I know you’ve heard all the pundits, bloggers, and other pseudo-experts who insist that Bob Marshall cannot win against Jim Gilmore, or that Marshall cannot win against Mark Warner in a general election.
Well, most (but admittedly, not all), also insisted that Bob Marshall could not beat Tim Kaine, Bob McDonnell, Bill Howell, et al in the courts on HB3202.
Guess what? He won.
From this point forward, just about everyone in eastern Virginia (especially Hampton Roads) will know who he is - namely, he’s the guy that led the fight to wipe out unconstitutional taxes imposed on them against their will. Northern Virginians, who already know him pretty well, will remember that he was the one who helped wipe this nonsense away.
The HB3202 episode has been a microcosm of the numerous advantages Marshall has over Gilmore and Warner:
-
The experience of knowing how a legislator must do battle in order to advance our values and interests against the lefty elite
-
The willingness and courage to take on the leadership of both political parties in order to do the right thing
-
The determination and doggedness to keep up the fight in public in order to ensure the powers that be cannot thwart the will of the people in the darkness
Keep in mind everyone in Richmond was arrayed against Bob Marshall on this one. Bill Howell supported HB3202; the entire Senate leadership supported HB3202; Bob McDonnell’s fingerprints were all over HB3202; even Bill Bolling and Tim Kaine (neither of whom were happy with it at the outset) eventually came around. Jim Gilmore himself greeted the entire issue with an arctic silence.
Marshall’s refusal to give in was considered whimsical and self-defeating.
No longer.
Now, to millions of Virginians furious at having these taxes shoved down there throats despite rejecting them in 2002, Bob Marshall is a hero. He is the man who stood up for them, never gave up the fight, and in the end, killed Tax Hike 9 from Outer Space.
He is exactly the kind of politician we need in the United States Senate - and now, millions of Virginians understand why.
Cross-posted to Bloggers 4 Bob Marshall
February 29, 2008 at 3:23 pm
[...] Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal [...]
February 29, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Remember, Bill Bolling also was a vocal proponent of the transportation authorities UNTIL they became unpopular.
February 29, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Actually, Bolling was non-committal until it came to the Senate for a vote the last time (at which point I believe he said he’d vite for it).
February 29, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Good for Nutjob Bob!