Two-party on
If there's a better metaphor for the swaggering ascendancy of Virginia's Democrats than Senator Jim Webb taking complete control of Congress over the Thanksgiving holiday break, we here at The Odd Dominion sure don't know what it is.
Thanksgiving leftovers
Well, another campaign season has come and gone, leaving us with an aching hole in our political gut that no amount of turkey and oyster stuffing could possibly fill.
How low can you go?
Well here we are, smack dab in the middle of the saddest-slash-most-satisfying time of the year. Saddest because, let’s face it, the political world rarely gets more absurd and lampoonable than it does during election season, when even the most calculated and circumspect pol is willing to go to ridiculous lengths to win re-election, thereby [...]
Stupid is as stupid does
There’s one big problem with being a voracious political junkie: Sometimes, in order to help you, our gentle reader, we have to read a thuddingly dull, solipsistic political treatise like "The Stupid Party," a recent article by UVA politics prof Jim Ceaser published in the (increasingly inconsequential) right-wing mouthpiece, The Weekly Standard. Sure, it’s got [...]
Thug life
Sure, it seemed like an innocent mistake at the time (and Lord knows the Virginia Tourism Corporation tried to spin it that way), but the more we consider the recent "Live Passionately" ad imbroglio, the more we think that these Commonwealth-championing flacks might just be onto something. In case you missed it, here’s how it [...]
Dwell time
If you had to cast Virginia’s U.S. Senate delegation as the leads in a Hollywood buddy cop movie, the dynamic duo of Jim Webb and John Warner would seem like a pretty good match. Republican and Democrat, sure, but with a curmudgeonly, oil-and-vinegar chemistry that brings to mind the best the genre has to offer: [...]
Off to the races
He's baaaack! After briefly flirting with a presidential run (before telling his shocked supporters "I want to have a real life," and mysteriously dropping out of the race), former Governor…
One last hurrah
Well, you can't say we didn't warn you. When Senator John Warner took to the Rotunda steps of his alma mater last Friday and announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate, we were about as surprised as Will Ferrell at the MTV Movie Awards.
Oh, baby!
Last time on "Who wants to be arrested?" we checked in on some of the more ludicrous local laws, covering such important topics as pet skunk ownership, driving barefoot and hunting raccoons after midnight.
Who let the dogs out?
In the ongoing spectacle of obfuscation, idiocy and probable perjury that is the ongoing Alberto Gonzales congressional-testimony trainwreck, it's easy to forget what set off this particular round of Bush-Administration bloodletting in the first place.
Business as usual
We admit it: We’ve got Washington envy. It often seems as though that nonstop traffic jam across the Potomac has more of everything the Odd Dominion holds dear
As Goode as it gets
You know, there was a time when we thought we might get sick of writing about Virginia’s Fifth-District U.S. congressman,
Jerry’s kids
Though we may be a few weeks late to the party, it just wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t take a moment to reflect on the man who did more than any other single individual to make
Felony cat hoarding
This week at The Odd Dominion, we’re going to take a rest from lampooning the Commonwealth’s elected representatives. For a change of pace, we thought we’d take a
The man who would be king
Brace yourself, kids—we’re kick-starting this week’s column with a controversial, you-heard-it-here-first prediction: Senator John Warner will retire at the end of this, his fifth
Justice for Jesus
Proud birthplace of Juice Newton and The Neptunes. Home of famed psychic Edgar Cayce’s freaky Association for Research and Enlightenment. Fun-packed vacation paradise that houses both
Black is white
O.K., kids, pop quiz: In the last few weeks one member of Virginia’s U.S. Senate delegation issued a statement condemning the homophobic views of General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Pace had publicly opined that homosexual acts are immoral). He then proceeded to pile on embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [...]
Clash of the titans
As many irate readers of this column have pointed out, after two months on the job, we’ve had very few kind words for politicians of any stripe, and have been particularly vicious toward pols of the Republican persuasion.
A sorry state
Let it never be said that we here at Odd Dominion HQ (hidden deep beneath the streets of Belmont, with just a modem, a cable-news feed and a donut-delivering pneumatic tube from Spudnuts to sustain us) refuse to acknowledge when our fine Commonwealth’s elected representatives get something right for a change. So kudos to our [...]
Goode grief
Look, I feel compelled to make one thing perfectly clear: Despite all evidence to the contrary, the purpose of this column is not to exclusively chronicle the ongoing foibles of Charlottesville’s U.S. Representative Virgil H. Goode
I turn my camera on
Oh, what hath “Macaca” wrought? I mean, reallyâno matter how you feel about the gaffe-induced toppling of George “boot-in-mouth” Allen, I think we can now safely say that the introduction of the “Webb cam”
An ongoing inquiry into the curious state of Virginia politics
You remember Virginia, right? The first settled (and 10th admitted) American state? The one that launched our fledgling republic with the Declaration of Independence …
An ongoing inquiry into the curious state of Virginia politics
You remember Virginia, right? The first settled (and 10th admitted) American state? The one that launched our fledgling republic with the Declaration of Independence …
George Allen’s brain speaks!
Suffice it to say that, when political giant-killer Dick Wadhams (the engineer behind John Thune\’s upset win over Tom Daschle in 2002) took the reigns of George Allen\’s 2006 re-election campaign, he was expecting a far different race than the one he got. Known for his blunt, take-no-prisoners style and willingness to go on the attack, Wadhams has been forced by circumstances (hint: “macaca”) to retool the senator\’s campaignâmuting Allen, while increasing the profile of his well-liked wife, Susan. As the campaign enters the homestretch, we quizzed him about the state of play.
Post-”N-word,” Allen is on the attack
Those tired of "macaca"-gate can now move on to, um, "racier" ethnic slurs: Last week saw allegation after allegation published about racist comments and actions in George Allen’s past. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Allen-for-senate headquarters. What can notoriously volatile Campaign Manager Dick Wadhams possibly be thinking as Allen’s reputation [...]
Monkey business
Two months ago, George Allen was an unbeatable Southern senator with his sights set on the White House. One “Macaca” later, he’s a gaffe-prone hothead in the political fight of his life.
Jefferson’s Legacy viewed from across the pond
It can’t be denied: Good ol’ TJ’s reputation has taken more than a few hits over the past decade. From the 1998 DNA test which indicated that Mr. Jefferson had almost certainly fathered a child with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, to the recent Alexander Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow that depicts America’s third [...]