lowkell

I just got back a few minutes ago from the "One Nation Working Together rally on the National Mall.  I took some video of Ed Schultz's fiery speech and am uploading that to YouTube now. Other than that, here are some photos from the event.  I met some Democratic friends from NOVA, including the amazing Mary Detweiler (who did more than almost anyone in 2006 to elect Jim Webb), at the rally, and we all thought it was comparable in size to the Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin event a few weeks ago.  By 2 pm or so, both sides of the Reflecting Pool were filled with people, the Lincoln Memorial was full so they weren't letting anyone else up there, and there were groups of people all the way to the Washington Monument. Among the groups participating were the NAACP, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, SEIU, the Sierra Club, and many others. A very diverse crowd - black, white, Latino, young, old, gay, straight, you name it - and a stark contrast from the overwhelming older, white crowd for Beck/Palin.

P.S. Humorous anecdote: on the Metro ride in from Virginia, a guy from Texas wearing an NAACP tshirt asked which stop Foggy Bottom would be. I told him it was right after we went under the river, and he responded in (apparent) horror, "UNDER the river?" It turns out, he'd never been under a body of water before, so he was a bit nervous, but he made it nonetheless. He also told me he had been on a marathon bus ride from Texas, and was heading back right after the rally. Now that's dedication!

UPDATE: A bunch of excellent photos are available here.

Thanks to Tom Whipple for the Saturday "Clips."

1. JLARC TO STUDY LIQUOR SALES
2. POLL: MAJORITY OF VIRGINIA BACK PRIVATIZING LIQUOR SALES
5. WITH RESERVATIONS, WASHINGTON AREA RESTAURANTS BACK VA. LIQUOR PLAN
6. WILDER FORMALLY ENDORSES MCDONNELL LIQUOR PLAN
11. CUCCINELLI DISPERSES DISPUTED DONATIONS FROM SUSPECT NAVY VETS CHARITY
13. VA. DEMS HIRE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, UNVEIL NEW WEB SITE
14. PERRIELLO, SHINSEKI VISIT WITH VETERANS
15. STATE WEBSITES DISRUPTED AFTER VITA SERVER PROBLEM
20. GETTING TOUGH FOR THE BAY
26. PRIVATE FIRMS PITCH HAMPTON ROADS BRIDGE-TUNNEL EXPANSION
29. NEW ARLINGTON OFFICIAL KNOWS THE JOB WELL
31. ADULT STORE PROTEST PLANNED

I'm glad to see that CNN fired Rick Sanchez for blatant anti-Semitism, the likes of which you rarely hear in this country nowadays. To watch Sanchez's meltdown, see here.

OK, so Rick Sanchez is a bigot who deserved to be fired by their TV and/or radio networks, no doubt. But what about others like: Glenn Beck (a million crazy quotes, like "Because if you are a white human that loves America and happens to be a Christian, forget about it, Jack."), Rush Limbaugh ("The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."), Erick Erickson ("if some ACS person showed up on my doorstep to try to arrest me for not wanting to tell the government how often I flush my toilet, I'd get out my wife's shotgun and get them off my property."), Sean Hannity ("So the mayor of New Orleans would have used his own buses had the people had been white?"), Pat Buchanan ("If we had to take a million immigrants in, say Zulus, next year, or Englishmen, and put them up in Virginia, what group would be easier to assimilate and would cause less problems for the people of Virginia?"), and of course Bill O'Reilly (""Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."; "What's the jargon? What's the jargon? We got coyotes, right? Coyotes and we got wetbacks.")?  

Why are these guys still employed, if Rick Sanchez is not?

"The President points to a revolutionary new solar plant that will employ 1,000 people and power 140,000 homes. The plant is possible because of the President's investments in the clean energy economy, which Congressional Republicans want to eliminate."

First, here's a screen shot of Patrick Murray's website from a time when he didn't care about those silly environmentalists who populate the 8th CD, from a time when he was trying to win the Republican nomination by pandering to the right wing - including his promise to drill baby drill offshore Virginia.

And here's Patrick Murray's website now, after Murray was criticized the other day by Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore for favoring more fossil fuels and more carbon emissions.

Note: no mention of drilling off the coast of Virginia, no mention of "drilling that will take place 5 years from now." What happened, did Patrick Murray start turning greener? Or, more likely, did he slap his forehead and realize that his brand of "drill baby drill", fossil fuels forever, doesn't play among most voters in Arlington and Alexandria?

Update by Miles: ArlNow.com reports Brown will get a $110,000 severance package.

Good luck to Michael Brown, who resigned today as Arlington County Manager. For further coverage, including on the replacement of Brown by Barbara Donnellan, see the excellent ArlNow.com. Good luck to Michael Brown, thanks for serving Arlington the past 4 months, and best wishes for your wife's health.

UPDATE: This is...ahhhh..."interesting."

The county board has voted to pay former county manager Michael Brown more in severance than it has paid him in salary.

Brown, who resigned after just four months on the job, will receive six months of his base salary - $220,000 per year - and compensation for unused leave as part of the approved severance package, according to Arlington County Director of Human Resources Marcy Foster.

The deal was first reported by the Sun Gazette's Scott McCaffrey, who wrote that it "may cause eyebrows to rise."

OK, my eyebrows have risen. How about yours?

There's been a great deal of discussion about Rahm Emanuel, and a lot of strong feelings. In the end, I have mixed feelings myself. As a progressive, of course I wish that Emanuel had pushed through Congress all the things I care about, from a "public option" to a strong, clean energy and climate bill, to comprehensive immigration reform, to a full repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell," etc., etc. On the other hand, I don't believe that Emanuel was some sort of supernatural being who could singlehandedly/miraculously overcome the entrenched special interest groups, the implacable hostility of Republicans (and their desire, from before Day #1, for President Obama "to fail"), the de facto 60-vote requirement to pass anything through the Senate, and many other obstacles in his way.  I also don't believe that Emanuel was some sort of closet conservadem; in fact, Emanuel's record as a Congressman was highly progressive: a 100% rating by Citizens for Tax Justice; a 100% rating by NARAL; a 100% rating by the Human Rights Campaign; an "F" by the NRA; a 95% rating by the League of Conservation Voters; just for a few examples. So, let's put to rest the concept that Rahm Emanuel wasn't a strong progressive; by almost any score, he was.

Ezra KleinThe Center for American Progress crunched the numbers, being "extremely generous" to the "GOP's vague spending cuts," and demolished - in one simple chart - the myth that Republicans would do more to reduce the deficit than Democrats. In short, the GOP "pledge" to "stop out-of-control spending and reduce the size of the government" is complete nonsense, just as it was during the Reagan and Bush years when they grew the government and exploded the budget deficit. Given that pathetic track record, why would anyone believe them now?

Thanks to Tom Whipple for the Friday "Clips."

1. TAXES AXED FROM MCDONNELL PLAN, CREATE BUDGET GAP
3. MCDONNELL WILL COUNT VOTES BEFORE CALLING SPECIAL SESSION
6. FORMER GOV. ALLEN BACKS MCDONNELL'S LIQUOR PRIVATIZATION PLAN
9. NEW FIGURES: REVENUE COULD DROP $47M IF VA. PRIVATIZES BOOZE
12. IN RICHMOND, OBAMA CHIDES MCDONNELL ON CHESAPEAKE BAY
13. CUCCINELLI NAMES VETS GROUPS TO RECEIVE CAMPAIGN CASH
14. PAY RAISE FOR STATE WORKERS AFTER BONUS UNLIKELY
15. U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST INDEPENDENT VIRGINIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE
16. NO OPT-OUT FOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
20. VIRGINIA HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE INCREASES
28. GUN LAWS MAKE VA. A MECCA FOR FELONS WITH CREDIT CARDS
33. STORM BRINGS MUCH-NEEDED RAIN -- AND PROBLEMS

I'm not sure what to make of SurveyUSA polls this cycle, as some of them have seemed wacky (e.g., in Virginia's 5th CD). With that caveat, check out these new results:

In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia's 9th Congressional District today, 09/30/10, incumbent Democrat Rick Boucher defeats Republican State House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith 53% to 38%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA.

Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released 4 weeks ago, little has changed; Boucher up 3 points, Griffith is down 2. In addition to maintaining a commanding lead among women, Boucher now leads among men and voters under age 50, groups where he previously trailed.

If true, it looks like Rick Boucher is coasting to reelection over carpetbagger and climate change skeptic Morgan Griffith. I find it particularly interesting that Boucher is gaining ground on Griffith; could this be yet another indication of what appears to be a more favorable climate for Democrats as the election nears?  Oh, wait, hasn't the corporate media been telling us for months that the Democrats are doomed, DOOMED they tell us?!?  Yeah, and we must always believe the corporate media!  (snark)