A vote for Northam is a vote for the Clinton/MCaullife machine

I had decided not to endorse either candidate in the Virginia gubernatorial election tomorrow, but have changed my mind.   Northam is IMO a cog in the Clinton political machine.  As governor he would be a instrument of the Clinton machine as exerted through his mentor Governor Terry MCaullife.

Donna Brazile's revelations with regard to the money and political corruption surrounding the Clinton campaign and the DNC in the last election cycle were the last straw for me. 

I ask Virginia voters not to inflict this kind of machine politics on our beloved Commonwealth.  pl

Comments

[Annem]

One machine or another?

[Amir]

What do you think about the independent candidate?

[EEngineer]

The major parties will only reform when the minor party candidates start to get enough votes to put the fear of irrelevance into them.

[D]

LOL! Well, that was the problem from last November. Clinton? Trump? Clinton? Trump? There is no correct answer.

[The Twisted Genius]

I have to disagree with you on this, Colonel Lang. It's not because I'm enamored with Northam or repulsed by Gillespie. I like the idea of divided government in Virginia. Our legislature will undoubtedly stay in Republican control for the foreseeable future so a Democratic governor ensures blissful deliberateness in our government. I don't see Northam as a Clinton true believer. Hell, he was even courted by the Republicans years ago. I'm also dead set against a pure Republican government in Virginia in the time of Trump. I think it will bring out the worst in an otherwise prudent group of Virginia Republican politicians.

[turcopolier]

TTG

IMO Northam has been an opportunist all his life including his time at VMI. That was a bad patch in the history of the Institute after the VN War. It was easy then to get in and he switched with great alacrity to Army ROTC there when he found out that the Army would send him to med school. The ability of the pre-med department there to get anyone they would recommend into medical school must have been a good opportunity. He was an army medical officer? Of course, he was obligated to long service in return for med school and a residency. I am not impressed and am not bothered by single party government in Virginia. In what way have you detected a tendency on the part of the General Assembly to follow Trump's lead. The Republicans hold both houses. pl

[mike]

Phil Murphy in New Jersey has a huge lead on his Republican opponent. Gillespie should have stayed in Jersey, his home state, and given Murphy a run for his money.

In Virginia Northam has only a slight tenuous lead over Gillespie and that is falling fast. Roanoke College poll has it as a tie. So a New Jersey carpetbagger, a neocon, and lobbyist may well win the governorship in Virginia. My father and grandfather are crying and laughing in their graves.

[turcopolier]

mike

Mark Warner, McCaullife Kaine, Robb and McDonnell were all from the North originally. pl

[mike]

Colonel -

And George Allen was a Californian.

Chuck Robb may have been born in Arizona, but I understood as a boy he was raised in your home town.

You too I understand were born out of state, but then you are not running for office. Why not?

[Karl Kolchak]

I'm a Bernie Sanders liberal, but totally agree. Just like last November, I plan to abstain from supporting either major party candidate.

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

I have no problem with Northam going to med school on uncle Sugar's dime. I had two classmates at RPI who did the same thing. Northam touts his eight years as an Army doctor not as an Army officer. That fine with me. If it was the other way around, it would be a different story.

Our General Assembly passed a number of bills with the goal of regulating/suppressing voting, usurping local rule, and mandating individual behavior that were vetoed by McAuliffe. OTOH, the General Assembly kept McAuliffe from implementing an aggressively progressive vision. Equilibrium achieved. Without that equilibrium and with Corey Stewart wing of the Virginia Republicans pushing their agenda, I am firmly convinced that Richmond would be worse. Every time I interact with my neighbors and community members, I think of the tribalist, white supremacist future that the Trumpers seek to impose on the nation That thought makes me angry and defiant. They seek to destroy my community.

[Tidewater]

TTG and turcopolier,

Did you see in the Freelance Star , which can be googled under "Editorial: Bay should be priority for gubernatorial..."? The hope might be that Northam, as a born and bred waterman, would be a good deal more interested in the health and well-being of the Chesapeake Bay than Gillespie. I noticed in his talk with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (interesting website) that he used some of the new lingo. I only recently learned about the concept of the Bay "watershed." There could be some trouble in Pennsylvania with some ornery set-in-their way farmers about that if new laws give the government the right to come on to their property and see what exactly they are dumping into the stream that runs through it. Interesting that there is a huge chicken farming operation near Onancock, where Northam is from. Kind of horrifying to me, but that is beside the point. Northam, at least, would be fully aware of what it means when agricultural fertilizers and the guts from the slaughter of chickens, pigs and cattle ends up dumped in a creek; and hence into the "watershed." Which is thousands of square miles, and includes parts of even New York state. There are a lot of new ideas in the publications of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

"Jeeminy creeminee--I must go set out my crab pots," a waterman might say on the Eastern Shore when he is concluding a conversation. I once heard a girl say that.

[J]

Colonel,

On another topic, FYI

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/fat-leonard-scandal-expands-to-ensnare-more-than-60-admirals/2017/11/05/f6a12678-be5d-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html?utm_term=.3abedeef84f9

[turcopolier]

TTG

You are way to the left of me. They seek to destroy your community? what community is that? "the General Assembly kept McAuliffe from implementing an aggressively progressive vision" Thank God. pl

[turcopolier]

mike

Nothing more repels me than the idea of politics. pl

[rjj]

"There is no correct answer." Words to live by. I would be willing to bet that Heraclitus said that on one of those many many missing fragments.

[Eric Newhill]

TTG,
Destroy your community?!!? Ah yes, so sad that a bunch of carpet baggers might feel disrupted in their activities. I weep for your way of life. A Gillespie win could result in a veritable trail of tears all the way back up the East coast; or perhaps across the country to the left coast.

Col Lang may be from New England originally, but he is both knowledgeable and respectful - even appreciative - of the culture, whereas there are too many that are not.

[Fred]

James,

And Google fired James Damore for his memo, but that wasn't Virginia.

[turcopolier]

Eric Newhill

Well, thanks for the kind words, but I was born on a federal military reservation in MA with guards at the gate and spent my high school years in Maine. Does that make me a New Englander? I don't think so. As Stonewall wrote in his diary - "You may be whatever you resolve to be." pl

[Nightsticker]

Col Lang, TTG

Voted early this morning. It was an
easy set of choices. The NRA nearly
always steers me in the right direction;
candidates with their endorsement usually
hold other views that coincide with mine.
As a double check, in Virginia elections,
I frequently privately commune with Private
Jacob Foltz, late of Company K, 12th Virginia
Cavalry, KIA 5/6/1864, Todd's Tavern, the Wilderness.
His point of view on most issues also tends to
coincide with mine; well, perhaps his views on social
issues are more liberal than mine.

Deo Vindice,

Nightsticker
USMC 65-72
FBI 72-96

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

I consider the Stafford-Fredericksburg area as my community. It has plenty of us "out-of-towners" as well as well as a lot of old families. It's also heavily influenced by the presence of the Quantico Marine Base and a large number of current and former military. I characterize it as diverse with a respectful toleration that glues it into a working community. I would emphasize the respectful part of that description. I dislike those as represented by the the Corey Stewarts riding an aggressive, white supremacist alt-right agenda wanting to change my community into some caricature of a Nuremberg rally. Stewart may not personally be a nazi adoring white supremacist, but he's latched himself to that wagon. I don't want his kind around here.

You do see my point about a divided government in Virginia. In the past a pure Democratic or republican government could be counted on to be pragmatic and act on a sense of respectful toleration. Neither side can be trusted to do so at the present time.

[turcopolier]

TTG

"I dislike those as represented by the the Corey Stewarts riding an aggressive, white supremacist alt-right agenda wanting to change my community into some caricature of a Nuremberg rally. Stewart may not personally be a nazi adoring white supremacist, but he's latched himself to that wagon. I don't want his kind around here." Remarkably intolerant. pl

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

I had that exact thought when I wrote it. If Corey Stewart lived down the street of me, kept his lawn mowed and displayed a respectful tolerance for our neighbors, I'd do the same to him. If started going after my neighbors, he'd have a problem with me and my remarkable intolerance.

[The Twisted Genius]

Nightsticker,

I'd like to hear more about Private Foltz.

[turcopolier]

TTG

When has Corey Stewart "gone after" anyone? Are you referring to illegal immigrants? BTW army doctors are army officers. pl