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All opinions are those of The Republican Gazette and its editor, Gary Abernathy, except letters or commentary signed by others, and do not reflect the views of anyone else, including clients of Abernathy Strategies.
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Monday, June 9, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Serving West Virginia since 2005
Weeks unveils new campaign video detailing
life and career
The Russ Weeks campaign today unveiled a new five minute documentary detailing the life and career of the GOP candidate for governor of West Virginia.The video follows Weeks' life from his beginnings in Beckley through his service in the Navy and the State Senate.Russ Weeks: An American Life
Manchin fails to endorse Barack Obama
Despite some news reports claiming Gov. Joe Manchin on Friday endorsed Barack Obama for president, the press release he issued in fact makes no statement to that effect whatsoever.Instead, the governor rambles on about having conversations with Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as Obama. But nowhere in the statement does Manchin say he is endorsing Obama, or anybody else for that matter. (Curiously, the statement put out by the gov's office fails to capitalize words like "democrat" and "republican" when referring to people belonging to those parties.)After weeks of delaying his endorsement, we're still waiting to find out who he supports. Statement of Gov. Manchin saying something or other about
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
"I have had the opportunity to speak directly with Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton and they both wanted me to convey to the people of West Virginia how much they sincerely appreciate the support they have consistently received from our state."Sen. Clinton also made it clear that she will be officially announcing her endorsement of the Democratic Party's nominee for president, Sen. Barack Obama, tomorrow, and she encourages all democrats in West Virginia and across the country to do the same, so that we can ensure his victory in November. We all know how vital it is that we make a leadership change in Washington, and we must be unified in our efforts."I have also spoken with Sen. Obama, who first of all wanted to extend his deepest sympathies to those affected by this week's flooding. I can assure you that he is ready and willing to work closely with all of our state's democrats, republicans and independents to achieve a victory for all of America in November, and he is definitely looking forward to coming to West Virginia again soon. I have assured him that the people of our state will join him in doing our part to achieve the change that our nation so desperately needs."L.A. Times refers to Manchin as 'who's-its'
Los Angeles Times columnist Andrew Malcolm on Thursday referred to Gov. Joe Manchin as "who's-its, the West Virginia governor," when writing about Hillary Clinton's delay in giving up her campaign and endorsing Barack Obama.Wrote Malcolm, "...but Wednesday's pre-dawn joint statement by Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and who's-its, the West Virginia governor, sped up that process. They set a Friday deadline for uncommitted superdelegates to make their calls, which forces Hillary's hand."Democrats circle wagons to protect Manchin from fallout of WVU scandal
Last week, about a dozen Republican lawmakers along with Democrat Sen. Mel Kessler signed on to a letter to Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin and House Speaker Rick Thompson asking for an investigation by a joint commission of the Judiciary Committee into the scandal at West Virginia University, and asked other legislators of both parties to join them.Since the State Legislature funnels millions of dollars every year to WVU, it might not seem unreasonable for lawmakers to take an interest in several aspects of the scandal, including those raised by the proposed letter to legislative leaders, including:1) Where and/or who did the “palpable” pressure come from to invent grades for Heather Bresch?2) Is the awarding of fake degrees isolated to just the Bresch case or are there many other Bresch-like scandals and/or instances of misfeasance and malfeasance occurring in all of the academic departments at WVU every year? 3) What action should the Legislature take to eliminate other scandals and similar problems from happening in the future? Democrats so far have little interest in finding answers to these questions, or even asking the questions, for that matter.Under similar circumstances, a governor in most states who appointed most of the Board of Governors, backed the selection of the new president, had his son or daughter awarded an unearned degree, and had the degree justified by the manufacture of grades out of thin air would find himself in deep political trouble, both in the media and even within his own party. But so far, Democrats are circling the wagons, as evidenced by their comments at right.Hear no evil,
see no evil,
speak no evil
From various news accounts, Democrats have been weighing in with responses to calls by GOP lawmakers to launch a legislative probe into the scandal at WVU and the process for selecting a president of the school.“It is not our duty to do the job that the Board of Governors should be doing. It’s not our job to run WVU or Marshall.”--Del. Bob Tabb
“Right now we need less politics and more sanity.” -- Sen. John Unger
"I don't know if there's any clamor or any need to re-examine that process.''
-- Sen. Jeff Kessler
Republican Delegate Jonathan Miller summed it up well:"If the Democrats don't sign on, then their lack of support and participation will effectively make it partisan." 