Howard, Howard, Howard...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean:

I think if we had a three-word message right now it’d be, ‘We can do better.’

d'oh!

Popular Mechanics Predicted the NO Apocalypse

Science makes sense when you actually pay attention to it.

UNDERPANTS GNOMES RULE BUSH FOREIGN AGENDA

The Bush Plan:
Step 1.: Invade Iraq.
Step 2.: ???
Step 3.: Democracy!

It'll work! It's got to! We just have to stay the course!

Well, if they're having sex... they deserve death

This is the kind of backwards idiocy that makes me ashamed of my government.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The U.S. government’s emphasis on abstinence-only programs to prevent AIDS is hobbling Africa’s battle against the pandemic by downplaying the role of condoms, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

Stephen Lewis, the U.N. secretary general’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said fundamentalist Christian ideology was driving Washington’s AIDS assistance program known as PEPFAR with disastrous results, including condom shortages in Uganda.

These nations have the highest incidence of AIDS in the world and we're creating condom shortages there?!

Ignorance is not an American value.

What have we become?

Bush's Approval Rating at All-Time Low

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2005/04/25/GR2005042500945.html

Washington Post has a great graphic tracking his poll numbers.

If he can show some leadership in New Orleans, people might believe in him more. Yesterday he was yukkin' it up playin' guitar in Colorado. Leadership? I think not.

My current positions

I've been hit with a bunch of questions lately about where I stand. Since nobody but me is reading this blog as of now, I thought I'd just itemize for my own basic reference.

1. War in Iraq: Effective Transition. Set a date and get the hell out.
2. Smart Government: Fiscal responsibility. We can't keep piling debt without killing ourselves and our children.
3. Abortion: Must remain legal. Must reduce it with education and counseling, etc. Abstinence only is a big lie.
4. Evolution v. Creation: Intelligent Design is a big lie to get Creationism taught in schools.
5. No Child Left Behind and School Vouchers: Plans to kill public education and keep the poor stupid and easy to keep down.
6. Immigration: Deport illegals, but expand the process of legal immigration. Extend the time and get more legal immigrants. Immigration is good for America.
7. Taxes: All this "no tax" stuff is a big lie. You have to invest in the future, and that has to be handled progressively.
8. Healthcare and Social Security should be universalized. If you can work, you should be able to live without fear of sickness or age. If you can't work, the strong need to protect the weak.
9. Corporate Socialism has to end. All the big pork we funnel towards our big companies need to be taken away and guided towards small businesses and small farms.
10. Government needs reforming. I'd like to see public financing of elections eventtually. Until then, we need complete lobbying reformation and verified elections.
11. The first priority for the nation needs to be energy independence.
12. "free" trade isn't free, the way we manage our deals now it's a big kickback to multinationals and incentive to eliminate the us manufacturing base. We need a system of lifelong learning to recareer workers, and we need to build worker, environmental and consumber protections into our trade deals.
13. Guns: 2nd ammendment is ok with me.
14. We need to get the fairness principle back into media, and we need to start busting some trusts, especially in broadcasting and farming.
15. Terrorism: After we transition out of Iraq, actually go after al-qaeda, and all violent extremists, including those from the judeo-christian tradition, like abortion clinic bombers. Enforce a peace between israel and palestine that is fair and engenders economic development.

It think that's about it for now. If I think of anythign else, I'll post it later or edit this.

We need to wage war on IGNORANCE

This article just makes me want to scream:

Dr. Miller's data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.

Lord help us!

Personal note

I never started out with anything against GWB.

The guy's supposedly decent if you like partying playboy types. Thing is, he's the worst danger to the nation and the world imaginable. There are too many genuine threats out there for the most powerful nation on the earth to be led by this crazed, failed, executive and the radicals who put him in power.

We need to get the nation back to core principles of smart government, strong communities, and leading by example.

Angry, Crazed, Executive

All I can say is: Wow!

While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.

“I’m not meeting again with that goddamned bitch,” Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. “She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!”


Bush flashes the bird, something aides say he does often and has been doing since his days as governor of Texas. Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them “motherfucking traitors.” He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore “bullshit protectors” over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to “tell those VFW assholes that I’ll never speak to them again is they can’t keep their members under control.”

Piffle

I haven't been posting for a while. I've been doing too much over at dailykos and raisingkaine, and haven't done anything here.

I think I need to build this place up a bit and see where we can go.

This about wraps it up

Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer
Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.

“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”



---------------------
Whether or not you believe (even after overwhelming evidence) that Bush acted in good faith in getting us in to the war in Iraq, you can't admit that his management of this debacle has been a childish, listless, wreckless failure.

We've never had a goal. Ever since they failed to find WMD, Every day it's just a new psudo-goal created as an excuse as to why the previous one made no sense. Soldiers are ill equipt, the world now knows the USA as warmongering torturers, there's nearly $9bn just flat out missing, and everyone is to blame except for Mr. Bush himself.

The worm has turned and the the war is over. Support for it is gone.

Once he is removed from office, his presidency will stand as an object lesson of how to bankrupt a nation morally, economically, and spiritually.

I pray we never see his like again.

Liberal Virtue

When I was 10 years old, my greatest hero wasn't Superman or Spiderman or the Lone Ranger.  When I was 10 years old, my greatest hero was my best friend, Jasper, who was far and away better than every other hero combined.

Jasper was smart, and fast, and funny.  He could play basketball like one of the big kids.  He could jump his BMX bike over anything in the neighborhood.  He always beat me on our after-lunch math tests.  He was like a great shining institution in our neighborhood.  Small but respected by everyone, he was the ultimate arbiter of playground disagreements, not to mention the best video game player in history.

It's been more than 20 years since those great and wonderful days.  I live thousands of miles away, and where I became a professional person, Jasper became a workman.  He's spent the last decade up in trees, climing, cutting, trimming, hauling.  It's good work and the pay is good, but he never had benefits.

He never really worried about not having benefits until last week, when a tree fell and nearly crushed him to death.
The tree crushed his ribs, fractured his scull, and injured his spine.  After 7 hours of surgery, he is stable, but his life will never be the same.  

Not only will he never fully recover physically, but it looks, at this point, like he will never recover financially either.  Colorado's medicaid program helped a great deal, but as a blue collar guy, his income was never that high.  He was already only just barely making ends meet.  Now he'll likely be disabled and unable to work the colorado treetops ever again.

I bring this up, because we often hear about 48 Million uninsured Americans, and it doesn't really connect.  It's like there's some other America.  It's like there's some other nation of people who work, and raise families, and live, and struggle and die here.  It's like it's not our brothers and sisters and friends and fathers and mothers and heroes who's lives are ruined by the way things are.

Conservatives believe this is fine.  They believe that it's not just ok for us to suffer and die, but they truly believe that it's ok for us not to care.

Abraham Lincoln said that government should do for people what they can't do for themselves.  I would that I could take care of all those who suffer in the world, since I can't, I count on government to do it for me.  

Conservatives don't want us to see the connection between soaring pharmaceutical and medical prices, soaring HMO profits, and soaring levels of poverty.  If we see the economic truth of our situation, our whole nation might, as Liberals always have, work to correct our economic diseases and work to care for our best citizens, our least protected heroes.

My oldest friend, my greatest hero will never be the same.  The weakness of the Conservative movement is that they will never even acknoweldge that such a thing matters in America.  The virtue of the Liberal movement is that we will fight forever for equality and for change.

Best. Bush Description. Ever.

A petty, corrupt little man, who knows no other life than sitting around with his cronies finding new schemes to bilk money from others, and then enjoying the comfortable life comes from someone elses honest day's work. - Sterling Newberry

Now THAT'S Democracy!

Check out nationmaster.com. It's an awesome resource of international statistics.

Here's a good statistic:

I'll call it "TOP 10 VOTING DEMOCRACIES IN THE WORLD"


Democracy: Presidential elections - Turnout
Definition: The number of votes divided by the Voting Age Population figure, expressed as a percentage.

Amount
1. Guinea-Bissau 116.0% (1999)
2. Seychelles 97.9% (2001)
3. Uruguay 94.7% (1999)
4. Korea, South 92.5% (1997)
5. Angola 88.3% (1992)
6. Iceland 87.0% (1996)
7. Cyprus 85.6% (1998)
8. Israel 84.5% (1999)
9. Singapore 83.7% (1993)
10. Ghana 82.5% (1996)


*In Guinea-Bissau 116% of voting age voters, vote!*
The US is just under 49.3% (year 2000).

Go Guinea!

Virginia History X

Ever see American History X?  If you have you'll never forget it.  If you haven't, I'd suggest taking an asprin or maybe a valium beforehand.  It's not for the weak of heart.

It's the story of two brothers and their experience as one becomes the leader of an urban white-supremecist gang.  Here's a speech the older gives his new group of skinheads as they reenact the Berlin "Kristallnacht" of 1933, this time terrorizing a korean-owned local grocer.

         DEREK

     (to the group)

We're here tonight cause we got

immigration problems spiralling out of

control. We got Asians up the ass...

taking over our land with their

fucking Yen. Mexicans...flocking into

this place like some giant fucking

Pinata was shattered.

From The Script for American History X by David McKenna

 

Watching it, you think "People can't really feel this way in America, can they?".  Unfortunately, they can, and they do.

Remarkably, I'd never seen the movie American History X.  Maybe it's kismet.  I'm a big Edward Norton fan, and I was told it's his best role, but somehow I missed it, until last night.  

So you won't be surprised that this particular jackbooted scene was at the top of my awarness when I read the front page of the Washington Post today.  

Imagine my surprise as Virginia Candidate for Governor, Jerry Kilgore, was quoted with an amazingly similar empassioned plea to his would-be followers as he declaimed Virginia supports for Day Laborers.

"We face a fundamental decision in Virginia," Kilgore told reporters in a conference call. "Will we reward illegal behavior with hard-earned dollars from law-abiding citizens? I say the answer to this question should be an easy one: No."

The night the skinheads bust up the grocer here's what Ed Norton's character, Derek has to say:

 

          DEREK

We're here tonight to show the

government how we feel about

minorities taking over our country.

The treat us like criminals while they

reward them with jobs and ...

welfare checks. And it's only getting

worse.

Jerry Kilgore has veiled his bigotry better before now, speaking of "hard working Virginians" (translation: white) and failing "Richmond" schools (translation: black).

I think it's quite refreshing, honestly to have such an overt forray into racism.  When slime is uncovered, the stink is burned off by the rays of the sun.  

What I find fearsome is that this man may actually become Governor of Virginia.  If he does, it will take us back years financially, and centuries socially.  How far back can Virginia afford to go?

Four years of the best leadership and management in the nation, thanks to Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, has brought us forward.  Thanks to bipartizan action, under powerful Democratic leadership, Virginia has actually reached the light at the end of the tunnel:  Balanced budgets, smart government, healthy families, fully funded education.

That light at the end of the tunnel has eluded our nation as a whole for 6 years of under the backward, divisive, autocratic, immature radical leadership of George W. Bush.  Jerry Kilgore is cut from Mr. Bush's backward cloth.  He's more akin to national "spend like a drunken sailor" republican than anything like the fiscal conservatives we find in Virginia.

The promise of Tim Kaine's Leadership is unity, strength and inclusiveness.  The reality of national GOP irresponsibility is weakness, division, and bigotry.  

Nobody in this nation exemplifies the bizarre direction of the National GOP better than Jerry Kilgore.  

No Leader in this nation is needed more than Tim Kaine, the next Governor of Commonwealth of Virginia.  

----

Find out how to help Tim Kaine become Governor of Virginia here.

The Vision War Makes Culture Wars Obsolete

We've been caught up in the big right-wing lie for too long and now is the time to break out.

The culture wars refer to the endless series of wedge issues that the radical right uses to divide and conqure America.  Culture war issues include: abortion, gay marriage, and immigration among others.

As long as we continue fighting a culture war with the right we will lose.  What need is to rise up above the trees to see the forrest.  We need to get out of petty discussions of laws and policies like gay rights and abortion, and talk about the true Vision for America.

From Vision will follow Values,

From Values will follow Issues,

From Issues will follow Policies.

The far right has identified it's vision and is 30 years down the line in executing it.  

That vision?  Call it "compassionate conservatism.  Call it "the new world order".  Call it "The religion of 'free' trade.  Whichever you choose it is this:  

A State of Corporate Socialism that promotes an Aristocracy of American Hegemony Worldwide.  This is a vision based on social-darwinism, opposed to science, personal privacy, and individual liberty. With the appointment of John Roberts to the American Supreme Court, it will be the dominant paradigm of the world.

We must wage a relentless war of peaceful resistance, public debate, and Passionate Progressivism against this vision and all that it entails.  We must promote an alternative vision for America and the World:

A Democratic world of Fair Market capitalism, that puts smart government in service to the people of the world; where science is used to support the wellbeing of all; where American leadership is the root of our independence and might;  where all Americans regardless of wealth invest in the future; and where government's primary responsibility is to protect and develop strong communities, healthy families and the individual pursuit of material, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual freedom."

Don't fight within the frame of "the culture war" anymore.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the war to end all wars.   I give you, The Vision War.

{Inspired by about a dozen articles including, this, this, this, this, this, this and most recently, this.}

American Dream, American Illusion, American Vision

When we look around today at the unholy alliance between Monopolists, Moralists, and those who are Manipulated, it is time for all of us to reconsider the direction of our Nation and the actions required of Americans of good Conscience.  We face the the threefold horrors of Greed, Pride, and Hate.  This is the illusion of the American Dream our Republican leaders have brought us.

I ask you this - Is our nation living the American Dream or are we living an American Illusion from which we must awaken?  Are we living the true vision of America, or have we settled for much much less?

It is time for us to go back and consider the lessons of great Americans like Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.  It is time for us to consider again the words of Thomas Jefferson.  It is time for us to reconsider the American dream.

Let us reaffirm the true meaning of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."  The pursuit of Happiness does not refer to pleasure or wealth, but in the spirit of Jefferson and the Enlightenment, the Pursuit of Happiness can only be understood as the Pursuit of Virtue.  Liberty can only be understood as the freedom to live by individual conscience.  Life can only be understood as the freedom for all Americans to go where they wish, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

 The American Dream must strive for these freedoms.  Americans must protect them.

Let us all awaken from the dreaming illusion of America.  Let us awaken from the illusion that material wealth is its own best reward.  Let us awaken from the illusion that the conquest of an enemy is greater than the conquest of fear.  Let us awaken from the illusion that grasping for power is somehow greater that wisdom or grace.

The time has come for a new American leadership to deepen our dream to the Great Vision of America:  that wealth and prosperity are merely useful means, and the end is something greater - something dictated by individual conscience.  

When General Washington conquered the vast British Army with nothing but bravery and the promise of freedom, did he let pride conquer the American spirit?  Die he, as many suggested, allow himself to be crowned King?

He did not.

Instead he allowed that all Americans should have power over Government.  With wisdom and grace he achieved for himself a position higher than any king.

When Lincoln guided his nation through civil war, watching brother slay brother, achieving victory with honor in endless fields of blood, did he seek recompense of disgrace for his former rivals?  Did he seek vengence?  Did he harbor hate?

He did not.

Instead he roused his countryment with a peace free of malace.  In the practice of grace he broke open the great body of hatred.  By conquering hatred he ensured that there would no longer be "our dead" or "their dead".  All Americans who lived and died henceforth did so as Brothers in a healing nation.

And when Roosevelt faced the evils of greed at home and hatred abroad, when he brought a nation out of depression to face the armies of hate, did he dishonor his vanquised enemies?  Did he destroy the lives of those Monopolists who destroyed the nation with their greed?

He did not.

Instead generocity was shared to rebuild former enemies abroad, new economic security was instituted at home.  By embodying generocity at home and abroad Roosevelt brought general wealth, security, and prosperity where before poverty reigned.

So, now?  Where is the great leader today?

Where is the King would will not be King?

Where is the Conqueror who beholds his brother without Malace?

Where is the Victor who props up his former enemies?

The virtues of Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt live on today.  Jefferson's words show us how to embrace their legacy.

Each of us must take up the sword of wisdom.

Each of us must take up the shield of compassion.

Each American must strive to defent not just the surface of the American Illusion, but the Depth of the American Vision.

Each of us much achieve power that we may better share it with others.

Each of us must conquer our hate that none may suffer malace, that all may know grace.

Each of us must cast out greed and achieve true wealth, the better to share prosperty with friend and stranger alike.

The true American vision is within our reach.  The wealth and power of our nation are valid only insofar as they protect the true "pursuit of happiness".  Our actions, our government must protect the individual freedom to go anywhere, physically, mentally, or spiritually.  The true American Vision is an endless, united, free, individual search for Truth.  It must be ceaselessly protected, for it can never be finally attained.

Thank you all, and God Bless America.

This speech was inspired Jacob Needleman's Two Dreams of America (caution: pdf)

See his site: http://www.jacobneedleman.com

Sorensen Summit on Blogging

I'll be at the Sorensen Summit on Blogging on August 27 in Charlottesville.
Hope to see y'all there.

Rebuttal: Wall Street Journal Editoral

Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Rebuttal

As anyone who tracks the media knows, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page is the heart and soul of the conservative media today. Rush Limbaugh picks up their messages and jokes about them on the radio. Sean Hannity and Bill O'Rielly use their messages as the basis for economic rants on TV. I encourage every Virginian to read the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page, for it is on this page itself that you see the crystal clear essence of the "no taxes" mind at work.

How surprised was I today to see an article entitled Virginia Ham, initially singing the praises of my beloved Governor, Mark Warner.

I was initially astounded at the tone. It was filled with such glowing praise. It had such wonderful insights in to the workings and strengths of the Warner candidacy.

In the first few paragraphs I thought "Wow! These guys love my candidate. This is too good to be true." It was...

As I say, it starts out nice enough:

Who, if anyone, will emerge as the moderate challenge to Hillary?

The candidate who seems to be rising like a comet is the governor of Virginia, Mark Warner. One Democratic political strategist, Jim Jordan, who served as John Kerry's political adviser, has gone so far to say: "If [Gov. Warner] gets in, there is a real possibility that he emerges as the primary alternative to Hillary Clinton, and there is a strong argument to be made that he would be the party's strongest conceivable general election candidate."

As a Warner supporter this was music to my ears. According to the Wall Street Journal, Warner's candidacy is "rising like a comet" and is potentially the "strongest conceivable" in the general election. Be still my heart.
Now let me say this. Mark Warner has been great for Virginia. When he came in to office his predecessor, Governor Gilmore, had gutted the budget by enacting massive tax cuts. He left the localities to fend for themselves and left education, roads, utilities, and families all languishing.

Warner's Administration has been one of the most successful statewide administrations in the history of state politics. Mark Warner and his lieutenant Tim Kaine began managing the massive deficits by streamling government, but went on to enact well crafted initiatives which addressed pressing problems for Virginians including security, economic development, health, volunteerism, schools, government accountability, and health insurance for children. Together, the Warner/Kaine initiatives established a firm footing for the long run health of the commonwealth.

Smart initiatives, streamlined government and balanced budgets were the beginning. By streamlining government, Warner and Kaine were able to fully fund the state's requirements, but in order to fulfill the State's obligations to localities especially schools and in order to reduce the amount of taxation on 75% of Virginians, Warner and Kaine coordinated an overhaul of the tax system which has ended a dreaded era of irresponsible government.

In 2004, the Warner administration completed the turn around by working with a heavily republican dominated state senate and working a smart tax plan that has created a substantial surplus; over $900 million if I'm not mistaken.

In addition to this, Warner re-tooled the entire workforce in Virginia. Creating one-stop re-careering centers for those who had lost jobs in agricululture and manufacuring, while encouraging a fantastic advances in job creation making Virgina second in the nation.

Virginia is rated #1 by the Government Performance Project. That's right, Warner is head honcho of the #1 best run state in the union.

So it was shocking when the Wall Street Journal Editorial started turning downright nasty:

If all of this sounds a little too good to be true--well, it is. As governor of Virginia, Mr. Warner can best be described as a fairly boilerplate tax-and-spend liberal. Even Democrats in the state agree that his only real "victory" in three-and-a-half years in the state house has been to enact a giant tax increase last year that he plotted to enact over his entire term.

I suppose you have to consider the source; the WSJ Editorial board wouldn't want to see a tax raised if it could save their lives. Still it gets worse:

Gov. Warner alleges that the tax hike was necessary to balance the budget and preserve the state's triple-A bond rating. That was mostly a canard. Months before the tax hike was enacted, the state's revenue office reported a massive 7.5% surge in tax receipts from the previous year due to the national economic recovery. This year, with the higher tax rate, tax receipts have exploded by 12% and the state legislature is swimming in a green river. Just as Gov. Warner's opponents had warned, these extra taxes have not been dedicated to balancing the budget, but to spending on every program imaginable--from schools to mass-transit boondoggles, to day-care subsidies.

Misguided talk like this is enough to make a father cringe. When government balances a budget or creates a surplus, it is government's obligation to use it to protect and serve individuals. Thus, when Warner turned the government around he was able to help families by making day-care subisidies available. The Editors of the Wall Street Journal may think that schools, transportation, and daycare are boondoggles, but to real people that's why we pay taxes. That's what government is supposed to do.

Government is for people, for the real, live people who work and raise families and struggle to survive. Government is for the people who have to take the bus to work, as well the people who have limos and drivers. Government is for the people who have their kids in public schools as well as those who can afford private schools. Government is not just for those who can afford a nanny, government is also for those of us who trust our children to daycare every day.
The Editors of the Wall Street Journal are not satisfied with criticism, they are looking for blame. They want to blame Mark Warner for expanding services provided by the state.

The Virginia state budget has expanded by 26% over Gov. Warner's tenure, about twice the national average for the states. He received a "D" on the Cato Institute Fiscal Report Card of the Governors. "The claim that Mark Warner is a fiscal conservative," complains Peter Ferrara, president of the Virginia Free Enterprise Fund, "is straight out of an Aesop's Fable."

Again, here you have to consider the sources. The Cato Institute and the Virginia Free Enterprise Fund are among the pre-eminent radical right-wing think tanks in America and Virginia respectively. Both of these organizations would have prefered that the President's tax cuts would have been deeper and more geared towards the interests of the very wealthy. It seems that the WSJ Editors couldn't get a more moderate source to criticize Warner's performance.

Even Jerry Kilgore, the Republican who is trying to win Warner's office want to be known as Warner's heir, which he clearly is not. He fought against every reform Mark Warner and Tim Kaine championed. With the help of clear minded Virginians, Tim Kaine will be elected Governor to continue and expand on Mark Warner's great work.

If the Wall Street Journal Editors want to argue that Warner isn't a conservative because he raised taxes and expanded government, then they should feel free to make that argument, misguided and ill-informed as it is. I would argue that he is a fantastic fiscal conservative because his streamlined government is much more financially sound than any of his GOP predecessors.

If, however, the Wall Street Journal Editors want to argue that Mark Warner wasn't a good Governor because he didn't abdicate his responsibility to localities, schools, transporation, and families of Virginina, well I think that says more about the pitfalls of radical conservatism than about any shortcomings as Governor that Mark Warner might have demonstrated.

Mark Warner made all the money he needed to in industry long ago. Rather than sit on his fat bank account complaining about about taxes, as the Editors of the Wall Street Journal seem to prefer, Mark Warner put his brilliance and leadership to work in the service of the people of Virginia. Actions speak louder than words, and the power of Mark Warner's accomplishments will be heard by this nation long after greedy critics are forgotten.

[Crossposted at the Mark Warner for President Blog.]