Abigail Spanberger and the Virginia Democrats.

[selmaborntidefan]

Spanberger won on a classic bait-and-switch. She ran as a centerist Democrat, but governs like a member of The Squad.

She can get away with that once. But the voters will remember.

Fortunately for her, she can't be on the ballot next time.

This is positioning to run for the White House as there is literally no other reason to function as an extremist otherwise.

 

[92tide]

Yeah, that's always how folks pull it off.

Jimmy Carter ran as friendly to racists George Wallace and Lester Maddox in 1970 to be governor of Georgia. Then at his inauguration he miraculously transformed into a civil rights activist ("the time for racial segregation is over") because he knew he was term limited and already planning to run for President.

George Wallace before the election.
Martin Luther King Jr after the votes are safely counted.

i always thought it was because he was cynically protecting his investments in axe handle manufacturing/s

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Yeah, that's always how folks pull it off.

Jimmy Carter ran as friendly to racists George Wallace and Lester Maddox in 1970 to be governor of Georgia. Then at his inauguration he miraculously transformed into a civil rights activist ("the time for racial segregation is over") because he knew he was term limited and already planning to run for President.

George Wallace before the election.
Martin Luther King Jr after the votes are safely counted.

And - IIRC, he was attending a segregated Baptist church at the time, teaching Sunday school...

 

[selmaborntidefan]

And - IIRC, he was attending a segregated Baptist church at the time, teaching Sunday school...

Carter was attending a segregated Baptist church on the day he was elected President of the United States in 1976. In an effort to mitigate embarrassment, the church took their segregated policy off the books.


==============

Earle, you may remember this because I was too young, but I've read Witcover's summary of it.

In 1976, one of Carter's opponents was Arizona Rep. Morris Udall. Heading towards the Michigan primary, Carter was in trouble and he was endorsed by controversial Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, who then stoked the fires by saying the choice was between a candidate (Carter) who stood so blacks could come into church and one (Udall) whose church (Mormon) won't even let you in the back door.

It was a double irony: Carter stayed a member of his segregated church and Udall LEFT HIS (LDS changed their policy in 1978). Yet the mayor of Detroit inserted race AND religion into the vote and cast the guy who attended the segregated church as some sort of victim.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Fortunately for her, she can't be on the ballot next time.

This is positioning to run for the White House as there is literally no other reason to function as an extremist otherwise.

Until this thread, I wasn't aware that the governor of Virginia can't serve two consecutive terms. Looked it up and found that they can serve more than one term, but there has to be a break in between. Which is unusual.

Regardless of all that, Spanberger's bait-and-switch is a bad look not just for her but for the party as a whole. Essentially, they admitted they couldn't get elected -- even in a blue-leaning state like Virginia -- by running on the platform from which they plan to govern.

I think voters will remember that about both her and the party.

As for Spanberger personally: If she's angling to run for President, that deceit will hang on her neck like a millstone.

 

[75thru79]

Fortunately for her Virginians, she can't be on the ballot next time.

FIFY

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Until this thread, I wasn't aware that the governor of Virginia can't serve two consecutive terms. Looked it up and found that they can serve more than one term, but there has to be a break in between. Which is unusual.

Regardless of all that, Spanberger's bait-and-switch is a bad look not just for her but for the party as a whole. Essentially, they admitted they couldn't get elected -- even in a blue-leaning state like Virginia -- by running on the platform from which they plan to govern.

I think voters will remember that about both her and the party.

As for Spanberger personally: If she's angling to run for President, that deceit will hang on her neck like a millstone.

You have much more confidence in the voters' memory than I do...

 

[Tidewater]

Found some additional info on Spanberger and the murderer.

Spanberger says she will hand over the murderer when they present a federal judicial warrant.
Thing is, he has not committed a federal crime within the statute of limitations, only state crimes.
Also, the way federal immigration law is executed is not based on judicial warrants, but on administrative warrants (each immigrant's case gets heard before an administrative judge). Trying all 11 million cases (or however many) in federal courts would gum up the federal judicial system for decades, which seems to be the point.

 

[Huckleberry]

Found some additional info on Spanberger and the murderer.

Spanberger says she will hand over the murderer when they present a federal judicial warrant.
Thing is, he has not committed a federal crime within the statute of limitations, only state crimes.
Also, the way federal immigration law is executed is not based on judicial warrants, but on administrative warrants (each immigrant's case gets heard before an administrative judge). Trying all 11 million cases (or however many) in federal courts would gum up the federal judicial system for decades, which seems to be the point.

What is an administrative judge? I thought that those warrants were often signed by immigration officers, so essentially signed from within ICE or the Border Patrol.

 

[Tidewater]

What is an administrative judge? I thought that those warrants were often signed by immigration officers, so essentially signed from within ICE or the Border Patrol.

I'm not an attorney, but I believe an administrative judge is a Article II judge (i.e. works for the Executive branch, not the judicial branch), instead of an Article III judge. I believe their mandate is to hear immigrations cases or asylum requests.
Maybe one of the attorneys on the board could weight in on this.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I'm not an attorney, but I believe an administrative judge is a Article II judge, instead of an Article III judge. I believe their mandate is to hear immigrations cases or asylum requests.
Maybe one of the attorneys on the board could weight in on this.

Administrative Law Judges are present in many departments. Probably SS has more than any other. Although they are accorded the honorific "judge," it's best to think of them as hearing officers. They are just civil servants. Trump fired about 100 immigration judges and many more quit, the total RIF was about 200. Trump wanted to gum up the legal path to residency, in order to create a class of many more individuals he and Miller could call "illegals," since they hadn't a hope of getting on a docket and getting a hearing. Later, and up to the present, they even began to target persons who were "legal" in every sense of the word - they had a case on a docket, only to be arrested at the courthouse while waiting. This is a blatant violation of established, statutory law. Trump maintains he's gone after the "worst of the worst." That has included a six-year old deaf boy...

 

[Tidewater]

HB 968 passes House and Senate.
This bill bans hand counting of ballots.

 

[Bazza]

 

[75thru79]

HB 968 passes House and Senate.
This bill bans hand counting of ballots.

So, if a ballot is damaged, or completed improperly, and it cannot be scanned by a machine then it doesn't get counted. Hard to see where this favors one political party unless all the other parties have an overabundance of stupid people who cannot figure out how to mark an X on a ballot or, worse yet, does not know how to use a touch screen. Oh wait.....I think of a party that might fit this description.

 

[Bama_N_Va]

Don't even get me start on Spanbooger, or I'll get banned from this site.

Its even worse than Tidewater stated.

It seems that most of her cabinet picks have been from Northern Virginia. I predict in two years Western Virginia (not to be confused with West Virginia) are going to be feeling some serious pain from new legislation...

And my local House Rep, elected less than a week before the current state Legislature was sworn in, voted all my gun rights away...

Local taxes on meals (basically any food you buy while out of the house), are running 9-11%. Yesterday wife and I went out to dinner and price was $32 plus the $3.60 for tax. I have stopped tipping on tax, I subtract that out before I do my 15%. I rarely tip more than 15% too.

 

[JDCrimson]

I tip based on how many trips the waiter comes to my table. Not the price of the meal.

 

[Tidewater]

So, if a ballot is damaged, or completed improperly, and it cannot be scanned by a machine then it doesn't get counted. Hard to see where this favors one political party unless all the other parties have an overabundance of stupid people who cannot figure out how to mark an X on a ballot or, worse yet, does not know how to use a touch screen. Oh wait.....I think of a party that might fit this description.

I do not think unreadable ballots is an issue that favors one party over another.
It is the recount that matter.
In Spanberger's own election to Congress in 2020, she was behind on election night, behind on the day after (and the margin of victory at that point was known to be about 7,000 votes), and then a thumb drive with 15,000 votes was "discovered" in heavily-Democratic Henrico County. Spanberger eventually won by 8,270 votes.
In the Washington State Governor's race in 2004, Dino Rossi was certified as the winner. Uncounted ballots were discovered in heavily-Democratic King County (Seattle), and Christine Gregoire eventually won by 129 votes, once humans examined all the ballots and applied some human judgment to the questions of "Should this rejected ballot have been considered in accordance with state law?" and sometimes, "What was the voter's intent?" (In Virginia, voters "bubble in" a small circle next to the candidate's name, but if the bubble is not completely filled in, the computer might not count that vote for that candidate, but, as long as there are no more more marks in the bubbles for any competing candidates, a human can discern the voter's intent.)
This is why, in close races, human recounts are important. If Spanberger signs this bill, this will become illegal in Virginia.

 

[92tide]

I do not think unreadable ballots is an issue that favors one party over another.
It is the recount that matter.
In Spanberger's own election to Congress in 2020, she was behind on election night, behind on the day after (and the margin of victory at that point was known to be about 7,000 votes), and then a thumb drive with 15,000 votes was "discovered" in heavily-Democratic Henrico County. Spanberger eventually won by 8,270 votes.
In the Washington State Governor's race in 2004, Dino Rossi was certified as the winner. Uncounted ballots were discovered in heavily-Democratic King County (Seattle), and Christine Gregoire eventually won by 129 votes, once humans examined all the ballots and applied some human judgment to the questions of "Should this rejected ballot have been considered in accordance with state law?" and sometimes, "What was the voter's intent?" (In Virginia, voters "bubble in" a small circle next to the candidate's name, but if the bubble is not completely filled in, the computer might not count that vote for that candidate, but, as long as there are no more more marks in the bubbles for any competing candidates, a human can discern the voter's intent.)
This is why, in close races, human recounts are important. If Spanberger signs this bill, this will become illegal in Virginia.

i haven't ready anything but the summary above, but it seems like it deals with issues for recounts

"The bill also provides for the duplication of damaged or defective ballots by election officials of both parties processing absentee ballots in a central absentee precinct and during the processing and counting of provisional ballots. "

 

[Tidewater]

i haven't ready anything but the summary above, but it seems like it deals with issues for recounts

"The bill also provides for the duplication of damaged or defective ballots by election officials of both parties processing absentee ballots in a central absentee precinct and during the processing and counting of provisional ballots. "

The way Virginia votes is a voter shows his/her driver's license, poll workers scan its bar code, check the living address (so you are at the right polling station), issues a paper ballot.
Voter goes to a booth, bubbles in the candidates, then goes across the room to the counting machine, feeds the ballot into the machine. The machine records that a ballot has been scanned (a digital ballot counter increases by 1). Finito.
I have no problem with a machine scanning my ballot (that would be the preferred way to count them anyway as long as the machine is available), but the accuracy of that account is only as good as the hardware and the software. And, as an experiment, in the last election, I deliberately did not vote for dog catcher. (I neither know nor care who the dog catcher is in Hooterville). The scanning machine did not flag up that I had not voted for dog catcher. It just recorded that a ballot had been counted. In a very close election up ballot, there may have been a scanning error on some of the ballots, but according to this law, it is not legal to count them by hand. I think that is improper.

 

[92tide]

The way Virginia votes is a voter shows his/her driver's license, poll workers scan its bar code, check the living address (so you are at the right polling station), issues a paper ballot.
Voter goes to a booth, bubbles in the candidates, then goes across the room to the counting machine, feeds the ballot into the machine. The machine records that a ballot has been scanned (a digital ballot counter increases by 1). Finito.
I have no problem with a machine scanning my ballot (that would be the preferred way to count them anyway as long as the machine is available), but the accuracy of that account is only as good as the hardware and the software. And, as an experiment, in the last election, I deliberately did not vote for dog catcher. (I neither know nor care who the dog catcher is in Hooterville). The scanning machine did not flag up that I had not voted for dog catcher. It just recorded that a ballot had been counted. In a very close election up ballot, there may have been a scanning error on some of the ballots, but according to this law, it is not legal to count them by hand. I think that is improper.

in georgia, we use a touch screen that forces you to review your choices before submitting. then it prints out a summary of your ballot which you take over and feed into a machine

like i mentioned above, the language used in the summary implies that there are ways to deal with errors