Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, February 13. Also, check out the video of Marco Rubio grabbing for a bottle of water, mid sentence, during his SOTU response last night. Maybe he needed to wash his mouth out, given all the Big Lies (and falsehoods, and tired old Teapublican talking points, and nonsense) he was telling, or the bull**** that was spewing out from his oral orifice, or both? Or maybe he’s just wildly overrated? Regardless, total #FAIL by the Great GOP Non-White Hope.
*Obama urges lawmakers to boost jobs, strengthen middle class
*Obama’s incredibly ambitious second-term agenda
*President Barack Obama State of the Union 2013 speech
*A visual statement of progress, followed by the same old story (“At a moment when the Republican Party needs rebranding, Rubio offered nothing new. The thrust of his speech was ‘government bad, capitalism good.’ Yet he recounted how beneficial government assistance has been to his own success. I expected him to resolve the contradiction, but he didn’t even try.”)
*Fact-checking Marco Rubio’s State of the Union response (This guy’s getting close to Romney level in his lying.)
*Tea party State of the Union 2013 rebuttal: Rand Paul response (And then there’s crazy “Aqua Buddha”/”Atlas Shrugged” man! What a party…)
*Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Tim Kaine Weigh In on State of the Union
*Kaine votes to advance Hagel nomination to Defense post
*Jeff Schapiro: For GOP, it’s clear a makeover is needed (“…, the GOP – particularly in Virginia, a purple state that increasingly is a microcosm of the nation – continues to press an agenda that suggests anything but common-sense solutions to kitchen-table issues.”)
*Bill to raise road money clears Va. Senate committee
*Senate committee overhauls McDonnell’s transportation plan
*A transportation deal in Virginia? (The Post’s “reasoning,” using the word loosely, is that the governor’s transportation proposal makes very little if any sense, so let’s meet him halfway! Uh, no thanks.)
*Democrats urge sales of Va. governor candidate Ken Cuccinelli’s book
*Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s book tour begins this weekend
*Fairfax Grad Supports Immigration Reform at State of the Union (“Warner brought undocumented 19-year-old to President Barack Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address to emphasize the need for new policies.”)
*Report compares Virginia with other states
*Is voter ID contingency clause in jeopardy?
*House approves concealed handgun secrecy in Virginia
*Va. senior citizens denied no-excuse absentee voting
*VDOT maintenance still full of holes
*Keep school sports for school students
*Va. Assembly honors Olympic gold medalist Douglas
*Editorial: Keep disaster information public (“A proposed bill would make it harder for the public to know if the state is prepared for the next big storm.”)
*Panel kills proposal to ban fox-penning competitions (Nice job by Republicans, the “we love cruelty and barbarism” party!)
*Petersen’s bike safety bill dies (Republicans to cyclists: drop dead!)
*Washington Nationals suddenly dealing with the weight of great expectations
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