Wednesday, November 09, 2011

The Tea Party Could Have Prevented This

Yesterday, all over Virginia, local and state elections took place. Many small places had hotly contested campaigns for sheriffs and supervisors (the Board of Supervisors is the governing body of a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia). Such things never make national news but they are deeply important to those who run for local office, and small-town newspapers will be full of analyses. The old adage that “all politics are local” always comes to mind when reading the results.

But there are times when local politics are harbingers of things to come. This was certainly the case in yesterday’s vote up in Virginia’s newly-cut 87th District. To begin with, this November’s election follows the census year, and those head-counting years re-draw the boundaries as populations fluctuate here and there. The new 87th is one such place.

But what makes it especially ‘interesting’ for politics in Virginia — and to those who watch these signs and signals for what they portend on a larger scale — is the possible election in the 87th District of a sharia candidate for the Commonwealth’s House of Delegates (Virginia has always declared itself a “commonwealth” or a “dominion”, but never a mere state — no matter the customs elsewhere).

The Blue Ridge Forum follows local doings in Virginia and Maryland. It posted some of the details on Mr. Ramadan, the fellow with the Muslim Brotherhood connections, and the results in the 87th:

Yesterday’s election results in Virginia’s 87th District showed — in spite of a GOP sweep of the House of Delegates statewide — that Republican candidate David Ramadan lost in conservative Loudoun County and only edged out his Democrat opponent in the entire 87th District by 50 votes out of 10,875. The 87th includes parts of both Prince William and Loudoun Counties.

Obviously a recount in the 87th District election is possible. [More likely it will be required by the state with such a close call — D]

Many conservatives view Mr. Ramadan as a fellow-traveler of Political Islamists if not one himself.

Grover Norquist was a key backer and, we believe, orchestrated the entrance of former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese into the contested 87th district GOP primary in behalf of first-time candidate Ramadan.

[…]

Former Reagan defense aide Frank Gaffney, now head of the Center for Security Policy, was a featured voice at an illuminating Ramadan protest with other security experts in downtown Leesburg last August.
We had a post on that protest at the time, hoping that Ramadan would lose the primary. No such luck..

Blue Ridge wonders, too, at the political cost of backing this fellow:

The governor of Virginia himself spent some political capital in behalf of David Ramadan. In doing so, he obviously sent what many conservatives would regard as a questionable political signal.

I’ll say! The most “questionable political signal” one can imagine in an otherwise obscure race. The numbers of voters who care about such things are growing. Otherwise Mr. Ramadan would not have done so poorly running as a Republican in a conservative area. (Those lost votes speak volumes, Governor. Watch your back if you plan on higher office, as you so obviously do when you appear with Mitt Romney.)

The Forum continues:

One can be sure that both candidate Ramadan and his friends at the top of the Virginia GOP will ensure that they have industrial-strength talent looking over the shoulders of officials during any recount.
Yes, indeed. Just one more creepy aspect of this whole artificial insertion of the Muslim Brotherhood into Virginia politics.

Jerry Gordon at the New English Review picked up the Blue Ridge column, noting both the close vote and the number of big-wig, go-along-to-get-along- inside-the-Beltway Republicans who came out in favor of a questionable candidate for a state assembly seat, for heaven’s sake. Had Ramadan been a real conservative Republican candidate instead of a handpicked Grover Norquist cutout he’d have won easily. That he did not do so is a sign of hope that people understand the back story on Mr. Ramadan:

That is a margin of less than 0.5 percent, certainly sufficient to have the Democrat opponent of Ramadan request a re-count. This Virginia state legislature race got national attention, because Ramadan had the backing of Virginia’s GOP Governor Bob McDonnell, US House Majority Leader, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, former US Attorney General Edwin Meese and Grover Norquist, the King of K Street GOP Lobbyists in Washington, DC and facilitator of MB infiltration into the GOP and conservative circles.
Why would those big-time, heavy hitters be weighing in a state delegate race??

What favors are being paid to whom? Edwin Meese in District 87? Give.me.a.break.

You will note that the Center for Security Policy is one of the few places courageous enough to bell Grover Norquist’s Islamic cat. In a severely ‘insider’ place like Washington, D.C., Gaffney exhibits rare valor indeed. No doubt it costs him something to do so.

Virginia’s governor, Bob McDonnell, has his eye on the national scene. It’s obvious now that he’s aiming for some kind of vice-presidential pick this time around or making plans for a chase after the Big Prize in 2016. These guys just never stop.

McDonnell was elected on a promise to privatize the liquor industry in Virginia, to get it out of state control and into private hands where it could be run efficiently, become more consumer-friendly, and rake in tax revenues for the state. It’s fortunate we didn’t hold our breath waiting for that one to become a reality.

For American voters, a warning: keep your eye on Virginia’s governor in the next few years. He likes the Muslim Brotherhood and he doesn’t keep his campaign promises. We already have one of those in the Oval Office. We don’t need a Republican version.

Kudos to The Center for Security Policy. You may turn out to be victorious after all, though it’s a shame the 87th’s Hobbesian choice — a Democrat or a Norquist robot — was so dire. Let’s hope it’s the last time voters are faced with such an option.

By the way, if the 87th had had a robust Tea Party membership, Ramadan would never have won the primary to begin with. The other candidate on the Republican side had a good track record and the endorsement of the Northern Virginia Tea Party. But she needed their boots on the ground to overcome Norquist's money and big names. The TP has a proven track record in races like this, especially when the other Republican or the Democrat is so obviously weak. Ramadan was very weak; he had no track record at all. Nada. But when the big guns and the big money move into a local race, and there is no Tea Party presence to push back against these heavyweights, the Bigs crush the local process.

And that is the biggest shame of this whole affair.

18 comments:

Brock Townsend said...

Most well said and posted.

rickl said...

Maybe I'm showing my ignorance and naivete here, but why on earth are Republican big shots supporting Muslim candidates?

I know that Norquist has been in bed with the Muslims forever, but what is the others' excuse? Saudi oil money?

Dymphna said...

@ rickl--

Darned if I know. It is strange and creepy. I mean what has Meese, of all people, to gain. He must be in his 80s by now? Isn't it time to stop wheeling & dealing and begin to make amends? Or maybe not.

Dymphna said...

@ Mr. Townsend-

That is a most interesting blogroll. I went to a few places. Some fascinating discussions. Thanks for putting them in your profile.

Anonymous said...

@ rickl

My guess is that the elites of the party supported Ramadan because he deviates from the white, Christian/Jewish template into which most Republican candidates fit. As the Latino and Asian minorities are the fastest growing groups in our country, the Republican elites are desperately courting them for fear that the party will disappear along with the white majority.

1389 said...

I contend that anyone who willingly appears with Mitt Romney is not to be trusted.

GOP: Reject Mitt Romney or Lose Everything

Who is Behind the High-Tech Lynching of Herman Cain?

Unknown said...

Why the Reps support a muslim candidate? Because ‘pragmatics’ in the party have come to fear and even believe the evil suspicions leftards have been bombarding them with since the late sixties..Pronouncing themselves compassionate conservatives has been their line of defense against the accusations of the left until now. They have been bending over backwards to avoid all the usual non-socialist taints the Dems and the embedded press have been throwing at them: of their callousness towards the poor and downtrodden, their bible thumping, their gunslinging and their redneckish warmongering are among the more obvious - they certainly are n't willing to run the risk of adding racism and xenofobia to the list
The big Reps mean business, they want to rule and they do not understand why they should take a stand on islamization and risk being called racists; enough is enough. Besides, I'm afraid they have swallowed the marxist diatribes against the US hook, line and sinker, same as the left has done, and that they consider themselves to be the decent part of the conservative movement who may be able to keep the xenofobic tendencies among their redneck constituency in check.
It is probably very ignorant of me, but can the Tea Party not move to choose a candidate of their own? There is not one riveting personality among the chosen ones on the Republican side, and not one who really understands the dangers of Islamization, of creeping, instutionalized socialism and the UN.
Why won’t the Tea Party invite and endorse Allan West? Surely he is a viable candidate to run against Hussein Obama?

Brock Townsend said...

Dymphna said...

Thank you.:)

1389 said...

@Paardestaarte,

The Tea Party is not a political party in the usual sense. It's a widespread, decentralized movement with no single leader. We don't have the power to anoint someone who doesn't want to run, and, by and large, we do not consider it a viable strategy to start a third party at this time.

Allen West is not willing to run for president at this time. He is running for re-election to the US Congress.

Many of us have backed Sarah Palin (who has decided not to run in 2012), Michele Bachmann (who has not done all that well in the standings) and Herman Cain (who has been subjected to some vicious attacks lately).

Lawrence said...

rickl said... 2

Maybe I'm showing my ignorance and naivete here, but why on earth are Republican big shots supporting Muslim candidates?

Not all Republicans are conservatives. And many Republicans are just as much MC-PC as Democrats.

Thing is, there are two news establishments in the U.S. The establish major public media driven mostly by Television, Cable TV, and Major print publications. Most of what they report is pro-Liberal utopianism in a secular context.

The second tier of news has to do with Radio, a few published conservative and/or religious minded sources, and Internet publications.

Informed voters in the U.S. tend to access both sources of news, and form their opinions on their own merits rather than accept whatever the establish talking-heads tell us we should do.

But sometimes we do let ourselves be fooled into accepting someone line Obama as president... but then you have to look at the alternative McCain who could inspire his own voter base.

So we have to keep in mind the bizarre distinctions between News establishments and politics in the voting booth.

Jonathon Moseley said...

Several factors apply here:

First, Virginia had so many offices being vigorously contested at the same time, that the tea party candidate Jo-Ann Chase was left with very little support or help -- because so many conservatives and/or tea party activists were spread very thin already. Jo-Ann Chase's campaign proceeded with the expectation of a certain level of activist support, and found itself lacking in support compared to planning and expectations. The campaign faltered for a lack of manpower.

Even those with concerns about Shariah law mostly gave only vague expressions of sympathy, but not much support in donations or manpower.

Second, David Ramadan protested up and down that he is not an active Muslim, although his statements were contradictory, and he signed a letter publicly calling for a mosque (Cordoba House) at Ground Zero at the WTC.

Third, David Ramadan -- despite any visible means of support -- donated $100,000 to $120,000 in campaign donations to GOP officials and candidates and organizations over the last couple of years. Someone found a striking relationship between campaign donations and political endorsements in response.

Fourth, for whatever reason, possibly the $100,000+ in donations or the drive to prove that the GOP can be inclusive, there was enormous pressure within the local GOP to close ranks and defend Ramadan against any questions or criticisms.

Any normal candidate would have crashed and burned with 1/10th of the unanswered questions and fatal defects of David Ramadan.

Only by the enormous desire to prop up this candidate -- to prove something or other -- would an otherwise fatally flawed candidate survive.

Ramadan claims two international consulting businesses, but when campaign staff visited the office addresses given for those businesses THERE WAS NOTHING THERE, no sign, no office, nothing. In one place the office building staff said it had been 6 years since the business had a small office there. (Note: There was no "virtual office" there either.)

Tracking of visa activity on file on line -- related to the supposed business -- shows very little business activity. Certainly not enough to explain a lavish lifestyle plus $100,000 to $120,000 of campaign donations to boot.

Although David Ramadan says he has some vague, unexplained relationship -- watch the Clintonesque wording very carefully -- with "Curves" (women's fitness) franchises in the Middle East, he has not explained how he makes any money as a businessman.

No other candidate would be allowed to get away with a complete gap in who and what they are professionaly without someone asking some questions.

Note that David Ramadan filed for bankruptcy some years ago, so he did not have inherited or family wealth.

Dymphna said...

This is from "Isabella the Crusader"...having problems logging in. I agreed to publish this for her because of her in-depth information about this campaign:

I worked on JoAnn Chase's campaign making phone calls asking folks to vote for her. I also was with Jim Lafferty the night of Ramadan's kick-off back in April of this year. We protested outside before going in to listen to Ramadan's curious speech. Ramadan met with Norquist late that afternoon at a restaurant so that Norquist could officially endorse his campaign, but he did not show up with Ramadan that night at the kick-off. Interesting. While Ramadan was doing his I-love-America dog and pony show that night, his helpers passed around this flyer which was really weird.

Ramadan Letter

[pdf]

Notice the first factoid from the link above. He says opponents accuse him of being a Muslim and then he uses the paragraph to tell us, um, nothing. His wife is a Methodist, he went to Christian schools in Lebanon but he can't manage to tell us what his religion is. Why not?

Jonathon Mosley is correct in that David Ramadan is a generous man when it comes to donating money to Republican candidates. Between August 2008 and September 2009, Ramadan wrote checks totaling $20,000 to fill Bob McDonnell's campaign chest. Read more here:

Blue Ridge Forum

Ramadan was born in Lebanon. His first wife, Ghanda Abdul Rahman Zoghbi, is/was the daughter of Lebanese Army General Abdul Rahman Zoghbi, retired now but who was a Shia member of the General Security Service (GSS). Nobody seems to know what happened to her. Read more here:

Ramadan in Virginia

Curiouser and curiouser.

If you do a Google search for David Ramadan and look for Blue Ridge Forum, NOVA townhall and Kent Clizbe you'll find a treasure trove of interesting information about this questionable character.

Oh, and one more thing,why did he feel the need to raise $500,000 to run against JoAnn Chase in the primary? That's a lot of money for a little ol' delegate’s seat that I think I read somewhere pays $17,000 a year.

Emphasis mine: Dymphna

Anonymous said...

From Ramadan's letter: "David believes in the US Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land - the same Constitution which provided him and his family the great opportunity to immigrate and succeed."

Ramadan's statement is deceptive. Many Muslims claim that Sharia Law is fully compatible with the U.S. Constitution.

Sagunto said...

Lawrence -

"many Republicans are just as much MC-PC as Democrats"

You said it man. So very true.
Can't quite understand the surprise about the widespread Islamophilia among established representatives - both liberal and conservative - of the therapeutic, managerial state.

Forget about Dem's of course, liberal or conservative. But how on earth would today's "conservative" neo-conmen (m/f) be willing to get off the ROP-doctrine? They share the same general politically correct culture as their supposed opponents. And for sure, they think they have the solution for this "tiny minority of extremists, hijacking a peaceful religion". And that's about it.

So much for conservative counterjihad.

I fear it's up to we, the people..

Kind regs from Amsterdam,
Sag

Brock Townsend said...

Labels are really not necessary as it boils down to just two groups, those who wish to control and those who wish to be left alone.

Sagunto said...

BT -

"[..] it boils down to just two groups, those who wish to control and those who wish to be left alone."

Agreed. But let it be noted that "to control" can present itself in the guise of "care", "educate", "protect", "liberate", etcetera.

Cheers,
Sag

Brock Townsend said...

"to control" can present itself in the guise of "care", "educate", "protect", "liberate", etcetera.

And the Collectivists have gotten this down to a fine art.

Sagunto said...

BT -

Yep, they sure have.

Kind regs from Amsterdam,
Sag

BTW: today's collectivism would also include all of those who think it's "fair" for a governing body to steal people's property (money looted in taxes) to the alleged benefit of all, wouldn't you agree?