TRS Morning Post | Garrett Wins in HD56; Biden -32 Among Independents
Former Rep. Tom Garrett carries the day in Central Virginia, while Biden's numbers among independents continue to crater.
A personal note this morning.
My oldest son, Jonathan Peter, graduated from the College of William and Mary this weekend and will be heading to seminary at Mount St. Mary’s for formation in August. Since many of my readers are friends or at the very least acquaintances and friends who simply have not met, if you are so inclined, please remember him and his vocation in your prayers.
Garrett Wins GOP Nod After Blistering Nomination Contest
Branded the “Comeback Kid” by outsiders, former Rep. Tom Garrett captured the GOP nomination in the second round after Jennie Wood endorsed Garrett over putative frontrunner Kevin Bailey, whose 11th hour dirty trick at the hands of John Putner, was the final straw in a series of insults, misdirections, and slanders which characterized Bailey’s campaign.
Of course, the real science here isn’t terribly difficult to discern.
Negative campaigning depresses turnout and tends to wing both the target and the initiator. Thinking Garrett was finished, Bailey turned his guns on Wood. Yet given the low number of attendees, Garrett had a loyal core of friends and quickly became the beneficiary as people became fed-up with Bailey’s nasty lowball campaign.
The secret to winning any convention? Go in everyone’s second choice. Don’t have to be Karl Rove to figure this one out.
With only 200 people selecting the GOP nominee in HD56 representing over 80,000 people, it is worth noting that this is the last year of the conventions, with primaries being the sole method of nomination moving forward in Virginia.
Biden -32 Among Independents as Divisive Social Issues Wreck Democratic Chances in 2023
Here’s something to consider:
Ever since the Dobbs decision, the Democratic Party has been hammering abortion on demand (think Netflix but with scalpels) as if they were beating a rented mule.
The problem is that breaking out the pom-poms for piles of dead babies is… well… gross.
The even worse problem for the Democrats is that on issues ranging from the economy, inflation, foreign policy, debt spending, and immigration? Biden isn’t even competing in the same space as the Republicans.
Here’s another number from the CBS/YouGov poll that should interest folks. When asked how things were going? 72% of Americans responded badly. On the economy? 65% say badly.
And then we get to the independent vote.
But surely “Dark Brandon” — your reminder that the left cannot meme — is enduring the malaise, right??
Ouch.
Two numbers that should scare the hell out of Democrats and roughly correspond to the PRRI numbers on Pro-Life Democrats — 59% of Hispanics and 33% of black voters disapprove of Biden’s job performance thus far.
If these numbers hold up? Virginia Democrats are in for a shellacking in November 2023, one that might reverse the losses of 2017 and recapture the Virginia Senate in toto. True — many a rooster will take credit for this sunrise, but the fact of the matter is that most Americans are fed up with gender pronouns, abortion up to 40 weeks, drag queen story hour, Critical Race Theory, “divide et impera” DEI apparatchiks, back-to-back 10% inflation, and a sour economy.
If Virginians are in a mood to punish, then happiness is a wide open hammer shot at some Democrat who is trapped, defending the indefensible, and can’t flee.
Minor Latin Poets: Volume I translated by J. Wight Duff and Arnold Duff
The detritus of the Roman Empire in book form, which I bought mostly for the maxims of Publilius Syrus but has a lot of other cool stuff as well.
Christendom Lost and Found by Fr. Robert McTeigue SJ
For those looking for Jesuits who still earn the reputation of God’s Marines, Fr. Robert McTeigue begins this book as a series of reflections during the pandemic and turns it into a meditation on our post-Christian culture. First aid requires returning fire with superior firepower and then getting out of the X. You’ll get it when you read the book.
What is the Use of Philosophy? by Philip Kitcher
Kitcher is a philosopher of science by trade at Columbia University, perhaps best known for his concept of explanatory store (i.e. a scientific theory is only as good as it can consistently explain things in the world). If philosophy is reduced to a narrow academic exercise, philosophy ceases to be what it ought to be for the masses — a discipline which seeks clarity and helps order our understanding of things.
Ex Captivitate Salus by Carl Schmitt
If democracy is the “end of history” per Francis Fukuyama, the suspension of law in favor of order during the pandemic brings back the ghost of the philosopher-jurist Carl Schmitt, whose (in)famous indictment continues to challenge and haunt defenders of liberal democracy. In this book, Schmitt attempts to reconcile his experiences during the Second World War with a first stab at the “good German” thesis — unsuccessfully one might add.
Shaun Kenney is the editor of The Republican Standard, former chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Fluvanna County, and a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia.