June 25, 2007 [LINK / comment]
Dems relish SWAC blog wars
The Richmond Democrat took note of the latest flareup among local Republicans, especially my use of the phrase blood sport to describe the methods used by "SWAC Girl" and a few other local GOP bloggers and activists. (For you folks in Rio Linda, that phrase comes from the 1996 book by James B. Stewart, Blood Sport: The President and His Adversaries. It details the various scandals of the Clinton administration, from Troopergate to Whitewater to Vince Foster, focusing on the ruthless manner in which the Clintons rose to power.) For obvious partisan reasons, RD is hyping the conflict between the Staunton GOP factions just a tad, portraying this Thursday's meeting as some kind of big showdown. Personally, I'm not spoiling for a fight, but I do share the strong commitment of my Republican colleagues to convene in regular monthly meetings like a normal committee is supposed to do. If that can be done on a consensual basis rather than by forcing the issue by invoking provisions of the bylaws, fine. In that regard, I was pleased that "SWAC Girl" began her recent post on me by acknowledging that "Give-and-take is the name of the game in politics." Well, that's certainly a step in the right direction.
F.T. Rea was musing about the barrage of strident rantings by certain SWAC bloggers against me, and an intriguing thought occurred to him:
It hit me this morning -- maybe the SWACters are moles!
Maybe, just maybe, they are in deepest cover -- donkeys to the bone wearing blow-up rubber elephant suits. Maybe their true mission is the destruction of the Republican Party as we know it in Virginia.
Personally, I think the likelihood of that is extremely low, no more than ten percent. I just think that, like most "pseudo-conservatives," they are a little bonkers.
Manassas Park woes
I'm not a fan of Black Velvet Bruce Li, but he has drawn attention to an emerging problem that I am quite familiar with: the crime wave associated with illegal immigrants in Manassas Park, one of the outer suburbs of Washington in Northern Virginia. There was a rape that took place in broad daylight there a few weeks ago. Many residents (legal) have been complaining more often that their municipal government is failing to deal with rising gang activity and the widespread overcrowding of private homes, as immigrant homeowners (Latin American, mostly) rent out rooms to newly arriving laborers. I have noticed several times in the past few years the large number of small box houses from the 1940s that have been renovated and expanded. I thought that was a positive sign of immigrant assimilation, but there is a dark side to that trend, apparently.