Given the white supremacist murderer in the news these days, and especially given that his website “reflects the strong influence of a white nationalist group called the Council of Conservative Citizens” (CCC), I thought it would be timely to recall that former U.S. Senator George Allen (R) was also a big fan of the CCC. When this news came out in late August 2006, I wrote about it on Raising Kaine, and the reaction from right wingnuts was…let’s just say, not exactly simpatico (let alone condemnatory of Allen’s deeply longstanding, deeply-ingrained racism). To the contrary, at least one of these folks ginnned up the faux “outrage” and demanded that I be fired from the Webb for Senate campaign for calling out Allen for being a racist (as it turned out, not only wasn’t I fired, but Webb for Senate senior strategist told me I should wear the attacks “as a badge of honor”). We soon learned that Allen’s love for the Confederacy, “habitual use of the ‘n word,” etc. went back many years, as more and more of his former teammates, classmates, etc. began to tell the media. There was also the story about how Allen “stuffed a deer’s head into the mailbox of one of the [black families’] homes.” Plus, of course, there was the ‘macaca’ incident you might have heard of, in which Allen angrily used a racial slur on a Webb staffer whose family hailed from India. But nooooo…no racism there, according to Allen’s defenders on the right. Just like E.W. Jackson and many others on the (far) right today won’t acknowledge racism as the prime motive in the Charleston shootings. Sadly, when it comes to the right wing in this country, the more things change when it comes to America’s demographics and race relations, the more they stay the same with many conservatives in this country.

Is anybody out there still seriously arguing that George Allen isn’t an outright racist?  Well, read  this, just published by The Nation magazine:

Only a decade ago, as governor of Virginia, Allen personally initiated an association with the Council of Conservative Citizens, the successor organization to the segregationist White Citizens Council and among the largest white supremacist groups.

…After speaking with CCC founder and former White Citizens Council organizer Gordon Lee Baum and two of his cohorts, Allen suggested that they pose for a photograph with then-National Rifle Association spokesman and actor Charlton Heston. The photo appeared in the Summer 1996 issue of the CCC’s newsletter, the Citizens Informer.

According to Baum, Allen had not naively stumbled into a chance meeting with unfamiliar people. He knew exactly who and what the CCC was about and, from Baum’s point of view, was engaged in a straightforward political transaction. “It helped us as much as it helped him,” Baum told me. “We got our bona fides.” And so did Allen.

Descended from the White Citizens’ Councils…the CCC is designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In its “Statement of Principles,” the CCC declares, “We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called “affirmative action” and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.”

So how’s Allen going to explain THIS one?  What, he thought the “CCC” stood for “Civilian Conservation Corps” or something?  And if you believe THAT one, I’ve got some good “caca” to sell you.

{UPDATE:  Here are some classic quotes from the CCC…courtesy of Wikipedia.

*”Each of the three major races plays a distinct role in history. . . . The whites were the creators of civilization, the yellows its sustainers and copyists, the blacks its destroyers.” (www.cofcc.org, 12/98)

*Abraham Lincoln was “surely the most evil American in history,” and Martin Luther King was a “depraved miscreant.+óGé¼-¥ (www.cofcc.org, 12/98)

*”The Jews’ motto is ‘never forget, and never forgive.’ One can’t agree with the way they’ve turned spite into welfare billions for themselves, but the ‘never forget’ part is very sound.” (Citizens Informer, Winter/97)

*”The presence {in Congress} of even one white person with our interests foremost in his mind is simply unacceptable to the issues-obsessed conservative race traitors. Texas Governor George Bush and his brother Jeb in Florida have manifested their self-hatred by embracing Hispanics ahead of whites. Somehow we must find a way to relieve whites of their self-hatred.” (“Open Letter to White People,+óGé¼-¥ www.cofcc.org, 12/98)}

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, June 21.

*Mitt Romney’s opposition to Confederate flag puts GOP’s current presidential candidates on the spot

*Alleged Manifesto Of Dylann Roof Confirms Motivation For South Carolina Murders

*Dylann Roof may have been radicalized by the website of a group associated with southern GOP politicians (The Confederate-loving “Council of Conservative Citizens,” which George Allen was a big fan of.)

*Dylann Roof Photos and a Manifesto Are Posted on Website (And it’s exactly what most of us, except for right wingnuts and imbeciles like E.W. Jackson, thought: racist, anti-Semitic, violent, etc.)

*Romney: Take down the Confederate flag; 2016 GOP

*A renewed furor over

the Confederate flag

*Hillary Clinton Calls for ‘Common Sense’ Gun Control After Charleston Shooting

*Jeb Bush And Chris Christie Spout Anti-Women Rhetoric At Conservative Conference

*It’s Not Just Climate – Pope Francis Is Also Warning About The Health Of Our Oceans (Right, there are enormous environmental problems aside from climate change.)

*GOP’s fear of a black America: The long, racist history which explains Dylann Roof and stains the so-called “party of Lincoln”

*Conservative PAC seeks to take on 3 in GOP (Yep, I posted about this a few days ago.)

*Amy Frederick is senior adviser to Fiorina’s bid (Ditto.)

*Schapiro: Hurdles remain for Sweet Briar despite deal

*Our view: The changing face of Virginia

*Agreement reached to keep Sweet Briar College open next year

*Idea of natural gas compressor station worries possible neighbors

*Feds zero in on timeline of Uhrin’s Cavalier vote, builder involvement (“The FBI and Virginia State Police are conducting joint interviews in their separate criminal investigations of votes taken by Councilman John Uhrin and Mayor Will Sessoms.”)

*Cardinals and dogwoods out, hearts in as Virginia replaces welcome signs

*Nats’ Max Scherzer throws no-hitter

*D.C. area forecast: Summer swelter for the solstice

[The following is running in newspapers in the heavily Republican VA-06 congressional district.]

As the American public recognizes, our political system has become dysfunctional. A big component of the problem is that disgraceful political conduct has become acceptable, and is often even rewarded.

The rejection of Medicaid expansion by the Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly is a case in point.  

It is hard – perhaps impossible – to find a way that this rejection is good for Virginia or its people.

Many will not be swayed by the most obvious factor-that it leaves a couple of hundred thousand Virginians without the kind of health care security that every citizen gets in other advanced democracies. Some people will not be moved by the human cost of the failure to extend Medicaid, just as some applauded at a 2012 Republican presidential debate when one of the candidates said we should let the uninsured die.

But the rest of us are hurt, too.  

First, there’s the impact on the hospitals. A  recent segment on the PBS News Hour compared two hospitals. One was in Washington state, where Medicaid expansion was passed, and where the additional resources have made it possible to expand services. The other hospital was our own Winchester Medical Center. Our hospital, the report said, has “laid off 28 people and is taking a hard look at [having to cut] costly services like its trauma center that treats people after car accidents and other serious injuries.”

It isn’t just poorer Virginians who pay a price. When people without coverage end up getting expensive crisis care, because they couldn’t afford an ounce of prevention, the hospitals have to jack up the prices they charge everyone who does have coverage.

Then there’s the blow to the Virginia economy more generally.

We Virginians are paying billions of dollars in taxes that would be coming back to Virginia were it not for this rejection by Republicans. Our dollars are helping people in other states while Virginians suffer. At the same time, the Virginia economy could be revitalized by the almost $4 billion that would be injected into the state if Medicaid were expanded.

So if the refusal to expand Medicaid is bad for Virginia, and bad for Virginians, why did the Republicans in the General Assembly make that choice? A look at how the Republican Party has dealt with health care reform nationally gives us the answer. At every turn, since the beginning in 2009, the Republicans have done what they could to block and then overturn and then sabotage the Affordable Care Act.

The Republicans’ rejection of Medicaid expansion is one more piece in this six-year saga of sabotage.

That this saga represents disgraceful political conduct is not hard to demonstrate. And saying that the ACA (a.k.a. Obamacare) is a bad program does nothing to refute that. Because even if it were a bad program, these three pieces together make the case against the Republicans airtight:

1. The United States had a huge problem with its health care system. Other countries get much more while spending less, so there was no doubt that a better system was possible. With trillions of dollars being wasted, and tens of thousands of American lives being lost, surely something had to be done.

2. Republicans have relentlessly assaulted the one solution proposed and passed.

3. One might blame the defects of the solution (a solution that actually originated among Republicans)  rather than the determination to prevent Democrats from accomplishing anything, except for the third piece of the picture: Republicans did absolutely nothing to improve this health plan before it was enacted and have never proposed anything better.

To make war on the one solution out there while never proposing anything better is simply unacceptable. And, our founders would say, a violation of the spirit of the system of government they gave us.

No one who wants American politics to be a means of working for the common good, rather than a form of warfare, should applaud the Republican rejection of Medicaid expansion.

Andy Schmookler, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia’s 6th District in 2012, is the author of the forthcoming book, WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST: The Destructive Force at Work in Our World-and How We Can Defeat It. Advance copies of the book can now be purchased here.

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, June 20. Also see this week’s address by President Obama, which pushes for the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a way to “[rewrite] the rules of global trade to benefit American workers and American businesses…with standards that are higher and protections that are tougher than any past trade agreements.”

*An NRA board member blamed the pastor killed in Charleston for the deaths of his members (Is anyone surprised? This is the extremist NRA after all.)

*Americans reclaim the liberal label (Long past time!)

*Jeb Bush: ‘I Don’t Know’ If Charleston Shooting Was Racially Motivated (Another diqualifier for elective office for Jeb Bush – that being utter idiocy.)

*Lindsey Graham: The Confederate flag is “part of who we are” in South Carolina – even if “it’s a racist symbol” (“He didn’t say why only the American and state — but not the Confederate — flag were at half-staff today “)

*It’s not about mental illness: The big lie that always follows mass shootings by white males (“Blaming ‘mental illness’ is a cop-out — and one that lets us avoid talking about race, guns, hatred and terrorism”)

*Let that hateful flag fly: From George W. Bush to Lindsey Graham, a history of Republican support for the Confederate flag

*Beyond Mourning for Charleston (“The tragedy of racism and violence will not end without, in the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., ‘continuous struggle.'”)

*Suspect in Massacre Faces Grief and Anger

*Ivory crushed in Times Square to highlight poaching (So sad to think how many amazing, intelligent elephants were killed for this blood ivory. Ugh, makes me ill.)

*Fox News Refusals to Call Charleston a Racial Attack Makes Wilmore’s ‘F*cking Head Explode’

*Mike Huckabee: More Guns in Church Could’ve Stopped Charleston Shooting (Another 2016 Republican nutjob uttelry unfit for any public office.)

*Maher Goes Off on GOP Charleston Reactions: ‘Isn’t Denying Racism a Form of Racism?’ (Yes, very much so.)

*Herring hires outside counsel for Virginia voter ID case

*Good news: state’s finances improving

*Marsh returns money from golf outing (“Event held by ABC official, former state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, violated governor’s limit on gifts.”)

*Turtles, shorebirds must live with more tires in sands of Hatteras (“Beach-driving enthusiasts will find four new seaside ramps carved from the sand. The park staff is also building a 4-mile sand road to better avoid sea turtle and shorebird nesting areas”)

*A gleaming performance from Joe Ross in Nats win over the Pirates

*Storms and heavy rain to hit D.C. region in late afternoon and evening

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, June 19.

*A welcome warning on climate from the Vatican (“With concerted action, we could actually push global emissions downward in the next few years. How? Well, an ongoing revolution is taking place in energy technology.”)

*The Pope and Climate Change (“A pope in Rome worries about how we can shepherd the planet safely into the future. If only the senator from Kentucky and others in Congress could join him in thinking bigger.”)

*Words fail in Charleston, but change must follow (“…the United States, for all its progress, is far from closing the book on the racial divisions that warped much of its history. Equally perverse is how easy this country makes it for guns to fall into the wrong hands.”)

*Suspect captured in deadly shooting at black church in South Carolina (Far from being “incomprehensible” or whatever, there were two major factors behind this: guns and racism.)

*E.W. Jackson: Charleston attack shows Christians must be armed (Just to emphasize yet again, Virginia Republicans nominated this raving, far-right-wing lunatic for Lt. Governor in 2013. Any further questions about that party?)

*Shooters of color are called ‘terrorists’ and ‘thugs.’ Why are white shooters called ‘mentally ill’? (“This racist media narrative around mass violence falls apart with the Charleston church shooting.”)

*After Charleston, will America finally do something about guns?

*Right-Wing Media Exploit South Carolina Church Shooting To Push Pro-Gun Myths And Attack Obama (Utterly demented.)

*Fox’s Steve Doocy: It’s Extraordinary That Charleston Church Shooting Is Being Called A Hate Crime (Again, these guys are demented.)

*Mark Warner: Asking tough questions about the gig economy

*Shooting Suspect ‘Big Into Segregation,’ Roommate Says

*Krugman: Voodoo, Jeb! Style

*Take Down the Confederate Flag-Now

*House approves fast-track 218-208, sending bill to Senate

*McAuliffe touts benefits of 6-nation European trip

*FOIA group calls for look at ‘working papers’ exemption

*Arlington GOP endorses independent candidate for county board seatl

*McDonnell and wife seen together at Virginia Beach charity event

*Moore wants Virginia to address climate change (“State Senate Democratic candidate April Moore said Wednesday it’s time to step up and confront the challenge of climate change.”)

*Roanoke religious leaders call for prayers, unity at vigil for Charleston shooting victims

*Vigil held at Virginia Beach church for Charleston victims

*Rumors swirl around UVa, Liberty and Disney as Sweet Briar buyers

*D.C. area forecast: Drier breezes reduce storm risks today, but tropical rains are headed this way

I was chatting with Virginia Democratic Party insider earlier this week, and out of the blue the person asked me, “Are you hearing about the pending DPVA fight over local committees?” I hadn’t heard a word about it, actually, so I started asking around (as we bloggers are wont to do – lol). Here’s what I’ve found out so far.

*There’s a proposal to give local Virginia Democratic Party chairs a third year and not reorganize until after the presidential election in November 2016, instead of the end of this year, which is what the current plan calls for.

*I haven’t nailed down where this is coming from exactly, but it sounds like it’s probably from the local chairs (one source specifically mentioned “Chair of Chairs” Gene Magruder) In other words, it does NOT appear to be coming from the Clinton campaign, Gov. McAuliffe, DPVA Chair Susan Swecker (who I hear opposes this) or new DPVA Executive Directly Rebecca Slutzky (ditto).

*What is this all about? I’m not sure exactly, but one source told me, “I hear it’s about chairs, particularly in Northern Virginia, wanting to keep their positions for another year, expecting ‘bennies’ from the Hillary Clinton run.” I also heard an argument made that it’s better to have “experienced leaders in place for the presidential race.”

*Apparently, for this rule change to pass, it would need to get an “absolute majority” of the Central Committee [update: someone else tells me that it might only require a simple majority of those present).

*I’ve heard from several party folks who oppose this idea. One told me they just don’t think it makes any sense, that “the harder years for most local chairs are the odd years,” not the federal election/even-numbered years.

*One person responded, tartly: “Canceling elections? These chairs were not elected for next year… changing the rules midstream and making it effect old elections is highly questionable.”

*Another counterargument I heard was that this change “could create problems for larger committees [Lowell’s note: actually all committees have would to amend their bylaws to allow for this change],” such as in Northern Virignia, Richmond and Hampton Roads, since they “would need to change bylaws and their schedules.”

*I hear from multiple sources that there are folks in the Fairfax County Democratic Committee who are opposed to this because they don’t want current chair Sue Langley to get a third year.

*Another local party official told me, “Any DPVA member who cares about their local committee’s finances should vote it down.”

*Finally, I received the following statement from a Democratic local committee person who wanted to remain anonymous, but was concerned about the potential loss of income to their committee.

I’m a local Democratic Committee member, but not a voting DPVA member, and I’m not happy about this proposal.  For one thing, our members hardly know that the proposal exists and they haven’t been given much of an opportunity to weigh in on something that will greatly affect our local organization.  We elected our Chairs to serve a two-year term in early 2014.  The terms of office will be extended not only for our Chair, but for the rest of the leadership and full membership as well. Some will welcome this change, and there are others who never intended to serve that long and will resign.

Additionally, a large portion of our revenue comes from membership dues. We actually budgeted for the thousands of dollars we expected to take in at the end of this year in the form of two-year memberships. Without that income, we’d have to cut back on our voter outreach programs. You can “assess” members for a year’s worth of their membership dues but that would have to be optional, and we might only get half of the membership participating (not to mention a lot of confusion).  So we would recover roughly a quarter of the budgeted income in membership dues, and wait another year for the remainder.

Given all those arguments, my view is that the terms shouldn’t be changed unless there’s some overriding reason to do so, and I can’t think of any (and haven’t heard of any). Also, I see no reason for a divisive issue to come up when we have such important elections this year (for control of the State Senate) and next (for President and Congress). If I were a Central Committee member, personally I’d vote “no.”

By the way, DPVA will be meeting at 10 am at Woodson High School in Fairfax City the day after the Hillary Clinton event to vote on this. Supposedly it’s open to the public; should be interesting.