This must be what it would like to be psychic; events unfolding with a mundane predictability, life losing any element of spontaneity.
All of Virginia politics is a-twitter with former RPV executive director J. Kenneth Klinge’s call for Jeff Frederick’s resignation. Klinge argues, in a nutshell, that Frederick has failed the very standards to which he held John Hager, the man he successfully challenged for the position of RPV chair. He calls for Frederick’s ouster, to be replaced by… Well, nobody seems to know. But if there’s one thing that the base will be able to agree on, it’ll be somebody farther to the right of Frederick, squishy centrist that he is.
The increasingly-ironically-named Republican “Advance” is coming up—first weekend in December—which the RPV holds at The Homestead to really hammer home the point that they’re the party of rich white men. (They’re having a heck of a time selling tickets this year, so they’ve extended the reservation deadline from last Sunday to to Friday afternoon…with the caveat that, really, you can register any time between now and the event itself.) That’s where all of this will go down. Either Frederick will hold onto his seat through the support of the dead-enders—and that’s clearly what I’m rooting for—or he’ll get tossed out. But he’s not going to go quietly. If he loses his leadership position (one that’s apparently so important to Virginia Republicans that it warrants putting Frederick on par with AG McDonnell and LG Bolling), note that he’ll have made it just six months, four months less than Hager managed to hang onto the position.
The RPV is no longer about anything. It’s about a battle between regular Republicans and so-scary-they’re-harmless Republicans. It’s about power. It’s about surviving. (As Norm Leahy asked today, “quick…what does the GOP hope to accomplish in the next session?”)
Why are McDonnell and Bolling running unchallenged? For the same reason that there’s not much competition in the canine outhouse business—they’re selling product that people don’t want. Kaine was able to get the Democratic nomination without much fuss because there wasn’t much faith that he could repeat Warner’s feat. Why fight over a a shot at losing? The growing scrum of Democrats for each statewide seat in 2009 is the other side of that coin; everybody wants a shot at victory.
So, sure, bring on the fight over the RPV chairmanship. The Honeymooners comes to mind:
Ralph: I’m the king, and you’re nothin’?
Alice: Well, that would make you the king of nothin’?
he’ll have made it just six months, four months less than Hager managed to hang onto the position.
Yeah, but that 6 months would tie him with Ed “Hello, I Must Be Going” Gillespie, wouldn’t it? There’s that.
To be fair, the Democrats have their annual retreat at the Homestead as well.
I think the Dems telegraph the wrong message by meeting there, too, but at least it doesn’t reinforce an existing negative stereotype about Democrats.
Oh, phooey – I love the Homestead! But I always wait to get some kind of a discounted stay (they e-mail special deals) because I do work for a living!
I was going to go to the Advance, mostly to hang out in one of my favorite places for a discounted room rate, but bagged out on it. I’m feeling apathetic about RPV. I don’t feel like going to a RPV function. I’m also feeling very apathetic about my County committee, truth to tell.
I may just go back to being an independent, “officially.” I’d call myself moderate-to-conservative on the spectrum. I don’t feel at ease with the Republican establishment here.
Bolling (a candidate I like and support) is running opposed but by a fellow I had never heard of until this week. Muldoon, I believe?