What is it about Leftists seeking national office campaigning in Virginia? But as bad as Biden’s recent gaffe is — see some of his greatest hits here — the insult likely will wipe out the inroads Democrats made in Southside and Southwest Virginia in 2008, with GOP ads coming faster than a NASCAR vehicle, there not as bad as his boss’ “You didn’t build it” remark two weeks ago in Roanoke.

UPDATE: Maybe not: Also coming to light is that Biden accused Mitt Romney of wanting to put black Americans “back in chains!” while patronizing Virginians with an affectation of a Southern drawl. Dispicable!

That all said, please note this: Just as with the Obamabots who screamed their approval in Roanoke and who showed an amazing inability to discern logic at another rally, the liberals who turned out in Danville didn’t seem to notice, either. They screamed their approval of being in Biden’s fantasy land of “Danville, North Carolina.”

Vice President Joe Biden campaigning in Danville, North Carolina Virginia this morning.

Updated:

“Put y’all back in chains!” Oh, imagine the riots that would’ve started had a conservative made this comment.

The Obama campaign is saying it “has no problem” with this comment. It is saying it is out of context. So, whenever they insult or demean or lie or just say stupid things, the Left claims its “out of context.” The Left is never responsible for anything, even when it’s on tape (not surprisingly, since personal responsibility is not a tenant of liberalism) and often is saying what it really thinks because it believes rules of accountability do not apply to them.

But let’s look at his campaign says Biden meant, that an Obama loss would mean a return to economic chains (never mind the key word “back” and the “Southern” drawl). Who has done more to put the iron clamp on economic prosperity than Barack Obama and Joe Biden? “The Food Stamp President” has created the largest class of dependency in American history: highest number of Americans at or below the poverty line in decades, a record number of Americans on food stamps, and he’s gutted the landmark welfare reform by removing the work provision for recipients to receive checks. I documented the entire litany of more than two dozen economic lows under the Obama administration here.

Martin Brown, Commissioner for the Virginia Department of Social Services, is the event’s keynote speaker. He has held several high profile positions in state government and had a key role in promoting Virginia’s historic welfare reform under then-Governor George Allen. He also has had a successful business career, including serving as president of Providence Management Group, Inc.; and is a former executive director of The Family Foundation.

In addition, Pastor Dan Inghram, of National Capitol Bible Church, and Justin McClure, youth pastor at Beaverdam Baptist Church, will share outreach strategies for public school students, so youth and children’s pastors are invited as well.

Seems a little ol’ bill called HB 1714 got by the House unanimously, despite the fact that it would, in large part, re-institute direct payments to individuals. In bureaucratic speak, it increases the frequency of  “diversionary cash assistance” from one four-month payment every five years to one such payment every year.

How did this escape the budget hawks in the House, so eager to kill any new spending the last few years because of tight state finances? Surely it had a Fiscal Impact Statement — you know, those pesky little red flags the Department of Planning and Budget put out to the money committees as excuses to kill real reforms that will save money, ostensibly because they will cost too much?

Answer: It put out a Fiscal Impact Statement saying that spending all this money will save money. Brilliant! Because the House and Senate bought it! Literally! Congrats to all involved.

There is a chance this can be stopped. The Senate did attach an amendment, so the House has a chance to reject it, water it down with amendments, or force a conference committee, where perhaps it can run out the clock. It’s amazing how three-sentence long bill can wreak so much damage on a major reform that has improved our society.

But one idea no one would have imagined would surface, espeially after the HB 3202 fiasco, was the idea of regional transportation authorities. There was talk of it in the greater Richmond area, but when suburban kingpin Henrico Country said it wasn’t interested in joining, no one gave it a second thought. Nobody but Senator John Watkins (R-10, Midlothian), that is. 

(The admin’s note: Contrary to what you may think after three successive posts mentioning his name, this is not pick on Senator Watkins Day. Pure coincidence that he has been at least partially involved in the previous two posts.)

Senator Watkins, it seems, still wants the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County to get together without Henrico, with the possibility the latter and other jurisdictions can join the party later. It’s all in SB 1534, which passed the Senate yesterday 21-19. The two sides were as odd a mix as you’ll ever see, with liberals such as Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-35, Springfield) voting against (probably in the vein of, “If Northern Virginia can’t get that extra taxing power, no one is.”)

This new authority would, according to the senator’s own newsletter, include:

“. . . the authorization of a regional congestion relief fee, which is, in essence, a grantor’s tax that can be authorized by the respective Board of Supervisors or City Council. The primary reason for this is to give the authority, if formed, a mechanism to pay for its initial development and planning.”

That is to say, more taxes, especially on an industry (real estate that is in depression and making refinancing and new mortgages more expensive) and more bureaucracy, regulation and half-baked and costly transportation projects. So, keep your eyes open. If this can sneak up on Richmond-area citizens, it can sneak up on every region. As we all know, bad ideas in the General Assembly never go away. They just get repackaged into worse ones.