"Mr. McDonnell’s disgrace is also Virginia’s" Washpost editorial board.

"Now it is up to Virginia lawmakers to shake themselves from their gauzy complacency and prove to Virginians that they have absorbed the lessons of the McDonnell debacle. If they fail to act, they will only compound Virginia’s disgrace."  Washpost editorial 5 September 2014

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

One of the enduring phenomena of the Washington scene with its Washington Post sub-culture is the newspaper's unending hostility to the Commonwealth of Virginia.  When I arrived here from the Deep North in 1958 this animosity quickly became apparent to me.  I  had never seen anything quite like it.  Washington sits across the river, the city built on a swamp.   It is now, as it has always been, bloated on federal government and lobbyist money and it looks with disdain to the south.

I was once on a plane making a southern approach on short final to Reagan National.  The Masonic Memorial to George Washington was visible out the window.  It looms over my Alexandria home.  The New York City female transplant to DC sitting by the window said, "I wonder what it's like out there..."  "Out there?" I responded.  "You know," she said, "among them." I am now one of "them," and that anecdote sums up rather well the kind of attitude toward Virginia, the South, and "them" that has infested the Washington Post for a long time.

These days the creatures who inhabit the Washington Post staff have an unending chance to preen on MSNBC while riding their favorite hobby horses.  The percentage of homosexual activists driving the choo choo train for "marriage rights" goes up and up on MSNBC as does the number of crazed feminists like Mika B, and the just flat crazy and ignorant like Chris Matthews and his buddy Mike Barnicle. The editorial staff and columnists of the Washington Post fit in just fine in that group.  Ah, yes, and now the Washpost has found its conscience about the Redskins.

If the McDonnells had been tried under state law they would never have been convicted.  You don't like that?  Well good for you, son, good for you.  pl 

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/the-mcdonnell-verdicts-lesson-politicians-beware-110620.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-mcdonnells-disgrace-is-also-virginias/2014/09/04/27f8fe66-3474-11e4-a723-fa3895a25d02_story.html

Comments

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Haven't you heard that the NFL football team across t he Potomac from you has finally decided to change their name? They're going to drop the "Washington."

[Ramojus]

Col. Lang

The Washington Post IS owned by Jeff Bezos a "thought leader".

In an Orwellian sense that is....

[cville reader]

If nothing else, McDonnell was guilty of stupidity.

[Big Bird]

To think that McDonnell was convicted in Richmond Federal Court, in a red part of the state. What is the Old dominion coming to?

[D]

It is not only the Post which says that Virginia has been shamed by McDonnell's conduct. The Richmond Times-Dispatch says, "Former Gov. Bob McDonnell has made history in a way Virginians do not want their history made. Multiple guilty verdicts place him in ignominy."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/opinion/our-opinion/today-s-top-opinion-mcdonnell-trial-guilty/article_f80a3c1a-346e-11e4-a46d-0017a43b2370.html

[Fred]

Ramojus,

Yes, our latest oligarch out to teach the rest of us what kind of democracy we are supposed to have.

[turcopolier]

D

we all know that McDonnell and his wife disgraced themselves. That was not the subject of my post. pl

[oofda]

Colonel,
I'm not sure what the Post editorial wants Virginia lawmakers to do. McDonnell was an aberation and certainly the Post doesn't think Virginia lawmakers are engaging in the same things he and his wife did. The editorial made your point for you- preaching to Virninians for the sake of preaching.

[turcopolier]

McDonnell was convicted because of the judge's prejudicial instructions to the jury. His sentencing will reflect that and McDonnell will probably win on appeal. pl

[Ryan]

Colonel,

Your anecdote is why I wish the South had prevailed 149 years ago. The sort of stupidity express by that woman is something I'm familiar with. What I usually do when someone tells me about how backwards or whatever else is wrong about Dixie is this. I suggest to the offender that he petition his representative and senators to have the South expelled from the Union or to simply stay the hell out of the South. Either one works for me.

[oofda]

Ryan,
It isn't just Dixie. The 'Eastern elite'- as well as segment of non-Eastern elite, look down upon the Midwest and West as well. Especially the rural and non-urban parts. Having grown up in South Dakota- but collegiately educated on the East Coast, I was often told I was the first person from the Dakotas my interlocutor had met and asked questions that suggested I was from another country. A backwards counry.

[oofda]

Colonel,
The jury instructions were indeed ground-breaking, and if upheld, will set a precdent. The crux will be the definition of "offical acts." The appeals process is going to be watched by a lot of lawyers and will be interesting to follow.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcdonnells-appeals-likely-to-take-months/2014/09/05/51b3f82e-350e-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html?hpid=z2

[A. Pols]

My son, lives right across Duke St. from the Masonic Memorial and it's a comely sight from his balcony. He's an IT guy who knows his way around the govt. and the country, but encounters the same supercilious attitude from people he knows who work on the hill; they think he must be a hick to live in Alexandria...
The North-South divide; it's almost tribal. Alexis De Tocqueville wrote about it years before the Civil War and ascribed it to differing immigration demographics and settlement patterns. As a child, growing up in the far north, I learned in school a different explanation of the war's core purpose and that it was an unalloyed good. Later in life I came to a different understanding: that the Southern States should have been let go to follow their preferred destiny. Let nobody infer from these remarks that I sympathize with slavery..

It's sort of ironic now that separatism and balkanization for everyone else (except Ukraine) has been encouraged by the US's foreign policy, but is anathema for us. Maybe it's not a bad idea for us, eh?

[Ryan]

True enough, oofda. The "Eastern Elite" (in their own minds) really are a collection of snotnoses.

My own view is from when I was much younger, but I see your point.

Hey! Maybe you should adopt what I did above? All you have to do is change "Dixie", "South" (or Georgia) to "South Dakota" and "Midwest".

[cville reader]

What you are describing is a common phenomenon across the country. I grew up in Southern New Jersey, which has always been the subject of scorn from the other side of the river (i.e. Philadelphia and its SE PA suburbs) as well as those who live north of Trenton. And New Jersey, as a whole, is the subject of scorn by anyone living in New York (and much of the rest of the country, which is largely ignorant of the state.)

I went to college in the Midwest (McDonnell and I share the same alma mater) and lived in Chicago for many years. I learned there that Chicago--still one of my favorite cities--is considered the hinterlands for anyone in New York.

Now I live in central VA-- and while visiting California, had a store clerk make negative comments to me about where I live. On the other hand, people in central VA love to make fun of people from West Virginia. And people who live in my town like to make fun of people from the "other side of the mountain" (i.e. the Shenandoah Valley.)

So perhaps it is best to take comments from the Washington Post in stride. Much as I dislike a lot of its posturing, sometimes the editors may be right.

There are a lot of good ole boy politics in Virginia. The best (or worst) recent example I can think of this is how the President of UVA was fired a few years ago.

For a less patronizing look at changing the "Virginia Way," try this:

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Changing-The-Virginia-Way-274161121.html

[nick b]

oofda,

There is some precedent here. In 2009 Cong. William J. Jefferson appealed his convictions on 11 counts of bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, etc. He used similar arguments to what has been cited as the basis for the McDonnell's appeal:
"(1) that an erroneous instruction was given to the jury with respect to the
bribery statute’s definition of an "official act"; (2) that another erroneous instruction was given with respect to the "quid pro quo" element of the bribery-related offenses;
(3) that Jefferson's schemes to deprive citizens of honest services do not constitute federal crimes;"

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed all of Jefferson's convictions based on these argument. He got 13 years. The McDonnell's appeal will also be in the 4th Circuit Court, and Judge King, who wrote the opinion affirming Jefferson's convictions is still a sitting Judge there. I would be surprised if this ruling was not cited in the appeals trial.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/Published/095130.P.pdf

[Jane]

So far as I know the McDonnells were judged guilty by a jury of Virginians. Instructions aside, the idea of jury nullification was probably not unknown to them.

[turcopolier]

Jane

They were and had I been on the jury I would have voted to nullify the judge's instructions. I have done it before. pl

[Stephanie]

Ramojus, Jeff Bezos just hired a Reagan Administration Republican to publish his paper.

On the editorial side the WaPo has not been all that liberal since Meg Greenfield replaced Philip Geyelin back in the day.