Avenging Archangel Advocates Public Transit

I was intrigued by a post on a blog I had not read before. Avenging Archangel self describes as representing a grassroots, right-of-center, populist perspective. (I will not try to explain compiling those words in the same sentence.)
The blog post itself reported on a lobbying day for public transit. The participants appear to be have included a staff member of Hampton Roads Transit. (Are officials paid from public funds permitted to lobby with public funds?) I was shocked, shocked to find the public transit advocates arrived in Richmond in an SUV, then parked in a paid lot without using public transit for any portion of the trip. Maybe the future of public transit is in the past. Read More. . . .

Not Larry Sabato – Not Reporting News

NLS is taking the week off of reporting anything current, reveling in his fantasy world of a year ago when George Allen lost himself the election. A post, yes, but a whole week on nothing but “Macaca”? (I know there are a couple of other posts on his site, but . . .)

I wonder if we should have Phil Kellam week, Monica Lewinski week, or maybe a Rather Gate week? No, this is all a bit ridiculous.

Ben, run your blog the way you want, but I would rather see something constructive.

On the “Macaca” issue, it has been a year and some BRIEF reflection is in order. Looking back I have seen more Democrats use the supposed racial epithet this past year than it may have ever been used in all the rest of history. Just goes to show what the “Hypocrats” really stand for.

Developing . . . Read More. . . .

Foot in Mouth Disease

Ben, Lowell, Eileen and the rest of the Democrats in Virginia are self imploding over the issue of the “Abuser Fees.” They can’t seem to figure out what the party stands for. Matthew Clark of Bearing Drift posted an interesting meeting with Governor Kaine. He met Kaine last week and had this to say.

He [Kaine] said that [the Abuser Fees] were crucial to the transportation package. . . . He added that he approved of the abuser fees and felt that they would be good for the state. He said that either they will provide much needed revenue for transportation, specifically road maintenance. He said that if bad driving is curbed, their may not be the revenue that is expected, but if people drive more carefully because of this law it would still be a worthwhile law.

See the whole article here. It seems the Left may want to check with their party leader before they continue ranting against the fees. Read More. . . .

The Spin at Raising Kaine

Rob at Raising Kaine responded to The Virginian Federalist's Editor-in-Chief today, saying that Publius "doesn't know much about blogging...Either that, or this guy just likes to attack progressive bloggers for the sake of attacking progressive bloggers."

I myself probably don't know much about blogging. I have not even been doing this for a year. But this is what I do know: Marc Fisher posted an article that was in parts misleading, but not outright false; Lowell read that article and then posted about both the article and its subject matter; In discussing the subject matter, Lowell ran with the misleading aspect of Fisher's article and made a demonstrably false statement; Publius called Lowell on those false statements on The Virginian Federalist.

Rob at RK claims, "What Lowell was plainly doing was reporting on what Marc Fisher said...Of course, the conservative blogger did notice -- his basic argument is that, because Marc Fisher got it wrong at first, Lowell is a liar for blogging about Marc's words."

Lowell did title his post "Marc Fisher on the "Sneaky," "Dishonest" Albo-Rust-McDonnell Fees." However, Lowell inserted plenty of his own commentary on the subject of the Mark Fisher article and did not just analyze the article itself. Lowell wrote that, "'Sneaky' and 'dishonest' are exactly the right words for what House Republicans did this past spring on transportation." Lowell didn't just write that, "Marc Fisher wrote that House Republicans were sneaky and dishonest," nor did Lowell praise "sneaky" and "dishonest" for their literary brilliance. Rather, Lowell was saying that he agreed with Fisher's assessment that it was sneaky and dishonest. In that point, Lowell may be correct, but it was his own statement about House Republicans, not just his opinion about Fisher's article.

In like manner, in the same post, Lowell made a specific statement about Attorney General Bob McDonnell. He wrote, "That's right, when you get slapped with a $1,000, $2,000, or even $3,500 traffic fee in coming months, you can comfort yourself with the thought that Bob McDonnnell - and Dave Albo - will be personally benefiting from your largesse." The Fisher article said that McDonnell was "connected" to a law firm benefitting from the law, but Lowell accused McDonnell himself of "personally benefiting." Lowell might have cited the Fisher article as a source, but Marc Fisher did not say that McDonnell himself would gain personally. Only Lowell made that demonstrably false accusation. Therefore, it is obvious that, contrary to Rob's assertion, Lowell was not just writing about Fisher's article, but was inserting commentary of his own.

Lowell did later correct his post to delete McDonnell's name from the title, cross out McDonnell's name from the accusation of personally gaining, and to include Marc Fisher's own correction. Publius updated his post to acknowledge Lowell's correction. My criticism here is not with Lowell's post, which has been properly corrected. I am challenging Rob's interpretation about the nature of Lowell's original post, which called into question the credibility and ethics of The Virginian Federalist. Read More. . . .

Speaking of Unethical - Lowell’s Lying

Over the past few days we have been discussing the ethics of pseudonymous blogging. We asserted that the identity of the blogger was not the issue because there are plenty of unethical bloggers who use their own name.

For those who need an example here it is. Today a named blogger committed the worst ethical offence that a blogger can make. Lowell of Raising Kaine lied. Not only did he lie, but this was a slanderous lie.

This morning Marc Fisher of the Washington Post posted “Virginia's Exorbitant New Abuser Fees: Happy Motoring!” regarding the new fees for moving violations on the roadways. He mentioned that Attorney General McDonnell’s old firm, Huff, Poole, & Mahoney, are solely responsible for collecting these fees in several Hampton Roads localities. Specifically he says:

Let's take a look at some of the discomfiting effects of this new law. State attorney general Bob McDonnell, who wants to be your next governor, used to work at the firm of Huff, Poole & Mahoney in Virginia Beach, which has an exclusive contract with local prosecutors' offices to go out and collect those unpaid fines. The firm, according to the Virginian-Pilot, earned more than $2 million in collection fees last year. McDonnell, as his staff was quick to remind me this morning, does not give out those contracts and has no financial connection to his old firm.

Lowell of Raising Kaine posted “Marc Fisher on the "Sneaky," "Dishonest" Albo-Rust-McDonnell Fees” this morning. In this post, Lowell states the following:

But wait, at least SOME people are going to benefit from these new fees . . . . That's right, when you get slapped with a $1,000, $2,000, or even $3,500 traffic fee in coming months, you can comfort yourself with the thought that Bob McDonnnell - and Dave Albo - will be personally benefiting from your largesse.

This statement is a BOLD FACED LIE: there is no other way to describe it. McDonnell has NO financial interest in Huff, Poole, & Mahoney, McDonnell did not write the transportation bill, and McDonnell did not award the contract to HPM.

Claiming that McDonnell “will be personally benefiting” from this new law is not only false, it is blatantly slanderous. It is one thing to spin the truth or allude to something letting your reader come to a conclusion. I am sure we have all used these tactics when supporting a candidate. Maybe not the best policy, but that is a huge difference from lying.

Lowell’s post may be the most unethical post I have seen yet in the Virginia Blogosphere. Lowell goes on to “quote” Fisher’s post. I However, his quote is incorrect. I quoted Fisher above. Lowell quotes Fisher as having said the following:

There's a big bonanza of fees awaiting those law firms around the state that are selected to go chase after the highway miscreants who don't pay their fines in a timely way. And guess who's connected to one of those special law firms: Why, it's state attorney general Bob McDonnell, who wants to be your next governor! McDonnell's old firm, Huff, Poole & Mahoney of Virginia Beach, has an exclusive contract to go out and collect those unpaid fines; the firm, according to the Virginian-Pilot, earned more than $2 million in collection fees last year.

“And guess who's connected to one of those special law firms: Why, it's state attorney general Bob McDonnell” does not currently appear in Fisher’s post because he corrected a misleading statement. Lowell not only lied but he continues to leave up a quote that has been retracted by its author. Lowell has a duty correct his quote of Fisher to reflect Fisher’s more thoughtful statements.

In 2003 over $33,000 in vouchers were paid by the state to Tim Kaine’s former law firm Mezzulo & Mccandlish while Kaine was Lieutenant Governor (see here). There is no way that Kaine had anything to do with this. One could not honestly claim that he did. Same is true with McDonnell because someone’s former firm does business with or through the state does not mean that there impropriety there. Lowell’s accusations are ludicrous and intentionally deceitful.

Lowell has disgraced himself and the blogosphere with his lies. Lowell must immediately apologize to AG McDonnell and the entire blogosphere for his despicable actions. Ethics in blogging is important. I hope Lowell will do the right thing and apologize.

As you can see pseudonymous blogging is not the issue. The issue is ethics and ethics is how you conduct your posting no matter who you are or claim to be.


Others have posted on Lowell's lies: “Sneaky, Dishonest…and Lowell” and “How Lowell can you go?”

UPDATE (28 June 10:49 AM): Lowell has updated his post to cross through Bob McDonnell's name in association with benefitting personally from the fees. Lowell also states that Marc Fisher "has apparently backed off his charges against Bob McDonnell."

Lowell made these false accusations either because he based personal attacks against AG McDonnell on an opinion piece without researching the facts or because he was too eager to say something nasty about the AG to care about the facts. Either way, Lowell's credibility is tarnished. Now that he acknowledges that his accusations against Mr. McDonnell were false, he owes a prompt and public apology. Read More. . . .

Libby In Hilton Out – What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Scooter Libby is in prison and Paris Hilton is off Scott free. How could this happen. Even more alarming is that Armchair Generalist actually attacks Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace for writing a letter in support of Libby.

Of course the hard core politicos are supporting Libby, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bolton, etc. But when an apolitical individual like General Pace gets involved it SHOULD make one think a little harder before judging Libby. Pace talks of Libby’s character, as they have worked together on some issues.

Armchair Generalist takes the exact opposite view attacking Pace for speaking favorably of Libby’s service to the Nation. Armchair Generalist goes so far as to say that “It's a shame that Scooter Libby's ‘focus and attention’ seemed to fail him when he was trying to remember when exactly he ‘outed’ Valerie Plame.”

Funny thing is Libby never “outed” anyone. Libby’s crime, forgetting some information at the wrong time. The fact that some are still convinced that Libby outed Plame when it is pretty clear that he didn’t. Especially when we know who did, Richard Armitage to Robert Novak. That is the TRUTH.

Our General’s have enough to worry about. They do not need to be attacked by some blogger to thick sculled to admit what ACTUALLY happened. Read More. . . .