Thanks For The Help Guys

Enjoy retirement, you wont' be missed.

Comments

[Doug Mataconis]

Yea, go ahead and blame the two Republicans who have actually won elections in Northern Virginia for the fact that the voters are made at the GOP.

Quite honestly, if that's the lesson that Virginia Republicans draw from these results, Northern Virginia, and by extension Virginia itself, will be blue for some time to come.

[Chris]

No. What I'm pissed off about is both these guys left this party high and dry when we needed them most! Both declined to run for reelection, ensuring far weaker candidates would run to replace. And then both did very little to help our candidates seeking to replace them! I know they know how to win, but its the fact that they took that ability and rolled out when the going got tough is what drove me insane.

We NEEDED John Warner and Tom Davis more than ever this year and they abandoned us. If Warner had run again, nobody would have challenged him. He could have waited one year for a Republican governor and then retired. Tom . . . we just needed one more term from him, two years to build up a successor.

These guys sat on their hands just so they could say "I told you so." Thats why I'm so mad.

[Doug Mataconis]

Warner's an old man who wanted to retire.

Would you rather have Virginia's answer to Robert Byrd or Strom Thurmond --- a senile man who reads off of post cards ?

As for Davis, he likely saw the writing on the wall as far as the 11th CD is concerned and decided to get out while the getting was good.

Neither of them "owe" the Virignia GOP anything. It's the parties job to find candidates people will vote for and to run competent campaigns.

[Rick S]

I agree with Chris. They were no help. Warner didn't lift a finger. Good riddance.

[Old Fairfax]

Tom Davis has done more for the GOP in Northern Virginia than any other public figure. Sure, it sucks that he retired this year, but he should be entitled to make these types of decisions after serving our community since he was 29 years old.

I think that your focus on John Warner and Davis is misplaced. While these two could have still won in 2008, they have both given a good portion of their lives to public service and this should not be discounted.

Sometimes you don't know what you have until it is taken away...

[Spank That Donkey]

typical Below The Beltway:
"Yea, go ahead and blame the two Republicans who have actually won elections in Northern Virginia for the fact that the voters are made at the GOP"

It would seem a Jim Gilmore won in NOVA twice, but never a good word out of your blog for him?

Big News someone is just a cry baby because the GOP didn't pick Ron Paul.

More big news, the Democrats didn't pick Nader or McKinney....

Bottom Line, if you're on a football team let's say (Conservatives), and you don't make the starting line up.... you sit on the bench, or maybe just go home, and watch from the stands....

but in your disgust you put on a skirt and run over to the other teams sidelines to yell out every little cheer the other team puts forth....

Does that little mental image sink in for you?

No, maybe this will help. If Benedict Arnold was not satisfied with the way he was treated by his fellow country man, but yet he truly felt that the rebellion against the King was just.... what would be his proper course of action?

a) Continue to fight with the Colonials?
b) Defect to the Crown?
c) Stay allied to the Colonials, but do nothing to hurt their cause, and go home to protect his homestead, and just await the final outcome?

[J. Tyler Ballance]

One salient point made by some of the pundits has been that while Obama was winning by a landslide, several key states passed very conservative initiatives, including banning gay marriage in California.

What this means is that African Americans, Whites, Latinos and Asians can unite as bigots toward a relatively powerless sub-group of society. Or taken another way, there is common ground on the definition of what marriage should be.

The voters hated Palin, but they hated Bush even more.

Republicans can continue to lose by nominating fringe element xenophobes like Palin, or the GOP can awaken to the new reality and begin to run candidates who will identify these common ground issues and offer the ever increasingly diverse society here, real solutions and providing an inspiring plan to get America back on the road to prosperity. Nominating a gimmicky fake "hockey mom" or perhaps token minority candidates in future races just won't get the job done.

In the final analysis, the People ran away from Bush and his NEOCON trashers of the Constitution.

We must all pray that Obama has a wildly successful four years, because our nation and our economy needs a boost.

[George Templeton]

Yes Tom Davis did a lot for the GOP in Northern Virginia, but after his wife lost (deservedly) and he didn't get his way on the method of nomination for the Senate, David did something indefensible. He took his ball and went home.
Keith Fimian could've won this race and if Davis had put his considerable organizing and fundraising skills to use that could've happened.
And despite several overtures from the Gilmore camp neither John Warner or Tom Davis felt it necessary to help him either. Not exactly going out on a high note.
I appreciate their service but the heck with both of them for letting two good candidates sink in a bad environment instead of reaching out to help.

[Rob]

JTB- McCain didn't win NOT because of Palin. Without Palin he would have lost as many as 6 more states. We need more Palin and those like her. This election was not a referendum on conservative principles, it was a plea for conservative politicians to... you know... actually act like conservatives.

Warner and Davis were in this category... Republican when it suits...

[Left of the Hill]

I was at a forum last week at the Mt. Vernon Government Center and as I was leaving I heard a man (who was wearing a McCain sticker) say to his wife "No wonder Tom Davis isn't helping Keith Fimian, Fimian's an idiot."

So maybe Tom Davis should have done more to help Fimian, but I think the Republican Party did an extremely poor job of candidate recruiting. If the GOP had put forward a good candidate then I imagine Davis would have done more to publicly support the party.

[NoVA Scout]

I saw Davis being very supportive of Fimian on a number of occasions. Sure, Fimian wasn't ready for prime time, but he deserves great credit for stepping up in a difficult situation that was daunting for potential candidates who lacked his wealth.

As for Davis and Warner, they are entitled to have standards. They earned the repeated respect of the voters. They don't have to pretend that a candidate is a good thing when they know otherwise. We'll have Davis and Warner's enthusiastice support and influence when we run candidates who are worthy of their long records of public service.