Jim Webb Retires, Tea Party Trips Republicans

Since Jim has raised only $12,000 for his re-election run it should come as no surprise he's pitching in the towel.     He was too sensible to be happy in the role of politician and his years as an author allowed his mind to function too well.     Real politicians are dry, single level charcters who find a cushy spot to rest and hang there to the end.     Jim Webb has a lot of life to live and enjoy and even though we will miss him we wish him God Speed.      Also happy birthday.     Jim turns 65 today.

                                                                         ACVDN, The Top News Source for Amherst Virginia
One of the most compelling figures in the Democrat's Senate caucus won't seek re-election. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., will retire after one term.

                                                                                          Amherst Virginia NEWS
It's tough to imagine Democrats having trouble fielding a candidate to replace Webb.       Democrats had a rotten 2009 and a rotten 2010 in Virginia, and they're fighting uphill to hold the State Senate this year.       But former Gov. Tim Kaine, now DNC chairman (yes, he presided over those bad years), only ruled out a bid when failure to do so would have fired up speculation about Webb.      A November 2010 poll had Kaine slightly outperforming Webb in a race against George Allen;   Kaine, unlike Webb, will not have to worry about money.       And any Democrat in the New South next year will have a second surge of African-American Obama voters boosting his chances.

So I'm much less interested in that, much more interested in Webb's short career as a senator.      He was one of the least understood "stars" in the upper House.      When he returned from Vietnam and attended Georgetown Law, he was deeply offended by liberal anti-war sentiment.       "I’m one of these people,"  he told Tim Russert in 2006, "who — there, there aren’t many of us — who can still justify for you the reasons that we went into Vietnam, however screwed up the strategy got."      He joined the Reagan administration, and after he left it (in a disagreement over shrinking the Navy, which he opposed), he mostly endorsed Republicans.      He only turned on the party during the run-up to the War in Iraq. He wrote an op-ed opposing the war in 2002.

The connotations of  "a MacArthurian regency in Baghdad" show how inapt the comparison is.      Our occupation forces never set foot inside Japan until the emperor had formally surrendered and prepared Japanese citizens for our arrival.       Nor did MacArthur destroy the Japanese government when he took over as proconsul after World War II.      Instead, he was careful to work his changes through it, and took pains to preserve the integrity of Japan's imperial family.       Nor is Japanese culture in any way similar to Iraq's.      The Japanese are a homogeneous people who place a high premium on respect, and they fully cooperated with MacArthur's forces after having been ordered to do so by the emperor.      The Iraqis are a multiethnic people filled with competing factions who in many cases would view a U.S. occupation as infidels invading the cradle of Islam.


Indeed, this very bitterness provided Osama bin Laden the grist for his recruitment efforts in Saudi Arabia when the United States kept bases on Saudi soil after the Gulf War.


In Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends.      In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets.


It was on the basis of that essay and his biography that liberals, especially liberal bloggers, recruited Webb as a U.S. Senate candidate in 2006.      People constantly forget that liberals did this -- it didn't make sense that the liberals at Daily Kos would be enraptured by the author of an essay about why "Women Can't Fight."      But Webb found the right political moment, one in which liberals prioritized an end to the war over almost anything else.     He wore a pair of his son's combat boots throughout the campaign;  I was at his victory celebration, when he lifted the boots and said, with obvious delight,  "the campaign is over!"      He defeated George Allen (thanks to some self-inflicted wounds) when it was tough to imagine anyone else doing it.

The 2008 buzz over Webb as a possible VP candidate for Obama never made sense to me.     Like I said, he had found a moment -- the moment was over as the Iraq War faded as an issue.      He obviously cared less about politicking than almost anyone else with his level of prominence.       And in important ways, he was not a "progressive" -- he was a populist.      His big issues were economic opportunity, prison reform, and aid for veterans, and on at least the last issue he was very successful, passing a new GI Bill in 2008.


But he hated the health care debate, even though he voted for the bill.      He's privately raised issues throughout Barack Obama's tenure. Some frustration is tactical.       He told Rahm Emanuel last June that the president should provide a "very specific format"  for his vision of healthcare reform.      It would have offset the, in Webb's words, "complex amorphous leviathan that bubbled up out of five committees."


"A lot of people in this country, when they look up here, they want to see leadership. They want to see credibility.     And they are not always the same thing,"  Webb says.      "The healthcare issue really took away a lot of the credibility of the new leadership--Obama particularly--the Reid-Pelosi-Obama trio."

The image that emerges:    A man who passionately cared about ending the war in Iraq and was guardedly optimistic about making the economic playing field flatter, then got to Washington and discovered how much more he liked being a writer.

ACVDN Bottom Line.     For a short period of time we were more than adequately represented by a thoughtful and honest gentleman.     You could call it Virginia's Camelot.     Thank You Jim.

                                                                                        Source One for Amherst News
ACVDN Predicts,  Former Gov. Tim Kaine will be the Democratic  candidate and next Senator from Virginia. 

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House GOP Leaders Blindsided By Patriot Act Defeat

If the House's new Republican leaders were going to fail to pass any particular piece of legislation, you wouldn't expect it to be an extension of several Patriot Act provisions.


The Patriot Act, a Bush Administration legacy, has typically been more strongly supported by Republicans than Democrats.


But the House leadership was blindsided Tuesday evening when a Patriot Act extension was defeated.


Several new GOP lawmakers from the Tea Party wing who, in principle, are suspicious of federal power, joined other
Republicans as well as House Democrats to torpedo the extension.

The legislation failed on a 277-148 vote, coming seven votes shy of the two-thirds margin needed to pass bills under House rules normally reserved for non-controversial legislation.


It was the biggest defeat for the House's new GOP managers since they took charge last month.     Republicans will spin this as a victory.


House Republicans vow to bring the bill up again under chamber rules that would require just a simple majority.    The Obama Administration supports the extension.    It wouldn't hurt Obama to re-think some of the things he supports.

The FBI's authority to conduct some kinds of surveillance and get business records expires at the end of February.      So the defeat of a House plan to extend the deadline until the end of the year threatens to throw the law enforcement community into disarray.


A GOP aide blamed the situation on new lawmakers who don't understand the Patriot Act and on Tea Party favorites who reject broad federal powers.    Could it be that after a decade of living under the Patriot Act, these new members understand it only too well?    The Senate will try to push forward its version of the plan next week.


Now the question is whether Republicans in the House can work with Democrats in the Senate with only two weeks of room to maneuver.     Republicans haven't worked with Democrats for the last 10 years but you can bet the store the Democrats will fall in and help save face for the Republicans.


Aides to Republican leaders also blamed Democrats who had voted for such an extension during the last Congress but didn't this time.     Finally and for unknown reasons Democrats grow spines.    Could it be the smaller number of Blue Dogs fouling the House?

Kevin Can't Count

Thats not exactly true.     Kevin can't count too well is closer to accurate.     Kevin can get to within ten or twelve if the number is less than 300 so Kevin is generally within 8% of the correct number give or take a couple.      If you give him enough room to count with his foot (like Roy Roger's horse trigger) he does quite well but it is a OSHA violation to let him count with his foot in a crowded space like on the House floor.    To correct this Republicans will try and destroy OSHA completely.

They also blamed House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) whose job (hobby might be a better fit) it is to count the votes before the actual vote and twist enough arms to gain passage.     McCarthy is no different from most Republicans, they all have trouble with math and numbers.

From National Journal:



"I am surprised that so many Democrats who supported an extension of these very same provisions last Congress suddenly
changed their votes," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas.      "President Obama supports a
reauthorization of these important national security tools.      And the House bill provides Congress with the opportunity to engage in a thorough review of the provisions as we consider a longer reauthorization.      It's unfortunate that partisan politics seems to have prevented so many Democrats from doing what's best for America's national security."


GOP aides, however, were pointing the finger at House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Aides said McCarthy failed to
whip the vote, which led to the embarrassment of the bill falling short and leaders being caught off guard.


For Democrats, it was an opportunity for a little payback, to bloody the noses of the House's new GOP managers.     But the vote also demonstrated the impact of the House losing so many of its more centrist Democrats.     Some of those who were defeated in the mid-terms or retired would have likely provided the necessary votes to pass the extension.     But they weren't there.


Instead, the House Democrats who remain are more liberal.     And they could hardly contain their joy at the House leadership's failure to pass the bill.


An excerpt from The Hill:


Veteran Democratic Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.) exited the House chamber boasting that the GOP unsuccessfully held the scheduled 15-minute vote open for a total of 35 minutes to twist enough Republican arms to change the outcome.


"They didn't have the votes! They kept trying to get them to switch, but couldn't get them,"  Frank exclaimed as he walked through reporters in the Speaker's Lobby, which is just off the House floor.


Democratic Rep. Lacy Clay (Mo.) laughed as he told The Hill, "We're so happy, I'm so happy. I voted against it.      They tried
to get enough Rs to switch their votes, because the Tea Party voted 'no' also... but it wasn't enough."

Faulconerville Virginia News

Is this enough to make John Boehner cry or what?     Or will the next story make the tears fall?

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Here's a family values story brought to you by the GOP.

Madison Heights Virginia Bulletin

Ditch the flag and suit and Rep. Chris Lee (Republican-N.Y.) becomes shirtless, woman chasing, family values guy. 

Rep. Chris Lee (Republican-N.Y.) resigned from the House Wednesday evening ( thats today Feb 9, 2011 about an hour ago) effective immediately, an announcement that came just hours after a Web site reported that the married congressman had sent a shirtless image of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist.     "Remember Friends, If you can't get it on Craigslist it ain't worth getting."      I think credit for that quote goes to Larry The Cable Guy.

"I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents,"  Lee said in a statement announcing his resignation.     "I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all.    I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness."

Lee's decision to vacate his Upstate New York seat came after Gawker, a gossip Web site, posted the shirtless image and what it said was correspondence between him and a 34-year-old woman.    ACVDN sends kudos to Gawker for being on top of his one.    Lee's quick action to fold the show and get out of town indicates Gawker is 100% on the trail of this GOP Hero.


The woman, who Gawker described as a 34-year-old government employee from Maryland but did not name, told the gossip site she posted an ad last month on the  "Women for Men"  forum seeking "financially and emotionally secure"  men who don't  "look like toads."      That same day, she got a response from a person who said his name was Christopher Lee, describing himself as 39-year-old lobbyist,  "a very fit  fun classy guy.     Live in Cap Hill area.   6ft  190lbs  blond/blue."     In follow-up e-mails he attached photos -- one in a blue polo, the other shirtless.


Lee, who is married and has one child, was elected to the 26th district in 2008 and easily re-elected in 2010.      His resignation will trigger a special election in a district where  Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) won with 52 percent of the vote in 2008.    That means there are Republicans up the yeng yang who can go to Washington and pick up where Lee left off, without missing a beat.     Yeng Yang is a technical and classier word than corn hole but the meaning is exactly the same.

The power to call the special election falls to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).      There is no set deadline for a special election to be called but once it is called, it must be held between 30 and 40 days after that date.


Then-Gov. David Paterson (D) exploited this loophole so the state would not have to hold a separate special election to replace Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) after Massa's resignation in March.    To save the state money  Paterson simply refused to call for the special election and then later set it for the same day as the November general election.


Given the amount of time between now and the next election though, it's likely Cuomo will call a special election.     The state held one each in 2009 and 2010.


This is the fourth time in two years that an upstate New York seat will hold a special election (the race the replace Massa was still technically a special election).     Send a water sample off and get it checked.     Four occurrences in two years means something though not to republicans who have them stacked  to the ceiling with bus tickets in hand and luggage packed for the trip to DC.


Among the Republican names mentioned as Lee's replacement are Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy and state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin with Corwin emerging as an early establishment favorite.     These upper State New Yorkers are nothing if not prepared.      Only a couple of hours since the resignation and three probable replacements already.   You would think they have been thru this before.

ACVDN Bottom Line.     When are Republicans going to start concentrating on JOBS-JOBS-JOBS like the American people want them to do?

House Republicans have now lost three straight attempts to pass bills in the past 24 hours.


As you’ve probably heard already, last night the Republican leadership was caught off guard when 26 of their rank-an-file members joined the Democrats to reject an attempt to extend the PATRIOT Act provisions under an expedited procedure, known as “suspension of the rules,” that limits debate and does not allow amendments to be offered.      Before that vote, the leadership was forced to pull another bill from the floor that would have provided job training to people who have lost their jobs due to trade issues when it became clear that they didn’t have the votes to pass it under the same procedure they tried for the PATRIOT Act bill.

This afternoon, they tried again to use the expedited suspension of the rules process and, for the third time in a row, failed.     This most recent attempt was on a bill that would have rescinded $179 million of U.S. funds form the United Nations.      It was rejected on a roll call vote of 259-169, which is short of the 2/3rds majority needed under the suspension of the rules procedure.     This time only 2 Republicans split off and voted “no,” but they didn’t pick up enough Democrats.

The Republicans’ preference for a closed process is coming to a head with the ideological diversity of the House.      The leadership clearly doesn’t have a good handle on its own caucus, having watched 26 Republicans vote against the PATRIOT Act provisions despite their last-minute attempt attempt at arm twisting.      They’re also overestimating how many Democrats they can win over, with only 23 moving to their side on the UN vote.      The House Democratic caucus is smaller this session, but it has become a bit more progressive since most of the losses last year were in competitive districts who had elected conservative Democrats to the House anyways.      There aren’t nearly as many Blue Dogs around this session to pad the Republicans’ efforts.

Most of the democraic losses in the last election were Blue Dogs and this strengthened the Democratic party.    Most of the republican wins in the last election were Tea Party and as yet we don't know what that means.      One thing we do know and that is Less Blue Dogs  means  Less Republican Votes.

The Republicans now have no choice but to revisit to their “Pledge to America” and use a more open floor process for more bills, one that at least allows more than 40 minutes of debate and a motion to recommit from the minority.      Of the 15 bills that have been bought to the floor so far this year, only one was done under an open rule, and it was a “modified open” rule, not a truly open rule.

Obviously, there’s some irony in the Republicans following a campaign pledge only because they have failed repeatedly in their attempts to go back on it.     But, hey, debate and amendments are good.      They let the House operate a little more closer to the will of the majority, and that’s something we should take however we can get it.

Faulconerville Virginia News

I'm sure I hear John Boehner sobbing now.     

Amherst County, VA News