I don’t read the Daily Progress much, mostly because it has the reputation of being one of the most liberal publications in Virginia.
Still, when they do have a good article come to the fore, it deserves some notice. Bob Gibson’s article last Sunday morning is one example, the Charge of the Tax Brigade I guess.
Still, what makes it remarkable are Gibson’s thoughts as to why the House Republicans are a more coherent bunch this session, as opposed to 2004. His reasons:
1. Education is more popular than roads, and therefore the public is more willing to pay higher taxes for educators and deputies rather than six guys leaning on shovels in Northern Virginia.
2. If they don’t hang together, they’ll hang seperately… Gibson uses the term “double secret blood oath” (a throwback to “double secret probation” I take it) to describe the House GOP.
3. …and hang they shall. The VCAP challengers of 2005 had their intended effect.
4. Transportation is a regional and local issue, and therefore delegates would break off if they felt the pork was going to places it shouldn’t.
Other delegates have chimed in over the past few weeks signalling that the House GOP discipline has begun to recover since the ouster of Vance Wilkins, and that the climate has definitely changed.
Beyond that, it’s an entertaining article, even it it’s from the Daily Regress. But it’s refreshing to see that someone else from an entirely different perspective sees the 2006 dynamic with the same set of eyes as I do.