MASON CONSERVATIVE

McDonnell Shows How Bipartisanship Works

President Obama will approve offshore energy exploration.

Let's remember, it was candidate Bob McDonnell who talked about this when everyone said it was stupid.  It was a major part of his campaign, and while Democrats mocked him, the voters showed their understanding that a new way of revenue was needed. 

As governor, McDonnell worked diligently to win over not only Republicans, the secretary of the Interior, but also Virginia's two Democratic senators.  McDonnell has shown how to really get important things done for Virginia and doing so backed up by his muscle in the House of Delegates and a convincing message. 

Assesing John Thune

The Fix profiles the presidential chances of South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the giant killer who took down Tom Daschle in 2004.  Of all the candidates that have been talked about, Thune to me is the most natural.  Meaning he won't have to change past views or differentiate from past campaigns to transition into a national race.  He also has very little baggage.  But he's a senator from a small state, and other than beating Daschle he doesn't seem to have done much else policy-wise.  Then again, in this Age of Obama since when did experience count for anything?

Tim Hugo For Caucus Chairman

I've long argued that part of the problem Republicans had in Northern Virginia was a lack of representation in the higher echelons of power within the state party.  For a time in the General Assembly, you could only point to two men with any sort of sway, Dave Albo and Ken Cuccinelli.  Albo as chairman of the Courts committee and Cuccinelli as the leader of the conservative wing of the party.  But none of the positions of internal power were held by anyone from the largest voting region in the commonwealth.  Bob McDonnell's stunning victory and the election of three four new state delegates has helped change that.  Now all we have to do is help solidify Northern Virginia's position in the party.

Encouraging the House caucus to vote for Tim Hugo as its chairman would go a long way towards solidifying our area's position within the party.  We need a consistent voice in the party, and Tim Hugo would represent another step forward in bringing in good conservative electeds from Northern Virginia into the fold of the state party to make sure our interests are no longer ignored.  When we have a voice in the party, the party will know what we need and in addressing that need will help build the party up here.

Here is the list of district offices, please find your Republican delegate and let them know that Tim Hugo is the right man for the job.

Stewart Udall And The Redskins

For no particular reason I found this an interesting story and did a little more digging.  Apparently Udall used his power as Interior secretary to force the Skins, till then the last holdout in signing black players, into integrating.  The new stadium was built on federal land and Udall says George Preston Marshall could be sued for anti-discrimination.  Interesting.

Mr. Udall also had a direct hand in integrating the Washington Redskins football team.

The Redskins -- the last team in any major professional sport to integrate -- were set to begin playing in a new stadium (which Mr. Udall later named for Robert F. Kennedy) that sat on land owned by the National Park Service. In March 1961, Mr. Udall sent a sharply worded letter to Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, warning him that he was in danger of criminal prosecution if the team violated anti-discrimination laws. In 1962, Bobby Mitchell became the first black player to take the field for the Redskins.

Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog has more about how Udall prevented the then new stadium from being called LBJ Stadium.  Though Udall served for the entire Kennedy and Johnson terms, he was apparently always a Kennedy loyalist and couldn't stomach the idea of Johnson plastering his name on this.  So with the power of his pen and the fact that the stadium was on federal land, it was legally within Udall's power to overrule and put RFK's name on it.

And so, absent that Udall-executed plot, all the great Redskins and D.C. United and Senators and Nationals memories, the NFC Championship games and MLS Cups, the World Cup games and Olympic soccer festivals, the departure of baseball and the arrival of baseball, the Eagle Bank Bowls and the scenes of me dropping pumpkins off the upper concourse with Alecko Eskandarian, the naked ESPN The Magazine photo shoots and the HFStivals, would have happened not at RFK but at LBJ. Almost impossible to imagine, right?

I don't know.  I find this kind of stuff interesting.

RIP Stewart Udall.  You may have been a huge liberal, but we can all thank him for integrating the Skins and keeping LBJ's name off of the stadium. 

A Friend Emailed Me This . . .

Sometimes the most complicated of things can be boiled down very easily.

 Let me get this straight....we're trying to pass a health care

plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't

understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but

exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president that

also is exempt from it and hasn't read it and who smokes,

with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't

pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who

is obese, and financed by a country that's broke.

What the hell could possibly go wrong? 

Morgan Griffith's Website Is Up

Morgan "Grizzly Man" Griffith, with a sweet new goatee, has an excellent new website up for his congressional run.  Rick Boucher is a tough out, we've supposed to have beaten him before.  Maybe this year will be different, but not for what you think.  Obamacare has dominated the media and polling lately, but its Cap n' Trade and the national Democrats War on Coal that will be Boucher's undoing, especially if Obama intends on pushing this.  It was what defeated Danny Bowling.  That has been the difference in the past.  National Democrats back then knew how to play the game, guys like Bill Clinton understood how to protect these guys.  And when he was in the minority, Boucher knew Republicans supported coal on a national level so he was clear on that.  Combined this with how Democrats have generally sold old labor out in favor of promoting and supporting public sector unions, the power of old school rural Democrats in the southwest is waning.  Boucher is being squeezed by both sides, and Morgan Griffith is a well-known commodity in the district and a very accomplished politician.  This is a SERIOUS pick-up chance and I encourage Republicans all over the commonwealth to make sure we support Griffith in all that we can do. 

VA-2: If It Means Anything, I Support Scott Rigell

I hesitated when I learned he gave money to Barack Obama, but I'm inclined to believe that he was part of Operation Chaos that Rush was pushing.  I'm looked at all the candidates and come away impressed with a field that is heavy on real-world and military experience, and not political lifers looking to move one more rung up the later.  He's direct and clear in what he believes in so I'm inclined to think he's the best choice.  

But I will say this, in VA-2 we have a very good group of candidates running so anybody would be good.  There is a robust blog presence in Hampton Roads, what do you all think?  What's the breakdown out there.

To review who I encourage voters across the commonwealth to support in congressional primaries, this is my list.

• VA-1:  Rob Wittman
• VA-2:  Scott Rigell
• VA-5:  Ken Boyd
• VA-8:  Mathew Berry
• VA-11:  Keith Fimian

Fimian Calls Out Connolly On Corruption

I know this is how Congress works, but as I've learned just because other people do it doesn't mean its right.  Keith Fimian just issued a press release slamming Connolly for coming through with an earmark for a large contributor. 

Fairfax, VA - Keith Fimian, Republican candidate for Congress (VA-11) again called out Gerry Connolly today for submitting earmarks requests for his campaign contributors.

“I call on Gerry Connolly to immediately return all campaign contributions he has received from contributors for whom he submitted earmark requests,” Fimian said.  “This is just the latest revelation about Connolly’s efforts to apparently payback contributors with earmarks.  Earlier this month my campaign pointed out another case of Connolly submitting earmark requests for contributors, but Connolly has remained silent.” 

Fimian pointed to the earmark and projects request on liberal Congressman Gerry Connolly’s official website.  Specifically:

Project Name:  Virtual Interactive Combat Environment (V.I.C.E.) training system for the Virginia National Guard

Proposed Recipient:  Dynamic Animation Systems, Inc., 12015 Lee Jackson Hwy, #200, Fairfax, VA 22033

Amount Requested:  $4,900,000

According to the Federal Election Commission, Connolly has received $3,200 from the Senior VP and President of the company for which Connolly submitted an earmark request. 
 
5/20/2008 - David Slayton - $500              Senior VP, Dynamic Animations Systems.
3/31/2009 - David Slayton - $1,000
 
5/20/2008 - Susana Slayton - $500            President, Dynamic Animations Systems.
3/31/2009 - Susana Slayton - $1,000
12/30/2009 - Susana Slayton - $200

“The fact that Gerry Connolly so brazenly submits earmark requests for his campaign contributors after being caught once is truly concerning,” Fimian said. “It’s even more concerning that the system is so broken a $4.9 million earmark can apparently be purchased for just $3,200.  We must ban earmarks.”     

According to The Hill, Democrat Representative Tom Perriello recently told constituents, in reference to big spenders in Congress, that, “The only way to keep them out of the cookie jar is to give them no choice…If you don't tie our hands, we'll keep stealing.”

“Representative Perriello must have had Gerry Connolly in mind when he made that statement.  Whether we’re talking about taking campaign contributions from Charlie Rangel and voting to cover up his ethical lapses, or submitting earmarks for contributors, Gerry Connolly continually gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar,” Fimian said.  “The only way to prevent Gerry Connolly from misusing our tax dollars for his political gain is to ban earmarks entirely and to defeat him in November.”

UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy

That's right people, the UFC posts are BACK.  A number of reasons for not posting them, mostly because a) life is busier as an engaged man, b) my work schedule is crazy, and c) this is the first show of real consequence since last December.  Injuries and bad luck have marred the winter season that was suppose to see Carwin vs. Lesnar, Silva vs. Belfort, Shogun vs. Machida, and Rashad vs. Rampage.  All were canceled or postponed for a variety of reasons ranging from near-death experiences (Lesnar) to personal drama (Rampage) to injureus (Belfort and Machida).  BJ Penn and Randy Couture really carried the torch  over the new year.  Couture has fought three times since August, and Penn has fought twice.  GSP has been out since last July, and so has Lesnar.  Silva hasn't fought since August.

But now we have the best p4p fighter in the world in Georges St-Pierre taking on a game, brash, mouthy, and underrated challenger in Dan Hardy.  Then two of the top UFC heavyweights in Frank Mir and Shane Carwin clash in a fresh heavyweight fight to see who gets to fight Lesnar at UFC 116 in the summer.  As usual I'll be out at the bar watching this with friends in Reston, always one of the highlights of my month. 

Here is the card:

The Lawsuit Has Been Filed

The ink, apparently, is dry.

I don't think I have ever been more proud of a single vote than the one I cast in November for Ken Cuccinelli.  All the work done before that, the convention last June . . . this is why its so important to make sure conservatives win elections.  Not just Republicans, but conservatives. 

I'm normally not one for litmus tests, but supporting this lawsuit is the real litmus test for Republican candidates.  If you don't support repeal, don't run with an R ne HTML xt to your name.

Greg L. has this:

Ken Cuccinelli on suing the federal government from Beehive Video on Vimeo.