The juxtaposition of this story (Patch going down the tubes, basically) and this fiasco at the Herndon Patch today was too much to pass up for a quick hit here at Blue Virginia. What happened at the Herndon Patch, you ask?

1. They posted a story on Terry McAuliffe’s remarks to the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce, supposedly saying “he supports the bi-county parkway and a bridge across the Potomac” just days after saying he needed more information and analysis of the Bi-County parkway before making a decision. Gotcha, right?  Well…

2. No. Shortly after posting the first edition of this story, the Herndon Patch added this “Editor’s Note.”

Patch has received many questions about Terry McAuliffe’s statement to the Chamber regarding his position on the bi-county parkway. We asked McAuliffe’s camp to clarify his statement, and they responded that he supports the repair or replacement of the bridge across the Potomac before it becomes unusable, but takes no position on the bi-county parkway at this time.

In other words, McAuliffe did NOT change his position on the parkway, as originally reported by the Herndon Patch. So much for that story…whatever, it’s just “journalism” after all!

3. In an attempt to explain what happened, the Herndon Patch editor wrote in the comments section that “[t]he sentence that said he supported the parkway was provided to us by the chamber.” In other words, they didn’t have a reporter at the event, or apparently any audio or video, to confirm that Terry McAuliffe had said what the paper claimed he said. They just went with what someone who doesn’t even work for their paper said he said. Ugh.

4. A comment by “Lynn” following the editor’s shift-the-blame exercise wasn’t buying it. To the contrary, it cited “the poor journalism in this case,” noting that “a reporter should always follow-up on the facts to ensure accuracy before publishing,” and that this is “[e]specially [important] for a topic as sensitive as this.” Ya think? 😉

5. Also note that the Herndon Patch spells “Democratic” as “Democrstic” in the caption to its photo. And for whatever odd reason, it consistently uses lower case for the proper name, “Bi-County Parkway.” Yes, in addition to Journalism 101, the Herndon Patch also fails the SOL English section.

Bottom line: with “reporting” like this, it’s no wonder the Patch is circling the drain as we speak…

Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, August 16.

*NSA often breaks privacy rules (Not good: “Audit finds thousands of breaches each year since”)

*Christie raps potential 2016 rivals at Republican confab

*Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program is limited (This definitely needs to be changed so that the FISA  court doesn’t rely on the government to report improper spying.)

*Obama rodeo clown incident illustrates nation’s continued racial divide (One thing’s for sure, we are most definitely NOT in some sort of “post-racial” utopia here in America. And yes, there’s still far too much racism out there, sad to say…)

*Kaine backs Obama’s stance on Egyptian violence

*Today’s top opinion: The AG & the IG (Wow, when even the “Republican Times-Disgrace” is ripping Ken Cuccinelli for being a corrupt slimeball, you know things are bad!)

*Cuccinelli says he’s cooperating with the IG

*In tour of state, McDonnell focuses on accomplishments, ignores scandal

*McDonnell returned the gifts. Now it’s time to come clean (“By insisting time and again that he broke no laws and that Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. received no special favors in return for his charitable indulgence of the first family, Mr. McDonnell has offered not a blueprint for the restoration of ethical government but a preview of what may become his legal defense. That’s not good enough.”)

*McAuliffe touts environmental protection in Norfolk (This is a huge difference – for the better – favoring Terry McAuliffe over the climate-science-denying Koch brothers’ tool, Ken Cuccinelli.)

*Kaine suggests federal gifts policy as model for Virginia ethics reform

*Jackson says Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson are ‘idiots’ (Here we go again with this nut…)

*In Alexandria, McDonnell emphasizes local control of schools

*Grants add greatly to battlefield preservation

*Two state health officials, lobbyist to vacation together in France (This is basically legalized corruption of our state government. Why do we allow this merde? Yes, that’s the French word for crap.)

*McDonnell on Star Scientific scandal: ‘I know who my friends are’ (Yeah, he said that grifter Jonnie Williams was a close family friend.)

*Gov’s fractured friendship grew from common past

*Terry McAuliffe poised to let Virginia Democratic Party sling mud for him (Not sure how this is news; in fact, it’s been standard operating procedure for political campaigns for…ever, basically: keep the candidate’s hands relatively clean while others bash your opponent.)

*D.C. area forecast: Retreating refreshment relinquishes to rain this weekend?

*On verge of six-game win streak, a Giant blow sends Nats back to the mat (I haven’t been a big Rafael Soriano fan all year, and after last night I’m REALLY not. What was wrong with Drew Storen and/or Tyler Clippard exactly?)

From the Chesterfield Democratic Committee, full letter on the “flip.” This is utterly ridiculous.

Chesterfield Democratic Committee Asks Board of Supervisors to Condemn Confederate Flag on I-95; Asks Community to Come Together to Request It Not Be Flown

Chesterfield – The Chesterfield County Democratic Committee released letters it mailed today to each member of the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors requesting they pass a resolution condemning the flying of an oversized Confederate battle flag in Chesterfield near I-95. Recognizing that the Board cannot legally affect the flag, the Committee instead asked for a condemnation because this is such a divisive symbol that could upset citizens, both black and white.

The Committee also referenced the significant negative impact this flag could have on visitors and, most especially, on employers deciding whether to bring their companies here.  As the letter says, “We don’t believe that employers will want to bring their jobs to a County whose vistas and horizon are invaded by the Confederate flag. These employers will rightly fear that the message it sends to prospective employees is not a positive one. Jobs and businesses will go elsewhere,” hampering the excellent work being done by the Board of Supervisors to create good paying jobs in the County.

Believing this issue to be above politics or partisanship, the Chesterfield Democratic Committee also calls on individuals and organizations within the County, from our elected leaders of both parties, to civic groups, to religious groups, to the Chesterfield Republican Committee, to join with us in condemning this divisive symbol flying over our community in such a public and outsized manner.

Chesterfield County Democratic Committee

1401 Huguenot Road

Midlothian, Virginia 23113

The Honorable Dorothy Jaeckle

Chairwoman

The Honorable Steve A. Elswick

The Honorable Daniel A. Gecker

The Honorable James M. Holland

The Honorable Arthur S. Warren

Board of Supervisors

Chesterfield County

Post Office Box 40

Chesterfield, Virginia 23832

August 15, 2013

Dear Madame Chair and Sirs,

We write to you today about an issue of grave concern to our county and community, the placement of an oversized Confederate battle flag along the interstate in Chesterfield. While we recognize that you do not have any legal recourse and that individuals are permitted to place this flag on their private property, we ask you to stand together to condemn this action.

We know this flag is very disturbing and, frankly, upsetting to a great many members of our community, both black and white, and is similarly distressing to those travelers who will drive past it on interstate 95. This flag does not show us to be a welcoming county which we know we want to be. We believe this issue is above partisanship or politics.

We need to stand together as a community to say we do not want such a divisive symbol prominently displayed over the interstate. We strive in Chesterfield to be a welcoming place for all citizens who come here to live, work or play. Neither our residents’ nor our visitors’ overall view of the County should be marred by the sight of a flag that, in particular, has been associated with so much strife and distress over the years.

Moreover, we know that the Board invests significant effort in recruiting first class businesses to Chesterfield. We recognize how hard you work to ensure that good jobs at good wages are available for Chesterfield residents. We invest in our school system and in our infrastructure because we know these are assets valued by business owners for their employees. Unfortunately, this flag sends just the opposite message. We don’t believe that employers will want to bring their jobs to a County whose vistas and horizon are invaded by a large, looming Confederate flag. These employers will rightly fear that the message it sends to prospective employees is not a positive one. Jobs and businesses will go elsewhere.

Please take this opportunity to join with the Chesterfield community, above politics and partisanship that too often divide us, to condemn this flag and to ask the property owner and the organization, The Flaggers, to reconsider.

Thank you very much for your attention to this critical issue.  

Sincerely,

The Chesterfield County Democratic Committee

The Washington Post’s former Ombudsman, Patrick Pexton, has a long letter in the Washington City Paper giving Jeff Bezos some “free advice” on his new acquisition. My favorite part is the following – awesome!

The Ugly

Jennifer Rubin. Have Fred Hiatt, your editorial page editor-who I like, admire, and respect-fire opinion blogger Jennifer Rubin. Not because she’s conservative, but because she’s just plain bad. She doesn’t travel within a hundred miles of Post standards. She parrots and peddles every silly right-wing theory to come down the pike in transparent attempts to get Web hits. Her analysis of the conservative movement, which is a worthwhile and important beat that the Post should treat more seriously on its national pages, is shallow and predictable. Her columns, at best, are political pornography; they get a quick but sure rise out of the right, but you feel bad afterward.

And she is often wrong, and rarely acknowledges it. She was oh-so-wrong about Mitt Romney, week after week writing embarrassing flattery about his 2012 campaign, calling almost every move he made brilliant, and guaranteeing that he would trounce Barack Obama. When he lost, the next day she savaged him and his campaign with treachery, saying he was the worst candidate with the worst staff, ever. She was wrong about the Norway shootings being acts of al-Qaida. She was wrong about Chuck Hagel being an anti-Semite. And does she apologize? Nope.

Rubin was the No. 1 source of complaint mail about any single Post staffer while I was ombudsman, and I’m leaving out the organized email campaigns against her by leftie groups like Media Matters. Thinking conservatives didn’t like her, thinking moderates didn’t like her, government workers who knew her arguments to be unfair didn’t like her. Dump her like a dull tome on the Amazon Bargain Books page.

Now, let’s just hope that Jeff Bezos takes this excellent advice.  

( – promoted by lowkell)

If I were President Obama, I would announce:

“Two years ago, the Republicans in Congress took this nation to the brink of disaster, threatening to make the nation fail to pay its bills, damaging the faith and credit of the United States. They used the threat of making the nation default as a means to extort concessions, saying, in effect, ‘Meet our demands or we’ll hurt America.’

“We reached a deal, one from which we’re still suffering today. But the mere fact that the Republicans –one of our two major parties– had made such an irresponsible threat, and brought the nation to the brink, was enough to set back our economic recovery, to cost the American taxpayers billions, and to damage America’s reputation in the world.

“That’s not going to happen again. There will be no crisis over the debt ceiling this time

“I am convinced that it is in my presidential powers to make sure that we pay our bills. The 14th amendment declares that, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, … shall not be questioned.” I believe that part of the U.S. Constitution invalidates the legislation that creates some artificial debt ceiling, thereby calling into question whether bills already incurred will be paid.

“Congress already spent the money. I’ll see to it that our debts get paid.

“If the Republicans want to challenge my right to protect the full faith and credit of the United States, I’ll be glad to defend my position in Court.

“In the meanwhile, I will defend the American people, and the health of the American economy, and our international standing against injury inflicted by political blackmailers.

“If the debt ceiling procedure has not been challenged before, that’s because never before –in the course of several generations– has the debt ceiling been used for purposes of extortion. Eighty-some times, the United States raised its debt ceiling as needed –to pay bills already incurred– on a bi-partisan basis. It was simply understood that we don’t pay politics with the nation’s credit.

“But that was before we had a political party willing to damage the country in its insistence on ‘My way or the highway.’

“Now that we see how dangerously the debt ceiling provisions can be abused, we’ve had to re-examine the whole premise of that process.  In the course of that re-examination I have been advised, and am now persuaded, that a crisis of the kind we had in 2011 would represents a violation of the 14th amendment.

“I’m not going to let that happen again. There will be no extortion this time, no rewards for blackmail. I will see to it that the country pays its bills.”

Here’s why I think this is a politically good move for the president.

Obama can accomplish next to nothing so long as these Republicans –who have shown they have no interest in making our government work for the good of the nation– control the House.

Therefore the president’s political efforts should be directed at defeating the Republicans on 2014. Without a real victory in the congressional elections 15 months from now, all the rest of Obama’s presidency will be as crippled as it has been the last two and a half years.

This is one move toward achieving that victory. (I’ve got another move in mind I’ll post another time.)

This move has the virtue that it gives the Republicans two options, both of which would or should strengthen the president.

Either they will refrain from attempting to make a crisis over the debt ceiling, or they will drive us into another crisis.

If they refrain, it will look like the president intimidated them into backing down. Looking strong and effective is always good for a president.

If they choose to challenge President Obama by going forward with another attempt at extortion, they’ll provide him with an exceptionally good opportunity to show the American people what unpatriotic, irresponsible scoundrels these Republicans are.

With that latter scenario –about which I worry only about the president’s ability to play his winning hand– the dramatization of the dark and destructive nature of the spirit that’s driving the Republican Party can be followed by the president’s still going ahead with the decisive move he promised– the unilateral step of by-passing the debt ceiling on his own authority.

And again he would look strong.

Then he can beat the drum to get the voters to turn this appalling Republican majority in the House out of office and out of power.