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On
the road to Oz, Mark Warner is the original Tin Man,
Lowell Weicker the Cowardly Lion and Russ Potts is the
Scarecrow. It's a sordid political game for the
governor's office in Virginia.
The
Times-Dispatch wrote,
"In enlisting (political consultant Tom) D'Amore,
Potts is signaling a serious interest in an independent
candidacy. D'Amore has advised Connecticut's independent
governor, Lowell P. Weicker Jr., as well as an
independent candidate for the presidency."
Noteworthy
news flash: In case you missed it, Russ Potts has been
planning his candidacy since the summer of 2004 with
Gov. Mark Warner's assistance, according to The
Hartford Courant.
Dry
Throat, who resides in Northern Virginia, wrote this
past week, "Shed some light on Warner's neighbor -
the northern tax and spend carpetbagger, and you'll be
doing Virginian taxpayers a huge favor and the Americans
a bigger one. It sure will stop Mark Warner in his
proverbial tracks."
After
all, Dry Throat has hinted in the past about the
Warner-GOP tax cabal.
Red
Dog says, "What do Warner-Potts-Weicker have in
common? Huge tax increases. This could line up well for
Kilgore since many people are fuming/laughing with
disgust/organizing over a tax increase in the face of a
nearly $2 billion surplus. Kaine will push for higher
taxes, and Potts already has voted for four times what
Warner asked for, so no wonder Kilgore got Gilmore on
his campaign team. It is back to the base, and a solid
47 percent by Kilgore could win this thing."
Is
Potts' candidacy a highly irregular procedure -
absolutely unprecedented?
Not
a chance.
Could
there be a connection between Weicker and Warner and the
pro-tax tax GOP cabal who brokered the largest tax
increase in Virginia's history and is dividing the
anti-tax wing of the Virginia Republican Party?
Perhaps,
somewhere over the Potomac rainbow near the City of
Alexandria.
Former
Reagan budget director David Stockman, speaking about
Lowell Weicker, said Weicker was "one of the
biggest spenders to bother calling himself a Republican
in [the 20th] century."
Obviously,
Mr. Stockman never met Russ Potts, John Chichester,
Tommy Norment and Emmett Hanger.
But
back to the Lowell the Cowardly Lion ...
As
a United States senator, Weicker opposed the Balanced
Budget Amendment.
In
1991, as governor of Connecticut, Weicker pushed through
the first-ever income tax in the state after striking a
budget spending cap deal with his General Assembly. But
the statutory spending caps were never followed through,
mainly due to the governor's projected spending
policies. After passing the first state income tax,
Connecticut citizens burned Weicker in effigy.
(Courage!
What makes the moderate GOP elephant charge his tusk in
the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? And seek refuge in
the elephant's graveyard?)
It's
interesting that Weicker, like Mark Warner, campaigned
on the promise repeatedly in his 1990 gubernatorial
campaign to not support a state income tax.
(Courage!
What makes the Connecticut state flag on the mast to
flounder?)
But
held the state budget hostage until the legislature
added the state income tax.
(Courage!
What makes a pious governor out of a mediocre senator?)
It's
that coincidental, or what?
Because
holding the state budget hostage for a revenue
adjustment was the Warner strategy.
Back
in the early 1990s, The National Review wrote
that Weicker's tax policies and state budget were
"an embarrassment of gimmickry and deception."
And
it's a fact. Warner's state budgets have been filled
with gimmickry and deception as well. Warner is the Tin
Man - because our self-promoting governor is heartless
with core Democratic issues in an attempt to appease
future GOP voters.
Do
you suppose neighbor Weicker has been mentoring Gov.
Mollycoddle with the idea of elevating Warner to
presidential stature as well?
Warner
does have a rather curious Connecticut connection.
Born
in Indiana, Warner's family later removed to Vernon,
Conn., where he attended high school. He later attended
college at George Washington University in Virginia and
then Harvard in Massachusetts, where Warner earned a law
degree.
OK,
you're saying in the Capital of the former Confederacy,
the governor of Virginia and a future Democratic
Southern presidential candidate with those Southern Red
State roots is nothing more than a Connecticut
Yankee attorney?
Holy
Moses! Say Amen and Halleluiah before you pass the
cornbread.
(Is
that Jefferson Davis doing a back flip in his grave?)
Hmm
... let's ponder this. Instead of becoming a paid
professional Connecticut Yankee attorney, Mark Warner
became a misguided Virginia politician who is really
good at breaking campaign promises like, "I will
not raise taxes" and "I'll end the car
tax."
Warner's
campaign promises are as hollow as his sunken tin chest.
This
so-called fiscal conservative, Mark Warner, worked for
ultra-liberal Democrats in Congress, including Rep. Ella
Grasso of Connecticut, who in 1974 became the first
woman elected governor, and later as a legislative
assistant for tax-and-spend Connecticut Sen. Christopher
Dodd.
In
my quest as a quasi-investigative reporter and satirical
political columnist, I dog-matically discovered an
interesting sidebar on Sen. Dodd, otherwise known as a
sensationalized Internet rumor and an outstanding urban
legend at that.
According
to Great Secrets of the 20th Century web site, Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin's illegitimate grandson reportedly
is known other than U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of
Connecticut.
And
in another case of sensationalized fiction meets God's
honest truth, Christopher Dodd's father was also a
Connecticut senator and was censured by the U.S. Senate
for a contribution scandal.
In
June 1967, Connecticut Sen. Thomas Dodd was censured for
conduct unbecoming a senator for using his political
funds for personal purposes. The U.S. Senate vote was
92-5, and he was later defeated for reelection.
But
someday, they're gonna erect a statue to me in this
town, you say, Gov. Mollycoddle?
Well,
Mark, don't start posing for it now, because polling is
never a good testimonial. You could be bumped off the
Richmond Monument Avenue list for those scandalized
associations.
Curses,
curses! Somebody always helps that Blue Dog columnist
with information, you say.
--
March 14, 2005
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