Saslaw and “magic bullets”
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, January 13th, 2011 | PolicyFrom the Richmond Times-Dispatch comes this reaction to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s State of the Commonwealth address by Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw of Fairfax:
“He was going to drill offshore — that didn’t happen; put tolls on the interstates — that didn’t happen; sell the ABC stores — it didn’t happen. There are no magic bullets.”
Bear in mind, that’s Saslaw’s reaction following McDonnell saying this in last night’s speech:
We continue to pray for Congresswoman Giffords, and the others who were wounded or killed.
And we stand together tonight and make clear that this grand experiment in liberty that we call America will never be shaken or silenced by the cowardly actions of any one person, group or nation. That is true now. It was true ten years ago on September 11th, and it was true seventy years ago at Pearl Harbor.
Freedom defeats tyranny. Ideas conquer violence. Courage is stronger than fear….
As this Session commences today let us resolve, together, to use the precious time God has given us to make life better for all Virginians. Let us remember that before we are Republicans and Democrats, we are Americans and Virginians.
We are bound together here in the cradle of democracy by a Virginia birthright far greater than any political Party. For in these still tough times, over 8 million Virginians want results, not rhetoric; they want solutions, not politics. Let us fight strongly for our principles, but also embrace an atmosphere of civility and mutual respect as we strive to follow the golden rule.
To call Saslaw’s comments insensitive and inappropriate is mild. Perhaps the senator will put his partisan blinders down some day and attempt to do things for the good of the commonwealth, as opposed to the good of himself and his political party.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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13 Responses to "Saslaw and “magic bullets”"
Streeeeeeeeeetch…
Feel better?
Dude — MAGIC bullets are OK. Real bullets are bad, bad, bad.
It’s like the magic pot of money we keep throwing at Virginia’s problems. Or the magic money tree in the Governor’s backyard.
And all this time I thought money solved our problems. No?
Let’s see what other language of violence Saslaw uses this session…
@Joel – actually, I do. Thanks for thinking of me. That’s very nice of you.
@Shaun – rates are low, timing is good, and bonds have already been approved. The governor did propose $191 million in cuts regarding government reform. Besides, doesn’t everyone have a money tree in their backyard? That’s what the federal government seems to think with every person owning $40k of the national debt.
@Willie – not sure…but we do know his hair will be mussed when saying it. I think that’s gotta be our next poll question – which would you rather have: McDonnell’s perfect coiffure or Saslaw’s mop?
Joel, stretching is the proper thing to do before vigorous action.
I would expect more finger pointing from the Right. The Democrats unfortunately will give them no choice. Some high profile Democrats will calll for civility as other Democrats paint the Republicans and Tea Partiers as promoting violence with hate speech.
There are tons of examples of small portions of the Democrat Party behaving badly. Unfortunately, Republiicans probably feel backed into a corner on this.
Perhaps a poor choice of words. But what about his point? Do all the fiscal conservatives on this forum approve of borrowing some three billion dollars without a clear understanding of how the debt service will be paid? Haven’t we learned that anything with “anticipation” in it is simply a loan that has to be repaid. Gilmore does. I support spending for roads, bridges, highways, and tunnels as well, but who pays? Does buying into the “grant anticipation revenue” bonds means we agree with the amount of the tolls that have been proposed? I don’t think one of the business groups that supposedly signed the Governors proposal has answers to these questions. Shame of them for signing before they have the facts.
GOT cha!
No, got CHOO!
Got CHA!
NO! Got CHOOO!!!
:/
Grow the f*** up already.
(What a waste of bandwidth.)
Thanks.
And it’s bandwidth I provide esteemed people such as yourself the ability to comment on.
Ooo! Blogsmack!
Hoeft 1, Watson 0.
Heh heh heh…Shaun said “pot.”
Oh wait…that’s magic dragon…
Legalize the pot (of magic money).
I blame every addict’s drug problem and inability to pass an employment drug screen on Shaun’s evil rhetoric and “pot speech”!
Pass the pot of magic mushrooms please.
McDonnell (and other Republicans like Del. Cosgrove) are misinformed, ill-informed, and/or uninformed re: cutting state funding for PBS. $4 mil to ZERO is clearly pandering to the far right base.
The facts on WHRO (according to President/CEO Schmidt):
- current-year state funding (WHRO) is $879,000
- PBS and NPR on air programs broadcast locally are supported by members, not state dollars.
- WHRO is owned by 18 school divisions in Hampton Roads and helped save taxpayers $7.6 million last year through its educational services.
As I’ve argued on BD before, PBS is our shining and best examples of public/ private partnerships and, although cuts in ALL government services are to expected, state & federal support of PBS should be maintained, albeit at reduced levels. William Whitehurst makes the case better than I:
WHRO is school bargain
IN HIS DEC. 22 letter, ‘Small cuts add up,’ the writer asks for ‘one good reason to keep funding PBS.’ I can give him 286,000: That’s the number of K-12 students in Hampton Roads whose educational experiences are directly enriched each time they walk into a classroom through the work his local PBS station WHRO does every day.
Or 25,000 reasons the number of area educators who rely on WHRO’s educational products and services to support them in the classroom. Last year, Video Classroom, WHRO’s video on-demand service, allowed teachers all across the commonwealth to quickly and efficiently access more than 40,000 video segments correlated to Virginia’s standards of learning 2 million times.
Or 3,500 reasons the number of Virginia students who completed advanced placement and world language courses through the Virtual Virginia Advanced Placement School, another service of public broadcasting.
Public broadcasters partner with the Virginia Department of Adult Education to help adult learners prepare for the GED test. Families can access the highest quality children’s programming 24/7, as well as hands-on early childhood workshops for parents. Reaching into every school and nearly every home in Virginia, public broadcasting is the best source of children’s programming available. It features research-based early childhood programs like Super Why!, Sesame Street and Sid the Science Kid, high-quality educational television programming delivered literally every hour of the day.
But if the writer requires only one reason to fund public broadcasting, it is this: Public broadcasters provide vital core educational services to every classroom in the state, enhancing the educational experience for teachers and students alike, at a significant savings for taxpayers.
In Hampton Roads, public schools receive approximately $7 return for every dollar invested in public broadcasting. That bears repeating: WHRO receives $872,000 from the commonwealth, and through careful stewardship and visionary strategic planning saves the taxpayers $7.6 million.
At a time when the economy is foremost in the minds of taxpayers and legislators, such a substantial return on investment particularly in the area of educating the people of Virginia cannot be discounted. ~G. William Whitehurst/ Norfolk
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/12/whro-school-bargain
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