"Tennant For Governor" Office Now Open! or Goodbye Betty Ireland, Hello Third World!

For four years West Virginia has enjoyed the vigilance of an aggressive secretary of state. Betty Ireland's zeal for following the laws laid out by the state legislature even led to some GOP criticism. It also meant that groups like ACORN would find no easy way to violate state and federal election laws. However we would much rather have a person in this office who is dedicated to the law than see what is about to happen now.

Natalie Tennant initiated step one in turning the secretary of state office into her own left wing feudal domain. When Ireland took over four years ago, she kept the capable Elections Division head hired originally by Joe Manchin. No one ever said that Ireland did not aspire to a higher office, but she was willing to irritate her own party to do the job right.

Tennant hired as chief of the Elections Division Dave Nichols. Nichols runs a leftist blog and formerly headed Progressive Democrats of America/West Virginia. Anytime you see the word "progressive" it means Communist. Vic Sprouse's blog compares this hire to the hypothetical scenario of Betty Ireland hiring Gary Abernathy for the same job. The difference is that Abernathy generally uses wry humor and rarely crosses the respect line. Nichols is a firebrand bombthrower with a burning hatred for all things Republican. Sounds like the bad old days with a Marxist twist. West Virginia elections, at least in some regions, may once again descend into the septic tank of Democratic corruption.

Welcome to West Virginia ACORN. Feel free to violate any law you want. Natalie's too busy running for governor to care.

Why oh why didn't someone, somewhere pump a little money into Charles Minimah's campaign?

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Sometimes you just have to love story placement. Yahoo News this morning listed about five or six headlines. One headline proclaimed that an ice and snow storm had covered much of the country and killed I think seven. The one right below said that global warming is irreversible for a thousand years.

Global warming chicken littles are really pulling out the stops now. Sure this winter was the coldest in forty years and last summer was, except for a few weeks, not really hot. But don't you worry, disaster is just 'round the corner!

Truth be told, many world scientists (now that the hated Bush is gone!) are coming out and saying what the Old Farmer's Almanac has always told us. It's the sunspots. This past year saw the complete disappearance of sunspots for the first time since the Little Ice Age. It led to a predicted colder winter.

I guess my sedan and my neighbor's SUV made the sunsports come and go. Or maybe it was the Cheney Weather Machine.

Anonymous Posting, Vic Sprouse, and Gary Abernathy

What once was old is new again.

Look back at the newspapers from the 1790s. Few of them actually reported much news. For the most part they hurled accusations back and forth between the dominant parties and personalities of their times. Occasionally they produced some literary gems, such as the Federalist Papers, but more often they gave to posterity some really fun scandal and insult filled stuff.

In those days no one gave their actual name. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius." Most who paid attention could discern through the writing style and ideas who was who. Certainly this was fine in the 1790s, but how about today?

This subject has come up in the debate over the State Republican Party and its hiring of Gary Abernathy as executive director. An anonymous blog called Not Gary Abernathy.com appeared almost immediately to blast the selection and hiring process. State Senator Vic Sprouse on his own blog, Change West Virginia, fired back on Abernathy's behalf. Both of these blogs allow reader commentary. The opinions stated have ranged from thoughtful to vicious.

The question is, how legitimate in this day and age is a blog or a comment from a person that refuses to reveal their name? The author of Not Gary Abernathy.com has cryptically promised that his identity will be known in good time, kind of like a B movie super villain. Why not now?

Others have taken the opportunity to level anonymous cheap shots at Vic Sprouse and Gary Abernathy. When a person does put their name to something, they take a risk and open themselves to attack. That certainly takes some guts when there are so many waiting in the dark simply wanting to tear down. No name posting does not help the case of anyone indulging in it.

Should Republicans with complaints stifle their concerns? Of course not. We are a big tent party and will always have disagreements. It is obvious why those with solely a personal axe to grind do not show themselves. They will always lurk in the shadows. Should "Not Gary Abernathy" reveal him or herself? That is for that individual to decide. Except in the case of Lisa Peana, he or she has not often descended to the level of personal attack. Regardless, credibility will always be more favorably conferred upon those that take their political battle into the light of day rather than hide behind fake names or no name at all.

Who Is Truly Ready to Make a Difference in West Virginia?

West Virginia received some good news today. Beth Walker's run for State Supreme Court has impressed exactly half of the state's voters. The most recent polls show that the race between Walker and the second place Democratic opponent remains too close to select a leader. In a state where 2/3 of the voters register with the Democratic Party, this is good news to anyone looking to change our anti-business climate.

A Walker victory means a shift away from our state's "judicial hellhole" reputation. She can join others on the bench who join many West Virginians in being tired of crackpot lawsuits and their damaging effect on our economy. Why would anyone want to do business in a state that does nothing to discourage the most ridiculous claims against honest business owners while allowing benefits to the friends of the powerful? We need rule of law in West Virginia, not rule of lawsuits.

On the other hand, Nancy Guthrie has swallowed the Obama change mantra hook, line and sinker. She has adapted it to her own political campaign, albeit clumsily according to Vic Sprouse's Change West Virginia blog. How West Virginia Democrats can run on a change platform is beyond my comprehension, unless they tell the whole state to do something it has rarely done in the past seventy-five years, vote Republican.

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They may have reached that decision anyway. With Democrats putting signs for Gary Howell, Dan Greear, Russ Weeks, Beth Walker, and others in their yards, maybe our state is finally fed up with seventy-five years of misrule.

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Has anyone else noticed the change in Obama lately? Mean spirited, sarcastic, no longer confident and pleasant looking. We may be seeing the real Obama here folks. As was said so eloquently on the movie Super Troopers, "desperation is a stinky cologne." The weird inability to stay on message is also a telling sign that the wheels fell off some time ago.

As for Biden, has anyone seen him at all lately? Do the Democrats have a bunker that they stuffed him into? What an inspired choice for them. It is almost as if they saw Biden as Obama's Dick Cheney. Taking pages from the Bush victory story is something I never thought I would see a Democrat attempt. Maybe they ought to listen to the Republican experts that say personally attacking Palin is a horrible idea. I can honestly say that Uncle Joe would have done that campaign a lot more good than Biden.

Personally I would almost bet that the Democrat power brokers have privately folded their tents. They will return to do penance at the Temple of Hillary, and wait for the next favorable time to unleash her on the electorate.

No News Is Good News in the Sunday Gazette Mail

Last Sunday I was near Charleston, so I got to read that wonderful old piece of objective, just the facts ma'am journalism, the Sunday Gazette Mail. After all, the selection of Governor Palin made a huge splash in the cable news media and elsewhere. I was fascinated with their take on her selection.

Their take was . . . nothing. No mention of her whatsoever. It was as if a journalistic black hole opened up, she fell in, and news of her was replaced by the Cheshire cat grin on the face of Barack Obama's destiny. Instead of commentary on the latest news, the Gazette served up the same old tripe.

Sometimes a paper says quite a bit when it chooses to say nothing at all. Multiple columns commented on Obama's destiny and place in history. Phil Kabler took a pause from his lifelong pursuit of Vic Sprouse to wistfully wonder what might have been if Gore had spent more time in West Virginia in 2000, his theory being that more exposure to the anti-gun, anti-coal, pro-abortion Gore might have somehow convinced West Virginians to vote for him.

Yup, cover those ears, close those eyes, ignore the obvious. Barack Obama is about to fall into the dustbin of history.

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I hate to see the daughter of Governor Palin going through this crap. I am speaking as a father right now. Many Democrats think they have some kind of gotcha issue against the Governor and her family. Like they did with Vice President Cheney's daughter in 2004, they are willing to smear the families of candidates to score a point. A seventeen year old ought to remain out of bounds. Many Democrats see a pregnant teenage girl as the antithesis of family values ideals. Family values does not mean you have a perfect family that never encounters challenges. It means that families stick together and help each other out, just like Governor Palin and millions of others. Americans can understand that, even if the liberal media and Democratic strategists cannot.

Rockefeller Insults Veterans

A big thank you to Vic Sprouse for bringing this to our attention.

Our United States Senator, Jay Rockefeller, in an attempt to defend his backing of Barrack Obama, lashed out at John McCain's service. He belittled McCain's role as a combat pilot. Rockefeller criticized McCain's role as simply being a guy that dropped laser guided bombs on people, then he flew away never for a moment considering the fate of the people he bombed.

You know that the state media will never publicize these comments. That is why it is so important to supplement the traditional news by reading these conservative blogs. Rockefeller gave us a clue as to his entire elitist mindset about the military and those who serve. He thinks nothing of the danger those pilots faced. He thinks nothing of the fact that McCain was eliminating threats to soldiers on the ground fighting for their lives. No, Rockefeller is an elitist guy from an elitist school who will never understand the sense of duty and honor that John McCain represents.

I am going to cut and paste Vic Sprouse's blog entry in its entirety and send it to my friends and relatives who served. Here is a link.

http://www.changewv.com/2008/should-jrock-continue-as-head-of-intelligence

Spread the word and donate to Jay's Republican opponent. We need to get this information over the television and radio airwaves next fall.

Kicking It Off Right

Last Saturday the Potomac Highlands Republican Club kicked off its existence with an exciting dinner in Romney. The event featured Secretary of State Betty Ireland. Our Secretary of State is easily the most charismatic and energetic member of West Virginia's executive branch and last Saturday she definitely did not disappoint.

Her speech emphasized Republican unity and focus going into the 2008 election year and she presented it in her usual "take no prisoners" style. Ireland always challenges state Republicans to do more to support candidates as well as the party organization. Additionally she endorsed the idea of regional clubs such as the PHRC as models for the future. Ireland had strong praise for club president Christy Barnett's organizational skills and energy.

Senator Dave Sypolt handled the master of ceremonies duties with his usual grace and good humor. Apart from Ireland, he also was able to introduce GOP strategist Gary Abernathy who gave the assembled guests an update on the state presidential nominating convention. Following Abernathy's explanation of the convention process, Sypolt presented three presidential candidate representatives. Tom O' Neil described the ideas of Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney while Senator Vic Sprouse endorsed former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Finally Abernathy explained the virtues of former United States Senator Fred Thompson.

Senator Clark Barnes gave the final talk of the night. The feisty Barnes opened fire on critics of the administration of George W. Bush, reminding the guests of the president's many successes over the past seven years.

This dinner served as a key event to introduce the public to the PHRC. The club's most important goal lies in strengthening Republican involvement even in off years. Supporting candidates also remains an important function. Secretary Ireland emphasized the benefits of an organization that crosses county boundaries. Such a group can better assist those candidates who seek to represent multiple counties.

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The club wished to thank those who helped to sponsor the event: Bob Adams, candidate for governor; Gary Howell, candidate for state senate, Chris Wakim, the Grant County Republican Executive Committee, and two unnamed Democrats who decided to support the conservative values many of us share regardless of party. Of course one of the main themes of the night could be expressed in two words.

BEAT HILLARY!