The guy on the right is Andy Rosenberg, who is running for Congress in the Virginia 8th District. He's competing for the Democratic nomination with Rep. Jim Moran, possibly the sleaziest man in Congress. Why is he sleazy? Let's see...
• He exploited his young, dying son to win re-election;
• When he divorced his second wife, she accused him of beating her up, which he did not contest in court;
• He has been in at least two physical fights in the Capitol building;
• He accepted "interest-free loans" from a person with business in front of his congressional committee;
• Two of his lovers showed up simultaneously at 2 a.m. to "help him celebrate his birthday" -- but they didn't know about each other, and they proceeded to get into a screaming, hair-pulling fight until the Alexandria police arrived (that's my favorite Moran anecdote); And
• He started screaming at a priest at Blessed Sacrament parish who tried to correct him about some matter, and had to be restrained. (Blessed Sacrament was one of the "problem" parishes in the Arlington Diocese, at least until they sent in Father Creegan, a no-nonsense pastor who went into the priesthood after retiring as a Marine lieutenant colonel.) Do I even need to mention that Moran is pro-abortion?
Those are just the things I remembered off the top of my head. Moran is in trouble now because he said it weren't for those meddling Jews, we wouldn't have invaded Iraq. Rosenberg's primary challenge arose from the backlash against that silly comment.
Though I didn't know anything about Rosenberg, I considered voting for him in the primary, figuring he couldn't be worse than Moran. I was wrong. At least Moran voted against partial-birth abortion. Rosenberg is all for it. I guess that's what comes when you are a legislative aide to Sen. Kennedy for three years.
Below is a message I sent to Rosenberg after reviewing his opinions on the issues.
Eric,
I can't say that I've ever voted in a primary in Virginia (where I've lived for the last seven years), but I recall reading in an ad for a Republican primary that you have to swear, or pledge, or promise when you vote that you are a Republican. Is that not true in the Democratic primaries of the eighth district? If so, then wouldn't it be perjury or something like it for you to vote in the Dem primary when you're the most yellow-dog Republican (as in "I'd rather vote for a yellow dog than a Democrat")I've encountered in the blogosphere?
I haven't heard that there's a "loyalty oath" in our state, and I'm pretty sure that's not legally enforceable. (The primary you might be referring to was the Democratic one in South Carolina, I think.) The only thing that makes you a Democrat or Republican in Virginia is your personal preference, not registration. How do you prove someone is one or the other? They can't very well examine your voting record.
That being said, it would be objectively immoral to sign a lie.
Eric,
No, I wasn't thinking of the South Carolina primary. The ad I remember, which was run a few years ago and was for some local election, like House of Delegates, was in my local newspaper. Who knows though? Maybe the Dems don't require a loyalty oath and the Repubs do.
I agree that it is not legally enforceable; my point was, as you yourself said, that it would be objectively immoral to sign a lie.
In Maryland, you know, that state to your north which has balanced its budget without raising income or sales taxes, we don't have this open primary bullfeathers.
We actually believe that Republicans should choose Republican nominees and Democrats choose Democratic nominees and independents to bask in their holier-than-thou "I'm above partisan politics" smugness on primary day.
Hmm, with Moran, it's unsafe to be a pro-Israel Jew, a Catholic priest, or to be a little black kid.
With Rosenberg, it's unsafe to be a 9-month-old unborn baby.
Northern Virginia Democrats sure are a sorry bunch.
Nice try, Ken -- but considering Maryland already has one of the highest tax burdens of any state, and local jurisdictions can impose their own income taxes, I wouldn't start boasting about anything. Granted, Virginia has some slithering liars among its Republicans, and I'm hoping the voters remind them of their promises.
The open primary system was set up during the days when the Dems controlled the state. The Democratic nominee was foreordained, so the Republican primary could be "fixed" by Democrats who selected someone amenable to them. I agree that it's not ideal, and should be changed.
Ken,
Stop being so triumphalistic. You're just lucky that you've got a Republican governor. We have the tremendous disfortune of having a "fiscally-conservative" (i.e., pro-tax hikes, pro-big spending boosts, pro-balanced budget) Democratic governor and a bunch of castrated nits, err, make that, a bunch of less than courageous Republicans controlling the legislature during this crisis.
Wasn't it just two years ago that Paris Glendening was your governor? He who lives in a glass state shouldn't throw stones. ;-)
Nice letter! Elegant and tough.
And he lists himself as a graduate from "The University of Virginia." Without the definite article, I would not have known to which of the many institutions called "University of Virginia" he was referring!! This guy is proof that learning has little to do with virtue.