The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself

Posted on | November 6, 2013 | 79 Comments

by Smitty

UPDATE: Mis-attribution fixed. Sorry, Adjoran. Blame Robert Sarvis. 🙂

Stacy put about the best possible spin on matters last night. As with Lonegan in NJ, saying the candidate “beat the spread” is thin gruel.

I disagree with Adjoran[‘s responder]:

Nope, you can blame Robert Sarvis of the Libertarian Party for Cuccinelli’s defeat. He and Cucinelli have a combined 53% of the vote. If Sarvis has not been a spoil sport, Cucinelli could have won.

No, you can’t.

(a) Sarvis is a free moral agent. It’s his state and he can run if he wants to, run if he wants to. The results show the degree to which the Republican party must alter course to capture those votes.

(b) This was not a high-turnout election. I served in a polling station supporting adjacent precincts covering ~8k voters, with ~30% turnout. If you’re going to beat up the Democrats for nominating a no-talent rodeo clown for office, blame the lazy conservatives who were just to lazy to turn out and do something about it. Oh, my dog/car/wife/long line/leaves/traffic–SHADDUP! I put in a 17 hour day supporting this election, and earn roughly minimum wage for those hours. That is, it ain’t about the frogskins. Furthermore, I had to eat vacation time to do it. Thus, my opportunity cost was high. Which is by no means a complaint, but I know first-hand that (a) it was a clean election, and (b) voters are getting what they wanted.

Mataconis was hasn’t got a happy-dance post up yet:

Still disagree, Doug. Cuccinelli is an able public servant who articulated reasonable plans to an audience that doesn’t bother to vote, or votes for a guy whose main plan for anything seems to be ‘get liquored up’.

The GOP, at Tea Party insistence, conducted a nominating convention this year. The GOP nominee in a primary, had such occurred, might have been Bowling, who certainly showed his worth during this gubernatorial campaign. Entertaining the counterfactual: would Bowling have beaten McAuliffe? He could have just as easily done worse.

Mataconis himself supported Sarvis, nominally as a protest vote. Maybe the lesson for the GOP concerning Sarvis is that, if the party is driving matters, and winning is everything, then brass knuckle politics is fine:

A major Democratic Party benefactor and Obama campaign bundler helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot — a move that could split conservative votes in a tight race.
Campaign finance records show the Libertarian Booster PAC has made the largest independent contribution to Sarvis’ campaign, helping to pay for professional petition circulators who collected signatures necessary to get Sarvis’ name on Tuesday’s statewide ballot.
Austin, Texas, software billionaire Joe Liemandt is the Libertarian Booster PAC’s major benefactor. He’s also a top bundler for President Barack Obama.

So, a possible “conservative” strategy would be to fund some godless Commie sodomite, to rail against private property and capitalism, and pick off some Democrat votes. The word “conservative” in the previous sentence is scarequoted because people of good conscience tend not to engage in subterfuge.

No, it’s far easier to just turn out the base and win properly.

As for Virginia, well, four years of Detroitification stand to suck. Norther Virginia will do OK; this is the land of homo bureaucratus, that species which excels in regulating others. As for the rest of the state, well, if you liked Healthcare.gov, you’ll love the gubernatorial equivalent, and slather that lotion the heck on. Right now. Or else it gets the hose again.

Category: Election, Virginia

Comments

79 Responses to “When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself”

  1. CHideout
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself: by Smitty Stacy put about the best pos… http://t.co/mRQQKBEqpB

  2. MrEvilMatt
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself: by Smitty Stacy put about the best pos… http://t.co/Nh6U5jceW2

  3. Resista38176897
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself: by Smitty Stacy put about the best pos… http://t.co/WSBuyL3cAw

  4. jwbrown1969
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself: by Smitty Stacy put about the best pos… http://t.co/uLwLlxI7Sw

  5. Lockestep1776
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself: by Smitty Stacy put about the best pos… http://t.co/NeoOnhTASn

  6. Citzcom
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:17 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself: by Smitty Stacy put about the best pos… http://t.co/8m6m75nQod

  7. Gislana449Susan
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:22 am

    RT @smitty_one_each: When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/kJaFB7VjIH #TCOT

  8. rsmccain
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:27 am

    Virginia: “It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin” http://t.co/xOCvBIEdCk – via @smitty_one_each

  9. marstraveler
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:27 am

    RT @smitty_one_each: When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/kJaFB7VjIH #TCOT

  10. marstraveler
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:28 am

    @smitty_one_each Once Again Stupidity Over Rules What Is Right By Reelecting Christie, And Voting In Another Lying Democrat Like McAuliffe

  11. rbeestweets
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:29 am

    RT @rsmccain: Virginia: “It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin” http://t.co/xOCvBIEdCk – via @smitty_one_each

  12. glaity
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:30 am

    RT @smitty_one_each: When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/kJaFB7VjIH #TCOT

  13. loopyloo305
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:42 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/PURoBwEI5y

  14. ConservativAOLA
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:42 am

    sista
    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself

    Stacy put about the best possible… http://t.co/JEA3Nj6MV1

  15. Wombat_socho
    November 6th, 2013 @ 8:50 am

    The margin was thin enough that a better ground game might have pulled this out. The precinct I worked in Fairfax County had 40% turnout and broke 60/40 for McAuliffe and the Democrats; there was a constant presence of Democrat operatives outside handing out sample ballots and no Republican presence at all. One can, if one is so inclined, lay this at the feet of the RINOs and moderates in the party (as Mark Levin has) but the fact remains that a lot of money was spent on yard signs that might have been better spent hiring some bodies to stand at the polls and remind people that actions have consequences.

  16. Quartermaster
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:01 am

    Adjoran has also blamed the loss on the shut down. My observation is that Adjoran is far from an astute observer, but just an establishment shilling idiot that gets something right occasionally by sheer luck.
    From my own observation in Ohio, you can blame at least part of the loss on the current Governor who damaged the brand. Robert Taft was Governor in Ohio, and he had appointed a man to handle some state investments, who then around to lose them in some ill conceived scheme. Taft got painted with the brush of corruption, righteously, and the next guy, Ken Blackwell, who was also abandoned by the state GOP establishment lost to a leftist moron, Strickland, who then proceeded to drag the state through the mud.
    The GOP establishment also abandoned the GOP candidate in Virginia, as Levin also pointed out, calling out Prebus on the radio. The GOP establishment has a lot to answer for. The least of which is their poor choice of candidates, then abandoning anyone they don’t like when the grass roots hands them some one else. If they like authoritarianism so much, the Dimocrap party awaits their applications. Just don’t be surprised when they are marching you to the wall when it’s over.

  17. beachkatie
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:04 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/OpTzgwm8ur

  18. NeoWayland
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:07 am

    I’ll admit as far as I am concerned, the national leadership of both major parties should be prosecuted under the RICO Act.

    But there doesn’t seem to be much of a Republican presence “on the ground” in several states.

    Pity. I’d rather deal with Republicans than Democrats.

  19. Mm
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:17 am

    Did you see The Blaze report on Monday detailing that Sarvis was a spoiler, funded primarily by an Obama bundler? Sarvis supports libertarian ideals like taxing mileage. /sarc off. Any libertarian who had bothered to do a modicum of research on the guy’s positions would have seen he was a fake and would not have voted for him. By the way, two friends live in Virginia and they are now leaving. NOVA has turned into the NYC/LA/Seattle of Virginia, where one segment of the state votes the opposite of most counties and calls the shots because of population density.

  20. JeffWeimer
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:20 am

    Yeah, he did – see the last quote.

  21. BrianKennedy8
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:20 am

    RT @smitty_one_each: When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/kJaFB7VjIH #TCOT

  22. Lemuel Vargas
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:32 am

    “Nope, you can blame Robert Sarvis of the Libertarian Party”

    Think you are right about not blaming Robert Sarvis, Smitty Those libertarians who voted for him could easily have been “lazy to turn out and do something about it.” (Your words).
    But still, even if just a smidgen of those libertarians voted for Cuccinelli, he (Cuccinelli) could have pulled it off. Remember that the margin is just 1 or 2% or about 2,500 votes (Pls. correct if info is wrong.)

  23. smitty
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:32 am

    Yes I did quote The Blaze, and yes I am pondering a foot vote.

  24. smitty_one_each
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:33 am

    RT @rsmccain: Virginia: “It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin” http://t.co/xOCvBIEdCk – via @smitty_one_each

  25. NASCARNAC
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:34 am

    RT @rsmccain: Virginia: “It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin” http://t.co/xOCvBIEdCk – via @smitty_one_each

  26. When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself | Dead Citizen's Rights Society
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:34 am

    […] When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself […]

  27. Josh_Painter
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:52 am

    RT @rsmccain: Virginia: “It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin” http://t.co/xOCvBIEdCk – via @smitty_one_each

  28. JeffWeimer
    November 6th, 2013 @ 9:53 am

    A foot vote makes the problem worse, but one can only take so much. When we vote jungle primaries in VA, it’s time to go, for the cancer is too far gone.

  29. Bob Cavalli
    November 6th, 2013 @ 10:02 am

    First of all, it’s Bolling, not Bowling. Perhaps you should do some research before commenting on VA politics.

    Second, no one commenting is “blaming” Sarvis, to the extent that he certainly has a ‘right’ to run, they are “blaming” his presence on the ballot for siphoning more votes from KC than he did from TM. There is a difference.

    Third, neither the national nor state parties supported KC to nearly the extent they supported McDonnell. The Chamber of Commerce, which gave McDonnell $1 million, gave nothing to KC. In politics, money wins elections, and TM had a huge advantage both in fundraising and in outside money.

    Changing the nominees won’t help. Gilmore got his clock cleaned, and he is as establishment as they come in VA. Allen has lost his last two elections, and so his he. KC didn’t lose because of a convention (Bolling doesn’t have the heart for the kind of nasty, brass knuckle campaign TM ran), or because he is too conservative. He lost because, once again, the GOP is too stupid, and too selfish, to rally around their nominee, no matter who he, or she, is.

  30. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 6th, 2013 @ 10:19 am

    Ken was sold out…

  31. drcmusic58
    November 6th, 2013 @ 10:46 am

    When Virginia Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, The Victim Can Blame Itself http://t.co/RIL17Sy1s3

  32. diana_west_
    November 6th, 2013 @ 11:05 am

    Who’s to blame in VA — Establishment GOP? The Libertarian? Dem lies? Or shockingly low voter turn-out? @dbongino http://t.co/WIIeCIq0aD

  33. Mm
    November 6th, 2013 @ 12:36 pm

    Missed that foe some reason. Thanks!

  34. richard mcenroe
    November 6th, 2013 @ 12:36 pm

    Libertarian voters don’t DO research. They’re too busy having the Secret Knowledge none of the rest of us have and Alex Jones does all the research they need done.

  35. richard mcenroe
    November 6th, 2013 @ 12:38 pm

    New York elects a Sandinista, VA elects a corrupt thief. My sympathies to my relatives and friends in both but this is like something out of Bulfinch; they have evoked their own Nemesis.

  36. richard mcenroe
    November 6th, 2013 @ 12:39 pm

    A foot vote does NOT make the problem worse. One man cannot stop an hysterical crowd from running back INTO a burning building.

  37. Mm
    November 6th, 2013 @ 12:40 pm

    Indeed, one can only take so much. The risk to their families is too great, in their view. Another appalling stat is the low turnout among gun owners in VA, home of the NRA, in light of TM’s “F” rating.

  38. Beeblebrocs
    November 6th, 2013 @ 12:43 pm

    I simply don’t understand the meme promulgated by people like Mataconis that Cooch was a bad choice as a nominee. The man a great conservative in nearly every way. If I had to list the ideal candidate to run in ANY election, it would be someone who is a solid SoCon, fiscally conservative, track record of not bending to the corporatists, is a constitution advocate, can speak well, and has had success as a government servant.

    Cooch has all these things. I’d like to see him run for the Senate if possible.

    And before people complain about Cooch’s SoCon views, he never made them a centerpiece of his campaign but people knew where he stood. This gets him the SoCon vote which is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED in order for a Republican to win any office in a purple or red state. I’ve seen posters argue (such as over at AoSHQ) that SoCon issues should never be discussed by the GOP candidate. I guess in this way, the LIV young female empty-headed blond crowd will suddenly vote for him if his views are not known.

    The problem with this idea is that:

    a.) SoCon voters expect their GOP candidates to be SoCon at some level. If the candidate runs away from the issue then the SoCon voter will not vote for them. This is a guaranteed loss. Heck, Romney probably lost enough SoCon votes because of his abortion views to lose the election.

    b.) The young, pro-abortion, female, empty-headed LIV voter will not vote for the social issue-neutral GOP candidate in sufficient numbers to out-weigh the loss of the SoCon vote.

    c.) Even if the GOP candidate stays mum on his social issues views, the Left will make stuff up about his views anyway. Already we saw this with Cooch when they claimed he was going to outlaw birth control as if he ever could do that even if he wanted to (which he said he would never do).

    Bottom line, SoCon views don’t lose elections for GOP candidates. Being undermined by your own party loses elections.

  39. S1CT
    November 6th, 2013 @ 1:19 pm

    VA Gov race “shows the degree to which the Republican party must alter course to capture Libertarian votes.” http://t.co/TJvnkChAVy

  40. Mm
    November 6th, 2013 @ 1:28 pm

    Mataconis is wrong and he can’t admit it. Cuccinelli won Independents in VA by a wide margin: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/06/Extremist-Cuccinelli-Crushed-McAuliffe-Among-Independents

  41. Physics Geek
    November 6th, 2013 @ 1:37 pm

    You could have simply stopped with “Mataconis is wrong”.

  42. Mm
    November 6th, 2013 @ 1:47 pm

    In the mood to share some of the states under consideration?

  43. La Pucelle
    November 6th, 2013 @ 2:15 pm

    C is especially true. What irritates me about the so-called FiCons is that on the one hand they’re fond of lecturing SoCons on how they’ll never have their ideal candidate and they just need to just hold their nose for whomever has the (R) behind their name. Of course, should that same candidate so much as vary even a little on their Cause CelebrĂ©, (such as “sexual freedom”) suddenly all bets are off. Only FiCons are permitted to wait for an ideal candidate. Because, winning! (And of course, when their favorite candidate loses, it’s never that they ran a bad candidate, it’s the fault of the SoCons for refusing to turn out like good little serfs)

    Even Ace is waxing histrionic over the sodomy law issue, at a time where he’s normally fairly level-headed. It’s also proof that LIVs aren’t the only ones who fall for leftist mudslinging campaigns and and have Pavlovian reactions to certain issues that Democrats know they can manipulate. Just dangle a “gay marriage” carrot in front of, say, Chris Barron’s nose, and he’ll gladly abandon his supposed “small government” ideals.

    FiCons keep forgetting C. If they think even Great White Hope Christie won’t be tarred and feathered as an extremist if he runs as a presidential candidate, they’re hopelessly naive.

  44. La Pucelle
    November 6th, 2013 @ 2:31 pm

    Virginia has the Colorado problem: a very very red state outside the urban centers filled with government leeches. Loudoun county was rural up until recently, when rich latte leftist lobbyists started migrating out of Fairfax and Arlington and started infecting the county like the plague they are. So now you have rampant cronyism and overdevelopment due to McAwful’s wealthy pals, the latte leftists.

    Sadly, like any plague, they start spreading elsewhere. Clarke and Frederick are still fairly rural and thus fairly red, but the latte leftists are going to start spreading out here to get away from the very mess they created. Again. Rinse, repeat ad infinitum.

    I’m hoping that the 11 counties in Colorado start giving rural Virginians some ideas. Even if it’s a long shot, the mandarin class needs to know that their comfy system can’t last indefinitely.

  45. Beeblebrocs
    November 6th, 2013 @ 3:36 pm

    Totally agree with this. Ironically, the SoLib/FiCon crowd is often more purist-minded than SoCons. A lot of those people demand that SoCons shut up even to the extent that SoCons should not run for public office.

    Here is what the “Socially Liberal/Fiscally Conservative” voters don’t realize. Social Conservatives WILL NOT vote for pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage candidates, PERIOD. This is because SoCons believe that those are evil enterprises and that they will be held personally accountable by God Himself if they support that kind of evil. Meanwhile, are there any FiCons who believe that pulling the lever for a Socially Conservative candidate will get them in trouble with Beelzebub? Evidently so.

    So the narrow issue FiCon crowd demands that the SoCons vote against their conscience and then whine when SoCons stay home rather than vote for the pro-homosexual or pro-abortion candidates.

  46. NeoWayland
    November 6th, 2013 @ 5:12 pm

    That’s not exactly accurate.

    I don’t trust Alex Jones and I’ve never listened to him. Read him yes, at least enough to know he wasn’t really worth the effort.

    I didn’t trust Ron Paul either.

    One of the reasons I hang out here is because I do the research. I comment here because I want my ideas tested by people who don’t usually agree with me.

  47. Wombat_socho
    November 6th, 2013 @ 5:13 pm

    Oh, like you never commit typos?

  48. Adjoran
    November 6th, 2013 @ 5:33 pm

    I NEVER said blame Sarvis and demand a retraction. That was some idiot replying to one of my comments. I don’t have time to reply to every stupid reply.

    I blame a) the stupid shutdown theater which took the spotlight for three weeks at the critical time of the campaign, and b) the fact Cooch tried to stay on as AG and campaign at the same time, unlike his predecessors going back to 1981.

  49. Mm
    November 6th, 2013 @ 5:36 pm

    I am tired of analyzing. I have decided that these things happen because the left is motivated and the right sits on its ass and complains.

  50. smitty
    November 6th, 2013 @ 6:55 pm

    What was wrong with the convention?