Dear Virginia’s 11th District,

You have elected a moron.

Rep. Gerald Connolly, a Democratic congressman from Virginia, has argued to his constituents that Americans shouldn’t be allowed to wield Stinger missiles “capable of downing commercial aircraft” even though such weapons are already illegal.

“I have been accused of trying to dismantle the Second Amendment for simply asking whether high-powered, military-style semi-automatic firearms with large-capacity magazines — which were used in the D.C. sniper murders, the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and the mass shootings in Aurora and Newtown — should be readily available to the general public,” Connolly wrote in a letter recently disseminated to constituents concerned about gun rights.

“Or for wondering whether the Second Amendment applies to weapons such as the FIM-92 Stinger missile launcher, a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile platform capable of downing commercial aircraft.”

A Stinger missile launcher is already considered a banned “destructive device” under the Gun Control Act of 1968.

You could have had Ken Vaughn, who understands the intent of the Second Amendment. But instead you chose a moderate RINO in the primary, and ultimately, a pathetic loser who has no understanding of the Constitution.

It’s instructive how Connolly invokes weapons favored by terrorists in his argument that Americans should be deprived of their rights.

It’s also instructive how he attempts to invoke fear by drawing a disingenuous comparison between a fairly common semi-automatic rifle used by such “dangerous” people as the kid who used an AR15 to protect his sister, the shop owners in LA who used these weapons do defend life and property during the Rodney King riots and property owners who used them to fend off looters after Hurricane Andrew.

Countless lives and millions of dollars in property have been protected by Americans with so-called “assault” weapons, but Gerry Connolly would rather compare these courageous Americans to terrorists in his zeal to justify his complete disregard for Americans’ fundamental rights and the Constitution he took and oath to support and defend.

I would laugh and say, “you deserve this, because you voted for it” – but unfortunately your poor decisionmaking affects the rest of us. Your stupid choices affect my rights.

May you be damned for it.

And as if we didn’t have quite enough…

… there’s more similarity between Tom Davis and Chris Perkins.

Perkins not only has a spotty voting history (which in and of itself, doesn’t bother me too much) but he spent a lot of time helping his buddy Gene Taylor, a Democrat, try and keep his seat in the general election in 2010! He was even compensated for his efforts. Gene Taylor was the chair of the HASC seapower subcommittee, from southern Mississippi. His district included most of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Huge destination for Navy spending and military pork. Good buddies with Trent Lott and Thad Cochran. No surprise that Sam Graves and the boys would be happy to have him back in their fraternity. Perkins is clearly just another passenger on the bipartisan military-industrial complex gravy train, and is buddies with anybody in either party who can help him get ahead, be it politically or with his lobbying business. He is a military version of the “Emperor of Northern Virginia” (h/t D.J. McGuire for that moniker)  and is now bad enough not to get my support in the general, should he win the primary. May as well have Connolly in there and challenge him with a good conservative  in 2014.

But let’s not let that happen. We have a candidate who bleeds conservatism in the true traditional limited-government sense. This is from his latest blog post:

In the U.S., interest rates and taxes are lower than ever while government spending is higher than ever, and yet, with massive federal stimulus, our economy is not responding. Big government liberal Congressman Connolly seems to think that there can be only one answer—more and more stimulus—but Europe is demonstrating the inherent problem with that approach. Luckily, there is a better way.

The solution to our economic woes is not to have more of the same; it is to fix the fundamental flaws in our economic model. There are three major areas in need of reform:

1. We need to pursue the development of our own energy resources and create high-paying jobs in the U.S. rather than sending our energy dollars overseas. Even from an environmental perspective, it makes more sense to drill for oil here, where it will be done in a more environmentally friendly way than in Saudi Arabia or Mexico.
2. We need to reduce existing overregulation, which is burdening small and medium sized businesses. The small business has always been the economic powerhouse of our economy, creating 70% of the jobs, but as our government has added more and more regulatory burdens, it is increasingly difficult for these businesses to get started, to keep up with new regulations, to earn a profit, to grow, and to hire more workers.
3. We desperately need to reform our tax system, especially our corporate tax code. Perhaps Congressman Connolly is pleased that America now has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. I am not. Corporate income taxes are regressive and hurt our international competitiveness, killing jobs and investment. Further, the code is designed to favor the mega-corporations. According to the IRS, on average, small corporations only receive an 8% reduction in their taxes due to tax credits, while the largest firms (those with revenues over $250 billion) average a 37% reduction in their taxes! We must level this playing field in order to allow small businesses to thrive once again, ideally by eliminating the corporate income tax entirely and replacing it with a simpler system.

THIS is the man we need representing the Old Dominion in Congress, not a go-along-to-get-along lobbyist seeking to ride his service record into Congress, and certainly not Boss Hogg aka Gerry Connolly, who is a thoroughgoing partisan Democratic lefty hack, as evidenced by his attacks on Scott Walker, on scant evidence.

Ken Vaughn for Congress. The distinction is even greater than I suspected.

Ken Vaughn and Service to America

Those who have been reading for a while have seen me blog about Ken Vaughn. Ken is running for Congress in Virginia’s 11th district.  Ken is a friend, as is his wife Julie and her sister Cindy and their awesome little dog Jazzy.  Ken is not a politician and not part of the GOP establishment. He spent his life in the private sector. He and Julie are the epitome of self-made people. They are kind. They are charitable. They truly care about this country and the direction in which it’s headed.

They’re religious, but they wouldn’t dream of imposing their beliefs on anyone else. They freely offer good thoughts and prayers to those who need them – not as a way to convert anyone, but as an act of kindness. They believe in freedom and achievement, and live those principles every day.

I found it interesting and instructive that in a recent article about Ken, several supporters of his opponent in the primary – Chris Perkins – have attacked Ken as someone less likely to defeat Connolly this year, citing this as the reason they wouldn’t give him their support. Not that Ken’s ideas are bad. Not that Ken is incompetent.  But he’s not as bombastic as Perkins.

A patriotic, passionate leader who dedicated over 20 years of his life defending this country, Colonel Perkins is the only GOP candidate with a legitimate chance of removing lifetime politician Gerry Connolly from office. If Vaughn were to be nominated, I fear that Connolly would walk away with this election, wasting a golden opportunity to unseat a Congressman who prides himself in working alongside the President to advance the big government, high spending agenda of the Obama administration.

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I think Chris Perkins is the best-positioned candidate to usher Gerry Connolly into a well-deserved retirement, or at least usher him off to K Street where career politicians go to cash in.

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Vaughn doesn’t care about beating Connolly he cares about himself, a few months ago he was running against Frank Wolf

Here’s the thing, folks. This “electability” issue is how we wound up with McCain in 2008, and why we will wind up with Mittens in the general this year. Somehow this country has stopped voting for quality people who share their ideals, but instead vote for the lesser of two evils who will beat the greater of the two evils.

Why?

Why is a man who wants to serve his nation in Congress – a man who sacrificed many of his own resources for the opportunity to serve – who lives by his values – who wants to help fix what’s wrong with this country – considered somehow selfish and wrong?

Why is simply beating Connolly more important than defeating him AND electing the best man to public office?

Ken is running, because he wants to serve this country!  He’s not running against a specific person, although by the very nature of the thing, that is what he will wind up doing.  He’s running because he honestly wants to be part of the solution to this nation’s problems.  He could just stay in the private sector and enjoy his time with his family, but he wants to serve the people of his county and the people of America.

As a military veteran, I respect that, and I see nothing wrong with it, despite what the Chris Perkins’ apparatchiks seem to think.

I prefer a man who spent his life in the private sector – who knows how to run his own business and manage his own finances – who respects this country and wants to help improve it, no matter who is running against him.

I am a veteran, and I respect and support other veterans. What I won’t do is support other veterans at the expense of actual quality.

I do believe Ken Vaughn is the better candidate for Virginia’s 11th district.

I do believe in his values, his integrity and his intelligence.

I’m glad he decided to run – no matter who his opponent is – because I think he’s the best man for the job.

We need to stop voting for the candidate who is most “electable,” and start voting for the candidate who is the best.

Period.

Cuccinelli vs. Connolly

Virginia Attorney General and conservative rockstar Ken Cuccinelli appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform yesterday. Sitting on that committee is noted sleazebag and bully Gerry Connolly (D-VA, 11th District), and predictably they clashed. Cuccinelli was there to talk about how the EPA’s proposed rules to limit pollution through national standards (How is that Constitutional again?) would hit Virginia hard, specifically jobs in the coal industry. They’d also drive up energy costs.

Well, ol’ Gerry didn’t like THAT very much, being a big fan of government intrusion into, well, just about everything. So he had a go at Cuccinelli, whining about his suing the federal government over Obamacare and EPA regulations, and his pursuit of Michael Mann’s “research” on “climate change” at UVa (newsflash… he was influencing public policy on the taxpayers’ dime, damn right I want him held accountable) and its validity.

This is yet another example of why we need Connolly OUT OF CONGRESS. Luckily, Ken Vaughn is ready to offer a strong challenge next year, especially if we can take the Senate away from the Democrats on Tuesday and keep them from gerrymandering the 11th District for Connolly. Visit Ken’s campaign site and offer your support. He’s the kind of fresh face we need representing us, not a career politician like Connolly.