Another Deceptive Republican

A while back I noted that Congressman Randy Forbes was trying to pull a fast one on his constituents by introducing a resolution, which in Congress is just expressing the sense of one chamber and is non-binding, and claiming that it would actually accomplish something. I thought this was pretty insulting but it may be common up in Congress. His fellow Republican Eric Cantor has just done the same thing.

Today, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) introduced a resolution, H. Res. 952, allowing Congressional Medal of Honor recipients to properly display the United States flag on their property at all times.

Wow, Congress has the power to overturn the private contracts of homeowner associations?! Wait, that doesn't sound right. Let's look at the bill itself.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor should be permitted, at all times on the recipient's property, to properly display the Flag of the United States of America.

. . .

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor should be permitted, at all times on the recipient's property, to properly display the Flag of the United States of America.

This is just one of those meaningless resolutions expressing the sense of the House of Representatives. It in no way has the force of law. If it passes, poor Colonel Van Barfoot will be in the exact same situation he is now. But maybe Eric Cantor could get him a nice framed copy of the resolution. That will be nice!

Media General's Daily Progress Hiding Editorials?

The Charlottesville Daily Progress posted your usual letter to the editor today from an Albemarle liberal defending Tom Perriello in the face of the paper's editorial board. That's not news. What is news is that the letter references an editorial that, as far as I know, was never posted online. It talked about a November 11th Editorial but the online editorial page is blank for that time period.

What gives?

Why is this Media General newspaper failing to post its editorial attacking Perriello online?

Maybe we should ask Diane Cantor, who serves as a director on the board of Media General. Certainly the wife of Eric Cantor would understand politics and be interested in why one of her newspapers is hiding up their criticism of Perriello.

I don't know what's going on, but I want to know what the editorial said. I don't subscribe to the Daily Progress. Is it possible that the Daily Progress, a paper that is to the right of Ken Cuccinelli, went to far in its attacks on Perriello and Eric Cantor is worried that if the DC Beltway picks up on the paper's far-right views they will discount future hit pieces by the paper during the key 2010 general election?

Inquiring minds want to know . . .

An Update on the Cantor-Nye Axis (With An Added Twist!)

Back in September I brought to light rumors that had been swirling behind the scenes about Eric Cantor and others courting Glenn Nye to switch parties. Many may have filed this away for future reference but you'll want to add this potential scenario to the list of reasons why Glenn Nye will be switching to the Republican Party at some point to continue his career in politics.

A liberal blogger over at Swing State Project has pointed out what many Virginia politicos have known for some time: a Republican redistricting could create two minority-majority districts based in Eastern Virginia. (I'll put aside right now the possibility of creating another in Northern Virginia, at least for this post.)

Now it's not surprising that the Party of Lincoln would want to help create a new minority-majority district to help compensate for the historic unjust of years of Democrat-enforced segregation and Jim Crow in the Old Dominion. In the end, this would work out very well for everyone involved. Democrats are faced with only one reliable liberal from the African-American community in Hampton Roads: Bobby Scott. Republicans are faced with one district that voted for Obama, Randy Forbe's 4th District, and one that seems dangerously close to flipping given long term trends, Rob Wittman's 1st District. Then there's the 2nd District's Glenn Nye, who after riding Obama's coattails to victory has done everything possible to ignore his Democratic base.

So Governor Bob McDonnell, faced with a solidly Republican House of Delegates and a narrowly Democratic State Senate, has several options before redistricting. He could try to court a moderate Democrat like Chris Miller or Ralph Northam to switch parties. He could appoint a Democrat to his administration and hope a Republican wins the special election. Or he can employ this plan, which involves creating a new majority-minority district in the Hampton Roads area. This would almost certainly lock down the Republican hold on the 1st and the 4th for some time to come. And it would give an up and coming liberal with support from the African-American community a clear edge over Glenn Nye in a primary.

So liberals win with a new reliable member of Congress. Republicans win by protecting two members from potential defeat in the next decade. Win, win!

As an added plus, it could probably be done to also include some of the Democratic-leaning precincts in Perriello's 5th District (areas of Brunswick, Prince Edward, etc.) and help lock down the Republican hold there too. Win, win, win!

This plan works very well if George Allen's return to politics fizzles. Faced with a need for a conservative candidate against Jim Webb in 2012, the Republican Party of Virginia may have to turn to its two leading conservatives in the House: Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman. This would leave a vacancy in the two Republican districts in Eastern Virginia, offering Glenn Nye a clear choice. He can stick with the Democratic Party and the district lines will be drawn to make sure he's stuck in the new minority-majority district where his continued opposition to Obama will be held against him in the primary. Or he can join the Republican Party and the lines will be drawn so that his reelection and continued service on the House Armed Services Committee (a key for the region) will be secured. The conservative establishment will assure Glenn that they will easily keep the rabble rousing Tea Partiers from knocking him off in a Republican Primary. Eric Cantor, George Allen, Bob McDonnell, and others will stump for Good Ol' Glenn.

If George Allen runs (which I'm cautiously supportive of) the scenario gets more complicated but is still possible. The new lines would have to run a lot farther west and include more of Central and Western Virginia.

Now I promised in the title an added twist. Well if this plan works so well for liberals and Republicans at the Congressional level, why not apply it to the state level too? Delegate Danny Marshall of Danville is facing the second major challenge in two election cycles, although it seems clear that Deeds is going to draw down House Democrat candidates everywhere. But what about the future? The long term demographic trends in Danville look bad for Republicans. But what if you took the more Democrat precincts of Danville and drew a district that connected them with similar precincts in neighboring Pittsylvania, Henry, Martinsville, and maybe even Halifax. I'm sure you could produce a district that would want to elect a far more reliable liberal than, say, Ward Armstrong, who could be drawn into the lines.

Someone Needs to Whip the GOP Into Shape!

I wish this were an April Fool's joke. Maybe the new April 1st is September 22nd, the first day of fall. Because the House of Representatives just had a vote in which Northern Virginia liberals Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran stood up for conservative principles and fairness while Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman voted for a tax on businesses with no benefit at all to Virginia.

Let me back up and give a brief civics 101 lesson.

One method for the House of Representatives to speed things along and limit debate is to suspend the rules and pass a piece of legislation without amendment. The Democrat leadership in the House likes this because it saves time to do other things, like attacking opponents of the President. There's no opportunity for amendment at all or a motion to recommit, which is often the only way Republicans can propose good amendments to bad legislation. The effort to limit funding of ACORN was done through a motion to recommit.

Pelosi obviously doesn't want to limit funding to ACORN or other liberal groups so she wants to suspend the rules as much as possible. Luckily, under House rules you have to have 2/3rds of the chamber voting to suspend the rules. This usually limits the use of this tactic to meaningless resolutions praising college team's and historical figures. Occasionally something substantive will pass under suspension of the rules by the 2/3rds requirement means it needs some Republican support--usually RINO support.

Tonight, the Democrats tried to pass under suspension a bill to extend unemployment benefits for some states--but not all. Virginia, for example, was not on the list because it's not, according to Pelosi and Rangel, a "high unemployment state." Similar to the Democrat effort in the Virginia House of Delegates to extend unemployment benefits by increasing taxes on businesses, this proposal would have levied a tax of $56 per employee per year on businesses. Hardly the type of noncontroversial stuff a suspension of the rules should be used for.

The result?

It passed 331 to 83. Over 100 Republicans, the majority of the caucus, voted for it.

GOP Fail.

Now I'm sure some of these Republicans represent districts going through difficult economic times. But Petersburg, represented by Randy Forbes, has a 14.3% unemployment rate. I'm sure the struggling families in Petersburg would like some help too. But no, Randy Forbes just voted for a bill that taxes ALL businesses in order to send unemployment benefits to mismanaged states like California, New York, and Michigan. He just voted to make it more difficult for people to find jobs in Petersburg in order to pay off the blue Obama states.

I'm angry at Forbes and Wittman, but I'm angrier at Republican Whip Eric Cantor. Sure, Cantor voted against this monstrosity. But as the Republican Whip it is his job, his responsibility, to ensure that the members are well informed and ready to hold the conservative line against the Democrat majority. Tonight, too many Republicans voted as liberals, not as conservatives.

While suspensions are usually noncontroversial, not all are. Five times so far this Congress a suspension of the rules has failed. One seems to be a revenge vote by Democrats against a piece of noncontrovertial legislation offered by a Republican because Republicans defeated a controversial bill establishing a "National Heritage Area" in Arizona that would limit property rights and inhibit the operations of border security along the Mexican border that the Democrats tried to sneak through under suspension. Another vote would have opened the door to changes to how congressional staffers would be paid, a questionable change in these difficult economic times. Finally, votes on an intrusive nanny state regulatory regime on our farms and delaying the federal mandate so that consumers would be even more confused about when the DTV switch was turned on.

So Republicans have stood up to Democrat power grabbing in the past. Why didn't they tonight? Ask their Whip, Eric Cantor.

Eric Cantor Courting Glenn Nye to Switch Parties

Exhibit A: The Hill profiles 23 Democrats they say are a "no" on healthcare reform.

Glenn Nye isn't listed.

Exhibit B: Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia puts out a list of 44 Democrats the Republican Party views as "no" on healthcare reform based on public comments during the August recess.

Glenn Nye isn't listed.

Exhibit C: During the August Recess, Glenn Nye holds what ends up being his first, last and only public forum on health care with Republican Congressman Rob Wittman.

They both agree, "the most recent legislation in the US House of Representatives is not the answer for Americans, particularly the portion that creates a public government insurance option."

During the August recess, Glenn Nye showed an impressive ability to cut and run whenever he thought constituents might show up and ask him questions about his legislative record.

Everyone knows Glenn Nye is a no on healthcare reform.

The 2nd district voted narrow for Obama in 2008 after consistently favoring Bush in the past. He is a vulnerable Democrat going into 2010. But the NRCC's Andy Sere (a good friend!) has been absent in news stories about Glenn Nye despite the ample ammo Nye has provided with his antics. But Sere has been quick to jump on other Democrats like Tom Perriello, Bobby Bright, and Larry Kissell.

What gives?

Why are Andy Sere and Eric Cantor going out of their way to reduce the heat Glenn Nye is feeling from conservatives?

Especially at a time when progressives are increasing their heat on Glenn Nye?

Andy Sere and Eric Cantor are undermining the efforts of state and local Republicans, and grassroots conservatives, to defeat Glenn Nye. Here in Virginia, we have united behind Scott Rigell. But Sere, Cantor and the National Republicans are playing softball. More inside the Beltway crap.

Why?

Eric Cantor seems to be courting Glenn Nye to switch parties. Both know that if Nye switched now he would face an angry conservative base over his vote for Obama's pork-filled "stimulus" and other liberal policies. State and local Republicans would want a true conservative in office and Nye would be defeated in a GOP primary. But if Cantor is able to manipulate Sere and the media into playing soft with Glenn Nye his reelection becomes a lot easier. Which clears the way for Nye to switch parties AFTER the election in 2010.

Why else would Republican Congressman Rob Wittman go out of his way to host an event with Glenn Nye and help the vulnerable young Democrat? Because Eric Cantor told him to!

What's in this for Cantor?

That will be revealed in the future . . .

But how can Nye expect Democrats to work for his reelection in 2010 if they can't trust him to stay a Democrat after the victory party?