Daily Archives: September 7, 2011

I wanted to bring to your attention two articles that came out over this past weekend that mentioned Shawn and his race for the State Senate. Both articles remind voters of the long record of our opponent, former Delegate Dick Black.
 
In the Washington Post, Anita Kumar writes:  
“Dick Black, running in Loudoun and Prince William counties, was criticized by leaders of his own party in 2003, when as a delegate he sent fellow lawmakers pink plastic models of fetuses as they prepared to vote on an abortion bill.”
 
In the Richmond Times Dispatch, Columnist Jeff Shapiro writes: 
“In Northern Virginia, specifically, the outer Beltway suburbs of Loudoun and Prince William counties, the GOP nominee is Dick Black, a former delegate best known for bashing gays, thundering about pornography and handing out life-size plastic likenesses of fetuses as testimony to his opposition to abortion.”
 
We don’t need that in the General Assembly again.
 

Andy Schmookler is running for Congress in the 6th Congressional District of Virginia, challenging the incumbent Congressman, Bob Goodlatte.  He is an award-winning author, political commentator, and teacher has been a resident of Shenandoah County since 1992.  He is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.

I'm running for Congress against Bob Goodlatte in Virginia's 6th District because I see clearly the terrible damage that he and his Republican gang are inflicting on the country that I love.

I'm running because I can hardly bear to watch the news these days, since what's happening in our politics is not what America needs.

I'm running because of the righteous anger I feel when people who claim to be patriots declare, "Meet our demands or we'll hurt America."

I'm running because I'm frustrated that  the national leaders we elected to get the nation back on the right track won't stand up to partisan bullies.

If you share these feelings, I hope you will join me in the battle to turn this dangerous situation around.

I'm fighting to uphold the ideals of our democracy.

Our Pledge of Allegiance speaks of "justice for all."  

But that's not what today's Republican Party wants.  It is working to take power from the American people to give to those already very powerful, and to take wealth from average American families to enrich still further the already fabulously wealthy.  In Congress, these Republicans have voted to destroy Medicare, stripping millions of America's older citizens of their secure access to necessary health care, just to fund another tax cut for multi-millionaires and billionaires.

We need government "for the people and by the people," not for the powerful few and by the powerful few.

I oppose the push from Bob Goodlatte and his Republicans to slash the safety net and kill jobs when so many in America are hurting.  I want to stop this attack on the American middle class.

I also oppose Goodlatte's proposals to let natural gas companies ruin our groundwater with their fracking.  I support the rights of small farmers to fair treatment from the agribusiness giants that Goodlatte favors.

He does not represent "justice for all."

Here's another of our founders' ideals: that the truth can emerge through free expression  in the marketplace of ideas.  

But in today's America, the Republican Party and its allies at Fox News and on talk radio have convinced millions that the president wasn't born in America, and that he wanted "death panels," that the stimulus didn't create jobs, and that "climate change" is a hoax invented by self-serving environmentalists.  Our democratic process is being crippled by one lie after another.

Goodlatte & Co. pretend that  the Republican Party actually cares about deficits, but this is the same party that doubled the national debt while times were good, and that insisted last December that we add another $700 billion to the debt for tax cuts for the rich.

I'm running to help truth prevail again in American politics.

Here's another wonderful ideal-- the one that we sing to America expressing the hope that God will crown her good with brotherhood.  But today, the people who have taken over the Republican Party undermine our brotherhood by continually focusing on issues that pit groups of Americans against each other.  They use scare tactics against ethnic minorities, in the guise of protecting our border. They stir up religious hatreds, pretending to protect us against terrorists.

The leadership America needs is not one that practices "divide and conquer" against the American people.  We need leadership that brings us together to achieve our common purposes.

I am running as a Democrat because only the Democratic Party can protect us from the destructive force that the Republican Party has become.  

But we need Democrats who will stand and fight!

We need our leaders to fight harder for the opportunity of all Americans to fulfill their God-given potential.  And the American people need champions in Congress to fight against the forces of greed and see to it that we leave our children and grandchildren an America and a planet as healthy as what was passed on to us.

The stakes could not be higher.  

Will we continue to slide blindly toward the kind of society that Americans have always detested-ruled by greed and the lust for power, deceived by propaganda masquerading as news, and organized to exploit rather than to serve its people?

Or will we revive the vision of our founders and renew those values that made America great?  Will we work together constructively to meet our challenges, and allow ourselves to be divided by those who would exploit us?  Will we choose leadership that brings out the best in us (faith, hope, and love) and not the worst (fear and hatred)?

I invite all Virginians who share these aspirations for our country to join with me in this battle to rebuild our country in the image of America's ideals.

To learn more about Andy, please go to www.AndySchmooklerforCongress.com

You may also follow Andy on Facebook and Twitter  

If you haven't already heard the big news, the bi-annual Koch billionaire bonanza list of all-stars was revealed exclusively to Mother Jones via audio recording. Not surprisingly, the list is a who's who of American billionaires who enjoy throwing millions of dollars at U.S. politicians and attempting to destroy anything with a "big government" taint on it. So now that the public has at least a partial list of this anti-regulatory, anti-middle class, group of Koch-stars, what's to be done about it?  

I was disappointed to read Sarah Palin’s recent comments that Northern Virginia hasn’t suffered the consequences of the recession unlike “the rest of America.”  I was Governor of Virginia during the worst years of the downturn, and I know first hand that every family and every business in our state suffered a great deal thanks to nearly a decade of economic mismanagement.  Balancing Virginia’s budget during those years required billions in cuts that impacted every corner of the state. Today, the vast majority of Virginia’s families still haven’t recovered the savings they lost and their homes haven’t regained their value.  Too many Virginians are still without jobs and businesses continue to confront economic uncertainty in the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression.  

Those families and those businesses are counting on their leaders in Washington to find common ground on solutions that will create jobs and long-term economic stability.  Instead, Sarah Palin is offering divisive rhetoric that only seeks to further polarize our country at a time when the partisanship in Washington is already at an all-time high.

Of course this is not the first time politicians have sought to sub-divide Virginia into "real" and otherwise.  I abhor anything that tries to divide our Commonwealth against itself by region or demographic category. I urge all Virginia leaders – Republicans and Democrats – to join me in rejecting Sarah Palin’s comments, which are neither truthful nor productive.

- Tim

Here's the problem with pretty much all the Republican candidates running in socially moderate/mainstream Northern Virginia: they're not. A bit earlier today, I posted video of Caren Merrick, from last night's Arlington Civic Federation candidates forum, who would love to never talk about social issues, being asked about a woman's right to choose and about LGBT equality issues. She bombed. Badly. On both. It's a shocker, I know. Heh.

Now, here are two more examples of this phenomenon: NOVA Republicans who avoid mentioning social issues on their websites or in their literature, but when asked about these issues, reveal themselves as being just as right wing as most other Teapublicans these days.

First, here's Republican Patrick Forrest, candidate for State Senate from the 32nd district against Sen. Janet Howell (D). If you look at this guy's website, you'll see nothing about social issues. Based on his utterly absurd, laughable answer to the following question on abortion clinic restrictions, it's easy to understand why. Apparently, Patrick is missing the Forrest for the trees (heh, couldn't resist), if he seriously believes that these new abortion clinic "health" and "safety" regulations have anything whatsoever to do with health and safety. Either that, or he's simply repeating the Bob McDonnell/Ken Cuccinelli, right-wing mantra on this issue. Either way, it's not going to fly in the socially moderate/progressive parts of northern Virginia, such as the 32nd Senate district.

See the "flip" for Adam Ebbin's right wingnutty opponent on gay rights issues.

Last night, I attended the Arlington County Civic Federation Candidates forum at the Washington-Lee High School Auditorium. Last night's candidates included Democrats and Republicans running in the 30th, 31st and 32nd State Senate districts, as well as the 45th, 47th, 48th, and 49th House of Delegates districts. Most of these are totally safe Democratic, and nothing last night indicated otherwise (e.g., the Republican running against Adam Ebbin is a total right wingnut, whose "only one promise" is to "uphold the constitutions of the United States and of Virginia" -- whatever).

However, the 31st State Senate district is definitely of interest, as Republican Caren Merrick is extremely wealthy, and also has been portraying an image of being a "moderate." Also, Barbara Favola just finished up a rough, tough, even brutal primary campaign against Jaime Areizaga-Soto, giving Merrick a potential opening in this (still) strongly Democratic-leaning district. However, if Merrick's performance last night is any indication, Favola might not have anything to worry about after all.

I found the first question to be particularly revealing, as Merrick has been studiously avoiding any mention of social issues on her website, or in the 8-page glossy color mailer she sent out the other day. Instead, all we've been getting from Merrick is "soccer mom," "entrepreneur," and "jobs." Other than that, we've known basically nothing about her positions on the issues that people in the 31st district (Arlington, McLean, Great Falls, eastern Loudoun) care about. Well, as of last night, and particularly the first question (on abortion and gay rights), we're starting to find out.  

Here are a few Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

*Schapiro: Obama reapplies in Virginia to keep job
*Parties spar over Va. GOP's state Senate slate
*Richmond mayor left Florida condo off disclosure form
*Gates to serve as chancellor at W&M
*Redistricting: Dereliction
*Muslims in Richmond strive to show true face of Islam
*Reassuring words come for Oceana, other Navy bases
*The Tide beats expectations in its first week of paid service
*Local, state lawmakers flying to Canada as part of lobbying push for uranium mining (oh no, not THIS again!)
*Cuccinelli travels to S.C. to learn about GOP presidential hopefuls
*Remembering 9-11: Reflections from Virginia's leaders
*Forecast: More rain, some storms & scarce sun
*Lee's remnants leave some damage, lots of rain in Southwest Virginia