don't expect him to distance himself from this.  Remember, he cares more about Allen voters outside of NoVa and Florida voters on Terri Schiavo then he cares about you guys.

He was running on the same ticket as Allen. You could make an argument that Davis, politically, should have stayed quiet to avoid turning off die hard Allen voters from voting for him. Second, all Davis had to do was hang his hat on Allen's lame explanation. Remember, Allen always (unconvincingly) claimed he didn't mean anything offensive and issued an apology to Sidarth. We question Allen's sincerity, but Davis could avoid doing so.

These strategic arguments don't hold here. First, there is no counter-explanation or apology from Virgil. He's standing loud and proud behind his comments. Second, Davis isn't running with Virgil on the same ticket. He doesn't have to worry about offending the Virgil voters for 2008. In fact, coming out against Virgil would probably help him in his own district - he'd look more moderate and in line with his constituents. So there isn't the same concern as we saw with Allen.

But this is what he does have to worry about: keeping the Virgil voters in his pocket for a future Senate run. So, I think that's what we might have here. Davis is hoping he can get away with staying silent so that the Virgil diehards won't get disgusted with him and stay home when he runs for Senate in 2012 or 2016.

Heck, this may also have been a factor with his silence on Allen too.

The holidays intervened, and probably the R's think/ hope that everyone will forget about this.  We can't let that happen!

but I am not sure Davis was worried about die-hard Allen voters. He was running against them, in a way, by claiming to be a moderate. As long as his opponent was to his left, he didn't have to worry too much about the voters to his right leaving his camp. He was the only choice they had. In the 11th, it was the moderate-to-left voters that he had to court. Rather, he hoped their short attention span on his immoderate actions on Schiavo, Iraq, etc. would work to his advantage.

However, in a statewide race, Davis has to worry about bringing in voters to his right. What he did when he ran for the NRCC when he needed to satisfy the Right was enlist the help of Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, and use a staff member on "loan" from DeLay, Scott Hatch, to lobby the Right-wingnuts.  That worked for a hundred Congressmen, but for a state wide race he'll need to show loyalty to Virgil Goode and his ilk, as well as a few grand gestures that are sure to come.

The next 4 days will end the Holiday season. Everyone is hiding behind the Holidays, hoping that this will all blow over when they get back to their jobs. I am just as patient as they are.
When the offices and web site/email come back on line so must we. I know I will be writing alot of emails next week. If I have to lie that I am a constient so they will get my email, so be it.
Starting Jan. 2 are you ready to hit the bricks and bring Virgil and all the other bigot/racist backing him into the spot light. So far the blogs are still talking. Can we get the media to start talking again. Jan 3 swearing in will take away part of the spot light, but after swearing in the newly sworn in could make some type of statement against Virgil's type of boasting. I hope the house ethics committee takes action to remove him from any committee he is serving on. Put him in isolation or better yet get him to resign.
Are we going to learn from the R's. As soon as something happens they support their candidate. Well we can just as easy condem their candidate.

The blogs will do their part, I'm sure.  The story has to shift from Virgil's comments to the Republicans' silence.

of doing both. Can't wait for their e-mails to go back up....

In fact, many in the right-wing blogosphere have DEFENDED Virgil Goode's heinous, bigoted, disgraceful, inexcusable comments.  Some right-wingers have even, incredibly, escalated the rhetoric, making disgusting, disparaging comments about the holy Quran that I will not dignify by repeating or linking to here.  As if all this weren't horrendous enough, some right-wing bloggers have posted pictures of atrocities, including a terrorist propaganda photo (!!!), to somehow claim that all of the world's 1 billion+ Muslims are evil.  Despicable.

So, why haven't we heard condemnations of Virgil Goode's remarks - and the comments by Goode's right-wing defenders (including dissemination of terrorist propaganda photos) - from other elected Republicans in Virginia?  Where, for instance, does our esteemed Attorney General stand on all this?  How about our Lieutenant Governor?  Oh, and what about those supposed "moderates," Frank Wolf and Tom Davis?  Does their silence mean that they approve of the comments by Goode and the rabid right-wing bloggers, or just that they are terrified of offending their knuckle-dragging "base?"  If the former, then they're bigots just as much as Virgil Goode and the right-wing bloggers are bigots.  If the latter, then they're cowards.  Or maybe they're a bit of both? 

Hey, Ed Gillespie, what do YOU have to say about all this?  Are you ever going to get around to condemning Virgil Goode and his rabid defenders?  Or are you too busy trying to prevent the "dumb as rocks" House Republicans and the "arrogant, patronizing and mean" Senate Republicans from tearing the party apart?  So why did you take this job exactly?  Ha.