Admittedly conservative Sun Gazette blasts Speaker Howell

By: Rob
Published On: 12/15/2007 3:12:09 PM

Regarding Republican leader and House of Delegates Speaker William Howell's claim that Northern Virginia doesn't need rail to Dulles, the Sun Gazette had this to say:
Earth to Speaker Howell: The oxygen must be running a little low in the spacecraft you're piloting out there, because to suggest that a rail line through Tysons, Reston and Herndon and on out to Dulles wouldn't help the area is positively ludicrous.

Regular readers know we do our best to support Republican candidates and ideas on this page, when we can. We went down swinging with Gerry Kilgore (2005) and George Allen (2006), among others.

But if the leadership of the state GOP is so out of sync as to come up here and insult the region with statements such as that, they're on their own.

Is this a quick break from the Sun Gazette's regularly programmed rah-rah Republican cheerleading? Or, are they starting to give up on their favorite wingnuts?

Comments



They spelled Jerry Kilgore's name wrong (Lowell - 12/15/2007 3:14:31 PM)
What morons.


By the way, I don't believe Metro to Dulles (Lowell - 12/15/2007 3:22:46 PM)
as currently configured, with a no-bid deal to Bechtel, an aerial option in Tysons, existing capacity constraints on the orange line, an escalating price tag, etc. will provide much benefit to the region.  


Not an isolated incident (TheGreenMiles - 12/15/2007 5:44:54 PM)
Scott McCaffrey at the Sun Gazette has definitely become disillusioned with the Virginia GOP and he hasn't been afraid to say so.  I think it's just one more symptom of how the VA GOP's refusal to govern or solve real problems has disaffected people who actually care about their community.  The GOP leadership's deeply cynical anti-tax, anti-gay, anti-immigrant message has corroded its core support to the point where even true conservatives like Scott are questioning the party's direction.


Gazette's change in stripes (voter4change - 12/15/2007 6:44:41 PM)
Perhaps I am jaded, but over the months, I have seen the Gazette focus more on "what the development community would support."  Let's face it, there are some good reporters at the Gazette, but, the paper really caters to real estate.  They do that well, often including some reliable statistics.  However, as the Dulles Rail is a land use development project, it is no surprise that the Gazette would come out swinging against Howell.  Northern Virginia needs a transit system that serves more than the developers in Tysons and one that will not cost Fairfax citizens thousands of dollars to serve so few people.


Well said. (Lowell - 12/15/2007 6:46:56 PM)
This project, as it currently stands, is a huge boondoggle.