Virginia's Progressive Blogosphere Loses One Of Its Best

Karen Duncan, aka "Anonymous is a Woman," is leaving the Virginia blogosphere.

Readers may have noticed that I've been posting less and my posts have not been as overtly political as usual. I won't be coy about it. I have been slowly disengaging from blogging because it's time to close up shop.

I did this once before because I was getting burned out and wanted to move on to try different forms of writing. But once I had taken a much needed break, I realized how much I truly missed blogging and came back. This time is different.

First of all, I'm not burnt out. And I already know that I will miss it. My reason for leaving is much simpler now than it was the first time I took a break. I have a new job that would make blogging a conflict of interest. I won't go into the details about the job, but please believe me that it would present a real conflict for me and my employer if I were to be running a blog and publicly sounding off about politics and other controversial issues.

I will definitely miss Karen - her keen intelligence and insights, her superb writing ability (I don't know of a better writer in the Virginia blogosphere), her strong progressive voice, her civility, her sanity, her fearlessness, her integrity, her energy, her enthusiasm...well, you get the picture. :) I was going to say "I'll miss her friendship," but I sure hope she won't be a stranger, even though I'm sure she'll be extremely busy in her new job.

Speaking of friendship, one of the things I've really appreciated about Karen over the years is that, even when we didn't support the same candidate(s) in Democratic primaries, and even when those primaries became heated (e.g., Clinton vs. Obama), I feel like we never let it interfere with our friendship. Of course, we always supported the same progressive ideals - equal rights for all Americans; environmental protection; government that works effectively and for the common good; strong labor unions and the ability of workers to organize freely; quality health care that's affordable for everyone; a strong public education system, etc. And although we didn't win every battle for our candidates or our progressive ideals, it has always been great knowing that Karen was on the same "team" as I was. So today, although I'm very happy for her great job/career news, I'm also going to miss her a lot. Good luck, Karen, and thanks for all you've done to make Virginia a better place!

P.S. Also, thanks to Karen for her contributions at Raising Kaine/RK and here at Blue Virginia!

Gretchen and Karen on What Creigh Needs to Do to Win

From the comments section of my diary on the bad-news SurveyUSA poll, I thought this exchange was worth highlighting (I've bolded certain parts for emphasis). First, here's Gretchen Laskas:

I have never said that this was an easy win for Democrats, and like Lowell, I see no reason to spin the polls.

But having been in VA politics long enough to have some historical perspective, August is the month where Democratic ideas and candidates go to die. (And although it's September, this endlessly long Labor Day is weird.) It might not get any better. I'll admit that it might not. But it also might, and in light of the more recent elections, probably will.

That doesn't mean a win, and that doesn't mean that we can count on stories like The Thesis to bail us out. We still need boots on the ground and a campaign that is running full steam with its volunteers.

Now, here's Karen "Anonymous is a Woman":

Gretchen is right. But we disregard some of the criticism from the right at our peril too.

The WaPo story about McDonnell only works if we can show why it's relevant to voters. The reason it is important is because it raises the question of who the real Bob McDonnell is - the Bible-thumping ideologue more concerned with promoting a theorcratic agenda, or the mild mannered, logical pragmatist whose main focus is jobs and the economy.

Spelling out that McDonnell has in fact spent most of his career working to implement the ideas in his thesis is great stuff. It shows that the thesis, far from an irrelevant term paper written for school, was actually a blueprint for how to govern.

But the truth is that's not enough to win.

The right wing is correct to point out that Creigh Deeds needs to talk about his vision for creating jobs, fixing the Virginia economy, maintaining Virginia's AAA bond rating, maintaining our excellent schools, and improving teacher salaries. He needs to talk about creating green jobs and protecting the environment.

Time and again, election results prove that simply negative campaigning and only outlining what you are against is a recipe for failure.

Negative campaigning works but only if you also lay out what you are for. You have to also have something positive to say about your own platform. And you have to convince people of why they should vote for you, not only why they should vote against your opponent.

The Deeds' campaign has gotten one side of the equation right, but there's also that all important other side.

Gretchen, we'll have boots on the ground But those boots have to carry a good, clear message to voters too. And that message has to tell them exactly what Creigh Deeds will do to benefit the commonwealth and them.

As I often do, in this case I agree 100% with Karen. The challenge for Creigh Deeds over the next 58 days is: 1) to clearly make the case why Bob McDonnell is not the "moderate" he says he is, but instead why he's a Pat Robertson theocratic radical who wants to take Virginia back to the dark ages; 2) to clearly and specifically explain what he plans do as governor, particularly on the economy, transportation and taxes; 3) to articulate how he will be able do any better than Tim Kaine did with a totally obstructionist, flat-earth, right-wing Republican-controlled House of Delegates; 4) to explain how he will govern similarly to Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, but also to let us know how he will differ from his predecessors; and 5) somehow or other to inspire and connect with progressive activists, young people, women, African Americans, Latinos, etc. If Creigh Deeds does all these things (no problem, right? - lol), I firmly believe that he has an excellent chance of winning the governor's election on November 3. If he doesn't...well, maybe not.

Karen Duncan Puts the Hurt on Amy Gardner

Over at Anonymous is a Woman, Karen Duncan smacks down Washington Post reporter Amy Gardner on her Haim Saban "story" (in quotes because, at this point, it's basically b.s.). Here's Karen (bolding added for emphasis):

Meanwhile, Amy Gardner, back in the local Metro section of the Washington Post, wanted to put a little Virginia spin on the story. She probably also wanted to show her editors that she too could do investigative reporting, which, in her case, consists of looking up VPAP online, just as bloggers do. So, without fleshing out any of the details of this complicated story, she wrote the piece pointing out that Saban has contributed a large sum to McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign. Gardner also spun this as a possible huge embarrassment for McAuliffe. I’m not sure why it’s a problem right now for several reasons.

[...]


I can forgive VA Blogger because he’s a partisan and an amateur citizen journalist. A blogger, who probably isn’t experienced at professional journalism. What he does for his side is as admirable as what any of my colleagues on the left do for our team. But Gardner is supposed to be a trained, unbiased reporter without a team in the game. Yet too often, her biases are like a small boat, tilting so far in one direction that it threatens to capsize completely. Even though she’s not in the big league, on the front page of the national section, she needs to do a better job of gathering facts, analyzing what she’s got and not violating such basic rules of logic as leaping to false conclusions, guilt by association, and misuse of evidence. That may be a lot to ask of a blogger, but it's not too much to ask of a real reporter.

Sad to say, but this smackdown of Amy Gardner is well deserved. Over the past few years, I've watched as Gardner - in the guise of an "objective" reporter - has shilled for the Davises - Tom and Jeannemarie. In addition, her reporting on the Metro to Dulles project, particularly on the no-bid contract to Bechtel and the Tysons Tunnel angles, was utterly abysmal. Frankly, I can think of a dozen bloggers right off the top of my head who are better reporters than Amy Gardner. The fact that she works for the Washington Post should give us all an idea as to why the corporate media is going down the tubes.