March 3, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Democrat to challenge Landes

For the first time since he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1995, Del. Steve Landes will face a challenge from a Democratic candidate this fall. (There have been some independent candidates who ran against him.) Dr. Greg Marrow, an optometrist from Rockingham County, announced that he will run for the 25th District seat. According to the News Leader, Marrow considers himself to be a conservative Democrat, and wants to bring "green jobs" to the Shenandoah Valley. Del. Landes was quoted as saying he welcomes the competition, and I agree that it is a healthy thing for political discourse. The 25th District is safely Republican, so I'm not too worried, but I'm not complacent, either. The article mentions that Del. Ben Cline (24th District) will be facing a Democratic challenger, and the Democrats are trying to recruit someone to run against Del. Chris Saxman (20th District) as well.

Rush the Entertainer

On Saturday I wrote that "I was hoping Rush would say something about the need for the conservative movement to engage in critical thinking and dialogue, and to resist the tendency to excoriate anyone who strays from the True Path." After thinking about it some more, I decided that was just not a very serious prospect. Rush is intelligent, as are most of his listeners, but he is primarily a cheerleader for the conservative cause, or even an entertainer, as Michael Steele said and as Rush freely admits. Intellectual discourse is not his bag. That being said, Rush could at least help heal the Republican Party rift, if he really wanted to.