Entry 813 of 1199
By Blue Prevails On July 5, 2009 at 5:34 PM
The Jefferson Area Tea Party brought out about 125 members to protest against Democratic 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello (the Congressman who defeated Virginia embarrassment Virgil Goode) at his Charlottesville office Thursday. The ruckus was all about Perriello’s vote for Obama’s climate change bill, which Republicans deride as a national energy tax that would make American energy bills go up significantly and cost “millions” of jobs. Things got pretty nasty with the crowd calling Perriello incompetent, a traitor, a coward, and a treasonous fellow, terms that Repugs throw around much too casually for my taste. Perriello did not attend the rally, of course, but he did counter that the bill would create jobs and make the country more secure by decreasing U.S. dependency on foreign oil.
“This is going to be a great win for Central and Southside Virginia,” Perriello stated as a reason for his vote.

Two Roanoke media outlets supported Perriello, albeit for different reasons. On Friday, The Roanoke Times ran an editorial Perriello stands tall--Climate change vote was a matter of national security, not politics in support of his vote on the bill. The Times editorial gave an account of how the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting with attack ads the so-called vulnerable Democrats in swing districts “…who voted for the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation -- and Perriello fits the bill.” The paper opines that Perriello has “…a ready answer to that last question: 'If I have to choose between national security and re-election, for me that's easy. It's national security,' he told Politico. 'I can deal with losing re-election. I can't deal with being a coward.' That's a good answer, and one the NRCC should think long and hard about before attempting to turn this issue to partisan advantage[,]” the editorial states.

In a related event, WDBJ, the Roanoke CBS affiliate has REJECTED the attack ad by the NRCC against Perriello after fact checking and finding it misleading. Hooray for them!!! A fact checking organization, Factcheck.org, has rated the ad as misleading because it was based on a Heritage Foundation estimate (widely debunked) that energy costs could go up nearly $1,800 per year per household. If you want to view the ad and read what Factcheck.org has to say about it, click here.

We are lucky in Southwest Virginia to have some media outlets that stand on principle. We have had enough propaganda from Republican and related Repug groups. It should not be the responsibility of individuals, progressive groups, and new media alone to get to the heart of matters and get the truth out into the public domain. Hat tips to The Roanoke Times and WDBJ for their courage and for their respect for the responsibilities of the fourth estate.