Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) met with the state's congressional delegation today at the U.S. Capitol and urged the group to help him secure stimulus funds to help build a Rolls Royce manufacturing plant in Prince George County, near Petersburg, several present in the meeting said.
If that makes McDonnell sound like just another Republican who criticizes stimulus spending with one side of his mouth and happily seeks it out with the other, it's slightly more nuanced than that.
Yes, actually, McDonnell does "sound like just another Republican who criticizes stimulus spending with one side of his mouth and happily seeks it out with the other." Maybe the difference is that McDonnell actually has to govern. And maybe, just maybe, McDonnell's realizing that to close Virginia's huge budget gap without raising revenues - which he has ruled out for ideological reasons (and no, mythical, probably-never-to-be-seen offshore oil drilling "revenues" don't count) - he's going to need help from the federal government? We'll see if, in the future, McDonnell continues to bite the hand that feeds him, and also if his fellow Republicans in Virginia's Congressional delegation will fall in line with McDonnell's new pro-stimulus stance. I'm not holding my breath on either count, how about you?
In my view, Krystal Ball has it exactly right on energy and environmental issues, which is one main reason why I endorsed her back in December 2009. For instance, I strongly agree with Krystal regarding the Chesapeake Bay that the "current regulatory regime for controlling nonpoint source pollution is just broken" and that "we’ve got to get the EPA more involved in controlling nonpoint source pollution." I also couldn't agree more that all our efforts on the Bay will ultimately be "for nought if we do not get climate change under control." Sadly, as Krystal points out, "Rob Wittman has voted time and time again against renewable energy" and he has "voted against Cap and Trade." Rob Wittman needs to go!
On cap and trade, Krystal argues what I've been saying for a long time, that this "is exactly the sort of market-based energy reform that, again, a responsible Republican should support." I'm impressed that Krystal understands what most politicians apparently have no clue about, that cap and trade is designed to allow "market mechanisms to set the price," just as was done successfully with acid rain. For his part, Scott Robinson does not support cap and trade, which he also noted in his Blue Virginia interview back in December 2009.
Finally, on nuclear power, once again I strongly agree with Krystal -- not philosophically opposed to nuclear, but concerned over the extremely high costs of building and operating these plants, plus the thorny issue of what to do with nuclear waste. Given the cost and waste issues, Krystal understands that wind, solar, and energy efficiency are far better ways to go than nuclear power. In contrast, Scott Robinson is gung-ho on nuclear power, specifically breeder reactor technology.
Unfortunately, there are some major problems with breeder reactors, which is why very few of them are in operation. For starters, as EIA points out, Fast Breeder Reactors have "so far, proven to be more expensive to build and operate than LWRs [light water reactors]." Also, "The plutonium content of the spent and reprocessed fuel also raises concerns over weapons proliferation." Third, the early FBR designs "experienced system failures." Third, "Many FBRs have used molten sodium, a metal with which there is considerable experience but which has sometimes proven difficult to handle." Fourth, as this website notes, the plutonium-239 used in breeder reactors "is extremely toxic" with an "extremely long" half-life of 24,000 years. "This could create an almost impossible disposal problem if large amounts of this material are generated." In short, breeder reactors have a long, long way to go before they are a viable energy source on a serious scale - hundreds of reactors - for this country (or other countries: see Scientific American on that topic). We're talking decades, most likely, if ever. In the meantime, we need to stop looking for magic techno-fixes for our problems and go for realistic, low-hanging-fruit solutions like energy efficiency, wind and solar, geothermal and wave, possibly natural gas as a relatively low-carbon fossil fuel.
Fortunately, we have one candidate in the 1st CD who understands energy and environmental issues ranging from the Chesapeake Bay to renewable energy to nuclear power. Her name is Krystal Ball, and I urge everyone to get behind her candidacy!
P.S. For more discussion of this forum, see Leaving My Marc.
Ms. Filler-Corn, who worked as a liaison to Capitol Hill for former governors Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, would be the more effective delegate. She has a much more fluent grasp of Virginia issues than Mr. Bolognese, having been deeply involved in education issues in Fairfax County. In addition to having served five years on the PTA Board for the county schools, she helps develop after-school programs as a member of the school system's Child Care Advisory Council.
I hear that Bob McDonnell is coming to town - the 41st House of Delegates district, that is - this weekend. The purpose of his visit is to help GOTV for Republican candidate Kerry "You'd Be Crazy To Vote" Bolognese in the final days leading up to the March 2 special election. Countering McDonnell will be Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner for Eileen Filler-Corn. Webb will be in town on Saturday to help encourage people to vote early. Warner will follow on Sunday for a GOTV rally. This is a seat Democrats need to win, for both political and policy reasons. Let's make sure that happens - get out and vote (or make phone calls, knock doors, etc.) for Filler-Corn!
UPDATE Wednesday Morning: The Washington Post has endorsed Filler-Corn for Delegate, noting that "Bolognese's main claim to involvement in state and local issues is that he pays taxes" and that Bolognese "has little personal experience in public affairs in Fairfax or Richmond."
My only questions with the "Mark of the Beast" bill's demise are: 1) what took so long; and 2) how in hell did this embarrassment get 88 votes (!!!) in the House of Delegates? (it should have been laughed out of there) I've gotta give Dick Saslaw credit on this one for treating this bill with the, uh, respect it deserved.
Saslaw explained that four senators thought the first bill ["Mark of the Beast"] was a solution in search of a problem...
How seriously did the Senate take these two bills? Saslaw formed a new "miscellanous" subcommittee to hear them, to avoid occupying the time of other senators. And the Senate adopted a new practice Tuesday to let bills that fail to pass in subcommittee die forever, without a subsequent hearing by the full committee.
“You’d be an idiot not to notice the temperature change,” he says. He also says there’s a legit case that global warming has, at least in part, been caused by mankind. He has tried to do his part by buying a home with a “green” design and using energy-saving products. "I’m willing to do anything but use the CFLs," he says of compact fluorescent light bulbs. "I put them in once and couldn’t stand the way they lit up the room."
No argument here. Heck, I'm even looking forward to LED's becoming more affordable so I can ditch the CFLs! Glenn Beck and me, "green" brothers in arms? Ha. :)
If State Senator Robert Hurt, now running for Congress in the 5th CD (against Rep. Tom Perriello), is not in favor of privatizing Social Security, as ranking Republican House Budget Committee member Paul Ryan has proposed, then why won't he say so? Fascinating. Also, as Leigh Anne Collier of the DPVA asks, "Why is Robert Hurt hiding from senior citizens?" Any answers?
Robert Hurt's Answer on Social Security: The Sound of Silence Va. Dems Call on Hurt to Break Silence on Privatizing Social Security
RICHMOND -- Virginia Democrats today called on state Senator and U.S. Congressional candidate Robert Hurt (VA-05) to stop hiding and make clear his position on the newly proposed national GOP Budget Roadmap, which includes privatization of Social Security.
The plan, introduced by ranking Republican budget committee member, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), returns to the Bush-era concept of privatizing Social Security in Wall Street accounts.
Representative Tom Perriello (VA-05) announced his opposition to the plan, while several of Hurt's Republican primary opponents announced their support for the concept of privatization in a Charlottesville Daily Progress story on Thursday. Hurt did not respond to the Daily Progress's inquiry and has remained silent on the issue for the five days since.
"Why is Robert Hurt hiding from senior citizens?" asked Leigh Anne Collier, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Virginia. "Seniors deserve to know if their Congressional candidate supports the national Republican plan to gamble hard-earned Social Security funds on the stock market."
Representative Eric Cantor, who endorsed Hurt's campaign, also supports privatizing Social Security. Meanwhile, Hurt has continued his silence.
"Does Robert Hurt agree with the ideas of the other Republicans in his primary and Republican Congressional leadership or will he stand behind Representative Perriello and against these private accounts for Social Security?" Collier continued. "For those who believe in our Greatest Generation, the least you can do is tell them what you believe. You can't run for Congress without making clear where you stand on this issue that is so important to Virginia seniors."
Yesterday, the White House released President Obama's health care proposal. Today, the Washington Post reviews the polling data on key elements of the proposal, finding that support ranges from 56% (for "require[ing] plans to cover adult dependents up to age 26") up to 80% (for "end[ing] discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions") and 81% (for setting up a "new insurance marketplace -- the Exchange -- that allows people without health insurance to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive rates"). All elements have strong majority support from the American people, directly contradicting Eric Cantor's assertions that the American people have "rejected" Democratic health care reform. That's simply not true (and to the extent there's any merit to what Cantor's saying, it's largely because of disinformation put about by his side of the aisle).
With regard to the argument that Democrats shouldn't pass health care reform via reconciliation, that's also not supported by the polls (for instance, see here). To the contrary, Democrats right now are getting all of the negatives from pushing health care reform, but none of the positives from actually passing it. Instead, Democrats are getting hit by another major negative, that they appear "weak" and incapable of getting anything done. Based on all the polling evidence I've seen, people couldn't give a rat's hindquarters about "reconciliation," "filibusters," or other arcane legislative jargon. What they care about is getting better, more accessible, more affordable, and more secure health care coverage for themselves and for their families. That's what the president's plan (largely) does, although of course I would have preferred it to be far more aggressive and go to either "single payer" or at least a robust "public option." Given the popularity of the public option, I'm baffled as to why the president's new plan doesn't contain one, but Democrats have been "too clever by half" on health care reform for nearly a year now, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
Here's a sampling of reaction, from both right and left, to Del. Bob Marshall's (R-Manassas) odious remarks that "disabled children are God's punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy."
*Waldo Jaquith writes that Marshall's latest remarks are "entirely consistent with his beliefs" (e.g., that pregnancy is "punishment for sex" and that birth control is a "perversion of God’s will that sex equal procreation"). Waldo adds that Marshall's attempt to "backpedal" by "blaming [Capital News Service] "is shameful" and that Marshall's remarks - "at his own press conference—were very clear." After noting that Marshall has alienated his right-wing base on this one, Waldo concludes that "this is the most serious self-inflicted wound—the only kind Marshall has ever experienced—in his political history."
*Conservative blog Hot Air writes that "Marshall certainly wasn’t representing my views" and that Marshall's "quote is likely to follow [him] the rest of his career — and rightly so."
*Shenandoah Valley blog Coarse Cracked Corn calls Marshall's comments an "absurd and cruel statement that lays bare his dark heart" and calls on Marshall to "immediately resign his office."
*Arch-conservative blogger Kilo says that Marshall's statement "has hurt many people," that his "shitty heartless apology" "falls short, way short," and that the "silence from [his] party" makes him "ashamed of being a Republican."
*The Staunton News Leader editorializes that they can't "ignore the comments made by state Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, because we fear the harm if anyone actually were to believe him." The paper says that Marshall's "drivel" should be "discount[ed]...as the words of a madman," that "we are feeling punished, not by God, but by an elected official." In sum, "by spouting off against abortion, Marshall has managed to pass off dubious science, he's maligned women who have aborted their first child and cast a shadow over any mother of a disabled child."
*At science blog Pharygula, a professor of biology says that Marshall is "lying," that "[t]here is no evidence that abortion imposes long term risk of any kind on women or their subsequent children." Pharyngula adds, "[Marshall]'s confusing what he wishes were true with what is actually true."
*The Virginia Young Democrats and Young Democrats of America call for Marshall's resignation, writing that his attempted "apology does not correct what he has done," that Marshall "should be ashamed of himself," and that "[t]hese kinds of comments are deeply offensive and can absolutely not be tolerated from an elected official who claims to represent the public."
I agree, Marshall should resign, not just for this remark but for his past craziness, comparing the economic recovery package to "ankle bracelets...to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state," claiming that contraception turns "co-eds" into chemical Love Canals for these frat house playboys in Virginia," etc., etc. I also believe that other Republicans, certainly the Republican Party of Virginia and Rep. Frank Wolf - who has donated money to Marshall in the past - should be condemning his remarks and/or calling on him to resign. If not, as far as I'm concerned, it means they either a) agree with Marshall's remarks or b) don't care about the pain Marshall has caused. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.
I invite everyone to comment here, but please be aware that profanity, personal attacks, bigotry, and "trolling" are not allowed. Thanks, and enjoy!
P.S. You can contact me at lowell@raisingkaine.com
Better late than never, but I'm glad to see Bob McDonnell publicly acknowledge the importance of Congress' economic stimulus package.
Well, well, this appears to be a first - I actually 
If State Senator Robert Hurt, now running for Congress in the 5th CD (against Rep. Tom Perriello), is not in favor of privatizing Social Security, as ranking Republican House Budget Committee member Paul Ryan has proposed, then why won't he say so? Fascinating. Also, as Leigh Anne Collier of the DPVA asks, "Why is Robert Hurt hiding from senior citizens?" Any answers?
Yesterday, the White House 
Here's a sampling of reaction, from both right and left, to Del. Bob Marshall's (R-Manassas) 
