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So this was 2022, for better and for worse
Wasn’t it just the other day that Virginians were shaking our heads in dismay at a motionless cordon of traffic tens of miles long stranded overnight in brutal, subfreezing temperatures on a stretch of Interstate 95 north and south of Fredericksburg? That was the first head-turning news event of 2022, when the year was still […]
A murderous pedophile got a badge and gun in Virginia. How was that possible?
A Virginia man drove the width of the United States, kidnapped a 15-year-old girl, shot her mother and grandparents dead in cold blood, torched their home and then killed himself in a shootout with California police. The gun he used came with the badge he wore back in Virginia. So many questions. And to date, […]
Dumping Trump? Personal liberty? That’s no way to win a GOP primary, Del. Anderson.
With all due respect, Del. Tim Anderson, have you lost your mind? You’re a first-term Republican member of the House of Delegates running for a second. Yet in the span of less than one month, your clear-eyed candor has put your credentials as a fire-breathing conservative in serious jeopardy, not once but twice, sir! First, […]
If times are so good and Virginia’s flush with tax money, why do we feel so poor?
Sometimes it just hurts to watch the constant yammering about the economy, particularly on those dry-as-dust cable networks like CNBC and Bloomberg with anchors and analysts conversing in Wall Street jargon and wringing their hands over inflation and every stumble and leap in the markets. It takes a toll. The economy – specifically inflation – […]
Appreciation: Congressman A. Donald McEachin
The elevator doors were closing one hot July morning in 1994 and I was about to ascend 13 floors to my office when a large man in the lobby doubled his pace to catch the elevator. I stuck an arm against the door to hold it open a few more seconds. “Thanks,” he said, extending […]
The parable of the Bambino
Babe Ruth’s home run record was sure to fall sooner or later. Roger Maris broke Ruth’s 60-homer single-season record with his 61st home run of the 1961 season. Hank Aaron broke Ruth’s career homer record of 714 in 1974 with his 715th career dinger. Now, those broken records have been surpassed. Somehow, though, Ruth remains […]
It’s important to know everything that led to slayings of UVA football players
This isn’t another anti-gun tirade, though I have every reason and urge to launch into one after Sunday’s cold-blooded killings of three University of Virginia football players. Suffice it to say more convincing voices than mine have made those arguments better and more abundantly than I ever could, sadly to little discernible effect. Guns still […]
Maybe it’s not just ‘the economy, stupid’: winners and losers from the 2022 midterms
Elections have a clarifying, refreshing effect. Whether at the local, state or national level, an election authoritatively settles things. A nation whipsawed and left on edge for months on end at last gets relief from a hyperventilating, self-contradicting media, venomous political ads, and pundits who know nothing and race to the nearest microphone to discuss […]
A brief look at Virginia’s midterm outcomes since 1960
1966 – As LBJ and Democrats’ historic grip on the South slips, the GOP gains two of Virginia’s 10 House seats, cutting Dems’ majority from 8-2 to 6-4 and beginning a multiyear upward trajectory for Republicans. 1970 – A one-seat gain gives the GOP its first delegation majority (6-4) since Reconstruction. It lasts 16 years. […]
By now, who doesn’t expect the unexpected from Doug Wilder?
It amuses new generations of Virginians who see the commonwealth’s Democratic 66th governor, L. Douglas Wilder, get all lovey-dovey with the Republican 74th governor, Glenn Youngkin. Perhaps also perplexing: As Wilder warms to Youngkin, he has become an unabashed critic of fellow Democrat Levar Stoney, who holds Wilder’s old job as mayor of Richmond and […]
A study says Virginians rank third nationally in political engagement. We’ll see in 8 days.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – This is a city accustomed to big league politics. The legacy of former Arkansas Gov.-turned-President Bill Clinton is ubiquitous: libraries, schools, streets bearing his name. This year, Arkansas has major statewide elections, including those for a U.S. Senate seat and governor. Yard signs sprout like dandelions from almost every parcel of […]
With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?
Thou shalt speak no ill of a fellow Republican.—President Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment You expect Republicans to go after Democrats. And vice versa. It’s what they do. Like a mongoose and a cobra. Or the Red Sox and the Yankees. They don’t like each other. It’s the natural order of things. But the 2023 state […]