Griffith with his mouth open>My good friend Kurt, a man who tends toward dignity and brevity, tells me he ran into Salem Del. Morgan Griffith at a football game Friday night and said to him, simply and ... well ... elegantly, "You are a disgrace!"
Kurt's lovely wife was dumbstruck (though I suspect she agreed with the assessment). Kurt admitted, "That was the marguerita talking." But sometimes the marguerita speaks volumes of truth in one simple blurt.
Griffith is at best disgraceful as a representative of anything associated with grace and civility, with logic, kindness, compassion or any of the human characteristics so many associate with his mother, a long-time teacher in the Salem system. Somebody once explained him as a "demon seed." He said, "No way that woman could have given birth to that man."
Maybe not. Maybe so. Who knows? But Kurt got it right and it delighted me. Griffith's response: "Are you in my district?" It's about the votes. Always the votes. Only the votes. If you see Griffith, remind him that he's a disgrace. It's only fitting.
I'd say, more than a little too short. He told Bent Mountain years ago that he represented Salem not Bent Mountain because the votes that elected him were in Salem.
ReplyDeleteBent Mountain is in his District.
You've become unhinged in your hatred of Morgan. I fear you may implode on Election Day.
ReplyDeleteEldon, FWIW, Morgan had an event on Bent Mountain this past weekend with Ed Elswick and had a very good turnout and a very positive response. Morgan always meets with the Bent Mountain folks, Back Creek folks, Glenvar folks, Hidden Valley folks, etc. Salem is only 30% of his District so there's no way he could have survived this long with a Salem only attitude.
Anyway, I guess we'll find out in November if Morgan has been a good representative of the people in the 8th.
Salem Repubs:
ReplyDeleteActually, we'll probably find out in November how few people either pay attention or care. I'll bet turnout is less than 30 percent (maybe less than 25 percent). I'd also bet that fewer than one in four people in the district even know who the representative is. Winning by a landslide would constitute polling about 15 percent of the registered vote. Yay America! By the way, I love the "Morgan always meets with the ... folks." That's dang big of him, especially spending nearly a whole hour every other year (and making my point for me). D
Dan
ReplyDeleteOne thing we can agree on is that Americans are woefully disengaged in the electoral process. That said, your numbers are way off, especially in the 8th where voters are pretty engaged. Turnout in the 8th was 54% in 2005 (analogous year) and Morgan didn't even have an opponent. I'd expect something in the 55-60% range this year. Still not great although its relatively impressive and says something about Morgan v. other electeds (for example, the 11th - Onzlee - had 37% turnout in 2005).
As for Morgan meeting with folks, I interact closely with lots of elected officials from both parties and Morgan is one of the most accessible. Certainly of the House members in this part of the state.
You can hold your personal anomosity towards him in your heart until it eventually kills you but it won't change the fact that Morgan represents his constituents well and they love him for it. I'll go out on a limb and predict Morgan not only wins HUGE but he wins every single precinct this year.
Greg
The people who represent me in Congress (Bob Goodlatte) and the General Assembly (William Fralin) are Republicans who are my philosophical opposites. However, each has been responsive, respectful, quick, efficient and thorough when I have needed their services--knowing I would not vote for them. They have respected themselves, me, their professions, their office and the country with their behavior and I respect them for it. Your boy has none of those traits when it comes to people who oppose him. I frequently hear horror stories of him turning away people, refusing to even talk to them. He governs by killing good bills in committee where responsibility is cloudy and his profession--defending irresponsible drunk drivers--enables people to continue to break the law without thought of consequence. Not exactly a role model. "Unhinged in your hatred" is hardly the proper description of someone simply spelling out differences, though I have little use for his kind.
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