this is one of the strangest articles I've read in a while. Let me get this straight: Virginia Republicans are criticizing Tim Kaine for being...wait for it...optimistic?!?
The vote ending the issue was not only a setback for Kaine and the families of the Virginia Tech victims. It also showed how one of Kaine's strongest traits, his intense optimism, doesn't always translate into what he sometimes needs the most: votes."It takes awhile to learn to count votes," said Sen. Kenneth Stolle (R-Virginia Beach), who said Kaine had asked him to support the bill, without success. "I've been doing this for 16 years, and I don't take it for granted ever. He was too optimistic on that bill."
[...]
Some Republicans question whether Kaine's optimism borders on arrogance.
"Some people do politics that way hoping it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy," said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem). "But I do think it can have the tendency of misleading the public."
Fascinating. I wonder if Stolle and Griffith would also have criticized this guy for being "forever the optimist." True, Ronald Reagan married his sunny optimism with...well, the Iran-Contra scandal and minor stuff like that...but the point is, Republicans (and others) loved him in part because he projected optimism about our country's future.
But now, here in Virginia, Republicans apparently have decided that optimism is a bad thing, that it equals "arrogance" or even "misleading the public." Well, how about THIS for "arrogance" and "misleading the publice" -- Republicans ramming through their transportation monstrosity, WITH new taxes disguised as "abuser fees." How about Del. Terry Kilgore (R-1st) threatening Tim Kaine with revenge for supporting his fellow Democrats in the 2007 election (as if Terry's brother Jerry wouldn't have done the same for Republicans if HE had been governor)? How about House Republicans blocking progress on pretty much any issue -- education, health care, the environment, you name it -- while stripping senior Democrats of their committee assignments in typical heavy handed fashion?
Perhaps Tim Kaine shouldn't be optimistic with people like that around, but what do Virginia House Republicans want him to do, curl up in a fetal position and cry? Or maybe they'd prefer a steady diet of doom and gloom pessimism from the leader of our state. Yes, that would definitely help matters immensely. Just imagine what a combination of dour pessimism on Governor Kaine's part and nasty, petty, ideologically-driven intransigence on the House Republicans' part could accomplish for Virginia. It boggles the mind!
I would be depressed myself.
But don't fear, Democrats are ready to fix this mess, just as they did back in the 20s when Republicans ruined the country.
It's a Democratic Morning in America!