mailers. I also received an email this morning from "Mathews County School Board Member, Member of the Democratic Party of Virginia First Congressional District Committee, former Mathews County Democratic Committee chairman, Democratic activist, and small business owner, Jen Little," announcing "today that she is pulling her endorsement of Aneesh Chopra for lieutenant governor due to direct mail pieces distributed by the Chopra campaign that depict Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) as a supporter of the NRA, thus a supporter of gun violence." My view on all this? Three points. First, primaries are about choices, and it is totally legitimate - I'd actually argue that it should be the core of any campaign - to inform voters both of your positions, as well as how they differ from one's opponent's votes on important issues. Second, in doing so, I believe those "compare and contrast" ads need to be accurate. In the case of Chopra's ads, you can check Northam's 2012 votes on SB4 ("Castle Doctrine"), HB22 (gun buy-back programs), and SB67(concealed handgun permits/fingerprinting requirements) for yourself. My main issue with Chopra's ad is that the "Castle Doctrine" is not the same thing as "Stand Your Ground" laws (although one could argue that they are related), and I personally wouldn't have brought up the Trayvon Martin case in this context. Other than that, though, I see no problem with pointing out someone's actual votes on the issues (or, in Northam's case, if he wants to point out something from Chopra's record when he worked for the Kaine and/or Obama administrations). Finally, I believe that the chips will fall where they may in this exchange; ergo, if Democratic primary voters don't agree with Sen. Northam's votes, they will probably be less likely to vote for him. On the other hand, if Democratic primary voters mostly agree with Northam's votes (or feel that Northam's views on guns have shifted more to their liking in recent months), or if they don't feel strongly about the votes, or if they believe that Chopra's campaign has been too "negative" or whatever, it could backfire on Chopra and actually help Northam (and note that the Northam folks have been responding vigorously, using surrogates like Sen. Barbara Favola and also their own email list, so they clearly see this as a threat). In the end, I have no idea how this will play out, but I guess we'll find out in two weeks. Stay tuned!

Winners and Losers: RPV 2013 Convention

This is not a comprehensive list, just a few "winners" and "losers" that jumped out at me from the Republican Party of Virginia's 2013 convention a little over a week ago (feels like an eternity, though, doesn't it?). Enjoy!Winners 1. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor (Aneesh Chopra or Ralph Northam). With the RPV convention picking lunatic/extremist EW Jackson, it now looks like whoever gets the Democratic LG nod should cruise to victory in November. 2. The rest of the Democratic ticket. Bottom line: Republicans just nominated an extreme ticket that is far, far out of the mainstream of Virginia public opinion on issue after issue. Frankly, if we can't beat these wackos, it will only be because we run incompetent/inept campaigns. Because the fact is, Republicans just handed Democrats a huge gift, on a silver platter, and all that good stuff. Now we've got to take advantage of it. 3. The 8,041 (down to something like 4,745 by the last ballot) hard-core right wingers who got their way at the convention. Of course, the victory might very well be a pyrrhic one, but for the time being, it's still a victory. 4. Teiro Cuccinelli. I'm told that her ad was aired over and over at the convention as time filler when the "organizers" (using the word very loosely) couldn't get their act together. 5. John Fredericks. His predictions may have been way off (see "losers" on the "flip"), but I'll give him tremendous credit for live broadcasting the entire convention, filling the air entertainingly for hours while pretty much nothing happened, and for being enjoyable to listen to even if I didn't agree with him. 6. Ben Tribbett. Not only did he provide astute, accurate analysis and predictions on John Fredericks' broadcast, he also conducted a bunch of video interviews, had a camera crew shooting video of the speeches, and basically set the gold standard for how to cover a state party convention.

lowkell :: Winners and Losers: RPV 2013 Convention

Mixed 1. Rob Bell: Yeah, he lost. But he BARELY lost to Mark Obenshain, even with the last-minute endorsement by Ken Cuccinelli of Obenshain. 2. Mark Obenshain: Yeah, he won. But he BARELY won, even with the last-minute endorsement of Ken Cuccinelli. To put it mildly, not exactly a show of strength among core party activists. "Meh" at best. 3. Bill Bolling: He's got to be laughing his butt off about this, as he was 100% correct that the results of a convention would be disastrous. Do moral victories count in politics? Well, Bill Bolling still won't be governor, but it's quite possible that his hated rival, Ken Cucinelli, won't be either.Losers 1. Ken Cucinelli. Whatever he hoped to gain coming out of this convention, it looks like it didn't work. Since then, media coverage has been focused almost totally on the insanity and extremism of EW Jackson - and to a lesser extent, Mark "Make Miscarriage Illegal" Obenshain. Now, the question for Cuccinelli is whether he can get back to his variant on Bob McDonnell's 2009 strategy, which was to focus on jobs and the economy, even with two outspoken wackos on the ticket with him. Good luck with that, I guess, but meanwhile, Virginia Democrats are savoring every minute of it! 2. Tom and Jeannemarie Davis. I never understood why they thought that formerly liberal/moderate Republican Jeannemarie had a snowball's chance in hell of winning at a convention composed of the hardest of hard core right wingers. I figured that Tom Davis was an astute political analyst and must know something I didn't know. Instead, it was a total debacle. Not only did Jeannemarie get humiliated, she then endorsed the lunatic EW Jackson - the candidate who's arguably furthest from her ideologically - apparently out of spite. In sum: no clue, no class, no political future for the Davises. 3. Democracy. As I wrote in my live blog of the convention: "pproximately 8,000 Republican delegates now voting to nominate their LG and AG candidates. To put that in perspective, in June 2009, Democrats saw 319,168 voters turn out in their primary for gov, LG, and AG. In 2005, Republicans had 175,170 voters turn out in their statewide primary. So, by moving to a convention, Republicans have reduced the number of voters selecting their nominees by about 95%. Congratulations, guys, that's real dedication to democracy and grassroots politics right there! (snark)" 4. Pete Snyder: I was thinking about putting Snyder in the "mixed" category, but Ben Tribbett's post on the crazy/absurd amount of money Snyder spent ($644.48 per vote; the equivalent of around $30 million to win 50,000 votes, as Aneesh Chopra or Ralph Northam will need to win the Democratic primary on June 11) convinced me to move him to "loser" status. Also, the bottom line is that despite all that money (who knew bbq could be so freakin' expensive?!?) he spent, Snyder lost the nomination to loony-tunes EW Jackson, who spent 9% as much money per vote as Snyder. Great bang for the buck there by Snyder, huh? (not) Making matters worse, there was a LOT of controversy coming out of the convention concerning who did what exactly in terms of (claimed) endorsements in the closing minutes (specifically, Snyder was reported to have claimed an endorsement by Corey Stewart, which Stewart responded to by parading around the convention with EW Jackson, hands raised in the air). Still, Snyder is (possibly) alive politically, obviously hoping - not completely without merit - for a total EW Jackson meltdown that forces him from the ticket, one way or the other. At that point, Snyder would probably be on the short list to replace Jackson. At least, Snyder hopes that's the case... 5. RPV Chair Pat Mullins. Seriously? That's the best you could do organizing a convention? The thing starts an hour late, there aren't enough machines to read ballots, and you end up with interminable (and inexcusable) delays for hour after hour, as nearly half the delegates - bored out of their minds, restless, throwing paper airplanes around the convention center - say "we're outta here" before the final ballot. Then, you end up with the nomination of a complete freak as your LG candidate. Total, spectacular #FAIL on all levels. 6. Bob McDonnell. Weighed down by scandal, he couldn't even manage to get his hand-picked heir apparent nominated for governor, as they had agreed to in 2009. Then, he was widely criticized at the convention for his transportation package, which right wingers see as a massive tax increase, sellout of wingnut principles, blah blah blah. Finally, the nomination of EW Jackson reduces McDonnell's chances of even seeing a Republican succeed him as governor. Not a good day for Bob McDonnell, all things considered - and certainly not how he ever wanted this to play out. 7. Republican bloggers' and commentators' convention predictions. Let's start with the final Bearing Drift "Big Line" forecast for Lt. Governor. Go down that list: they were wrong, and in many cases wildly wrong, on just about everything. Let's start with the one they got right: Steve Martin, who was eliminated in the first wrong. The problem is, the other candidate eliminated in the first round was Jeannemarie Davis, who Bearing Drift predicted would "have a strong showing this Saturday." Suuuuure...I guess if you define "strong" as getting unceremoniously booted in the first round of balloting. On the other end was the prediction that Pete Snyder was the front runner, by a wide margin. Instead, in the first round of balloting, Snyder finished fourth, behind Corey Stewart. With regard to Stewart, Bearing Drift had him barely ahead of Steve Martin, having supposedly just completed the "most poorly run campaign in VA history." Instead, Stewart made it into the final three, just barely behind Pete Snyder (both Stewart and Snyder were wayyyy behind EW Jackson). Oh, and with regard to Jackson, Bearing Drift had him just 1 point ahead of Jeannemarie Davis, and behind both Scott Lingamfelter and Pete Snyder. Nice job. Let's not just pick on Bearing Drift, though, as conservative radio talk show host John Fredericks' predictions were off base all day regarding the LG race. Basically, Fredericks kept arguing that there was NO WAY that EW Jackson would get more than 50% of the vote (wrong!). He also kept stating that Ken Cuccinelli didn't want Jackson and would/should throw his weight behind Pete Snyder. So much for any of that. Note that Fredericks was mostly conducting this argument with Ben Tribbett, whose predictions were highly accurate (he basically called it for Jackson way before the end) the entire day. Also, remember that right-wing pundits and bloggers were the same people who were confident that Mitt Romney and George Allen would win last November. Heck, Pete Snyder and his closest blogosphere allies were predicting that wildly false outcome (as were Dick Morris, Karl Rove, etc.) up until the last minute. Must have been those "skewed" polls, huh? ;) So...how are President Romney and Senator Allen doing these days? LOL P.S. Why anyone who denies overwhelming scientific and empirical evidence would be taken seriously about anything - on any subject - is beyond me.

Video: Del. Brink, Del. Hope Mock Cuccinelli over "Liberty Pie", Opposing Public Swimming Pools

Sorry for the rough audio quality at times; the wind was blowing hard at Upton Hills Park in Arlington this morning, and it messed big time with my built-in mic. So...here's a partial transcript of what Delegates Bob Brink and Patrick Hope had to say this morning about Ken Cuccinelli, the "liberty pie," and his opposition to public swimming pools and recreation facilities on this Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Del. Brink:

Now, not everybody looks forward to this weekend as much as we do. For Ken Cuccinelli, this weekend is not about being able to cool off at the local pool, it's the threat to liberty that he believes public pools pose. That's right; the Republicans have nominated a candidate for governor who looks at a public pool and doesn't see a fun place for his kids to hang out in the summer. As we learn from his book...he sees tragic government overreach that..."crowds out private business" and "shrinks the liberty pie." Now, we might find it a little nutty that somebody would think public pools are a threat to liberty, but it's...the same mindset led Ken Cuccinelli to write in his book that Social Security and Medicare are "goodies that bad politicians created to make people dependent on government"...Now, don't think that Ken Cuccinelli is against the use of government power across the board. Unfortunately, the only times Ken Cuccinelli seems interested in the power of government is when he can use it to force his agenda into Virginian's personal lives. Government power was ok with him when he bullied the Virginia Board of Health into passing regulations that threaten to close women's health clinics across the Commonwealth...and when he tried to bully our state universities into doing away with policies that protect gay and lesbian students and staff from discrimination. So here's the Cuccinelli rule: it's ok to use government to intrude into personal lives, in order to threaten, in order to intimidate. But if government provides a place for people to enjoy themselves on a hot summer day, it's a threat to the liberty pie. So this weekend as Virginians head to public pools...we hope they'll consider for a moment what kind of governor they want for them and their families. And I hope they'll join use in helping to keep Ken Cuccinelli from becoming the Grinch who stole summer.

Patrick Hope:

...Virginians across the state will flock to swimming pools just like the one behind me, and community centers...Public pools are a safe place for kids to enjoy the summer away from school. Communities rely on facilities just like this one, and we see it as a public good. But not Ken Cuccinelli. In his book...Cuccinelli attacked public pools such as the one here, saying they are a threat to private pools and that they make the liberty pie somehow smaller. I guess he would rather see only those with country club memberships to have access to swimming pools... I think we may be seeing a glimpse of just how Ken Cuccinelli, if elected governor, will pay for his plan to cut taxes. You see, by shifting the tax burden over to localities, he may force them to only fund essential services...Virginians are smart enough to see through these kinds of policies that aren't about the public good at all or what's in the public interest; it's apparently what's in Ken Cuccinelli's interest. I don't want to turn Virginian into a state only where those who can afford it...[can] have access to our swimming pools...Enjoy the summer, enjoy the safety and security that are offered by your local swimming pools, while you still can.

P.S. Major Arlington local media #FAIL on this one; I was the only reporter there (although at the end of the statements, someone from Channel 4 finally showed up, said a reporter was coming in 1/2 hour). No Sun Gazette, Patch, etc. WTF? And they wonder why the traditional media's not doing so well these days?

Video: Close Cuccinelli Aide, RPV Treasurer: "I'm not a big fan of contraception, frankly"

A few things you need to know as you watch this fascinating NLS interview (great job by Ben Tribbett, by the way...can't wait to see what else he came up with at the RPV freak show...er, convention). First, Bob Fitzsimmonds is not some random guy, but the treasurer of the Republican Party of Virginia who served as Ken Cuccinelli's legislative aide in the Senate for most of Cuccinelli's time there, and who is still a very close ally and adviser to Cuccinelli. Second, following President Obama's reelection this past November, Fitzsimmonds wrote on his Facebook page, "When Obama is 90 years old and he dies and goes to Hell, he is going to say 'This is all Bush's fault.'" At the time, DPVA Chair Brian Moran said, "Taking to Facebook to muse on the death of the President of the United States and whether or not he will go to hell is well below the standard of conduct Virginians set for their public officials and political leaders." Finally, note that in the interview, Fitzsimmonds says a few...uh, "interesting" things. And again, keep in mind that this guy is a VERY close adviser to Ken Cuccinelli (and would be powerful in a Gov. Cuccinelli administration). 1. Starting at 7:45, Fitzsimmonds starts ranting about sex education and "the spread of STDs." He claims that "HIV's kind of hard to catch, abortion happens if you get pregnant, but we're on the trajectory for 50% of the American people to have herpes...and that is a profound not only health but sociological crisis that's facing this country, and it's not even as prevalent as HPV." Fitzsimmonds adds, "we have a disease [HPV] out there that's killing women more than HIV is, and we don't even talk about it." Hmmm...actually we do talk about vaccinating young people against HPV (see this video of Del. Patrick Hope, for instance) but isn't Cuccinelli against that? 2. Starting at 9:10, Fitzsimmonds claims, "We have an entire generation of children who are in their teens, 50% of the ones that are sexually active have an STD...we never lived with this kind of crisis; so I think we absolutely have to address that, and I think Ken will do it." Alrighty then. 3. Starting at 11:50, he talks about his 501c(3) waiting for approval from the IRS; "it doesn't say 'Tea Party" in the name, but it does say 'Christian abstinence.'" Yep, that's apparently Fitzsimmond's big thing: "Christian abstinence." Is that what the people of Virginia want in their governor? I guess we're going to find out. 4. Starting at 13:30 he says, "I'm not a big fan of contraception, frankly...I think there are some issues with giving morning-after pills to 12 year olds, and pretty soon I guess we'll hand them out to babies, I don't know." Giving out morning-after pills to babies - hahahahaha, very funny. That WAS meant as a "joke," right? Wow. By the way, these are just excerpts, I encourage you to watch the entire video. It's an eye opener into Ken Cuccinelli's thinking, and to use Fitzsimmond's words in a different context: "it's chilling, it's scary."

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Executive Director, Sen. Mark Herring Blast Obenshain's Miscarriage Bill

The following videos (here and on the "flip") are from last night's NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia forum in Alexandria. The following videos are of NARAL Executive Director Tarina Keene and Virginia's next Attorney General, State Senator Mark Herring (with a sterling 100% pro-choice record), blasting GOP Attorney General nominee Mark Obenshain's 2009 proposed legislation to essentially criminalize miscarriages (forcing women to report them within 24 hours, have police come out to the woman's home, take a report, and investigate the "evidence"). As Keene put it, Obenshain's bill would have made "every woman of reproductive age as a suspect." Keene also reminds everyone that Obenshain's "ridiculous" legislation was first introduced back in 2005 by Del. Cosgrove, who withdrew the bill after a tremendous backlash (including by fellow Virginia progressive blogger Maura Keaney). Apparently, Mark Obenshain - with his pathetic, ZERO rating on choice - never learns. Sen. Herring added that what Obenshain (who "has a long record of anti-choice legislation") did with the miscarriage bill was "fundamentally wrong," and that "with him as Attorney General, you could expect a lot more of that and we can't let that happen." So true. P.S. It was also good seeing Senator Adam Ebbin and former Senator Mary Margaret Whipple there last night.

Videos: THIS Is the Lunatic Virginia Teapublicans Just Nominated for Lt. Governor!

This guy isn't just Tea Party, he's...well, watch the videos! My god. P.S. Also see E.W. Jackson: Gays and Lesbians are 'Very Sick People Psychologically, Mentally and Emotionally', E.W. Jackson: Pro-Gay Rights Liberals 'Have Done More to Kill Black Folks' than the 'Ku Klux Klan', and E.W. Jackson: Democrats Have an 'Agenda Worthy of the Antichrist', just to get a flavor of where this guy's coming from.

Live Blogging the Virginia Republican Freak Show...er, Convention

I'm not sure how much of this I can stand, although on one level I suppose that circus freak shows can be entertaining. I guess three-headed dogs, bearded ladies, etc. are simply not my cup of tea. But that's what we've essentially got going on today in Richmond today - the political equivalent of a circus freak show, but with potentially dire consequences for Virginia instead of relatively innocent fun. If you want to follow along, the John Fredericks Show has an audio streamgoing (Fredericks is a total right wingnut, and his co-host is a notorious climate science denier, but unfortunately I don't believe there's any other game in town if you want to listen to the convention). Currently the RPV is playing "Superstition," which somehow seems appropriate for this anti-science and anti-rationality crowd). You can also follow the Twitter feeds of Ben Tribbett, who's there today covering it (and commenting on John Fredericks' show), Washington Post reporter Ben Pershing, Washington Times reporter David Sherfinski, Virginian Pilot reporter Julian Walker, WAMU reporter Michael Pope, Chelyen Davis of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, DGA Communications Director Danny Kanner, Julie Carey of NBC4, as well as by checking out the Twitter hash tag #RPV2013. Enjoy! (or more likely, not)UPDATE Sunday 12:03 pm: For completeness purposes, I wanted to pass along what Ben Tribbett wrote on his Facebook page about the end game lat night. "Here's what happened. Corey Stewart told Pete Snyder he endorsed him. Pete put out flyers. Corey pulled endorsement to humiliate Pete right before final vote and destroy Pete's credibility before final vote. Nominee: E.W. Jackson." Verrry interesting. UPDATE 10:32 pm: By the way, just gotta point out that Ben Tribbett TOTALLY called this, while John Fredericks was TOTALLY wrong in saying there's no way EW Jackson would win. UPDATE 10:18 pm: Pete Snyder withdraws his candidacy, endorses EW Jackson for LG. My god... UPDATE 10:14 pm: Julian Walker tweets, "BRKNG: Looks like @JacksonForLG is your winner. @petesnyder just walked out of @rpvconvention hall." Nice. UPDATE 10:10 pm: Ben Tribbett reports that Pete Snyder is NOT the nominee. Which, of course, means that EW Jackson is! Ha. Also, both Democratic LG candidates are out with statements already, blasting EW Jackson. Aneesh Chopra says, "Jackson is far more extreme than Ken Cuccinelli -- which is quite a feat." He's also fundraising off of this already! :) UPDATE 9:55 pm: @LarrySabato tweets, "I'm told Jackson has won. Snyder campaign's phony endorsement ploy backfired on them."  John Fredericks is saying this is a "nightmare," that Republicans are toast in 2013. UPDATE 9:52 pm: Ben Pershing tweets, "Sources: @CoreyStewartVA was going to stay neutral. Got upset by fliers saying he backed @petesnyder, backed Jackson instead." UPDATE 9:49 pm: Ben Tribbett just tweeted, "CUCCINLLLI CANCELS MEDIA AVAILABILITY FOR TICKET WITH E.W. JACKSON ON TICKET!!!!" UPDATE 9:37 pm: Del. @GregHabeeb tweets, "Just cast my 4th and final ballot. My prediction for final result...EW Jackson 54.5 Snyder 45.5." And @MoElleithee tweeted, "So you know those expensive electric fans @petesnyder was distributing at #RPV2013? Guess what just hit them..." UPDATE 9:26 pm: Rep. Connolly's Chief of Staff @JamesWalkinshaw tweets, "Looks like #rpv2013 going with the "Obama is a Muslim" ticket. Strong move..." LOL UPDATE 9:18 pm: Whoa, now Mark Obenshain tweets, "Unfortunately there are flyers circulating that erroneously state that I have endorsed a candidate for LG." Yowza!!! UPDATE 9:16 pm: Ben Pershing tweets, "Wow. Snyder people claimed endorsements from both Obenshain and Stewart, both not true. Wheels coming off." You know, when I said this morning that this was a "freak show," I never could have dreamed how much of a freak show it could become. Well, now it has. Holy. Crap. UPDATE 9:11 pm: Whoa! Corey Stewart walking around with EW Jackson (see photo at right), that could do it! Did Pete Snyder claim the Corey Stewart endorsement wayyyy too soon? Sure seems like it. John Fredericks having a meltdown about the Tea Party destroying the part, "tiger by the tail," etc. LOL

lowkell :: Live Blogging the Virginia Republican Freak Show...er, Convention