Perhaps McAuliffe could become a Republican ...

 

"Puckett, a senator since 1998, did not respond to calls seeking comment. Other Republicans denied that Puckett was offered the jobs in exchange for his resignation.

In a statement, McAuliffe (D) acknowledged that Puckett’s resignation had created “uncertainty” for his plan to expand the federal-state health program for the poor to 400,000 uninsured Virginians. But he contended that he still had a majority of the Senate on his side."  Washpost

----------------

""Good ole Phil!"  We don't much like Democrats here in the 38th District, but Phil... Hell, he's one of us.  Never could figure out how he could be a Democrat.  His daughter, now she's a right nice girl, makes a great juvenile judge   Now, you know that bein' in the state senate is not a full time job.  You can't live on that.   Now Phil will go back to the tobacco board where he can make enough money to get a good state pension and his girl, she'll get a state judgeship right here in Pulaski or somewhere else in the Mountain Kingdom.  But, the best is that McAuliffe is screwed.  We're sure as hell gonna elect a Republican to fill Phil's seat.  The General Assembly will pass a budget without Obamacare and then McAuliffe can veto it and shut down the commonwealth government if he wants to...  Heh.  Heh.  I suppose we'll have to do something about country peoples health care someday."  Southwest Virginia Mountaineer

*************

This is a typically Virginia political game.  The pols do not generally like to show their hands but as I predicted, they did not like being subjected to his baloney.  People play rough here and it is a particularly Southern kind of game.  People like Chuck Todd and Larry Sabado think this is a Middle Atlantic state?  they should get out more.  I live in the 8th US Congressional District, the bluest place in the Commonwealth and even here rules of the game that apply in places like Pennsylvania are just meaningless.  There will be no electoral price paid for this, none at all.  pl  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-democratic-senator-to-resign-possibly-dooming-push-to-expand-medicaid/2014/06/08/901edf8e-ef54-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html

Comments

[Edward Amame]

It's probably a safe assumption that VA has its share of poor uninsured citizens. What's the state legislature planning as an alternative to expanded Medicaid to cover them?

[turcopolier]

EA

I guess you missed my last sentence in the post about McAuliffe. It had to do with this very subject. So far as I know the legislature does not have an alternative to Medicaid expansion. I think that is deplorable and they should remedy that. There are a lot of poor people in Virginia, especially in some rural regions. Other rural regions are very prosperous. The Shenandoah Valley is an example of prosperity. A commonwealth health service that delivers care to those in bad conditions would be a very good idea. Perhaps the money available for Medicaid expansion could be used for that under another label. We are good at relabeling things. It is McAuliffe that is the target here. That should be kept in mind. pl

[steve g]

Tyler:
Although I haven't read him
lately,he has in the past ex-
posed much of the Wall Street
"Casino Capitalism" and "Vampire
Squid" activity. The Birmingham
Alabama case a good example of
bringing to light the con games
of the Street, wherein the mun-
icipality would be on the hook
for millions. He writes in a
sarcastic style at times and
occasionally throws in a few
memorable one liners. I think
you could relate.

[a virginian]

I'd recommend David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed on this topic, or Frederick Law Olmstead's 3 volume travel narratives about Dixie or H.L. MEncken, not exactly wild-eyed bolsheviks. Im a Virginian with roots going back to the 17th and 18th centuries, and Id say we've had pretty crappy leadership. The stats bear this out, longevity, health, etc. Our leaders for 400 years have been posturing hypocrites, bound and determined to lord it over an ignorant mass of poorer whites and blacks. I disagree with Mencken, who argued Southern political pathology was due to post civil war po white demagogues. The gents were always in on the game. I love when middle-class transplants, the beneficiaries of more developed economies and educational systems move in here and wax lyrical about the place. Of course they would, ive been to the third world, its nice having more cash than the locals. And that happens a lot here in Va. They dont have relatives here suffering from basic problems like a lack of dental care. So none of them see a problem here. This last is not a joke. Those fine, polite gents did these johnny come latelies a great favor, providing them with large numbers of polite, economically needy burger flippers. Im no leftist, particularly of the post ww2 sort. And I myself have experienced Northern condescension at university; anti-southern bigotry is very much alive, but that doesnt mean i'll make excuses for thr economic and political elites who have caused so much unnecessary hardship in my state. Even if many of us cant see it.

[a virginian]

Not much or nothing i'll wager.

[Edward Amame]

Col Lange,

Thanks for posting that response. I took your last sentence to mean that the legislature is just following the will of the voting public. Now I'm clear on it.

This seems like basically the same game that the GOP in congress ran against Obama in his first term. Say no to everything, make him look weak, the electorate then won't give him a second term. It might have worked if candidate Mitt wasn't so terrible.

It would be interesting to see, though, if a state like VA could come up with a viable alternative to Medicaid expansion as a way to give poor uninsured access to decent healthcare. If you're correct, that, the legislature has no alternative, at least in theory that gives McAuliffe somewhat of an opening to counterpunch.

[Will Reks]

It would help if you had bothered to actually read what was written instead of making your obvious point that $17 trillion is a huge number. If you pay attention to actual legislation then you'd know there are no real plans to reduce long-term debt unlike before the 2012 election when the pressure to do so was far higher. The political incentives and the willingness to compromise is much less in 2014. This could change with a Republican Congress and Republican President. We'll see.

[turcopolier]

EA

"Lang," not Lange." You still don't get it. The people who the Republican legislators represent are mainly not on McAuliffe's side. Even though many of these constituents might benefit from Medicaid expansion, they still do not like or want the Democrats. as for "counterpunching," it is that kind of thinking that has gotten McAuliffe in so much trouble. What he needs to do is to be humble and polite and seek a deal. that's what we do here. We make deals. otherwise, his opponents will continue along this path seeking to humiliate him nationally and eliminate him as a force. BTW you can forget about redistricting the General Assembly. the Republicans will simply block that in the legislature. pl

[a virginian]

The Valley's prosperity is due to the Germans more than anything. Sort of like in the Us as a whole those areas settled by Germans tended to be the best places in terms of general well being and governance. Germans were just better at managing a society and less bombastic or reckless than the peoples of the British isles, less likely to go off on a moralizing crusade, with the exception of some of the 1848 idealists.

[turcopolier]

a virginian

"I love when middle-class transplants, the beneficiaries of more developed economies and educational systems move in here and wax lyrical about the place" I am certainly an immigrant to Virginia although "middle class transplant" might not be exactly right. My colonial roots are in 17th Century New England. If you dislike the place so much, why live here? pl

[turcopolier]

a Virginian (shaybani) Tell us what that means. Is this a case of special pleading? It would be honest to say so. I used to own property in the valley of Virginia and spent a lot of time there. The Valley from the Potomac to Shenandoah County was Anglo in settlement. From Strasburg to Woodstock the settlers were Palatine Germans who had been settled by the Pennsylvania Quaker establishment on their western border and who had moved themselves into the Valley south of the Anglos that I mentioned. South of Woodstock the population is mainly of Scotch-Irish descent the product of yet another wave of Quaker sponsored immigration from the old country. This pervasive Scotch-Irish background extends all the way to Natural Bridge at the south exit from The Valley. It is all prosperous. your theory is just wrong. pl

[John]

Col,
Read the wiki, especially the quote by Lee Atwater towards the end about how racism could be expressed in the '50's and how dog whistles are used now. Even the retrogrades, other than nuts like Cliven Bundy, realize they have to hold their tongues. That's a good thing.

Oh, we are pretty close to the same age. Much to my regret, my first presidential vote was for Richard Nixon. I have lived in the Valley my whole life but have spent a lot of time off the farm. And like "a Virginian" above, I have very deep roots and agree with her/his post completely.

[turcopolier]

John

"Even the retrogrades, other than nuts like Cliven Bundy, realize they have to hold their tongues. That's a good thing." Freedom of speech is evidently not "your thing." "Are you trying to get me to "hold my tongue?" If so, it is a hopeless effort. pl

[turcopolier]

John

You live in Greenbelt, Maryland so don't feed me that nonsense about "down on the farm" in the Shenandoah Valley. So, you want to argue from a wiki hostile to the Republicans and of unknown origin. Did you write it? Perhaps you have not noticed but Atwater has been dead a long time, and he was generally ignored by the GOP by the time of his death. Are you sure you are what you claim to be? pl

[John]

We could argue Virginia history till the cows come home, but Valley history is a bit more complex than your assessment indicates.
I suggest that distribution of settlers had more to do with who had money and therefore ability to purchase the rich limestone land along the river and those who had to squat the infertile shale land on the west side of the valley.
Indian raids during the French and Indian war caused chaos in the Valley and mixed up the nice tidy distribution of nationalities. This is evident in the mixture of old churches throughout.
The wealthy Anglos had money from eastern Virginia and transplanted plantation culture to the banks of the Shenandoah. Hence the limestone and brick mansions in Clarke,Jefferson and Berkeley counties on the best land.
The poor Anglos tended to not hang around and sought the main chance in Kentucky or Georgia.
See the etymology of the word "Cracker"
As small farmers go, the Rhineland Quakers and Mennonites were the best and most prosperous. Their Mennonite heirs are still active in Rockingham County and somewhat throughout the Valley.
Winchester was a POW camp for the Hessian mercs and most of them stayed in the area after the Revolution. Their skills at building are famous.
And as for the Scots Irish, read Jim Webb's book, "Born Fighting". Not too different from their ancestors who harassed the Romans on Hadrian's
Wall.
And I submit that nepotism, cronyism and corruption have been imbedded in Va politics since 1607, despite all Mr. Jefferson's fine words. And the duty of those who see it is to afflict the perps as much as possible.

[Tyler]

we are saying the same thing but you're pushing a hypertension emergency for some reason while you say it.

[Tyler]

Oh I've read them I'm just scornful of his refusal to connect the dots and instead go after the evil Rethuglican kkkapitalists with a few softballs towards the Left.

[Fred]

a virginian,

So I need to read Fisher, Olmstead and Mencken to learn the answer to my question to John: " was Madison the ignorant one and Jefferson the religious 'nutjob'?"

I see you left out Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" but then you might not want to remind everyone about his warning of the "The Tyranny of the Majority” Rather than Fisher I would suggest “The Nine Nations of North America”, which I believe our host mentioned on another thread some time ago.

[turcopolier]

john

And you don't think you are a marxist in the academic sense of the word? I lack your antipathy for people with money. How about Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Charles Carroll and the like. Are they just irrelevant? pl

[Bobo]

What is going on in Richmond! Seems Eric Cantor I'd losing by 12 points to a no nothing Tea partner....yes, Virginia is a special place.....

[virginian]

If I recall deTocqueville had some unflattering things to say about the South, comparing it to Latin America. The South has produced some genuine statesmen, but overall they are ounumbered by mediocrities. To bring up Jefferson or Madison is like drawing a general conclusion about Mississipian writing skills based on Faulkner. We've had some bright moments, but generally our leaders have served us poorly. The populace shares some fault, people get the leaders they deserve, but as an old fashioned conservative who believes elites usually control history actively or through their acquiescence I must judge an elite based on the society they preside over.

Kevin Phillips is a good read. I dont want to mischaracterize him, but his argument was Va politics boilef down to the almost exclusive promotion of elite needs and goals. Local fatalism doesnt help much. You should hear my relatives talk about "Mr. Harry" Byrd, like the man was a kindly paternal figure. What Byrd and his boy managed to accomplish, even if it wasnt their fault entirely, was to ensure that working class white Virginians would be in an unenviable economic position from the 1970s on. In some ways worse off than their Northern or Midwestern counterparts. With the exception of the naval yards, Va never had the mid 20th century prosperity of the Rustbelt.

My favorite Va politician is Little Billy Mahone, poor man never gets enough attention.

[CTuttle]

I'm sure AIPAC is gnashing their teeth over Cantor's sudden demise...!

[turcopolier]

All

I rooted aouand in the Seventh District along Route 17. I found that Cantor lost his seat, not because he is a Jew or because he is an ardent Zionist but because his constituents became to believe that he was not their guy." pl

[Tyler]

In other VA news, I saw Cantor lost his primary.

Perhaps we will get to keep our country after all. Buttholes clenched shut across the amnesty treason caucus tonight.

[Tyler]

It was immigration. Cantor tried the ol immigration hawk bait and switch and people were smarter this time.

I don't see McCain running again after this.