At last night’s Fifth District Democratic Dinner, outside of Lynchburg, U.S. Senate candidate Harris Miller spoke to the crowd to promote his candidacy. (Candidate James Webb did not attend—sadly, his father-in-law passed away, and he’s down in New Orleans, where the funeral will be held today.) A refrain of Miller’s is that he’s “living the American dream.” And, indeed, he has a very compelling biography. But the thing is:
Marrying a woman half your age: that is the American dream. God bless America.
Jim Webb is my hero.
I know this is supposed to be about Miller and Webb, but speaking of dreaming, I saw some, um, young women Democrats at the dinner that I thought looked very dream-worthy. Too bad I am um, erm… spoken for. Half his age huh? Yeah.
Yes, dear, I know you are reading this.
I have to marry a woman half my age?
Damn. I’ll just never fit in here.
The Lynchburg contingent enjoyed meeting you, Waldo. We REALLY enjoyed talking to Mudcat Saunders and we were all impressed with Steve Jarding ( sp?) who spoke in James Webb’s place.
It was weird to be in the Rec Center again. The site of many a football banquet for Jefferson Forest High football teams.I have even waited tables at charity banquets there.
For all you C-ville folks the center is about 3 minutes from Thomas Jefferson’s summer home Poplar Forest. If you haven’t seen or heard of it you should visit it. It’s really shaping up!
Shaula- Great minds obviously think alike, because after reading that, the first thought in my mind was, “But I don’t WANT to marry a woman half my age!”
It was great meeting y’all! You all clearly had a great time with Mudcat, and he had a great time with you. :) I think he spent more time at your table than anybody else’s!
Well, then go for one 3/4 of your age.
I’m a liberal—I don’t just support homosexuality, I encourage it. Or so Rush Limbaugh tells me.
Hong happens to be a highly accomplished attorney in Washinfton, DC.
Of course, she is beautiful, but there is so much more there.
Glad we can count on you to not just make some of the cuff, crass comment.
You failed to point out that James Webb is a highly accomplished attorney and that, while beautiful, there is so much more there.
Glad we can count on you to not just make some of the cuff, crass comment.
Mark, there were quite a few beautiful women there last night. If you weren’t looking, then you would be either asleep or dead.
Of course, there were quite a few very handsome men as well–many of which were about half my age. : ) You know, girls, marrying a man half our age would qualify as our American dream. We really don’t have to go along with Waldo and the rest of the men in the 5th District.
Waldo- the only problem is that I’m not really old enough to marry a woman half my age. Or 3/4 of my age, for that matter.
I understand that you feel a need to encourage homosexuality, as a liberal. But if you want to be a super-liberal, you have to spread gayness everywhere you go, like a rainbow mayonaise on the white bread of America. If you have a car, you must sell it for a gaymobile. I personally have a rainbow flag that I sleep wrapped up in, the Who “The Kids are Alright” style. Kristen is busy spray painting SpongeBob graffitti everywhere she goes. You gotta try harder, Waldo. Sheesh. :)
Like this?
Like that, but painted like this. Minus the “mullet” part.
you have to spread gayness everywhere you go, like a rainbow mayonaise on the white bread of America.
I want a T-Shirt that says this.
I have to agree with Shaula and Melissa, here: It’s not my American dream, either. But there’s no accounting for taste. It’s a big world. God bless America.
Harris Miller doesn’t have the option of marrying a woman half his age because he looks like a hairy little thumb with a red tie on.
I was seriously unimpressed with Harris Miller last night. This guy is what it looks like when you stuff 45% into a suit. He’s nowhere near ready for prime time. I could see him running for a House of Delegates seat and would support that. But the United States Senate? The most exclusive club in the world? He has no resume, no accomplishments, no gravitas and no chin. There is no way on God’s green Earth that this guy could beat George Allen. Even if this was an open seat and he was running against any of the 3 Republican candidates for statewide office last year, Harris Miller would get his ass handed to him by any of them.
Someone needs to tell this guy that repeating Mark Warner’s name ad nauseum neither makes him seem like Mark Warner nor convinces anyone that Warner has endorsed him. Save cronyism for the Republicans. They seem to go for that crap. Nobody’s impressed that Mark Warner appointed Harris Miller to the Commission of Weevils and Snails or whatever the hell it was.
No chin + no accomplishments = no nomination. Sorry, little thumb-man.
Um.
I think we can talk about the differences between the Democratic candidates without attacking their appearances.
Then we’ll probably also have to talk about the differences between the Democratic candidates without praising their choice in spouses. :-)
I caught the tail end of a phone interview with Webb on the new Washington Post radio station today (107.7 FM, formerly a WTOP frequency). It hit me in that context how engaging he is–if I had tuned in without having any idea who he was, I would have been hooked enough to pay real attention. If he could get exposure in every corner of the Commonwealth he’d have a good chance of knocking off Allen. He’ll have two big hurdles, $$$$ and a strategy for dealing with the swiftboating that is undoubtedly in preparation for him. (Though I’d like to think that a fair percentage of the people who fell for swiftboating tactics in ’04 have gotten wise to it.)
Yes, let’s talk about differences. Here’s some interesting material on Miller:
http://www.kentonngo.com/750volts/?p=468
Sure, the charges were dismissed. And if that means Miller’s business dealings and relationships are off limits, then in all fairness Virgil Goode is even more entitled to a pass on his MZM dealings because nothing is happening in court.
Virgil is getting what amounts to a mainstream media pass on MZM, but not Katherine Harris. Are appearances a factor? Is every Virginia journalist afraid of the Goode machine?
I’m sure we can count on George Allen’s sense of fair play to avoid Miller’s history if he were to get the nomination.
Anyway, what hasn’t been mentioned is Webb’s second stringer, Steve Jarding, Webb was the showstopper at the 5th CD dinner. For one thing, people have really had enough of corruption, and enough of the rich getting richer. We are tired of being played and MOTSS.
Webb had the guts to come out against the war in Iraq. And as former USMC myself I have confidence that James Webb will do something we are desperate for – take his oath and commitment seriously. I like his stand on social issues – that government stops at the door. (I would prefer that they stop at the driveway, but incrementalism will do.)
Harris Miller talks about living the American dream. From here, Miller’s dream looks like, “I’ve got mine, and I want more.” How am I supposed to sell that to my single parent neighbor who commutes 45 miles to work two low paying jobs and has an aging parent in a nursing home?
Folks, I have looked into the allegations of “insider trading” against Harris Miller. Let’s not worry too much about them.
First, my bias — I think I am probably going to end up supporting Webb, but I’d like to at least see the guy once before I say that. Now, for the allegations.
The Complaint referenced in the various blogs (like 750 volts) alleges that Harris Miller sold 18,000 shares of stock, for $934,400, during the period that they are complaining about — October, 2002, through March, 2004. A look at the SEC filings that document the sales shows that there were two incidents. On October 22, 2003, Harris Miller owned stock options good for 20,000 shares of ITT ESI stock. He had received options to buy 10,000 shares of stock at $20.875 a share on August, 11, 1999; when the stock split 2-for-1, the options became 20,000 options to buy at $10.4375 a share. He apparently decided to exercise options on 10,000 shares on October 22, 2003. He acquired 10,000 shares of stock at $10.438 a share, and he sold those 10,000 shares during the day at various prices ranging from a low of $48.70 to a high of $49.04. On January 28, 2004 — the following fiscal quarter — he exercised his options on another 8,000 shares at the same price of $10.438, and sold them at prices ranging from a low of $55.30 to a high of $55.50. Both days were days of volume that was within the range of what was normal for that stock at that time. Both were days that were essentially “down” days in the middle of an uptrend — not unusual.
One might legitimately fuss about the propriety of granting stock options to directors under circumstances that result in such large amounts of compensation, but that is not the stuff of insider trading.
I also looked at the reports of the other litigation, and it was remarkable to me that they were all dismissed without anyone finding any support for them. In some instances, the US government was asked to join in the litigation to recoup some losses that they claimed ITT Educational Services had caused the government, and the government declined.
Anyway, the point is this — not every sale of stock by an insider is “insider trading.” Insider trading by definition means that you are trading on the basis of information that is not available publicly, but which you have because of your unique position. There has to be an element of fraud in it — that you were hiding something while you sold, because obviously every insider will always know more than the general public will.
There are three reasons why this issue will have no legs in the general election.
First, there is no indication that either ITT ESI or Harris Miller did anything wrong.
Second, the outside director compensation program that benefitted Harris Miller also benefitted another outside director — former Republican Congressman (and big lobbyist) Vin Weber.
Third, it is exactly the thing that Bill Frist is being accused of in connection with the sale of his stock in his hospital holding company. If Allen tries to tar Miller with this, Miller’s best defense is to say, “George, if you think this matters, then why did you support Bill Frist for Majority Leader?”
As I said, I am leaning to Webb, but let’s make the primary contest about things that are real.
Lloyd Snook
Waldo said:
# Waldo Jaquith, April 1st, 2006, 10:33 pm #
“Um.
I think we can talk about the differences between the Democratic candidates without attacking their appearances.”
I see. Talking about a candidate being with someone half their age is not about appearance? Not about the “hotness” of the woman (girl?) he is with?
Oy vey.
YOU are the one who posted a picture of the guy with a woman half his age and yet we’re not to talk about appearance?
Double. Standard.
“Hotness”? Who are you quoting here? Certainly not me.
Interesting that I posted a picture of the man and his wife, mentioning only their difference in age, and you so strongly infer the use of a word that I never used so as to actually quote it.
Also, even if I had posted something complimentary about the appearance of Mr. or Mrs. Webb, that’s not an attack. It’s the complete opposite.
Thank you for playing. Come again.
Lloyd, thanks for looking into this. To be honest, I wasn’t looking for dirt there, just ran across it.
Now I just have to find a sweet woman who’s 11-and-a-half, and the American Dream will be mine!
Regardless of my views on Homosexuality, Rainbow Mayonaise sounds really gross.