Sad News

Reading my WaPo today --- yes, I'm one of those anachronisms who still subscribes to and reads daily papers --- I came across an article on the late Richard Ben Cramer, who died on Monday at age 62.  As the article details, Cramer was, in many ways, a throwback to the caffeine-addicted, chain-smoking --- lung cancer ultimately claimed him --- reporters of yore.

Cramer, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 (at age 29) is best known for his 1992 work “What It Takes: The Way To the White House,” a huge tome on the 1988 presidential race.  Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley calls it "“arguably the finest book on campaign politics of all time."

I had the privilege of dining with Mr. Cramer and his assistant at a Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention some years ago, and while I can't say I knew the man or got to know him well on that brief encounter, he struck me as a very nice guy, a hail-fellow-well-met sort of man whose friendliness and good humor doubtless served him well in his chosen profession.  It was easy to understand how he got to know his subjects so well.

RIP.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is ...

Blow Me ... er, Blue Virginia.

Here's a post which caught my eye.  It complains of the fact that nationwide, Democrat House candidates won the popular vote by less than a percentage point (49.15% to 48.03%), but Republicans won a 33-seat majority.  In Virginia, Republican candidates won the popular vote by 2%, but won eight out of eleven seats.

To be sure, this is a function of gerrymandering.  To be sure, there are exceptions (one-seat states like Alaska, Wyoming, and North Dakota) which skew the results, but it's almost a fair point.  If, of course, we lived in a parliamentary system of government, and not a representative republic.  But of course, the moonbats on far Left never let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

Here's one they cast proverbial Memory Hole: that there were crickets chirping over at Blow Me ... er, Blue Virginia when a Democrat gerrymander for the Virginia State Senate resulted in 20 Democrat Senators, even though statewide, Democrat Senate candidates won less than 43% of the  vote.

You can be taken seriously as people of principle when Virginia Democrats surrender three of those seats.  And reverse the effort to carve up Prince William County like a Thanksgiving turkey (one whole district and parts of four others in a county whose population justifies two full seats, and part of another) to preserve Chuck Colgan's seat.