Friday’s Virginian Pilot will carry the endorsement by the editorial board of Democrat Glenn Nye for Congress.
Citing incumbent Republican Thelma Drake’s inability to move towards the “middle where the electorate lives,” the board provides a litany of instances of her being “firmly in the furthest reaches of the Republican Party’s right wing:”
Because the president opposed it, and because the legislation was imperfect, Drake voted against the new GI Bill before she voted for it. It is a vote she still defends.
Drake twice voted against saving the nation’s financial system from collapse, again, because the legislation didn’t include everything she wanted.
She campaigns for drilling off Virginia Beach, despite the fact that it would do nothing to lower gas prices or contribute much to the state’s coffers.
She has voted against tax incentives for alternative energy, and in favor of tax incentives for oil companies.
She voted against a patch to fix the alternative minimum tax on the middle class, while favoring a flat tax that would take the most from those with the least.
She voted to expand an illegal government wiretapping program, and to provide telephone companies with retroactive immunity.
She voted to prevent the government from negotiating lower prices for drugs provided under Medicare.
She voted to gut the Endangered Species Act.
Nye, on the other hand, holds positions that the Pilot refers to as having “a foot on both the Republican and Democratic platforms.”
Nye’s models for an effective member of Congress are Republican Bill Whitehurst and Democrat Owen Pickett, two of this region’s most reasonable, open-minded legislators.
[…]
In this election, quite simply, Nye’s potential is a better bet than Drake’s performance.
No doubt the Nye campaign is elated with this endorsement. But, as usual, the most important endorsement comes in a little over two weeks: on Election Day. Leading up to that, the campaign still needs help. Volunteer and contribute as much as you can.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
“while favoring a flat tax that would take the most from those with the least”
That’s a lie.
The standard deductions are huge with a flat tax. And the more you make, the more you pay.
How can the Pilot print something so categorically false?
By this via media criterion, the Pilot should be endorsing Sen. McCain, too.
Of everyone in Congress now, Sen. McCain has the best record of bipartisanship. Sen. Obama has no such record.
Mouse, the Pilot no longer endorses in presidential races.
Very inconsistent of them.
Brian,
While I have been unable to get ahold of the exact details of Thelma’s “new and improved” flat tax proposal the details of the Fair Tax are immediately available to anyone.
Under the so called “Fair Tax” the average middle class tax payer would pay an additional $2,000 a year in taxes and that is without accounting for the need to pay additional state and local taxes under the plan.
Thelma Drake’s “new and improved” tax proposal is just an attempt to repackage her attempts to increase taxes on the middle class while cutting taxes on the wealthy. If I am wrong, let Thelma give the details about her new plan on her campaign website so we can examine them.
I am not holding my breath. Her campaign website contains so little about where she stands on anything I doubt we can get her to provide details about this.
Hey, if you guys are in favor of a flat tax, then go move to Russia. Putin is in favor of a flat tax, go experiment with him.
Meanwhile my money is on my Daddy’s generation that came back from WWII and tried to make the world a better place. My Daddy’s generation came up with a progressive tax code where the lower class pays little or nothing, the middle class pays some, and the upper class pays more.
I still stand with my Daddy’s generation, which some have called the greatest generation.
LittleDavid…I know Rep. Drake has been talking alot about the Flat Tax…but she’s also a cosponsor of H.R. 25 the Fair Tax bill. When i’ve heard her talk about it in person she’s said that she’s for complete tax reform and supports proposals that can get us there. She’s a supporter of both the flat and fair tax proposals but acknowledges that both have their flaws (some big some small)
Yeah, one big flaw is that the Fair Tax would raise my taxes by $5,000 without reducing the federal deficit.