You know this guy personifies what is going on the Republican Party today and what happened with the Democrats over the past few decades.  They've become some ideological and cater so much to their base that they have forgotten commonsense and more importantly the vast majority of voters in the middle.  This is why they continue to see their margins decline or flip in the suburbs and developing areas (see Loudon, Prince William, Henrico, VA Beach, Cheasapeake, James City and Montgomery for examples).  This is why many urban and older suburban areas are swinging so far to the Dems (see Fairfax/Falls Church/Fairfax City, Arlington, Richmond, and Charlottesville-Albemarle for some more examples).  This is why they are even seeing their margins decrease in the lower populated, rural, exurban counties (see Fauquier, Warren, Clarke, Fluvanna, and Nelson). 

Redistricting only saves you for but so long.  As you look around the state you will notice things that the "redistricters" of 2001 would have never anticipated.  Prince William, once the conservative barrier that prevented the Democratic wave from crashing South appears to be breaking down. If Prince William can fall how long will it be before we see Fauquier or Stafford light up in blue?

Now granted they continue to win many of the rural areas by huge margins.  They continue to win big in places like Hanover and the Valley but this will only do so much in a state that is growing the way Virginia is.  As I have posted elsewhere, Virginia is a right leaning centrist and will vote accordingly.  In recent cycles we have opted for a party that is less ideological, governs with commonsense, and focused on real issues that affect the broadest spectrum of constituents in Virginia.

My compliments to Senator Potts. "This legisltion package is the road to nowhere." Period, end of story.

If the Republican Party were all still like him, I would still be a Republican. Sadly, the GOP will never, can never, return to its previous ways, it has irretrivably gone over the cliff. Not over a cliff on the right, which implies some faint relationship to the old middle with right wings and left wings.  No, it has gone over the cliff of radicalism, into the sinister embrace of self-appointed global business elites and of intransigent ayatollahs of aberrant religious sects posing as neo-Christian--- but in fact both are more like neo-fascist authoritarianists, and there is no climbing back up the cliff to normalcy now. Don't waste your time trying to save your party, Senator Potts.

Also, there is no use for Democrats and normal folks in trying to deal with this mindset, as Senator Potts has discovered for himself. The answer is not to become polarised and turn as partisan and ideologically intransigent as the so-called Republicans under the spell of Grover Norquist et al. The answer is to forge our own responsible policy of good government based on the original, rational model of our Constitution.

It is time to stop giving the neo-Republicans the benefit of the doubt. Stop according Mr. Bush (and Virginia's Speaker Howell) the grace of being treated as if they have reasonable ideas, and do not give them the courtesy of talking about their promulgations as if they are sincere, honest, and workable. The fact is, all the republican programs both nationally and locally, no matter what they are called, are designed long-term to destroy democratic government and replace it with a theocracy in feudal style. Indeed, almost every piece of significant legislation, not to mention hidden executive orders and regulations, turns out to result in the exact opposite of what the legislation purports to do: Clear Skies means more pollution, and No Child Left Behind intends to destroy public education, for example.

Get real, folks, the real clash of civilizations is right here in our threatened "Homeland."