Oh, No

[OrangeOwl]

I watched Virginia Governor Mark Warner give his "State of the Commonwealth" address tonight in front of the repug legislature.

I think his news clippings are getting to his head (i.e., he might run for president), because his damned speech sounded like it was given by Tom DeLay.

He called for tax cuts, he called for increased penalties for drug use. He even endorsed an effort to make it easier to get the death penalty for accused criminals.

Oh, he hit all the right notes and played to the right themes for the D's there, but the message was simple: "I'm a moderate-to-conservative."

I guess that's how he ran in 2001, but I cannot believe this is the guy that progressives want to get behind.

Last year he reformed the tax code, raising taxes, but this year he wants to cut them? Pro-drug crimes laws? Pro-death penalty?

The problem we face here is that Warner is running to the center, while the next Governor-in-Waiting is Tim Kaine, who is a true progessive: anti-death penalty, pro-progess (read: fair tax policy), pro-choice.

Hell, I even saw Gerry Kilgere, the likely repug candidate for Governor, on TV praising the speech. He called it a "conservative, Republican message."

When was the last time you saw a repug Congressman praise Bill Clinton's speech?

People, we can do better for '08.