MASON CONSERVATIVE

Believe In America. And OBEY

More "pledge" nonsense, this time from Mitt Romney.  Remember folks, while its a near-lock that Romney will be the nominee, he currently is NOT the nominee and there are still two other candidates out there . . . one of which, Ron Paul, raised $10 million in the first fund-raising quarter of 2012.  

The Romney people need to understand that everyone will be for him, but they have to allow others supporters to go through their process of getting to him.  Forcing the state chairman of Iowa, kind of an important position, to sign a pledge of support is assinine because he will be there for him.  Its a worrisome sign that Romney and his team are going to try and be tough guys on conservatives who WILL support him, but just need to have some time to get there.

How Romney Chose His Lieutenant Governor

An interesting, and worrisome, look in how Mitt Romney played identity politics to promote a weak running-mate over a stronger candidate because he wanted a women on the ticket to balance his gender problem and a weak candidate he could control in the campaign and in office.

Not a good sign.

Let Them Shut The Government Down

All this fuss so the developers can milk the taxpayers and break local government budgets to fund a needless boondoggle to get Metro to Dulles.  Good luck, downstate Democrats, explaining why state services are closed so those greedy NOVA senators get their metro to Dulles!  Not that the concept of Metrorail is bad, but its execution has been horrible and Loudoun County should not feel bullied the way Fairfax was to pass this.  

So let them shut the government down.  The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, all Assembly Republicans, and just under half of the House Democrats support this Budget.  Go ahead, let Dick Saslaw deny the will of the people.  Democrats get on Facebook and in the press complaining about representation on committees (I don't remember them being so outraged when Dick Saslaw was doing the same thing), but that is not what this is about.  This is about protecting and pushing unions to undermine Virginia's right-to-work laws.  They want to use the federal government to wedge and grow unions in Virginia to further fill their coffers and undermine Republicans.  That's fine, this is politics.  But the history of people forcing a government shutdown isn't pretty.  As contentious as things got under Govs. Warner and Kaine, Republicans never pulled stunts like this.

Sens. Saslaw and Janet Howell live in a bubble in the most liberal parts of Farifax County that they have no idea, nor do they much care, how shutting down the state government will hurt the rest of the state.  Northern Virginia is much more reliant on local government for services so we won't see it as much.  But downstate in Southside or Southwest?  I wonder how long it will take Phil Puckett, freshly reelected by essentially running as a Republican, to convince his angry constituents this isn't about greedy Northern Virginia looking for more money for a metro they'll never use, to care about, and probably are slightly envious of?

So my advice, such as it is, to McDonnell, Bolling, Howell, and Norment is to sit down and let the baby have his bottle.  Let Dick Saslaw shut down the state, law enforcement, human services, and all of the other services people rely on.

I'm Just Saying What We All Are Thinking: E.W. Jackson for US Senate

It's a strange thing.  

Everyone I talk to says, "I love E.W. Jackson."  He gets the best reactions and loudest applause after his stump speech.  "I would vote for him, but . . ." and then they sort of trail off.  Establishment and old-line Republicans are loyal to George Allen.  New conservatives seem to be sliding to Jamie Radtke.  The hardcore conservative base supports Bob Marshall.  Yet they all seem to like E.W. Jackson and clap louder for him than they do for their candidates.  Maybe because they like what he says but figure he can't win?  I don't know.  

So I decided to make the leap and do so publicly.

There is something very 2010ish about Bishop Jackson.  He hasn't held elected office before, but he is personally quite accomplished.  A former marine, a graduate of both Harvard Law and Divinity schools, he's got a fascinating background.  He's part lawyer, part man of the cloth, part self-help guru.  He's been successful in everything he's ever done.  That is important to me.  I'm beginning to grow weary of candidates who's chief reason for running is because they've been successful running for another office.  So many of our candidates in 2010 that were successful were successful men without having run for office before - men like Mike Lee and Rand Paul.  I like that Jackson hasn't been corrupted by the process, never having to compromise a piece of his identity to climb up one more rung of the political ladder.

It might be easy to say Jackson is just a speech.  All he can do is speechify.  But it is what he is saying in his speeches that have won me over.  It's not simply the generic, talking-point Republican critique of Barack Obama; it is a deeper critique of the world-view and political philosophy of the President.  While Allen hits the RNC talking points, Radtke hits the tea party talking points, and Marshall hits his own talking points; it is E.W. Jackson who speaks about the ills of a dependent society.  I'm not just being won over by a hot stem-winder, I'm being won over by the deeper message of Bishop Jackson's speech.  

Am I under the impression that George Allen won't be the US Senate nominee?  Not really.  But unlike what seems to be a lot of other people, I'm willing to follow my conscience and beliefs and understand that if we do nominate Bishop Jackson, we will be put forth perhaps the strongest possible candidate because he will uniquely be able to critique the Obama vision of America.

So yeah, count me in.

E.W. Jackson for US Senate.