as usual Lowell, you have the best posts!

Go Tom Go!

Combine this with the recent SUSA Poll, and you have a race going Tom's way.

For too long, the sense of the electorate down here was, "Sure, Virgil Goode doesn't do much, and he can be an embarrassment, but what can we do about it. His support in Southside is too strong."

But that support is waning. Time are tough, and people don't have the luxury of voting for a guy who can't deliver the help they need.

And Virgil Goode cannot deliver the help people in this District need. He is not taken seriously in Congress. His extreme rhetoric, and his aliance with the fartherest of the far right wing in his party has alienated even his own caucus.

It is not a question of pork. It is a question of how the Federal Government can help this district help itself.

People are not only hungry for change. For a lot of people, change is a matter of survival.

Combine that sense of need for change in Southside with the numbers up here in C'ville and Albemarle, and Tom can win this thing!

Tom is a much better fit for this district in all aspects.  He is a social moderate who believes in fighting for the working and middle class residents of the 5th District.  Higher wages, investment in energy technology that could spur growth in economically depressed areas like Southside, dedication to a better education system that will prepare students for a more competitive job market in all communities, sensible beliefs about the Iraq war and diplomacy, and a belief that we need a health care system that works for all Americans are just a few reasons why Perriello is much better for us.  

Tom offers real solutions to real problems.  He isn't running around railing against inanimate objects like flags at restaurants or the type of religious books people want to swear their oath of office on.  These non-issues do nothing to stop the killing in Iraq, nothing to put food on the table, nothing to heal the sick with inadequate health insurance (if they have any at all), nothing to create jobs, nothing to create a better quality of life, nothing to unite a divided country, nothing to protect our civil rights and civil liberties, and nothing to help struggling students trying to make it through school.  Come on 5th District, let's put someone in office who will get some real work done in Washington.

Of course, you don't have any.

Please explain why Virgil Goode's record of not accomplishing anything but blustering about immigrants and occasionally voting against a free trade agreement (while otherwise aiding and abetting the passage of legislation that helps destroy the middle class in this country) is good for the citizens of southern Virginia. And please explain which 'values' exactly a xenophobe and hate-monger like Virgil Goode stands for.

Divide and tear down is all that people like you and Virgil Goode have left. We'll see how well it works in four more weeks.  

I don't know much about Hampden-Sydney, but based solely on your comment, it seems to me here are some of the things "Hampden-Sydney gentlemen" stand for:

1. Bigotry against New Yorker (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that your prejudice against New York is not some kind of code for Jews, since Tom is not Jewish).

2. Xenophobia.

3. Dishonesty (I have documented several instances of Congressman Goode knowingly disseminating inaccurate information to constituents)

4. Religious intolerence

5. Lousy grammar.

In sum, it would seem that the phrase "Hampden-Sydney gentlemen" as you define it is an oxymoron.

1. We are a southern school that holds true to southern beliefs. Therefore, Yankees are not welcome. If one is a southern jew, then we would welcome them with open arms.
2. My previous comment was in no way, shape, or form xenophobic. We have students here of all different ethnicities.
3. Hampden-Sydney has a very rigid and strict honor code. (Do some homework.)
4. Once again, all different religions and races are welcome.
5. We have a rhetoric test which must be passed in order to graduate. I did not use incorrect grammar, just incorrect spelling.

I would really do some research on a topic before you espouse your baseless opinions.

would allow a someone who is able to either understand the most basic arguments or engage in the most simplistic deductive reasoning to matriculate there?

I wrote nothing about the school, but was responding to your statements. While I am hesitant to feed trolls, I will nonetheless respond:

1. Southern beliefs? Yankees not welcome? Prejudice is prejudice, and you seem to have a lot of it.

2. Given that the policies and public statements of Virgil Goode clearly reflect a xenophobic perspective, you 100% endorsement of Goode more than justifies characterizing you as xenophobic.

3. As for your grammar, even leaving aside the items which are reasonably attributable to typos or other types of manual errors common in entering comments on a blog, take, for example, the sentence you wrote:

Chris Peace will also fight for the same beliefs and values that Virgil has always fought for.

You should never end a sentence with a proposition.

Or, this misuse of the comma after the word "form":

He in no way, shape, or form, represents anything ...

Oy. You use a proposition to end that sentence as well:

that we as Hampden-Sydney gentlemen stand for.

Then, you miss the comma after the clause identifying your great-grandfather's name:

My great-grandfather, Randall O. Reynolds served in the House of Delegates...

Need I go on.

You might want to spend less time wasting my time and the time of others by providing factually-challenged comments here at RK and spend a little more time studying for that rhetoric exam.

I would appreciate it if you could apologize for your false and ridiculous statements about Virginia's finest institution of higher learning. Thanks!

anyone even respond to this sophmoric troll?  

It's like playing with a puppy, without the intellectual challenge.

Why don't you challenge your critics to a duel, jbm4pres? That would suit your 19th century values, sir!
On the other hand, I prefer the Old South where progressive plantation owners freed their slaves and worked for a more tolerant and inclusive society. And were willing to debate their opponents honorably.  

Virgil Goode has shown time and again that he neither possesses the judgement or the willingness to act in the best interests of the good people of his district.  Mr. Goode is a shameless deregulator cut from the same cloth as John McCain and his banking lobbyist/campaign staffer Phil Gramm.  An examination of his voting record shows this to be true.  In July 1999, Rep. Goode voted FOR the Financial Services Act (Gramm-Leach-Bailey Act H.R. 10, Vote 276) which repealed regulations put into place during the Great Depression to keep banks from taking risks that would lead to another financial meltdown.  In December 2000, Rep. Goode voted FOR the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (H.R. 4577, Vote 603), another Phil Gramm bill, that created the Enron loophole that allowed for the deregulation of the commodity markets, and also banned regulation of credit default swaps, which ultimately led to the downfall of companies like AIG.  In November 2007, Rep. Goode voted AGAINST the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 3915, Vote 1118), which would crack down on mortgage lenders by forcing them to get licences, making them responsible for discovering whether borrowers can really repay, and fining them for steering people toward risky subprime loans.  When it comes to the economy, our current Representative is clearly NO GOODE.

Well, some will say those votes were years ago.  How could Mr. Goode have know the magnitude of the financial disaster that his votes would help precipitate?  And anyway surely he has done SOME GOODE recently.  Again, lets examine his voting record FROM THE LAST TWO WEEKS.  On September 26, 2008 Rep. Goode voted AGAINST the Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act (H.R. 7110, Vote 660), which passed with bipartisan support as it stimulated job creation and economic growth and extended unemployment benefits for the growing number of Americans looking for work.  Apparently Mr. Goode believes that his district does not need any help with job creation.  An extention of unemployment benefits?  Our Representative said 'no thanks, I don't guess my constituents need that either'.  Mr. Goode is either ignorant of the fact that parts of his District have the highest unemployment in the Commonwealth or he simply doesn't care.  Three days later on September 29th, 2008 Rep. Goode was one of only six members of Congress to vote AGAINST the Small Business Financing Improvements Act of 2008 (H.R. 7175, Vote 675).  This Act reauthorized small business assistance programs through the Small Business Administration and made it easier for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.  When it comes to stimulating jobs and caring for the unemployed, our current Representative is absolutely NO GOODE.

There can be no excuse for Mr. Goode's actively working against the welfare of his own constituency.  When a Representative willfully ignores the best interests of his or her District it becomes incumbent upon the people to act on their own behalf.  We live here.  We know what we need from our Representatives.  Please join me on November 4th in making our voices heard as we demand true representation and reject what we know to be NO GOODE.

Mark Warner
Martinsville