Some odds and ends from the Legislature February 1, 2008
I just had some random thoughts that didn’t really fit into a post that I wanted to jot down…
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I am happy that Bill Sharpe is not running for reelection.
And, no, not because that gives Republicans a chance at that seat.
I really like Bill Sharpe and he truly was one of the good guys in the Senate. He was a gentleman.
Each year the Senate has a ‘President’s Dinner’ where the President is honored and worshiped. Of course, the House has a similar version for the Speaker.
OK - first, a quick aside…. There are few ‘mandatory’ events that I dread more than the President’s dinner. Don’t get me wrong, I think Earl Ray is a great guy and a good leader, but thankfully gun laws don’t allow firearms inside the Marriott or I’d shoot myself in the head about an hour into it.
Steve Harrison would never go, simply because there were raunchy jokes told. From my standpoint, it’s not that they are raunchy, its that they aren’t very funny. Plus, you have several females in the room, I don’t know, it didn’t seem appropriate.
Of course, the Speaker’s dinner was even worse with dumber, dirtier jokes. I went there my first year and the best part was former Minority Leader Charlie Trump who would weave a poem together with just about every member of the House. Not only was it hysterical, but how he was able to put it together was amazing. But, even so, imagine me coming from the Union Carbide corporate culture, where an inappropriate, mild, joke would get you fired into the Legislative dinner.
OK, sorry, back to Sharpe.
Unfortunately, over the last several years, Sharpe deteriorated quickly, especially after the death of his beloved Pauline.
Thankfully, for his sake, he won’t have to endure the rigors of another campaign or the difficulty in navigating the Legislative Process. I’m only sorry not to have served with him in earlier days when he was on top of his game. That would have been fun to watch.
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Is it me, or has Phil Kabler become obsessed with Cindy Frich? I mean, he writes about her just about every week.
I think he either hates her or maybe he hates her SO much that he is actually starting to fall for her. Could there be a little lovefest brewing in the Capitol press room?
Cindy is the first person I’ve seen PK obsess about more than my personal life, thinking about his personal life reminds me of that one Seinfeld with “Bookman.”
Bookman was the Library cop who longed for the days of older, unattractive librarians. When complaining about the current librarian who was dating Kramer, he said (about the old librarian) “you didn’t know about her personal life, and you didn’t WANT to know about her personal life…”
That’s the way I feel about Kabman. But, he does seem to be writing about his new equal in the journalistic field quite a bit. It could be a little like James Carville and Mary Matalin.
One absolutely hysterical comment he made was in a recent column… he actually wrote with a straight face that when Cindy Frich went up to interview a Delegate about some issue that the Delegates were confiding in him that they weren’t sure if she had an “alterior motive” for talking to them.
I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Hey Kabler, I hate to break the news to you, but 99% of legislators have that EXACT same question when they see you coming to interview them, they just don’t tell you.
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I have been amused by some of the Paulistas (those supporting Ron Paul) who have emailed me about Paul’s stunning second place finish in the Nevada caucuses.
Of course, no one other than Romney and Paul competed there and Romney won by default with more than 50% of the vote. Paul received 14%.
I admire their zeal, but the Paulistas need to understand that receiving 14% in what essentially was a two person race isn’t compelling.
The other comment I thought was funny was people saying… SEE, Paul isn’t doing nearly as bad as you said he would. Again, that made me chuckle, I guess people missed my satire in writing about Ron Paul. It wasn’t about whether or not he would actually receive 10% of any vote, it was the fact that he had - and has - absolutely no chance ever of winning the Republican nomination.
But, hey, if you want to hang on to a second place finish (out of two running) as evidence that Ron Paul is on the verge of being our next President, then have fun with it.
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13 Responses to “Some odds and ends from the Legislature”
I’m willing to bet that Ron Paul supporters emailed you that news because you had previously predicted that Ron Paul would never pass 10% in any poll.
The fact that he got well over 10% in a poll that actually counted for real delegates shows that you way off.
Finally, no comments on Rudy, yet? C’mon, Vic! We’re all waiting to hear if that check cashed for you, or not!
Seriously, you may make fun of Ron Paul, but I’d love to hear your explanations of why and how Ron Paul could consistently beat Rudy in all primaries except Florida. I think he also had more delegates signed up in WV than Rudy did, too.
Still, keep up the good work covering WV politics. You bring up good topics and often have good responses in the comment section. And I can’t wait to hear the true story about Unger.
I admit I was a bit surprised by the vitriol in Kabler’s column about Cindy Frich. I’m also struck by the irony of a Gazette reporter being outraged at a hint of biased journalism.
As for the Paul campaign, I’m heartened by the fact that an overwhelming majority of Republicans reject his dangerous prescriptions for America. His coming in ahead of Rudy in some primaries has more to do with the fact that they were open primaries in which anyone could vote. Hence you had kooks coming out of the woodwork to vote for Ron Paul. I’d have more respect for Ron Paul if he ran on the Libertarian ticket instead of trying to force the conservative party in this country into his fringe mold.
Bill Sharpe was always gracious and fun to be around. He and Pauline were a devoted couple . My fondest memory of Bill was to learn by observation that they were great ballroom dancers. He will definitely be missed. Too bad we have nobody willing to contest turncoat Stalnaker for his seat.
Its amazing how unconstitutinal our Republican party become. That any politician who advocates the government being limited by the constitution and rule of law is a ‘kooik’.
That a politician like ron paul who’s very long record illustrates: Never voting for a tax increase once,… who voted to limit congress paycheck,… who gives most of his own paycheck from congress back to the US treasury department… who is has delivered 4,000 babies as a doctor that is strictly pro-life… married only once(true family values)… that has voted to limit government and voted to make a transparent government… that belives in representing the citizen first and not government…and beleives what Reagan believes that a powerful government that can maintain peace thru peacful means and not by military power is a true definition of times of peace…that a politician who takes our founders knowledge with seriousness such as not have allies with any nation, not entangling ourselves in foregn affairs with our militar but only trading openly is a way of National security.
..is not given a thought in America or by the Republican party.
Our founders are rolling in their graves while the living patriots are rolling our eyes.
God Bless
Aaron,
Ron Paul is a very bright man. I agree with a whole lot of his Libertarian leanings with regard to small government and individual freedoms.
When he takes the stance that we shouldn’t fight the folks who attacked us on 911 in their back yard instead of ours….he loses all creditability.
Aaron, we conservatives support lower taxes, smaller government, etc. Ron Paul is simply wrong on the most important issue of our time: the war on terror.
Like I posted earlier, I’d love to live in his world where there are no threats to America and everyone gets along (as long as the evil Americans don’t interfere). However, we’re fighting an enemy that will settle for nothing less than either our conversion to their false religion or our destruction. I will never understand what Paul and his supporters fail to grasp about this.
On this blog, Ron Paul supporters have trashed America, President Bush, seat belt laws, the kitchen sink (well ok, I’m joking with that one), but I have not read ONE WORD from a Ron Paul supporter denouncing terrorists. I’ve only read how there would be no terrorists/terrorism if only America would withdraw our troops from foreign lands. I’ve read about how WE are creating terrorists, despite the fact that Islamo-fascist terrorism has existed for thousands of years. God knows I’ve read a lot of personal insults and attempts to discredit me by insisting I’m a “mind-numbed robot” or that I’m “parroting Hannity”, etc.
I hear and read insane propaganda from you people, and still no condemnation of those who would strap a bomb around themselves, walk onto a school bus, and set it off. No condemnation of those who fly planes into buildings filled with people. Just blame America first, Bush is awful, and anyone who disagrees with Ron Paul is a socialist.
The need for civics and history education in this country and state has never been more evident.
B.k.
Show strength without the military like regean did. 1,600 missles pointed at America and we didn’t go to war.
Bush is ready for war with the thought of 1 nuclear missle in the hands of Iran. That is weakness, and inability to handle other nations without war.
He’s like a little kid…he hits the other kids because he can’t communicate with authority.
Russ,
Okay, we agree on those things.
The war is the oddity.
Is it hard to see that we can’t just throw the military at nations like the democrats throw money at problems?
Was Saddam invading America? NO. Did we like Saddam? No. Does that give us reason to attack? No.
Republicans say the hate the U.N. but use the U.N. sanctions agaisnt Iraq as a reason for attacking Saddam. That is talking out of both sides of you mouth.
You can not attack a nation that isn’t attacking us. Period. Or that puts you in line with tyrants and dictators. Period.
Iraq was a judgment of from fear not defence. The only just war is a TRUE defensive war. Iraq was only argued as a defensive war. We were’t fending of Iraqis to save our skin.
So there are nations we don’t like or we may even fear. We can’t bring down their governments.
Why? you may ask?
Because our cornerstone, the constitution, defines us as a soverign government. We decide our on rules without intervention.
We look like hypocrites then if we decide that the governments we don’t like, but arent’ invading us, should be destroyed. If they aren’t in an offensive mode, directly attacking us then we have no right to decide if that government should be destroyed my our military.
How do you deal?
You join nations together to put pressure on those governments to stand down.
Isn’t that what the U.N. is for?
Ideally, yes, but it is self seeking government too. But a real leader would be able to meet with nations to put pressure on bad governments.
in the end…you can’t use our military against a government not attaking us because it isn’t a defensive move it is then an offensive move.
God Bless
Aaron
B.K.
Correction….40,000 nuclear missles pointed at Reagan’s America. Republicans now, lead by Bush, can’t handle the thought of 1 in Iran.
Deterrance alone worked with the Soviets because they did not think they would be greeted by 72 virgins if they set off a Nuke in Times Square.
The Soviets and their Generals wanted to conquer the world, but they wanted it intact.
We can’t revive the Monroe Doctrine and pretend that Islamo-facists will leave us alone if we leave the region.
They will and have followed us here. Can the gradual Islamizization of Europe, Asia, be blamed on America’s intervention in the Gulf? Not hardly.
Charles,
So we attack governments not involved in an aggression toward us? Just like we did in Iraq.
Does that solve the matter? Does that make us look rational to the world?
It is not my place to hold other soverign nations to a code of ethics, but as a citizen of America we have a duty to hold our own country to a code of ethics lest we implode ourselves. But some criticize when a citizen does this as if he hates his country, on the contrary, I love America and want it to do well, in conscience and constitution.
There are evil people all around the world. We can not fight the whole world, we just don’t have enough military to do that. But the Bush administration thinks we can.
The threat to use our military against other countries is not as much of a threat anymore.
We must be more sauve in our approach to conflict in the world lest we fall like Rome. If we would become so arrogant that we think we can squash any country when we want and always win, without consciense then we are no longer a just society.
Our government has become a geator threat than the the enemies they have sworn to protect our freedoms from.
Our government has become a geator threat than the the enemies they have sworn to protect our freedoms from.
Our government has become a geator threat than the the enemies they have sworn to protect our freedoms from.
Hey–does anybody else remember the last night of the session several years ago when Senator Sharpe fell asleep and fell out of the back of his chair? Without a doubt one of the funniest moments I ever witnessed in the chambers.
He seemed to find it humorous as well, as he doubtlessly still has framed on his wall his induction certificate to the “West Virginia Fallout Club”.
Not up to date on recent blogs, but the absence of comments on Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s self-serving settlements “in behalf of the state” is remarkable!
Rather than worry about Ron Paul, who doesn’t have a chance, why not focus on something closer to our span of control? Namely, that with a little focus from Republicans and clear-thinking Democrats we can finally oust this lout (leech?) from WV state office.
Darrell McGraw’s orchestration of settlements that award his OWN STAFF with the discretionary power to use the money as they seem fit is criminal. Anything he doesn’t control internally he awards to his cronies in the big law firms. To continue allowing him to do so is OUTRAGEOUS!
As a citizen, I expect better accountability for the use of public funds. In industry, the comparable use of corporate funds would be considered fraudulent and subject to immediate discharge.
Why can’t the legislature pass a law requiring all public settlement funds go into the general treasury where it belongs? Let’s get with it, Vic!