Virginia GOP Would Rather Commit Suicide Than Compromise?

By: Lowell
Published On: 7/9/2008 7:18:11 AM

That's the conclusion, as far as I can tell, of today's Washington Post article on the "last-ditch effort at finding a solution to fund transportation projects" that resumes today in Richmond.

Since 2000, political analysts and Democratic strategists say, there has been a direct correlation between the worsening traffic in Northern Virginia, the debate over what to do about it in Richmond and the decline of the GOP in that part of the state.

"If you look at the gains Democrats have made in Northern Virginia . . . there is a lot of stuff in that powder keg, but transportation is what lit the fuse," said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald. E. Connolly, the Democratic nominee for Congress in the 11th District. "It is the premier symbol of everything that is wrong with the Republican power structure."

That analysis seems dead-on to me.  As does the following by Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech:

"Suburban voters in Washington already fit the demographic Republicans are having trouble with nationally: ethnically diverse, and whites with advanced degrees," Lang said. "You throw in some local issues like traffic that also bother people, and it is a fairly explosive dynamic."

The end result of the Republicans' "my way or NO highway" attitude?  Not good - even suicidal - if you're a Republican, certainly if you're a northern Virginia Republican. In fact, former Republican delegate Vincent F. Callahan of Fairfax expects "the GOP to become the minority party in Virginia within six years."

How about this; let's cut that to two years or four at most, elect a Democrat to the governor's mansion (and to the LG and AG slots) in 2009, and get this state moving again?  Alternatively, we can stay with the "from my cold dead hands," extreme ideological/non-pragmatic school (NO TAXES EVER!!!!) of government honed to an art form by the likes of Republicans Kirkland Cox, Morgan Griffith, Bill Howell, and Jeff Frederick.  We've seen how THAT has worked out; enjoy your gridlock, in other words!  Man, is it ever time for a change.

Comments



A "futile finale" (Lowell - 7/9/2008 7:29:19 AM)
Meanwhile, the AP's Bob Lewis reports, "Lawmakers expect to end their special transportation funding session Wednesday with the demise of two competing proposals, one Republican and the other Democratic."  Sen. Whipple sums it up well, commenting that the "House Republicans do not acknowledge that there is a statewide problem. It seems to me that the facts speak for themselves."  Whipple adds, "It's very disappointing. We've taken a lot of time and attention for something that should have been fairly straightforward and simple to fix."  Yeah, "straightforward and simple"...for anyone but Virginia Flat Earth Republicans.


Light at the end of the Tunnelvision (hereinva - 7/9/2008 9:10:19 AM)
Perhaps we can accelerate Mr. Callahan's prediction by a few years. Folks are tired of the gridlock on VA's highways AND Richmond..and the only way out of it is to remove the obstructions, i.e. elected officials who keep doing the same thing year after year..without results.