I like Virgil Goode. He was one of the first Congressmen to stand alongside Ron Paul when Dr. Paul began his run for the Republican nomination.

Regardless of his Party or his varied, rather independent positions, Virgil Goode, still is more like the people who actually live in the his respective District, than any other Congressmen whom I have met.

I doubt that most people in the Fifth can even pronounce “Perriello” much less identify what he really stands for.

It will be interesting to see how well Tom Perriello can do without the benefit of Obama’s coat-tails and a national election turn-out.

I hope that Virgil Goode will run again. Virginians love a re-match and I would enjoy hearing his twanging accent back on Capitol Hill. Even though his Party is failing, Virgil has an independent demeanor that closely reflects that of most of his constituents. When Virgil speaks, it is as if Central Virginia is talking as one. I can’t tell just where that carpetbagger, Perriello is from, but he sure isn’t from Virginia, and I can’t tell just who he is speaking for, so far.

If Virgil Goode runs, it would make for an historic political re-match.

Posted by J. Tyler Ballance on 3 July 02009 @ 7pm

I initially thought this might have been snark, but since I realize you are being serious, I have some comments.

Regardless of his Party or his varied, rather independent positions, Virgil Goode, still is more like the people who actually live in the his respective District, than any other Congressmen whom I have met.

Is Goode more like you? Are you a raving racist who thinks that the US will collapse if we allow immigration? Did you warn that we would see “mooohamed on a dollar” if we allow more immigration? Did you purposely mispronounce someone’s name because in a childish way, you thought it would make some sort of difference?

When Virgil speaks, it is as if Central Virginia is talking as one. I can’t tell just where that carpetbagger, Perriello is from, but he sure isn’t from Virginia, and I can’t tell just who he is speaking for, so far.

Wow, the carpetbagger thing comes back, or maybe it never left? Congressman Perriello was born in Virginia, attended school here, was a Boy Scout here. So unless you have an earth-shattering development to let us in on, it has been settled about a year ago that he is from Virginia.

Virgil Goode has never spoken for me. Tom Perriello speaks for me every day he is in the Congress.

As for Ron Paul standing with Virgil Goode, well, both of them seem to have made a mistake, in that Paul is not President and Goode is not in Congress.

Grow up and quit sending around the same old tired lies that I have had to debunk for a year and a half now. It is unbecoming of you.

Posted by Mark Brooks on 3 July 02009 @ 10pm

The original post is merely a candid opinion of why I would like to see Virgil Goode run for office again. As you may know, I support candidates who I like, regardless of their Party affiliation; a practice that seems to frustrate the fiercely partisan on both sides of the political spectrum.

Mr. Perriello is a good candidate and has degrees from Yale, just like George Bush. Mr. Perriello, regardless of his birthplace in Albermarle County, also is about as Virginian as Bush is a Texan.

The point of the prior post is that, to the typical Virginian, Virgil Goode is far more like them, than someone like George Bush or Tom Periello who followed the exclusive boarding school to Yale, path.

Children of privilege, like Bush and Perriello are the norm in Congress. That someone is from a life of wealth and privilege, certainly does not preclude their service to our country. Jack Kennedy did some great work on behalf of the working class, and Mark Warner seems to be trying to follow the Kennedy model. However, I just like to have a gentleman like Virgil Goode run for Congress, because of his independence and candor.

While a few may find some things that Mr. Goode says to be shocking or not P.C. he talks exactly like most of the Virginians whom I have met who live in the Fifth District (not counting WaHooville).

This is why so many citizens, including me, would love to see Virgil Goode in a rematch with Tom Perriello. Win or lose, it will be a contest where sharp contrasts will be presented to the voters. I think the result will be healthy for our democratic process.

While we may differ on our choice on this particular office, we may find many other occasions where we are working on the same team, like the upcoming gubernatorial race. The fluidity of the electorate makes Virginia politics fascinating and sometimes fun, but it also makes it prudent for us to maintain civil relations with those who are our opponents one day, because those folks may be our best allies, when the next race comes around.

Have a nice 4th of July!

Posted by J. Tyler Ballance on 4 July 02009 @ 10am

“I doubt that most people in the Fifth can even pronounce “Perriello” much less identify what he really stands for.”

What does it say about your “respect” for the people of the Fifth District that you think they can’t pronounce a four syllable word? How ignorant do you think they are? On top of that you think they voted for him without knowing what he stands for?

For a person who claims to want “civil relations” in the political process, it’s important to note that Goode did not seem to want that. He repeatedly cancelled debates, he lied in his television stump, and his campaign manager continually bullied and attempted to physically intimidate the opposition.

But again, I’m most surprised that you think the people of the Fifth District aren’t smart enough to pronounce an Italian name.

Posted by John on 4 July 02009 @ 10am

Virgil Goode ran a shoddy, lazy race and deserves nothing for the cavalier way he treated his office. He didn’t engage the top of his district and took it for granted. Stay home Virgil, republicans want someone who will work 24/7 for the people of the 5th district not someone who will just assume that the people will vote him in because his last name is Goode. We need fresh blood not someone who feels entitled.

Posted by Dante on 4 July 02009 @ 3pm

Does anyone believe that Goode is not going to run? Look at the “bench.” Robert Hurt is a good man, and I think those in Pittsylvania of both political parties will tell you that he does a good job for the County, but I don’t think his heart is into running for Congress. Also, Robert’s probably a little too bipartisan for the narrow GOP of today. He did vote for a tax increase in 2003 and he’s been known to say a few nice words about Democrats…a no-no in today’s party.

Bell would probably like to be in Congress, but he’s a little too busy right now to start a serious run. Bell’s shrewd, and he realizes that you can’t start a congressional campaign in January of 2010 and have a prayers unless there is a huge wave for the GOP in the midterms. The NRCC isn’t going to throw $$$ or personnel into a campaign that starts that late.

Faulk? Not a chance. I actually went to law school with him, and he would make an excellent candidate when it comes to charisma, intelligence, and articulating conservative policies. However, his name recognition is so low in the southern end (and northern end for the most part) of the district that unless he can raise a boatload of money (a la Periello) in the next few months, he doesn’t stand a prayer unless, again, a wave hit in 2010.

That leaves Goode as the only other serious prospect the national GOP has in the Fifth. He’ll run.

Posted by Ghost of Ted Dalton on 5 July 02009 @ 4pm

I am intrigued by this “life of privilege” thought.

Tom is the son of a doctor — no question. He and his family did not starve growing up — no question. He went to the best schools because he is one of the smartest people around and one of the hardest working and most focused people you will ever meet. I of course haven’t seen his college application, but I would bet that the whole package — smart, focused, Eagle Scout, etc. — meant that he could have gone to virtually any school in the Country. Would you have thought more highly of him if he had gone to the University of Richmond, as Virgil did? Is there a reason why that matters to you?

Contrast that with Virgil — a member by birth of the political elite in Virginia. His Daddy was the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Franklin County for years, and one of the most prominent political leaders in Southside Virginia. The family had at least as much money as the Perriello family, but earned in law and business rather than in medicine.

And you have to understand the role that the University of Richmond has played in Virginia society in the past century. It is a private school, and throughout most of the 20th century was one of the schools that the Virginia power elite sent their kids to. So when Virgil went to the University of Richmond (graduating in 1969), he was going to a school without the intellectual heft of Yale but with every bit as much social elitism, albeit with a narrower, more regional focus.

And when Virgil ran for the State Senate at the age of 27, he did so on his Daddy’s coattails — a matter of political privilege, at the very least.

So when you characterize Tom as a “child of privilege” — with the obvious implication being that Virgil is not and that that is a good thing — you are being WAY too superficial in how you characterize privilege and in what virtues you think derive from Virgil being a “gentleman” rather than a “child of privilege”. A “gentleman” can by every bit as snooty as a Bush or a Kennedy. And in my experience, most people who have met Tom and who have talked with him for five minutes know that they are more likely to get a meaningful discussion of issues from him than they ever got from Virgil Goode.

Posted by cvllelaw on 7 July 02009 @ 12pm

Back when Virgil went to the University of Richmond, it was still a very good, Southern school. Now, U of R is just like the worst of the heavily biased schools where indoctrination into the ways of political correctness takes primacy over all else.

I would not hire anyone from Richmond who graduated in the last few decades. All those graduates seem to “know” is that America is basically an evil place that has been sullied by the existence of White men.

It is very sad that places like Richmond have completely abandoned the pursuit of truth as their core mission.

By today’s standards, a Yale grad and a Richmond grad are basically alike; rich kids who have been brainwashed into hating their own kind, and who emerge from four years of political indoctrination with no marketable skills, having spent an obscene amount of money for the privilege. No wonder so many go on to attend law school.

Posted by MBM on 7 July 02009 @ 6pm