It seems the more controversial I get here, the more people actually pay attention to what I say. Funny, huh? Nobody cared about who I was or what I did until I actually started to voice my opinion, no matter how controversial it was. It makes me notice something important; nobody cares about a placeholder. Think about it, when was the last time you got excited about some guy who was just going to play the same damn game the same damn way it+óGé¼Gäós been played time and time again? It+óGé¼Gäós like playing a computer game that you+óGé¼Gäóve played a thousand times before. It+óGé¼Gäós going to get pretty boring pretty fast. Now, imagine if that computer game could change, and eventually adapt to your strategy? That boring old strategy may not work anymore.
Now, it+óGé¼Gäós pretty obvious, I think, who I+óGé¼Gäóm talking about here. I was never able to find the Miller Campaign +óGé¼+ôexciting+óGé¼-¥ in the least. He wasn+óGé¼Gäót going to shake things up at all. He wasn+óGé¼Gäót going to change politics in Virginia. Warner changed how people in South West Virginia thought of Democrats (some of us actually like NASCAR), and gave Democrats in Virginia the image of being the party of fiscal responsibility. Kaine gave Democrats some credibility when it came to Religion by refusing to back down from talking about his faith, and when he was able to attract suburban voters. What could Miller give us in this campaign? Nothing new. Oh sure, he could try the Warner strategy, but I don+óGé¼Gäót think it would work. It would take Oscar-worthy acting abilities to make anybody believe that Harris Miller is a NASCAR fan.
Miller has about as much a chance of blending in with the people of SWVA as I have blending in with a pack of wild lemurs. Or he could try the Kaine religion thing in an attempt to comfort Independents and moderate Republicans. But does he really think he can beat George Allen when it comes to religion? I don+óGé¼Gäót think so, my friend. What about Kaine+óGé¼Gäós plans for Smart Growth and Transportation? Or Warner+óGé¼Gäós legacy of creating responsible budgets? Couldn+óGé¼Gäót those attract the suburban votes? Sorry, but Harris is running for Senator, not Governor, and Allen will frequently remind us of this every time Miller brings either of these up.
So Miller can+óGé¼Gäót use the Warner technique, or the Kaine technique. Funny, Miller claims to be a Warner-Kaine Democrat, but both the Warner and Kaine strategies won't work for Harris (maybe that's why Mudcat and Jarding are both with Webb?) in this election. It appears, my friends, that Harris Miller will have to run on his own merits.
What are those, again? Besides the outsourcing, of course. I haven+óGé¼Gäót heard too much about them from the Campaign recently. Oh sure, I+óGé¼Gäóve heard a lot of lies about Jim Webb. I+óGé¼Gäóve also heard a lot of references to Mark Warner. But so far, the only comparison I can see between Mark Warner and Harris Miller is that they both have more money than I ever will.
Then how do we win? Clearly, Allen looks damn near invincible. The answer is right in front of us, though. All we have to do+óGé¼-ªis fight.
The theme of Jim Webb+óGé¼Gäós campaign is Born Fighting. What really does that mean? Well, it means that we can+óGé¼Gäót sit around and try the same tactics again and again+óGé¼-ªand again+óGé¼-ªand again. If military combat has taught us anything, it+óGé¼Gäós that eventually, a defense will be found for any offense. The only way to win is to keep you enemy off-guard. To have new weapons, new strengths. We can+óGé¼Gäót fight with the old strategies+óGé¼-ªbecause they WILL have a defense for it. They WILL learn what Jerry Kilgore did wrong. We can+óGé¼Gäót assume they will make the same mistakes again. In fact, it would be safer to assume that they won+óGé¼Gäót.
In addition, combat teaches us that we can+óGé¼Gäót treat every battle the same way. Kilgore wasn+óGé¼Gäót Earley, so Kaine didn+óGé¼Gäót go after things the same way Warner did. Allen isn't Kilgore or Earley, he's much tougher. It+óGé¼Gäós also a different office this time. We can't rely on the same strategies and issues. We can+óGé¼Gäót run this campaign the same way again. We have to be innovative. Miller, thus far, has shown the innovation of a peanut.
So what's the new strategy? I say we go after the Republicans where they think they+óGé¼Gäóre most secure, when in fact it+óGé¼Gäós one of their biggest weaknesses: Foreign Policy. Karl Rove thinks that Republicans should run their campaigns this year on National Security. We need to run a guy who is credible enough to answer that one if we want people to listen to us. Harris Miller can say all he wants to about the War in Iraq, but what credibility does this guy have for our men and women in uniform? At least Allen+óGé¼Gäós been a Senator for a term, during 9/11 as well (yes, he WILL use that). Sad to say, Allen has more credibility on Foreign Policy than Harris Miller can even pretend to have. And that's saying something, if you remember that Allen's claim to fame is his daddy was a football coach.
We need to fight back. Who can do that? Whatever Harris Miller offers, Allen will have some form of retaliation. Here are just a few examples of what George Allen could say to Harris in a debate:
HM: I+óGé¼Gäóll be just like Warner and Kaine! (The following answer will also work for +óGé¼+ôI+óGé¼Gäóll fix transportation+óGé¼-¥, or +óGé¼+ôI+óGé¼Gäóll create jobs+óGé¼-¥, or whenever Miller promises to do something a Senator doesn+óGé¼Gäót have power over.)
GA: You+óGé¼Gäóre not running for Governor. I already was, by the way. A popular one, too.
HM: The War in Iraq was wrong!
GA: What experience do you have with leading troops? I helped lead this country though 9/11! What have you done for our men and women in uniform? (Visiting Walter Reed doesn+óGé¼Gäót count.)
HM: I+óGé¼Gäóm not afraid to talk about my religion.
GA: I+óGé¼Gäóm even less afraid. I+óGé¼Gäóve got the support of all those conservative family-first organizations to back me up on that.
This is just the beginning. I'm not a spin doctor, just a college kid with a laptop. If you think I+óGé¼Gäóm being harsh, Allen will be more cruel than I could ever pretend to be. He+óGé¼Gäóll go after Miller+óGé¼Gäós family, his past, his actions while lobbying, whatever it takes. What will we do then? When we lack the credibility to counter him? Will Miller attempt to go negative on George Allen just as he+óGé¼Gäós done on Jim Webb? Jim Webb hasn+óGé¼Gäót fired back at Miller yet because he is an honorable man. George Allen, on the other hand, hasn't given me the impression that he is also one. Whenever Miller blows a little fire at Allen, you can be assured Allen will drop a nuke in return.
We need a man who can survive a nuke and can keep on going. Now, Jim Webb may have never taken a nuke in the literal sense, but he+óGé¼Gäós taken a grenade (for a fellow soldier, I might add). Metaphorically, Webb has already taken a few bombs from the opposition within his own party, and he+óGé¼Gäós still going strong. We need a man who can actually run for Senate by running on issues important to the office he+óGé¼Gäós seeking. A man who isn+óGé¼Gäót looking for a career in politics, who has no further political ambitions. A man who+óGé¼Gäós serious about lobbyist reform, not somebody with serious lobbyist connections.
Harris Miller in unelectable. He+óGé¼Gäós running a Governor+óGé¼Gäós campaign in Senatorial contest. He has a lobbyist history in an election that could very well be a referendum on lobbyist ethics. He has no credibility when it comes to war and Military Issues, which isn+óGé¼Gäót a positive when the major complaint the nation has with the Republican Party is its complete lack of honesty and competence with Iraq.
Republicans have been challenged on two things, their ethical motivations and their handling of Iraq. We have two candidates: One is an American Hero and Former Secretary of the Navy who has never taken a dime from lobbyists, and the other has no experience with the Military and was a professional lobbyist for many years. It doesn+óGé¼Gäót take a rocket scientist to tell who can take advantage of the situation here.
There's a old phrase that George W. Bush seems to have some trouble with: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What does that have to do with politics? Smart people in this business don't get fooled by the same strategy twice. Now, Allen may be pretty dumb but the people he sorrounds himself with aren't. We can't run a predictable campaign that Karl Rove and the Republican Strategists already have a strategy for. They know what they did wrong in 2001 and 2005. If Harris Miller plans on running a copy-cat campaign, based solely upon the successes of previous candidates in different races, then his campaign is merely a speed bump in Allen's path to the presidency.
You want a candidate who will talk about the Bread and Butter issues? Just read Born Fighting, and you'll know just what you need to about Jim Webb; he'll fight to keep every Virginian working, healthy, and safe from the Government intruding in your personal affairs. Democrats have the first real shot at taking back our Congress that they+óGé¼Gäóve had in a long time this year. Let+óGé¼Gäós not blow this chance by nominating an unelectable candidate who possesses many of the qualities Americans are rejecting in the Republican Party right now.
It's bad enough that unions are firmly against him and that he has no foreign policy experience at a time when that's rather important, but he's also got nothing that would attract anyone but the firm base of the party. There's no "energy" around him, like there was around Warner and (to a somewhat lesser degree) Kaine.
And there's a good reason for that. He was a placeholder. That's why I'm for Webb; he's serious about not just running, but also about winning. And I think Webb can do it, which I doubt Miller could do even on his best day.