Goode Ties Himself to Tea Parties

The TEA Party phenomenon came to Southside today and yesterday, led by our former congress critter Virgil Goode. But he's not running...he's just filed the paperwork. You'll be intrigued to note that 220 South made a trip to the Martinsville event, sort of like an embedded journalist. I had to be as discreet as possible, since Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle tells us that you interfere with outcomes by observing them. Therefore, no photography; however, I can offer thoughtful commentary.

While embedded in Uptown Martinsville, I was able to uncover some shocking news. The media refuses to report it, and only talk radio has the integrity and patriotism to point it out and sound the alarm. Prepare yourself; this will be difficult to hear. The Henry County Wingnuts Association, with principled guidance from truth defenders Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Hazmar the Traveling Gypsy Soothsayer, have discovered the following: Barack Obama is apparently an anti-Christian secret socialist bent on destroying our constitution and our republic. These shocking secrets are being suppressed by the Administration in an attempt to dupe the public into complacency. Our governor, our entire congressional delegation, and Lucifer himself are all complicit in this endeavor.

There were lots of amens and lots of prayers about protecting our country from "liberals" and "socialists" who apparently don't believe in God. After several speeches by local (extremely) conservative politicians, Virgil spoke for about 16 minutes. There were plenty of digs at Obama, Pelosi, Webb, and of course, Perriello...or as Virgil calls him, Pe-urello. He even attacked Mark Warner--a tremendously stupid move in a place like Martinsville where the man is adored. He even went as far as accusing the Martinsville Bulletin and its owner (whom he singled out by name) of being a liberal rag, albeit not in those words. The reason? They happened to cover it when our governor, congressman and a bunch of elected officials and dignitaries came to town last week. Never mind that they were also there to cover this outpouring of conservative anger at having lost the election. There was lots of talk about "politically correct loans"--i.e., money for minorities. Goode also talked a lot about Somalian immigrants coming to "this country" to get on welfare and food stamps--hey, at least he's branching out from just talking about anchor babies. 

I could continue on, but there's almost too much to talk about. During this event, the crazy poured out like manna from heaven, and I had to wonder if this is really the future of the Republican Party. It would have been one thing to criticize the spending--I freely admit that there is a lot of money being spent, and that it's fair for the opposition to criticize that. But it's quite another thing to accuse Obama and his supporters of conspiring to undermine capitalism and destroy democracy. The opposition in any government has a critical function--if they're raising legitimate policy concerns about specific issues, then fine. They can be a moderating influence and lend a lot to a country's internal dialog. That's their job. But if they're stonewalling absolutely everything and screeching out conspiratorial rhetoric, they're not only failing to contribute, they're not doing their job.

And on the day they protested about skyrocketing taxes, the largest middle-class tax cut in history went into effect. You know, like Obama promised during the campaign?

As Virgil Goode gears up his 2010 non-campaign, we should keep in mind the fact that he has totally embraced the TEA party phenomenon. Not only did he speak in Martinsville, he also appeared at Smith Mountain Lake last night and will show up at a TEA party in Lynchburg tomorrow. I think by going this route, he has further alienated himself from moderates in the electorate who flipped for Perriello at the last minute. If this is the new Republican Party, then I think they're in much worse trouble than they realize.