McAuliffe, finds bullying ineffective.

Whether it is the Reston based Northern Virginia Technology Council’s political action committee or former Senator Phil Puckett the very successful political operative Terry McAuliffe is finding that the tactics that served him so well as Bill Clinton’s bagman have been largely ineffective as a candidate and Governor.

In 2013, when the NVTC PAC informed McAuliffe that they would be endorsing Ken Cuccinelli in  2013, McAuliffe enlisted high ranking Virginia Democrats to reach out and pressure the council to reverse their decision. It was reported that council members received either phone calls or emails from United States Senator Mark Warner, Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) and Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) with threatening advice warning the council that a Cucinelli endorsement will result in a  frigid frigid relationship with Democrat legislators and doors will be closed [when the council seeks help with its legislative agenda]. Threatening that if they did not capitulate, they would make it difficult to impossible for the NVTC to achieve their goals.

Fast forward to 2014 when faced with the resignation of Sen. Phillip Puckett. Puckett cited family reasons, specifically to enable his daughter to be confirmed to her full six-year term to the bench. However, his resignation would also mean the loss of Democrat control of the senate and the governor’s bid for Medicaid expansion, McAuliffe again called for a full court press. Senator Mark Warner along with others including the governor’s chief of staff, Paul Reagan called the Puckett residence to convince Puckett to stay on. This time instead of the stick, it appears the carrot was employed. Allegedly Warner discussed the possibility of a federal judgeship for Puckett’s daughter and the transcript of Reagan’s voice mail suggests an opportunity for Ms. Puckett to head a state agency.

When the carrot proved ineffective it is now reported that the Governor himself contacted Puckett with what Puckett’s attorney characterized as an angry voicemail. In it  the governor communicated his personal vitriol toward the former senator over the impact of his resignation. Puckett is not currently making the transcript of the voicemail public but it reportedly closed with words to the effect that he hoped Puckett could live with his decision.

I suspect Mr. Puckett will have no problem sleeping at night knowing his sacrifice enabled his daughter to achieve her desire to be confirmed to a full 6 year term and serve as a judge in the commonwealth. I also am not surprised that McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor does not regret making the call. Terry McAuliffe, a man who brags about choosing to politics over his family, who left his crying wife and newborn baby in the back of a cab to attend a political fundraiser, wouldn’t.

 

Governor McAuliffe makes bid to follow McDonnell into prison.

This from the Washington Post;

The following is the transcript of a voicemail that Paul Reagan, Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s chief of staff, left on Democrat Phillip A. Puckett’s cell phone in the days leading up to Puckett’s resignation from the state Senate in June:

“Hey Senator. This is Paul Reagan again. I just wanted to bounce one idea off you. I know there was a lot of frustration with your daughter, not, you know, getting a judgeship or something. if there’s something that we can do for her, I mean, you know, we have a couple of big agencies here that we still need agency heads. We could potentially, potentially, subject to approval of the governor and so forth, you know, the department of mines, minerals and energy could be available. So we would be very eager to accommodate her, if, if that would be helpful in keeping you in the senate. We, we would basically do anything. We just need you really, we need you for the rest of your term and beyond, but in the immediate future, we need you to help us get this Medicaid deal through and I think we’ve got a way to do it. So anyway, please let’s keep all this confidential. Call me 703-850—–. Thank you sir. Bye.”

 

Hey Virginia, a vote for Mark Warner is a vote for the failed policies of Barack Obama

 

No Matter what Mary Landrieu does or doesn’t do for the African-American community, 95% will lineup and vote for her again.

in·san·i·ty

noun \in-ˈsa-nə-tē\

: repeatedly doing the exact same thing and expecting different results

: something that is very foolish or unreasonable

The Elbert Guillory Video is informative and reiterates the message that was also delivered by Jason L. Riley in Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed, but given the history and tradition of the 95% it is likely that nothing will change. #LowInformationVoters

 

If you like McAuliffe’s plan, he can’t keep it. Massive expansion plans dependent on Medicaid expansion that will never happen.

Terry McAuliffe has gathered the endorsements and support of countless Virginians based on a multitude of promises including;

• Higher teacher pay.
• Increased funds to make college more affordable.
• Better retirement benefits for teachers.
• Higher spending on K-12 education.
• Increased research funds for higher education.
• Increased spending on tourism.
• Increased spending on inner-city passenger rail.
• Expanded rail service throughout Virginia.
• Increased funding for rural health care.
• Increased funding for mental health.

 Such an ambitious list comes with an equally ambitious price tag, estimated by some as high as $14 Billion but even half of that would represent an unprecedented massive increase of spending. When asked where the money would come from to fund his promises, the New Yorker has repeatedly cited the federal dollars coming with an expansion of medicaid and mysterious and unnamed improvements in efficiencies. I’ll get to the medicaid expansion later but let’s be clear, the savings to be gained from improved efficiencies is minimal at best and given that Mr. McAuliffe has little knowledge of and even less experience in the workings of Virginia government, non-existent at worst.  

That leaves the supposed windfall from medicaid expansion. Now I am not sure exactly how the former DNC chair thinks he is going to convince the Republican dominated Virginia General Assembly to reverse course and vote to expand medicaid or if he is even aware that he lacks the authority to unilaterally make that happen. The fate of Medicaid expansion in Virginia is, by statute, in the hands of the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission. According to the code of Virginia 30-347

An affirmative vote by three of the five members of the Commission from the House of Delegates and three of the five members of the Commission from the Senate shall be required to endorse any reform proposal to amend the State Plan for Medical Assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, and any waivers thereof, to implement coverage for newly eligible individuals pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1396d(y)(1)[2010] of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Terry McAuliffe does not have the experience or knowhow to improve efficiencies and he does not have the votes to expand Medicaid and as he so eloquently stated in the first debate;

If we don’t get the Medicaid expansion, we can’t bring in the efficiencies, then I agree with you. There’s not money to be spent.

In other words, all of you suckers who are voting for Terry McAuliffe because he promised you something, be prepared to be disappointed.

 

Justice Department declares Virginia County is no longer racist, Democrats disappointed.

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch

The U.S. Justice Department announced Monday that it has reached an agreement with Hanover County to let the county and the town of Ashland “bail out” of “preclearance” requirements under the Voting Rights Act.

The consent decree, which must be approved by a federal court in Washington, means that the localities no longer would have to get the permission of the Justice Department or a federal judge before making changes in voting procedures.  This follows a lengthy process in which the locality must show it has been free of any voter discrimination for at least a decade.

Any sane and civil Hanover County resident would applaud the fact that the United States department of Justice Civil Rights Division, after a lengthy review process has determined that their locality has been free of any voter discrimination for at least a decade. Most would agree with Hanover County Voter Registrar Teresa F. Smithson who said the status means, “simply that we have proven that we’re not a racist location anymore and that we will not disenfranchise voters based on color.”

Astonishingly not all Hanoverians are happy with the decree. Gordon Silver, chairman of the Hanover County Democratic Committee, called the announcement disappointing and Robert Barnette, president of the NAACP’s Hanover branch, said Monday night that his group will “continue to oppose” the change.

You see, when your power evolves from propagating the victim mentality, and an authoritarian declaration that there are no longer any victims then you are powerless. So instead of celebrating this achievement, they bemoan it. Sad, very very sad.

 

Uncle Joe Biden gaffes to the end

Tonight at his final campaign stop in Richmond Virginia, Biden was commenting on Romney’s debate claim that he supported a govt guarantee for auto bankruptcy claims and he spouted, “If you or I did that, we’d be shot”. The thought of this guy being a heartbeat away from the presidency is more and more frightening every day!

 

Joe Biden in Richmond with John Cougar Mellenkamp and OFA volunteers can’t give away tickets.

I was at an afternoon craft beer festival in downtown Richmond, Virginia this afternoon, just the sort of event you would imagine to find plenty of Obamaroids.At the event i was approached by an attractive young OFA volunteer handing out tickets for a frree John Cougar Mellencamp concert hosted by Mr. and Dr Biden in Richmond tomorrow night(election eve) in Richmond. The response was less than enthused, dozens and dozens of beer festers were offered free tickets and in all but a few exceptions the free offer was declined, over and over again, the beer fest participants declined the offer.

This looks like another Stevie Wonder type debacle for the Obama campaign on the eve of the election.

 

 

Enthusiasm edge goes to Romney

One sure sign of an enthusiastic voting base is the presence of grass roots, homemade campaign signage. During Scott Brown’s historic U.S. Senate victory in 2009, there were homemade Brown for Senate signs all over Massachusetts. Now, in Virginia and around the country we are seeing homemade signs being produced and exhibited either in support of Romney and/or against the incumbent. The Tea Party groups have been posting their hand stenciled yellow bill boards and Gadsden flags for some time. Just this weekend I observed empty chairs (see Eastwooding) appearing around Richmond accompanied by Romney signs and American flags.

On the other side, I have not seen any thing other than OFA produced signs. Enthusiasm and intensity wins elections and it appears to be with the challenger!

 

Changes, from Obama and those who support his feckless policies.

Crowder is back and better than ever!