Because George Allen doesn't respond to constituent letters. Well, maybe if I invited him out to the farm for a horsey ride...I'd get a response.

So keep up the excellent constituent services there Tommy. And let me know when you figure out what Jack Abramoff was doing at the Whitehouse. You are investigating that aren't you? 

You can bet if Tommy Davis thought it would have helped him he would have gotten back to Howard Simkins. But the fact is, Tommy thought it wouldn't help him so he played iggyy--put his head under a stone. My heart goes out to Mr. Simkins, it must be tough to have your son in harms way, especially when he was sent there by a bunch of Draft dodgers (cheney 5 times deferred). And Davis is no different, his children, from his first wife who dumped him, are in some comfy, well to do Northeast schools. What does he care? He's busy getting lobbyied and flying off to Europe, with what some say is his former mistress(current wife).

And he's also trying to fool all the federal workers in the area that he's sympathetic to the federal employee. When I attended one of his "Townhall meetings" he very
UN-enthusiastically said that he had to sign off on a budget, because he has so many feds in his distict. Well we hear you Tommy. And Federal employees can thank him for voting against dental and visual options for feds too.

I agree with Mr. Simpkins, Andy Hurst is very refreshing and I have met quite a few Republicans that voted for Davis that are switching over to Hurst. With the aid of the Washington Post however, I expect to see a lot of shallow attempts made by Davis trying to appear moderate over the next few months. Don't believe it. Remember Terry Schiavo.

and moving letter.  I met Andy in Charlottesville while at the Dems Unity Rally.  He was fuller than life. He looked genuine and in fact he was an outstanding listener to all those shaking his hand.  The big smile and the handshake that brought you in with his intense eye-contact was REAL.

This letter again tells all of us that we do not have to elect more public officials who are just rubberstamping the same old, failed policies.  Policies that don't listen to the public, the heart-beats of the voters.  Davis would do well to listen to his people and not just give Bush a blank check.  I am glad more people are thinking and writing and hope one and all votes in November.

I wonder if this letter is from the same agonized father who spoke quietly and forcefully at Mr. Davis' meeting at City Hall in the City of Fairfax a few months ago? He spoke softly, the entire audience (which was standing room only) was utterly quiet, riveted by what the man was saying about the lack of training, the lack of equipment, even the lack of ammunition for proper training exercises for his son, newly entered upon military service.

The poor man was clearly upset, and was coming to his Congressman's town hall meeting seeking some answers. And how did Mr. Davis  respond? He did seem appalled at the litany of neglect (as were we all), but his answer was that he'd hold a hearing. Now, most of us are familiar with the window-dressing, alibi-filled, ineffective "hearings" held by this republican congress, and by Tom Davis himself. I don't think anyone was satisfied with Davis' answer.

that we could see the original letter to Davis? Lowell, wanna get in touch with the Hurst campaign, and get them to ask Mr. Simkins?

PS: That was an extremely moving letter, and one that deserves public reading.

Please let us know where we can send the letter.  We are hoping to see as a wide circulation as possible--especially if it will help Andrew Hurst. 

Lowell:

Just wanted to bring to your attention that Mr. Simkins' letter to Rep. Davis has a factual error in it, Donald Rumsfield served in the Navy as a Pilot. Though I vastly disagree with a lot of your postings, I thought you would want to know about this inaccuracy since it is posted to your Blog.

Rumsfeld isn't a "chickenhawk" like Bush, Cheney, Allen, etc.

"Mr. Rumsfeld attended Princeton University on academic and NROTC scholarships (A.B., 1954) and served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. In 1957, he transferred to the Ready Reserve and continued his Naval service in flying and administrative assignments as a drilling reservist until 1975. He transferred to the Standby Reserve when he became Secretary of Defense in 1975 and to the Retired Reserve with the rank of Captain in 1989."

Taken from the White House Biography of Donald Rumsfeld link to this bio at http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/rumsfeld-bio.html

Just wanted you to know the letter is factually incorrect

Thanks for the details.

Unlike previous wars, it seems like so few Americans have any real connection to the war in Iraq.  This letter is powerful and moving and should be required reading for all of us. 

As for Rumsfeld's service.  Though he did serve as a Navy Aviator, he sure didn't come out of his experience with any wisdom.  He has been a very poor Secretary of Defense.

"Though he did serve as a Navy Aviator, he sure didn't come out of his experience with any wisdom."

I'm sure you were saying that after Sept. 11

thinks Davis is too LIBERAL to be running as a Republican.

Even the conservatives don't like him.  Read more.

http://www.flashreport.org/commentary0b.php?postID=2006071211041410&authID=2005081622025042&post_offsetP=0

I briefly reviewed that website when it was formed and got the impression it was a "hideout" for Republicans who needed to say they were doing something -- but not really -- about stem cell research to shut up their constituents who didn't like that part of the Republican Party platform.

Read how conservative this "Main Street" group is. This is from the linked article:

If you go to the Club for Growth website, here are their top legislative priorities...  Making the Bush tax cuts permanent, Death tax repeal, Cutting and limiting government spending, Social Security reform with personal retirement accounts, Expanding free trade, Legal reform to end abusive lawsuits [and protect negligent and reckless companies], Replacing the current tax code, School choice, and Regulatory reform and deregulation. 

Rumsfield's poor showing as Secretary of Defense does now get a better grade because he served.  Most of the admistration are "chickenhawks, but serving as a flight instructor is no panacea for being a piss-poor Secretary of Defense.  He's bought into a bunch of theoretic crap that failed.  We were good at taking down Bagdad, (that's the good army, not Rummy) but they couldn't finish and take control.(That's Rummy and Cheney trying to do it on the cheap)  God help our army and Marines if they'd had faced Stalingrad style of defense.  We'd have 10,000 dead.  Instead, after we dumped their army (big dumb move), we ran around acting like we'd won.  The Iraqi Army just melted into the countryside. They could be on our side right nowif we'd had any experienced leadership.

  I'm saying this as a soldier, not some antiwar liberal.  I'm not partisan when it comes to strategy or tactics.  I always expect my brothers and sisters in the military won't be pissed away in some right-wing think tank experiment.  In this last debacle, we've seen the neocoan theories be bashed to pieces on the shores of reality.  God bless those boy and girls over there.  They deserved better.