...like you were going to back Leslie Byrne. Got any more good jokes, we could all use a laugh.

That much I've learned

smarter than your posts would indicate.

Lowell, one point:  you said "That is NOT your path to victory."

I think that's right, but I would add one other thing.  It's also not Doug's path to a political future.

I had no idea she had demanded the Board of Supervisors (controlled 6-4 by Republicans while she was in Congress and Chaired by Tom Davis) be investigated for not hiring minorities.  

Are the Connolly talking points now against any investigations of Tom Davis?

just to attack Leslie Byrne, right after I said that I was disappointed in Doug Denneny for attacking Leslie Byrne?  So, is there any reason we all shouldn't assume that you're from the Denneny campaign?  I mean, how blatant can you be?!?

By the way, your first two comments both were used for ad hominem attacks - against NLS and RK.  If you continue to do that, you'll start to see a lot of troll ratings and possibly even be banned for being a troll.  I also find it shocking that the Denneny campaign has taken this sudden, nasty turn.  I certainly hope that Doug plans to put a stop to this ASAP.

W.A.W could also be a die hard Connolly supporter/staffer waiting for any chance to take a swipe at Leslie.

But I agree 100% that he's not an unaffiliated reader who just felt the need to comment suddenly.

is that it's "an unaffiliated reader who just felt the need to comment suddenly."  

that someone not from the Denneny campaign would have oppo research at their fingertips, ready to dump on RK at a moment's notice.  I mean, seriously, you guys should at least be a little more subtle about this stuff.

Is that Denneny completely ignores Connolly.

Hmmm - it does mean we have to think about why he'd ignore Connolly...

Do you think Denneny sees Byrne as the bigger threat?  Does Connolly not have an Iraq Plan (this isn't an attack - I don't know)?  Or does Connolly have a fantastic, self-generated, plan?

It is strange that if Doug is looking for a fight he didn't include Gerry.  If we're going down this road I'd like to see all three of them in the ring together.  Last one standing wins.

See here:

My campaign ethics
Great question.  I will post my position on my website soon on ethics.  Here is a preview.  Tell me what you think:

I believe my campaign is a reflection of who I am and a demonstration of my personal integrity

I will treat my opponent, the public, and the media with respect

I pledge to be truthful and refrain from irrelevant personal attacks

I will conduct my campaign with civility, and I expect the same of my opponent

My campaign activities will be conducted as if the world is watching everything we do

I demand the highest level of integrity from all who represent my campaign.

Doug, you might want to talk to your campaign staff about this, as well as people dumping oppo research on this blog.

Do you know something you're not telling us?  It seems like William Andrew Wallace hates Leslie Byrne, but I think that there are probably Leslie Byrne haters out there who don't work on the Denneny campaign.  So either share or stop throwing accusations around.

Your last comment was in 2006, at which point you bashed Leslie Byrne:

"Leslie Byrne lost the Lieutenant Governor's race in 2005; she's too liberal for the state."

Some things never change.

I don't think that counts as bashing... I was talking about her electability (sp?).  I have no problem with Leslie as candidate in NoVA and actually volunteered for her when she ran for LG and gave her money this past December.  So stop dodging the question.

You start by throwing out a ridiculous question, "Do you know something you're not telling us?"  Then, when I ignore the ridiculous question, but point out that you've disliked Leslie for a loooong time, you tell me to "stop dodging the question."  Anyway, here's the answer about "William Andrew Wallace" -- I don't know who it is, but it's obviously someone who registered on the blog and responded to this post within minutes after it went up with a bunch of oppo research.  That's very suspicious, to put it mildly.  Now, why don't you share with all of us your undoubtedly creative, alternative theories about who "William Andrew Wallace" might be.

I don't have any great theories on this one and I'm not a troll.  I didn't log on to antagonize anyone; I logged on because I thought that you were being unfair to the Denneny campaign in the comments here.  I mean, there are two other candidates running against Leslie, so you may be jumping to conclusions when you pin it on Doug.  You're also being unfair to me right now, because disagreeing with you doesn't automatically make me a troll.

I did NOT delete one of WAW's posts.  It is "hidden" because several people gave it "troll" or "unproductive" ratings.

As to you being a "troll," I'm sorry for assuming that you were.  I was suspicious because you rarely comment at RK, and the last time (2 years ago) was an anti-Leslie comment.

Found out on wikipedia.

William Andrew Wallace (November 28, 1827 - May 22, 1896) was an American lawyer and Democratic party politician from Clearfield, Pennsylvania.

William Andrew Wallace (born October 1, 1953 in New York, New York) is a retired American film/television actor, and a retired film producer.

I just can't figure out which one.

1) given some of other candidates in original group endorsing the plan, Doug is dissing a lot of good progressive Dems, four of whom I personally know and respect:  Donna Edwards in MD, Jared Polis in CO, Eric Massa in NY (who organized the fighting dems last cycle), and Tom Periello right here in Virginia

2) I am friends with a key person involved in the Iraq Study Group, whose work was heavily used in this plan.   This person viewed the plan as favorable, with only one caveat - there is a bit more political progress in some places than the plan acknowledges.  I passed the info from that person on to the four candidates I know

I don't like this kind of attack when one presidential candidate does it to another, and I sure as heck don't like in our races here in Virginia.  I, too, am very disappointed.  And while I normally do not endorse in primaries in which I cannot vote, another incident like this might be sufficient to change my mind - to endorse Leslie.  As it is, it has convinced me to donate some money to her.

Denneny really blew it this time, especially given his coming on here early in the race with a pledge to run a positive campaign.  He seemed like a natural for the responsible plan.  He's left himself wide open to a charge of putting politics before principle.  Even worse, by apparently not realizing that he was attacking fellow progressive vets in addition to his opponent, Denneny demonstrated that he isn't very good at politics.  People may want change, and people may want to move away from the traditional politician model, but that doesn't mean they want someone who's not up to the job.  In this instance, Denneny reminds me less of the type of vet who signed up for the responsible plan and more of George Costanza, but instead of trying to get dates, Denneny decided that to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives he has to act in the completely opposite way we'd expect a candidate to act.

What's weird to me about Byrne is that for all her willingness to come to this friendly forum and maintain her own blog and campaign website with all sorts of cool facebook-like features, she hasn't yet used her blog or her campaign website to publicize her signing on to the responsible plan.  In fact, I didn't see much of anything about the war.

Connolly hasn't come here (that I know of) and given the cool reception he'd get, I don't blame him for that.  And while we still don't know whether the trolls here are affiliated with Connolly's campaign, Connolly's website at least has a good paragraph on getting us out of Iraq.

Speaking of trolls, what happened to Bostwick?  Even his comments are gone.  Is williamandrewwallace Bostwick.  Does someone have to do that trick that Ben has done to out imposters?

see here.

if Bostwick and "williamandrewwallace" are one and the same. They have different IP addresses, but who knows.

Hank Bostwick usually leaves a link to Scrutiny Hooligans, the North Carolina site that he was involved with.  He also signs his own name.

I don't think he's a troll so much as he is new to the area and has inserted himself into controversies without the background of the usual players.  And he seems to be trying too hard to drum up publicity for his own blogs.

But the blog he runs with his high school students in Roanoke (different from Scrutiny Hooligans) is pretty good.  At least, he is trying to give them a sense of responsible, ethical blogging.

I just wish he would calm down and first get to know Virginia before jumping to conclusions.

I have had some contact with him off the blogs that leads me to believe he is smart, sincere, but just too easily jumps to conclusions.  But I dont' think he'd use of pseudonym.

n/t

While I agree that Denneny made a clear mistake in both going on the attack after pledging not to and not properly researching the plan Leslie signed on to, I think it's a bit to far to make this mistake the justification for saying he's not up to the job or that he has no future in politics.

I really don't know if he's good political material, but let's keep some perspective here - he's a rookie and he (and his team) made a mistake.  This isn't dead girl/live boy stuff.  It's not $5000 hooker stuff.  

They now know the reaction of the blogs to their mistake and I'm betting they're trying to gauge how the rest of the media and non-blogs are taking it.  Watch how they react - that'll tell us a lot more about the quality of his campaign and his political potential than this mistake will.

Let Doug and Leslie bicker all they want. Gerry has done more good for FFX county than either of them. Leslie's a bulldog, but while her minions are beating up on this 'also ran,' Gerry's campaign rolls on. He's even got a new website up:http://gerryconnolly.wordpress.com/

Oh, this is my first post. I just registered because someone has to stick up for Gerry.

our resident Gerry booster.

Now there are two of us!

jsrutstein : No! We will run. And we will live. (support hacks)

William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

a troll with a sense of humor

that Denneny is a serious candidate? This is really the first thing I've heard about his campaign. Other than, of course, the fact that he is an Iraq war veteran. The world must know that by now.

real dark horse, check out Lori Alexander.

There certainly aren't many who believe Doug could beat Leslie or Gerry, but you never know.  That's why they hold the primary.  The Giants didn't have a chance against the Patriots, did they?  :-)

That has been polling as the number one issue now.

I'm not saying that the war in Iraq isn't important. To me personally, it is.  But if Denneny becomes a one note candidate, with his focus on Iraq, that's not going to help him either.

Leslie was a consumer affairs advocate and has a great deal of experience on issues such as the economy, product safety, health care reform and other issues that are also important to voters.

Plus, most of Doug's endorsements seem to be coming from either the Hill or out of state.

Leslie knows her stuff, but given the way she treats her colleauges, especially other D's, she won't be able to get anything done.

In 2003, he tried to get the Democrat who ran against his anointed replacement (Linda Smyth) in the Providence District Supervisor Democratic Primary kicked out of the Party. Fortunately, FCDC overwhelmingly rejected Connolly's power play in a very emotional and emphatic rejection.

This past year, he abused (and continues to do so) the populist Democrat who ran against his candidate (again, Smyth) in the same Democratic primary.

Connolly is a bully who will only work with those who submit to his personal political agenda. He's used to being a big fish in a little pond.

He has no business being in congress.

at least he doesn't lie about who might have written a report or something like that Denneny.

Come on, can we bond over that?

I've owned my house in Providence District (Connolly's magisterial district) for more than three decades (yes, I'm an old fart).

Gerry Connolly cares nothing about truth. He cares nothing about the Democratic Party. He cares only about his own political career.  And his over-sized ego.

He has bullied his way to political prominence by prosecuting a "me-first" agenda which includes abusing constituents who don't agree with him.

That's not the kind of Democratic Party member of Congress I want representing my district.

Link? Any evidence at all that Byrne said such a thing?  Huh?

by someone who goes by "Byrne Must be Losing."  OK, this is getting utterly ridiculous, you're a total troll, go away.

William Wallace: There's a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it....
William Wallace: Leslie and Lowell desire peace?
Princess Leslie / Lowell : Leslie and Lowell declare it me, We swear it. Leslie and Lowell propose that you withdraw your attack. In return Leslie and Lowell grant you title, estates, and this chest of gold which Leslie, Lowell and Ben Tribbett (NLS) will pay you personally.
William Wallace: A lordship and titles. Gold. That I should become Judas?
Princess Leslie / Lowell / Ben: Peace is made in such ways.
William Wallace: Slaves are made in such ways.

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen

Ignatius Reilly:  Well, what do you expect?  The human body when confined, produces certain odors which we tend to forget in this age of deodorants and other perversions.  Actually, I find the atmosphere of this room rather comforting.  Schiller needed the scent of apples rotting in his desk in order to write.  I ,too, have my needs.

Latin translation: "Always wear underwear."