Swingers

I'd rather be a swinger than a geezer.

SouthernGal — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:35:56 GMT

Hey, Schad.

Sock Puppet — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:50:07 GMT

That wasn't that hard.

What a Letdown

Thomas Paine — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:03:23 GMT

...I didn't find anything about swinging in the whole damned article.

Me and Prop 8

MacAdvisor — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:08:31 GMT

Last weekend I was raising money at the Remember the Red Party in San Francisco for the fight against Prop 8. I was very proud to have raised $475 for the cause, only to read an article in The Sacramento Bee the next morning about a fine Mormon couple who donated $50,000 in favor of the initiative. The weekend before, I was at the gay wedding of one of my closest friends and his partner of 18 years.

I, too, believe Prop 8 is going to pass. I make phone calls twice a week from a phone bank and one can hear the shift. BTW, those kids who attended the wedding on SF all had permission from their parents, btw, so the conservatives don't have anything to be upset about: their parents wanted them to learn about gay marriage. I also think a young girl discovering she doesn't need to marry the prince, but can marry the princess, is exactly what this fight is about, only, of course, I think her knowing that is a good thing. I can only imagine how much better I would have felt in high school if I knew that Joey on the football team was a suitable crush for me as Susie the cheerleader.

People are going to vote on my rights. It is a weird thing, to know that one's rights are so fragile, so malleable. The Constitution doesn't mean anything, because the President can break it with impunity, holding people without charge and without any apparent interference from the Courts. The laws don't mean anything because they can be reversed through a signing statement. We can't have socialized medicine, but I gather socialized banking is good, as long as the government only coughs up money and doesn't try to stop the yahoos that got us in this mess from continuing to run things. Now, we just vote on who is a full citizen and who is second class. The Mormons, whose rather strange views on marriage used to get them strung up from a nearby tree, our now pouring money into insuring others differing views on marriage are strictly forbidden.

Manjoo, glad to see you are stretching your wings a bit from the tech stuff. You are evolving from a good tech writer into a great writer. Good stuff.

Changing Virginia

kcbrady — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:52:19 GMT

In the Tidewater region, especially in the Northern Neck, all the newcomers are known as "come heahs" as in "they come heah from someplace else." Of course, sine they also bring money with them (something not seen in the Northern Neck since before the Civil War), it turns out they're quite welcome. Bless 'em.

North Carolina is, my goodness, "Carolina Blue"!

Radiotone — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:15:54 GMT

Yes, Carolina blue....a very light shade to be sure, a sky blue. It will be a long time until we're Duke blue.

But Obama is ahead by over 12,000 on the morning of the 5th with 100% of precincts reporting. It would be so nice to see him flip this state, a state Clinton could nudge either time.

We might be back to red (or pink, as those uncalled states show on the electoral maps, signifying very tight races) next go round, but we're blue at the moment, or maybe part of "Purple America".

Does Obama love this country?

USAMyCountry — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:19:32 GMT

Absolutely not!
On the news other day, when Obama visited Memorial, while people laying flowers nicely, he threw flowers on the ground! When people put their hands on their hearts for the pledge, he just stood there!
His wife said it's first time she's proud of this country... should Obama first time show his love for this country??

His experience can not compare with McCain, so he compares himself with VP candidate Palin! What a sympathy!
His resume is not qualified for the President position. Please don't let his smooth talk confused you!

Wake up America!

May God help us to choose a good leader for our country!

The American Philippic…

Demosthenes2 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:54:31 GMT

“I am surprised that my opponents neglected their ships, but took care to get their orators ready; and they seem to me to be mistaken in regard to the whole affair, and to imagine that you are grateful, not to those who do their duty, but to those who say they do it; and they have formed a totally different estimate regarding you from that which I hold. For this very reason it is right that you should feel more kindly disposed toward me; for it is plain that I entertain a higher opinion of you than they do.”

--Demosthenes “On the Crown”

Tomorrow we decide who we are—what we stand for as a people. This is of particular import because of the vitriol that has steadily increased for 35 years but ratcheted up to an unbearable tension over the past 15 years.

The original Demosthenes noted wryly in the contest “On the Crown” that while the crown was to be given to the one who prepared his trireme for sea the most quickly he prepared his ship while his opponents prepared their orators for the judgment. Just so those who lead you have been more concerned with their framing of issues than with their actions and the price has been ruinous. I find myself, like him, noting with alarm that we have followed those who say they do their duty rather than those who act in the performance of those duties.

The warnings come from both sides but mostly based upon affiliation rather than principle. If you voted for security or responding aggressively to those who assaulted us you were deeply betrayed. If you voted to prevent your fears from being realized you were duped into subtly surrendering your privacy, your rights, the legal benefit of the doubt you’ve always enjoyed, indeed even the ability to know when you’re being accused let alone to confront your accuser.

The great promise of America—America with a capital “A”—has always been a unique and fair chance to succeed and procure a little better life for your children and a fair shake if you play by the rules and work hard. The problem is that deal relied upon an agreed upon framework—it relied upon a common understanding that ceased to exist. The promise was an opportunity for the enterprising—not the ability to loot the system from within.

The great promise of America is to the promise of the ability to follow one’s own beliefs while living in plurality on those things required for the common good; to work hard and provide for your own and to get the busy bodies and the self-righteous and those who would insist you bend your knee and words and deeds in accordance with their will to them out of your way. The undermining of our protections, the increased influence of those who insist I wouldn’t or can’t so you mustn’t undermines the very fabric of what this nation represents. You can’t be the shining city on the hill when you’re busy burrowing in the dirt for reasons to control your neighbors actions or find a way to use the rules against them.

We’ve lost a great deal. We’ve allowed ourselves to surrender our independence the way we surrendered our fairness and dignity in the workplace based on merit, the way we’ve allowed the disparity between the richest and poorest among us to such an extent that many of those who believed in that dream find themselves shut out.

We’ve squeezed more than the life out of people; we’ve inundated them with fear of the unfathomable and unforeseen, loathing of others and superstition. We’ve scorned science, evidence and fellowship and rejected the fundamentals of responsibility and in the process made life for a large percentage of our fellows nearly impossible while we await the random and ravenous appetite of indulgence to target us.

We abandoned the opportunity for shared sacrifice and the ability to walk our talk and live up to our principles after 9-11 in favor of our fear and indulging ourselves. We have paid a steep price since in the ability to lead, the example we have set, our ability to undertake action on our own behalf and to work together for mutual benefit.

We have given in to a meanness of character instead that limits us as a people as much as the economy limits the options of people to better their families’ situations.

Tomorrow we can reclaim who we are—our self respect, the example we set for ourselves and the world, our reputation abroad, the example of dignity and rights we’ve been and the people who give the rest of the world hope. We can reclaim expansive optimism and confidence and generosity of spirit and fairness—not fear, suspicion or selfishness.

Tomorrow go do your duty. Go speak to what sort of a people we are and will be. Let not your orations speak for you but your actions and the hard work we must do as a nation to be that shining city on the hill—to be that people that stands for fairness, for freedom and justice, for the rule of law that applies to all and for the ability to attain that most American of dreams—the chance to better one’s lot without one’s own liberty being unduly infringed and the universal standards of law applied to all. Reject fear, loathing of others, the notion that others must choose as we do; reject the notion that a concepts of the good should be constrained by only one view or the opinion that anyone not sharing your opinion doesn’t count as a ‘real’ American, especially in a nation founded on dissent.

The real America is the plurality of our people expressing their multitudes of belief and each being allowed to live those beliefs; it is the adherence to a single standard of justice and opportunity for all.

I urge you to go tomorrow and speak to who we are. Conduct is determinative of character and tomorrow we shall speak to both—and then we shall choose between the small minded politics of narrow self interest or the broader vision of a nation driven not by mean prejudices but by the notion of who we can be. That is a choice and it is a choice to be made on the basis of more than one's own narrow interest.

“You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.”

--Demosthenes 384-322 BC

a correction

pollypolly — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:36:51 GMT

This is pretty interesting, although perhaps an over-simplification. But Gov. Jim Gilmore did not interefere in the Terry Schiavo case (that was in the state of Florida); however, he did stick his nose (unsuccessfully, thank God) into the Hugh Finn case here in Virginia about ten years ago. The courts ruled against him, even back then, and most everybody I know breathed a collective sigh of relief - so Virginia's social conscience is not really all that new, you see. But I am hoping our voting habits are finally catching up to our brains.

Business magazines endorse Barack Obama for President

jpmarat — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:19:24 GMT

Funny about Obama being accused of "Socialism". According to Business Week magazine, the Stock Market performs better when a Democrat takes the White House and the Economist, the premier conservative British news and business magazine, a firm advocate of the capitalist free market, just endorsed Obama for president.

Apparently the Republicans sell fear because they have nothing else to sell.

Repubs at it again--TRYING TO FIX ELECTION 2008

The Real Slim K — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:35:33 GMT

Concerning battleground states which may turn blue, has everyone heard about the mass flyers dropped into the African-American areas of Virginia? Someone has taken the trouble to create a superficially credible document, supposedly from the state's election officials, informing that 'due to the all-time record voter participation expected in this election, to ensure fairness and accuracy of counting every vote, registered republicans will be scheduled to vote of Tuesday, November 4th, and registered democracts will vote on Wednesday, November 5th.

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A BALD-FACED DECEPTION AND ANTI-DEMOCRATIC EFFORT TO SUPRESS VOTES!! Republicans don't care about democracy, they don't care about accurate representation, they don't even care about what happens to the country (our economy, our military abroad, our schools, our race relations, the environment, nothing!). They care about one thing and one thing only: holding power.

Okay Virginia: (and North Carolina, and Ohio (remember 2004!), and Florida (remember 2000!), and Nevada, and Missouri, etc. Let's show those dirty anti-democratic, vote-supressing, racist repubs what we think about them.!

Old Virginian Parochialism

VirginianByBirth — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:03:50 GMT

I grew up seeing things like this in my grandmother's house:

"To be a Virginian either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one's Mother's side is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above."

But I don't think any Virginian has really taken this seriously since my grandmother. Virginia is an extremely cosmopolitan state.

Changing Demographics in NC

CAPT Mike — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:16:36 GMT

My wife and I moved to southeastern/coastal NC exactly a year ago from northern Virginia, where we lived for nearly 20 years and worked in DC. She has retired and now I work in Wilmington at GE, where almost all of the professionals are from out of state. Our community has some 400 homes and virtually nobody is a local. Our neighbors are "halfback Yankees" -- Baby Boomers from NY and PA and NJ. I read where over a million people have relocated into NC since 2000. It's safe to say most aren't much interested in whistling "Dixie" or voting Republican. That's why Obama is currently ahead in both NC and VA. Elizabeth Dole is very much in trouble here as well. Another factor is that the textile and furniture plants in the central and western parts of NC are gone; those jobs moved to China and Mexico. Unemployment is high and people are more concerned with pocketbook issues than traditional Culture Wars. By 2012 the odds are NC will be hostile territory for the GOP, or what is left of it.

ENOUGH!!

moxienorth96 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:42:04 GMT

Today I attended the funeral of 56 year old man who has worked construction his entire life. I have known him for 15 years. He too suffered from the slow economic times and landed a big job and was balls to the walls trying to make up for his losses over the previous months/years. Big John actually died right at the job sight on Monday.

Today I was also informed that after years I will be let go of my position as an administrative assistant in 2 to 4 weeks.

No threat intended but this is why the Forefathers of this Great County granted us the Right to Bear Arms or Arm Bears I know it was one of the two.

The working class those making under $15K to $30k or less need to get their, again I STATE THEIR COUNTRY BACK! The news feeds are always about those who have a larger income and the little guy is never mentioned. You very seldom see stats on the $12k to 20K wage earners which is most of the population. The way things are going we may all end up being the little guy.

It's time to get back to the basics. The witholdings out my weekly check are at 20% that is only because by my calculator I see $19.76 otherwise it woudl be 25%. This US government needs to get by on less of my income as I need more to get by on to support them.

Sorry for the rant.

value for your dollar

Bryn — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:33:23 GMT

Reading ENOUGH and many other posts on The Fray I can feel the real fears of ordinary US citizens about the future. So I'd like to share some experience and ask your views.

I'm British and, like a lot of Britons, somewhere between the US and Europe in my worldview. I've worked as a farmhand, a surveyor, I ran a business and now I do research in physics. I've worked for government, for big companies and for myself. I've been poor but I've also been lucky. Britain isn't - even remotely - a socialist basket case. If we are in trouble now it's because our banks followed a US business model. Sure we have more redistribution than in the US but if you want to run a profitable business, and make money, it's a pretty good place to live. I know. I did.

I now live in Switzerland, which has a healthcare system based on insurance, like the US. It costs a fortune and I resent it, because I have to spend so much just to get the basic cover. Fine if your rich but what if you're not? When I lived in Britain I paid my taxes and got free healthcare - and it was great when I was poor and great too when I earned a bit more. You can go and see a doctor anytime you need to. For free. You need an operation? Sure. It's free. Both our kids were born at home (our choice - highly recomended) with a full midwife team. For free. The British love to complain about their Health Service but the truth is it works. It isn't perfect but it works. Evidence? what's the surest way to loose an electrion in Britain? threaten to change the Health Service.

Now it isn't free really, of course. I've paid for it from my taxes and, when I've had a good income, I've paid for other people as well. I don't mind. After all, richer people paid for my health care when I was poor. The really important thing is that I never had to fear loosing my job and loosing my insurance. That's a real contribution to my quality of life but it has one other great benefit. It meant that I could be flexible. I wanted to start a business? I could take the risk. There's no health costs (and taxes on small businesses in Britain are low) so you get to keep your profits - and so your business survives and you make more money, and eventually you pay more tax so that other people get the same breaks. Even then, my total income deductions in Britain were about 25%.

Likewise, because the UK Health Service is huge and centralised it is very powerful. If it wants to push down the cost of medicines the drug companies have got to listen. That means that drugs in the UK cost vastly less than here in Switzerland or (I guess) in the US. Sure, there are freeloaders. Sure, there are people who burden their doctors with trivial ailments. But a lot of people recoginse they have to be responsible. Doctors, likewise, don't have to sell their patients lots of drugs just so they can make money. Every time I visit a doctor here in Switzerland I come away with five packs of drugs, most of which I don't need.

Now, I'm struck by the constant arguments about US tax policy under the next president. I don't like big government either. But my experience is that centralised provision for key social benefits, paid from taxes levied on those with bigger incomes, is actually a real benefit to businesses as well as the little guy.

So maybe, if you're paying 25% of a small income to cover your taxes and healthcare then you should come to Britain. You'll pay the same but you'll get a lot more for your money :-)

Can you see my point? May I, politely, ask how you see it?

Arlington County

stevie b — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:47:16 GMT

Just wanted to point out that one of John McCain's homes was in Arlington, that "communist country", according to his brother. Of course, we shouldn't be held responsible for all that our brothers say; after all, it is just "verbiage".

Virginia is for Contractors

Adrasteia — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:46:55 GMT

When John McCain said during the last debate that he would end cost-plus contracts and only allow fixed-fee contracts, I felt a shift in the force. It was the souls of huge goverment contractors that call VA home reacting to the change in climate. Cost-plus contracts are how contractors make their money. Fixed-fee contracts lose money.

McCain may have done more to shift VA than all the money and love Obama has lavished on VA with those few words. VA is home to some of the biggest contracting companies in the US. Some call them the "Shadow Government."

Obama Wants To "Bankrupt" Coal Industry

Archarito — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:49:44 GMT

So if somebody wants to build a (clean) coal-powered plant, they can.

It's just that it will bankrupt them. http://media.newsbusters.org/stories/hidden-audio-obama-tells-sf-chronicle-he-will-bankrupt-coal-industry.html?q=blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/11/02/hidden-audio-obama-tells-sf-chronicle-he-will-bankrupt-coal-industry

ACORN Fraud makes Election a Loony Left "Coup"

SaveAmericaFromCommunism — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:54:26 GMT

There is no question this entire election is completely illegitimate. In Ohio, it has been reported that ACORN, utilizing homeless derelicts and released felons as workers, signed up some black "voters" as many as 17 times. A desperate attempt by Ohio Republicans to make the voting fair was rebuffed last week, and every white vote in Ohio is open to suppression. In several cities, it has been reported that Nation of Islam terrorists have plans to invade white communities and "intimidate" McCain voters to either go home of vote for their co-religionist, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. Clearly, we're dealing with a "switch or fight" scenario, in the words of national black poet laureate Gil Scott Heron, a known homosexual and communist. The NOI may be in for one heckuva suprise if the Gun Owner's of America arrive to protect Ohio voters who are not communists, Muslims or degenerate street hustlers like the NOI.

ACORN is active across America. There have been several so-called "attacks" on ACORN offices, reminiscent of fraudulent "hate crimes" ofter perpetrated by blacks in order to get sympathy and money. Curiously, no one has been arrested for these "hate crimes", pointing to an obvious HUSSEIN Obama campaign link. It wouldn't surprise me if the whole thing was a set-up, in order to further degrade the legitimacy of this election. For shame.

In short, the sleazeball tactics of the Loony Left have essentially invalidated this election before it has even occured. Illegal immigrints are signed up to vote, dead people, blacks registered 15 or 20 times- this all amonts to a de facto COUP D'ETAT on the part of the forces of Islam and the New World Order, and I for one WILL NOT respect ANY election result that includes victory for the radical black Muslim extremeist socialist, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. Slate and other "Americans" who think we will go quietly to the "re-education" camps that have been built to house Christians and others likely to be problematic to the socialist take-over had better think again. I have said here numerous times that I am ARMED. And we're not talking about a deer rifle with a box of shells, either. My home is surrounded by a 13 foot high hurricane fence topped with razor wire. I have plans to further dig an anti-tank ditch in front of the fence, fill it with 1000 gallons of gasoline and wait for the feds to come get my guns. If you think you can walk through fire into the highly prepared "kill zone" I have prepared, by all means come by and we'll "chat". But you better pack a lunch. This is one Christian who has HAD IT, and will NOT allow my family to become Muslims or take the mark of the Beast. I will kill them first, knowing they will at least go to GOD still in His good graces, and not sent to Hell as godless commies or false-religion idolotrous Muslims.

And I am not alone. Christian America is READY. Don't sing it, pony boy- BRING IT!!!!!!

Obama and McCain: Terrorist Sympathizer vs. American Hero

SaveAmericaFromCommunism — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:57:59 GMT

Nowhere else but here will you get the TRUE decision you will be making on election day '08. The lying loser liberal media has painted this as a battle of Good versus Evil: the "evil" John McCain, who dared to drop bombs on the machinery of death in communist North Vietnam, and the "chosen one", the "dear leader" Barack HUSSEIN Obama, who is, of course, just this short of being compared to Jesus Christ and who will win with 100% of the vote unless that vote is marred by "racism".

I've watched this gibberish and bile for weeks, slowly getting angrier and angrier. In my study at night, I sit listening to the short wave programs and cleaning my guns, preparing for Der Tag, when the jackbooted thugs of the ATF come to force my family to accept the Mark of The Beast and take my guns. I weep for an America that cannot see the peril she is in. And i think: One last time I'll make an attempt to help voters see the TRUTH. Below, then, a TRUE "tale of the tape", between McCain and HUSSEIN Obama, to let you know EXACTLY what is at stake in just a few short days. Open your mind, and prepare to be SHOCKED!!!

QUALIFICATIONS:

McCain: POW, American hero, distinguished senator, patriot.

HUSSEIN Obama: Some black guy.

NOMINATION PROCESS:

M: Hard-fought democratic process against many qualified and patriotic contenders.

BO: "Chosen One" foisted upon unwary nation by liberal elites and minions in media.

"JUST CALL ME..."

M: "John", my friends.

BO: "Dear Leader", you peons!

LETTUCE CHOICE:

M: Iceberg

BO: Arugula, preferably grown in Canada with socialist subsidies.

ATTITUDE TO "JOE THE PLUMBER"

M: Avuncular regard and genuine concern honest workingman's problems.

BO: Hire private investigator, slander and libel, threaten family, etc.

ENDORSEMENTS:

M: The many proud Americans who love our country.

BO: Some black guy liberals usually hate, Hamas, al Jazeera, many other terrorists.

RELIGION:

M: Sincere Christian

BO: Radical Islam, perhaps Wahabbi

ON IRAQ:

M: Perserverence and Victory over the forces of Evil.

BO: Shameful withdrawal and reperations to terrorists for damage to country.

ECONOMIC ATTITUDE:

M: Free-market capitalism. Only economic system endorsed by God, Bible.

BO: Marxism, wealth re-distribution, welfare state, foreign aid to all of Africa, forever.

WIFE'S PREFERRED DIET:

M: American food, wholesome, delicious, patriotic.

BO: Iranian Caviar, French champagne, lobster tails, cosmopolitan, suspect, elitist.

ATTITUDE TO ISRAEL:

M: Support our Jewish friends against the terrorists.

BO: "You bloodsuckers are on your own!" Supports Palestinian goals of destroying Israel.

CAMPAIGN SLOGAN:

M: "Country First"

BO: "Spread the Wealth"

ON THE TROOPS:

M: Nothing is too good for our brave fighting men and women.

BO: Contempt, hatred, typical liberal sneering. "Let the imperialists die!"

BEST FRIENDS:

M: Joe Liebermann, wife Cindy, Jesus Christ.

BO: Bil Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, his local Imam.

ADVISORS:

M: Galaxy of stars representing the very best America has to offer.

BO: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, a bunch of other radical blacks who hate white people. Several Marxist economists, defeat-minded generals, etc., etc.

HEROES:

M: Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, God.

BO: Karl Marx, the terrorist Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Lenin.

GENERAL ATTITUDE TO AMERICA:

M: Our best days are ahead.

BO: It's over, let's convert to being like Sweden.

What old school Virginians can now look forward to ...

stu83 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:23:26 GMT

What old school Virginians can now look forward to as a result of the cultural changes brought on by northern liberal migration ...

1. A decline in sense of heritage.

2. Increasing self-centeredness.

3. Loss of faith and existential despair.

4. Deadly outbreaks of gay-related diseases, like has occured with MRSA in San Francisco this past year.

5. Material and sexual gratification becoming the chief ends of life.

In Floyd Co., I'd say it's the influx of hippies

seed_drill — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:55:30 GMT

I don't live in Virginia, but my grandmother still lives in Floyd, and in the last ten years I've witnessed the town shift from a struggling farming community to a hippified tourist destination. A miniature Boone without a University.

This leads to the rather odd situation of Grandma voting with people she wouldn't trust to prepare her food, but the Democrats are only succussful when such alliances hold.

I am the guy in this article and I'd like to respond....

JC86 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:25:43 GMT

I am the man featured in this story. I dispute some of the "facts" reported within it.

First and foremost, the author characterizes the events at Haditha as a "massacre". Though he and the rest of the media elite may see the events that way, the fact on the ground tell a far different story. Much to the chagrin of members of the media elite, and more importantly Congressman Murtha, the Marines who were accused of the "massacre" were found completely innocent of all wrong doing. They were "Guilty" of fighting for journalists right to spout lies at home (i.e. our freedoms).

Despite this fact, NO ONE in the Democratic Party (Including Murtha) has ever issued them an apology. So let me do so on their behalf: I'm sorry that this moron and his cronies in the media have slandered you and the marines you are serving with.

Secondly, I was fully aware of who my congressman was. I relayed that information to the author, telling him that Jason Altmayer (my congressman) was less offensive, since he was pro-troops, pro-life, pro-gun, and is against gay marriage.

The Old (Purple) Dominion

W.S. Wood — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:32:07 GMT

A nice piece to which I'd add three thoughts that I think help explain Obama's apparent success here:

1.) Those who marvel that the home of Robert E. Lee and Harry Byrd seems poised to elect a black president forget we elected the first black governor in US history, Doug Wilder. In fact, young Harry Byrd, who inherited his father's Senate seat and served in Washington until 1986, considers the socially liberal but fiscally conservative Wilder a personal friend.

2.) Democrat success in Hampton Roads doesn't depend so much on new arrivals from Yankeeland as it does the fact that it is and has long been one of the most heavily unionized regions in the South.

3.) Supposed McCain support in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, etc. because of their heavy military profile could well be overblown. The area went for Democrat Jim Webb two years ago over the much more conservative George Allen. True, Webb's a former Navy Secretary, but his campaign that year was as much about criticizing the Iraq war as it was support for a strong military. It should also be noted that during the Republican primaries, more people who identified themselves as current or former military personnel contributed money to Ron "Bring the Boys Home Now" Paul than to John McCain.

That said, an election always comes down to a choice between two people on a given day, and politics in Virginia aren't so different now that voters here won't revert to their traditional Republican ways if the Democrats run a lame or wacky candidate next time. Hillary Clinton, this means you!

Welcome Back Virginia..

todji — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:29:25 GMT

to the reality-based community.