Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore's inevitable march to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. continued this weekend. First, Jim Hoeft over at Bearing Drift gave Gilmore his much coveted endorsement. Then the guys over at the National Journal recently unveiled their newest Republican Presidential Candidate Top 10 List, even though fewer than 10 have actually announced they're running. But, no surprises here, Gilmore made the cut:
10. Jim Gilmore
He announced, and then... we have yet to hear from him. He has no exploratory committee Web site. What else is there to say?
Well they just couldn't be more wrong. Apparently Guiliani spoke to New Hampshire Republicans yesterday. Since many of the guests in attendence were still hungry when Rudy finished his speech, they then headed over to the buffet to hear what Gilmore had to say. It sparked lots of conversation from those that attended. In fact one aide to the former Governor mentioned how many carbs were in the various dishes.
Now, as for that website. Uhhhh, yeah. Did I mention the buffet?
Then George Allen can help him secure the California Jewish Cowboy vote.
Apparently, he is a code "yellow" elevated threat today. Voters of New Hampshire you have been forwarned!
Unless you set it up to get a weak GOP into the field for 2008, can you really point to anyone not wired to Gilmore who wants him in the 2008 race bad enough to go to the time do set up this site and all the ancillary activities associated with it?
"Without playing revisionist history, it is true that in 2001, the last year of Gilmore's administration, Virginia faced a budget impasse. Not surprsingly, it was the Senate that cried foul and stormed out of session early without passing a budget. In the end, Gilmore did what had to be done?he held the line on spending and went forward with the continued phase out of the car tax.But it is also true that the Virginia economy heated up after Gilmore left office. In large part due to his solid fiscal discipline."
I remember, similarly, Republicans claiming that the economic recovery of the 1990s was really created by George H.W. Bush, not Bill Clinton. They claimed that Clinton did nothing and he was the beneficiary of Bush's policies and that the recovery started before Bush left office.
Then, when the recession of 2001 hit, that, of course, was blamed on Clinton by George H. Bush's spin doctors.
So, the economic recession we had after three terms of Republicans (Reagan and Bush I) and recession that hit after Bush II was in office were all Clinton's fault. And the roaring economy that we had while Clinton actually was in office was not his doing.
Likewise, the fiscal problems we had because of Gilmore's attempt to repeal the car tax during a recession when there wasn't enough revenue coming in wasn't Gilmore's fault. But the fiscal responsibility and economic health, which led to Virginia being declared the best managed state during Warner's term as governor, wasn't Warner's accomplishment but Gilmore's.
Revisionism and delusion both.
And yes I hope the Republicans are dumb enough to nominate him. But I don't think that's going to happen. They're not that dumb and we're not that lucky.
That's high praise, coming from you AIAW. I must be doing something right.