Archive for April, 2008
Virginian-Pilot misses the transportation story
It would be funny if it wasn’t so frequent, but a big backhand to Tom Holden of the Pilot. Somehow, key facts were missing in his story about the recent CNU Poll on transportation. The things not reported are right in the first paragraph of CNU’s press release about the poll. So, either they were [...]
VPOD w/McDonnell after he and Bolling receive, effectively, the Republican nomination
This morning, a letter was released from every Republican member of Congress from Virginia, every Republican District Chair in Virginia, the entire General Assembly GOP leadership team, the leadership of the State Central Committee, and a host of other prominent and involved Republican leaders voicing their strong support of Bob McDonnell for Governor, and Bill [...]
Jindal on Leno
Bobby Jindal takes the Leno stage by storm (and in the process, makes Helen Hunt more uncomfortable than she’s been since her last close-up with Paul Reiser). Jindal ought to be the template for any GOP gubernatorial candidate. Or any GOP candidate, period. To find out why, take a look:
Tone-Deaf Spending or Hearing Other Music?
From The Hill, “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year.” In contrast, Congressman Eric Cantor (Va-7) is one of a few House Republicans seriously asking his fellow legislators to give up earmarks. Who’s listening [...]
Parsing Kaine
The NV Daily’s Garren Shipley recounts an amusing exchange between himself and Gov. Kaine’s press secretary over the small matter of raising the gas tax. Much weaving and bobbing ensues: I asked Hickey twice whether the governor would sign a bill that came out of June’s likely special session that included a gas tax hike. [...]
Sex, Schools and Girls Gone Wild
Is something societally wrong? An Arkansas special education teacher Donna Lou Sanders faces rape and abuse charges for having sex parties with students in a motel. Tampa middle school teacher Stephanie Ragusa was arrested three times in six weeks for having sex with students. If these were Catholic priests,…well, you get the idea. Meanwhile, the [...]
Storm Blogging
Big storms came through Virginia today. WTVR’s website has a running blog about it. I hope our readers are all okay. Eric Cantor’s Advisory Council meeting was this evening. Former Del. Jack Reid was there, and said that he was in a restaurant in the south side of Richmond today (Colonial Heights, I think?) when [...]
Gilmore Wins Straw Poll Among Conservatives
At Saturday’s Virginia Conservative Leadership Conference on Saturday, a straw poll was taken during the banquet. The room was full of conservative activists, pro-life folks, home-schoolers, etc. For Senate, here are the results (roughly 200 people voting): Jim Gilmore: 57% Bob Marshall: 40% Marshall was there that day and he should have owned the room. [...]
SCANDAL: RPV’s John Hager Is Taking Down DNC’s Howard Dean!
Meet the Press talked it up over the weekend, as did several Virginia news outlets. After meeting with representatives from the Obama and Clinton camps weeks ago (and talking heavily about it in the press to show “unity”), the DNC launched a fierce attack ad against Republican nominee Senator John McCain. The problem? Co-ordinated efforts [...]
Drake launches new Web site; endorsed by U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Pretty good day for U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA02). She launched her new web site and, in unrelated news, was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
McDonnell: merit-based judicial selection is the best course
It should come as no surprise to any of us who have followed politics for a number of years that Attorney General Bob McDonnell from the time he was a delegate has been a strong proponent of merit-based judicial selection.
Bolling reacts to judicial appointment ethics questions
After learning this weekend that Sen. Yvonne Miller has hijacked the judicial appointment process in Norfolk and Virginia Beach and Sen. Creigh Deeds accepted campaign money from an appointee’s law firm (where she is one of two partners) before he strongly advocated for her selection, we asked Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, the presiding officer of [...]
School Sex and Cheerleaders
Thanks to Brian Kirwin, Bearing Drift gets nearly 60% of its search hits from the term “school sex” based on his last few posts on problems in the Virginia Beach Public School System and at Norfolk Academy; Kirwin also posted on Reagan’s GOP about the connection between being a cheerleader and becoming president…we also might [...]
See, Democrats can get it right on occasion
Keep the American people in the dark about military operations — especially if the Israeli’s ask us. Bomb Syrian nuclear facilities — especially if it is the Israeli’s who do so, after all, it is “their neighborhood.” And, “as to WMD in Iraq, everyone knows Saddam had them and used them, the only questions are [...]
Mis-Deeds: Questionable ethics in Dascher appointment
Laura Dascher of Bath County is a partner in the Covington law firm of Pasco and Dascher PLC. The firm gave $2500 to the Future Deeds Campaign in Dec. 2007. That, in and of itself, is fine. But it’s not the whole story.
Is Doyle ready to exercise judgment?
Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney and Democrat, Jack Doyle, is on the short-list to becoming a circuit court judge in Norfolk. He is one of the four would-be judicial appointees of Sen. Yvonne Miller for Norfolk and Virginia Beach. However, some information has come to light that might derail his plans to become a judge, let alone [...]
Queen Yvonne
There are over 500,000 people in the commonwealth that live in the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach — all of them are being held hostage by the wishes of one Democratic Senator who wants to get her way on judges…Sen. Yvonne Miller.
How to win friends and influence people
Former Senator Marty Williams to Del. Bill Janis: “If he wants to think that I’m more powerful out of the General Assembly than he is in it, that’s fine.” More fun here.
Hillary wants Obama – No Moderator
Obama’s refused Hillary Clinton’s calls for more debates, so Hillary sweetened the offer – 90 minutes with no moderator: Lincoln-Douglas style. Obama been refusing to debate, since the moderator’s questions have gotten tougher than ‘Would you like a pillow.’ So since Obama doesn’t like the questions, Hillary says fine. No moderator, just Hillary and Obama. [...]
Chesapeake QB says: “GO BLUE!”
Western Branch High School’s star QB, Kevin Newsome, is leaving the Blue Heron City for the Maize and Blue of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today, Newsome made a verbal commitment to join the Wolverines. Good choice, Kevin!
The Spin Room: Now open
A new feature on Bearing Drift is “The Spin Room“. This page is dedicated solely to press releases and blog posts from campaigns, elected officials, and committees to see what’s on their agenda. We’ll be adding more feeds as they come available. Check it out frequently. Thanks to Scott White for his help in setting [...]
Open Challenge to Deeds & Moran
There is a reason that no transportation solutions, especially statewide ones, ever move forward. The reason is shared by Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and if nothing changes, nothing else will happen. Sen. Creigh Deeds or Del. Brian Moran could change everything if they spoke three simple words, the lack of which from the mouths [...]
Chuck Smith Endorses Amit Singh
Chuck Smith, former Virginia Beach GOP chair, but more importantly, current RPV “Welcoming Committee” Chair, has just endorsed Amit Singh to be the GOP nominee in the 8th Congressional District.
For state judges — its all politics
To become a judge you apparently have to know somebody — just not be related.
Nye takes up residence in the 2nd
Bearing Drift was happy to learn that pillar-of-the-community Democrat Glenn Nye has finally found a place to live in the 2nd Congressional District and attended his first civic league meeting this past week. Welcome to the neighborhood! In case you were wondering, Thelma Drake has lived in and served her community since 1967.
Warner stumping at the Tidewater Builders Association
The past two years that he Tidewater Builders Association has held their “Build the Vote” gathering, their keynote speakers were Bob McDonnell and Thelma Drake. This year it was Mark Warner. Any questions?
Hillary to FOX viewers – Send Money!
Hillary’s message was clear – If Republicans want the Democrats to keep beating up on each other, send her cash! She made her appeal on an interview with Fox News this morning, asking Fox viewers to go to her website to “help me out in this campaign so we can keep going.”












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