Friday News: Can “dysfunctional to the core” GOP “still function as a party?”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, October 9.

• Amid chaos, can GOP still function as a party? (This party desperately needs to break apart, ditch its far-right extremist wing, and get back to being a sane, normal, functional conservative party. Currently, it’s anything but that.)
• House Republicans face a leadership vacuum
• Two jump in, but pressure builds on a reluctant Ryan (Just what we need, Ayn Rand-worshipping Lyin’ Ryan.)
• Paul Krugman: It’s All Benghazi (“Sometimes I have the impression that many people in the media consider it uncouth to acknowledge, even to themselves, the fraudulence of much political posturing.” Just do your freakin’ job and call this stuff out, media!)
• Ben Carson Refuses To Say Obama Is A ‘Real Black President’ (This guy is utterly deranged.)
• F*** Ben Carson (“You know, the only thing more alarming than Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential field is the fact that Ben Carson is the guy right behind him.”)
  Kevin McCarthy falls to a conservative coup (“The chaos on Capitol Hill would be entertaining if the consequences weren’t so serious.” Agreed; overall, I’m finding this much more scary and even disturbing rather than entertaining.)
• The GOP is ungovernable: What happens when one major party is dysfunctional to the core
• Chaos is the GOP’s new normal (“Pity their suffering, but remember that they brought it on themselves.”)
• After McCarthy, the GOP must sideline the Freedom Caucus (” It needs a leader who will neutralize the destructive influence of the Republican Party’s Jacobins.”)
• Warner and Kaine join push for tougher gun regulations
• Brat says McCarthy’s announcement was ‘a shock to everybody in the room’ (Brat being a huge part of the problem himself.)
• Is Jim Webb Really Running for President? An Investigation. (“I emailed Craig Crawford, Webb’s communications director, to ask about the campaign. I wanted to see how many staffers or key volunteers Webb had signed up, particularly in Iowa and New Hampshire, where serious candidates need strong ground organizations. Silence. I tried again on Wednesday. Silence. Calls to Webb’s campaign headquarters (listed as a post office box) brought me to three different voicemail boxes, and a message wasn’t returned.”)
• Obama nominates Boente for U.S. attorney (“President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated Dana J. Boente to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.”)
• Our view: The 2015 election is really about 2017 — and beyond
• (“So why should partisans on either side bother voting next month? Here’s why: Control of the Senate may not matter for the next two years — but could matter thereafter”)
  Giffords’s gun-control group is poised to spend big in Va. legislative races
• Obama nominates Roanoke’s Fishwick for U.S. Attorney
• Virginia Sheriffs’ Association, police group criticize Dinwiddie sheriff over racial slur (Inexcusable)
• River groups seek say on Virginia uranium lawsuit
• Federal recognition put on hold for Virginia’s Pamunkey Indian tribe
• Sobering news on the region’s economy (“he region’s job market, in particular, remains poor. Old Dominion University economist James V. Koch may not have put it precisely that way in his annual report, but it’s hard to conclude otherwise after reading this year’s version.”)
• Weitz Named Loudoun County Chief of Staff
• Pro-Gun Advocates Show in Force At McLean Citizens Meeting
• D.C. area forecast: Warm with late-day showers and storms today, then autumn returns for the weekend