I know, I know, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Still, Richmond Times columnist Barton Hinkle does a masterful job of demolishing Delegate "Sideshow Bob" Marshall - and House Republicans who tolerate Marshall's...er, eccentricities. Two key paragraphs:
Yet there are limits to Marshall's regard for life. This year he has introduced a bill, HB 187, seeking to prevent single women from having children through medically assisted means such as in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination.If they are smart (admittedly an open question), House Republicans will use the rules change to bury Marshall's bill in an unmarked grave. Superficially, the measure would further poison the well for the party's future -- a well already made fetid by a social agenda that moves farther beyond the pale each year. Intrinsically, it grows out of an impulse that is (the word is considered carefully) totalitarian.
As Waldo Jaquith points out:
Barton Hinkle did what I?ve been calling on Republicans to do for years now: call out Bob Marshall as the authoritarian nutjob that he is. Hinkle points out that Marshall?s bills are in no way conservative ? Marshall wants a totalitarian state. He?s not ?pro-family? or even ?pro-life? ? he?s just crazy.[...]
Democrats are going to tie Bob Marshall to Republican Delegates come 2007 elections. Either y?all cut him loose, or we?ll make sure that he pulls you down with him.
Personally, I hope Republicans hang on to Bob Marshall and never let go. Oh, and Pat Robertson and "Taliban Bob" McDonnell too. ***SARCASM ALERT***You see, most Virginians dont care about roads, health care, or education. Most Virginians care about one thing, and one thing only: SEX! Oh, and SODOMY! I'm serious, every time I'm talking to a fellow Virginian, no matter what I do to avoid it, the conversation invariably turns to homosexuality, bestiality, etc. I swear, it's uncanny! True, once in a blue moon people take a moment to rail against their illegal immigrant landscaper, but besides that, it's SEX SEX SEX 24/7. Is this why our state slogan is "Virginia is for Lovers?" And is this why we elect people like Bob Marshall who are as obsessed with the subject as the rest of us? Just wondering...***END SARCASM ALERT***