Remembering Lies That Led to Wars

 Sec. of Defense Robert S. McNamara lying through his teeth in 1964.

With the drumbeat for war sounding as you read this post, it's worthwhile to remember that sometimes a president’s advisers have lied to him with devastating consequences.

For instance, I don’t believe Johnson thought up the bogus information that led to the Gulf on Tonkin Resolution in August of 1964, which led to a massive escalation of the Vietnam War. Somebody else made it up ... then Johnson decided to believe it, or pretend to believe it.

The same goes with Bush; with regard to Iraq, he didn’t make up the weapons of mass destruction "evidence" that proved later to have been based on lies. No, he lacked the imagination to have dreamed all that stuff up. For whatever reasons, somebody else fabricated the lies Bush heard and then-Sec. of State Colin Powell repeated to the United Nations in February of 2003.

Now I wonder who is lying to Obama about what’s happened in Syria … and who is telling him the truth. Moreover, although I am an unqualified Obama supporter, I wonder if he -- as other presidents before him were -- is being tempted to believe convenient lies.

Of course I don’t know what has happened in Syria, to do with chemical weapons attacks. Some people are acting like they do, but I’m old and I’ve seen that sort of thing before. And, as long as big shots in the USA think Uncle Sam should go on being the world’s policeman, there will always be provocations -- both real and imagined.
  

Justice for Toots

Toots Hibbert, the legendary lead singer of Toots and the Maytals, wants justice. He wants to see the culprits pay. The culprits in this case include all of the people he holds responsible for the injuries he sustained during a live performance in Richmond on May 18, 2013.

That night, while on a Brown’s Island stage at the Dominion Riverrock festival, Hibbert (pictured above) was struck in the head by a flying bottle of Grey Goose vodka.

William Connor Lewis, 19, a college student who lives in Henrico County, was arrested and has been charged with being the bottle-thrower. Accordingly, on June 4, Hibbert, 67, filed a $21 million lawsuit against Lewis. On top of the lawsuit, Lewis is facing a felony malicious wounding charge.

More recently, according to a second Richmond Times-Dispatch article, Hibbert has filed a $20 million lawsuit against local entities his lawyers believe they can show are also culpable, in that their negligence facilitated the incident in which Hibbert was injured. Those named in the new lawsuit include Venture Richmond and the Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers.

Who knows how this will be settled?

Well, due to his unfortunate accuracy with throwing a bottle Lewis is probably looking at doing some time. How much is anybody's guess. But it’s most likely the lawsuit part of this story will end with settlements in both cases. The figures will probably be less than $21 million and $20 million, respectively.

Those two numbers were the opening salvos of battles that will play out in the months ahead. No doubt, how seriously Hibbert was injured will be important. What his losses have been and can be anticipated to be will be considered. Eventually, all the lawyers will come to some sort of agreement. That’s how matters like this are handled in our society.

Instead of throttling the people he holds responsible for his troubles, or merely sucking it up and going away, Hibbert is relying on the American legal system to deliver up some justice.

Nonetheless, if you read the comments under the RT-D article about the most recent lawsuit, it appears some people think the money is excessive, so now those named in the lawsuits as defendants are the true victims.

Huh?

Moreover, it appears some of the RT-D's readers are so twisted they see Toots Hibbert as a con man for turning to courts for relief. Comments also mention what good people the local promoters of the ill-fated concert are, as if that matters when considering their possible culpability.

OK, I’m not really all that surprised. Crazy, bitter people frequently dominate the comments sections under newspaper articles. In this instance I’m just glad I don’t know any of them (so far).

What has been surprising has been the similar comments on Facebook from people I do know. Some of them are my so-called "friends" who are exposing an ignorance, or perhaps a prejudice, that has been quite surprising. They ought to know better ... or at least pretend they do. 

-- Image from the Richmond Times-Dispatch

From STYLE Weekly: Looking back and looking ahead

By coincidence the STYLE Weekly has mentioned yours truly twice this week. One of the articles is about the past and the other is about the future.

The first link will take you to "Exile on Grace Street" by Rich Griset. It's a brief glance back to the days during which the hippies and then the punks ruled on Grace St. Those were also the days when I managed the Biograph Theatre.

By the way, in the comments below that piece, there's a list I've never seen before. It purports to have all Bruce Springsteen's live performances in Richmond in the late-1960s and early-'70s on it. As it was posted by VCU's Ray Bonis, it's probably accurate. 

The second link will take you to "Parrish leaving the James River Film Society" by Brent Baldwin. In telling how James Parrish has stepped down as co-honcho of the JRFS, it offers a smattering of information about the new movie theater project with which I am involved -- the Bijou Film Center.

If you're interested in more local pop culture nostalgia from the '70s and '80s, click on this link to look at Biograph Times. 

The worst part of the GOP's scandal problem?

When the snowballing Uncle Jonnie’s Rolex scandal or Gov. Bob McDonnell’s disapproval rating are mentioned, about all any Republican spokesperson in Virginia can manage to say is: Yes, tsk-tsk, all the politicians accept gifts/money under the table.

The pathetic all-the-kids-are-doing-it excuse? That's all they seem to have.

Just as too many Republicans appear to be blind to the truth that both the Tea Party's and Ken Cuccinelli's popularity are shriveling steadily, in 2013 they can’t even bring themselves to say: Yes, the McDonnells are a stunningly tacky couple.

And, maybe the worst part of this year's scandal problem for Virginia Republicans is that for Gov. McDonnell to step down it would automatically upgrade Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling -- the same guy the Cooch stabbed in the back -- which would do the statewide Republican ticket no good whatsoever. 

Should the governor go away? Or should he serve out his term?

As far as November 5th goes, it probably doesn't matter.

Movies About Making Movies

A new Five Film Favorites column is up at the Bijou Backlight. This Thursday's edition is on movies about making movies.

Maybe you have a favorite film about filmmaking? Click here to see if it's on the list.

The Bijou Backlight is a new blogzine devoted to appreciating film in all of its forms. I am serving as its editor. 

Unvarnishing Virginia History

Note: The piece below was originally published by STYLE Weekly in 2007. The recent chatter about a giant Confederate flag waving over a highway into Richmond made me want to post it here. A few years ago, a retired educator gave me the history book mentioned in the piece. I hope he enjoys seeing what his gift inspired.

*

Having grown up in Richmond, I've been steeped in its dual sense of bitterness and pride over matters to do with, and stemming from, the Civil War. Perhaps thinned out somewhat by time, it remains in the air we breathe at the fall line of the James River.

Most of my life has been spent in the Fan District, which is home to four statues honoring heroes of the Confederacy. Beyond monuments, to know what it was like in Richmond in the past, we look to history. It comes to us in many ways — stories told, popular culture and schooling among them.

In 1961, my seventh-grade history book, which was the official history of Virginia for use in all public junior high schools — as decreed by the General Assembly — had this to say about slavery at the end of its Chapter 29:

Life among the Negroes of Virginia in slavery times was generally happy. The Negroes went about in a cheerful manner making a living for themselves and for those whom they worked. They were not so unhappy as some Northerners thought they were, nor were they so happy as some Southerners claimed. The Negroes had their problems and their troubles. But they were not worried by the furious arguments going on between Northerners and Southerners over what should be done with them. In fact, they paid little attention to those arguments.

In 1961 I had no reason to question that paragraph's veracity. Baseball was my No. 1 concern in those days. Now those words read quite differently.

Living through the struggles of the Civil Rights era, with its bombings, assassinations, marches, sit-ins, boycotts and school-closings, did much to show me a new light, to do with truth and fairness. However, for me, there was no moment of epiphany, no sudden awareness I was growing up in a part of the world that officially denied aspects of its past. More than anything else, it took time. Life experience taught me to look more deeply into things.

Now I know that dusty old history book was a cog in the machinery that made the Jim Crow era possible.

Nonetheless, that same history book's view of how it was for those enslaved is one that some Virginians still want to believe. It's probably what they were taught as children, too. Some call it "heritage." Many of this persuasion also cling to the bogus factoid that since most Southerners didn't hold slaves, the Civil War itself was not fought over slavery.

Which is preposterous.

Of course poor Southerners, those who weren't plantation owners, had little to do with starting the Civil War. Generally speaking, poor people with no clout don't launch wars anywhere; rich people with too much power do.

So, for the most part, the men who fought in gray uniforms were doing what they felt was expected of them. As with most wars, the bulk of those who fought and died for either side between 1861 and 1865 were just ordinary Joes who had no say-so over declaring war or negotiating peace.

In Virginia, many who chose to wear gray did so to reverse what seemed to them to be an invasion of their home state. That's the reason the heritage clingers like the best.

Yet, if the reader wants to understand more deeply why Virginia eventually left the Union, to follow the secessionist hotheads of South Carolina and Mississippi into war, here's a clue from Chapter 30 of that same history book, which opened with this:

In 1790 there were more than 290,000 slaves in Virginia. This number was larger than that of any other state.

Those 290,000 slaves were worth a lot of money to their owners and such wealthy families had a lot of say-so.

Thus, the largest part of the real blame for the bloodshed of the war, and the subsequent indignities of the Reconstruction era, probably rests with wealthy slaveholders who would not give up their investments in cheap labor without a fight.

Readers interested in how much the official record of the Civil War has changed over the decades since the Civil Rights era should pay a visit to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. Its telling of the story of the Civil War is now based on the unvarnished truth.

Moreover, I am proud to be a Virginian. There's plenty of Virginia history that has nothing to do with picking sides in the Civil War. My ancestors go back to the 1600s in this commonwealth. But I will not stand with anyone who chooses to stay the course with the absurd denials of history — to do with slavery — that were crammed into that old public school textbook.

As for my friends in Richmond who haven't had a fresh thought on matters racial since they were seventh-graders, well, I don't want to pick a fight with them. So mostly we talk about other things — baseball still works.

All that said, Robert E. Lee, whose spectacular monument I see every day, remains a Virginian I admire. I realize his reputation has taken somewhat of a beating in recent years, but the dual sense of tragedy and dignity his statue conveys remains striking. In his time and place, torn between loyalties, it seems to me Lee tried to do what he saw as his duty.

After the war a weary Lee urged his fellow Virginians to let it go — to move on. That was good advice in 1865. It still is.

-- 30 --

Note: The illustration was fashioned after Jean Antoine Mercie's Lee Monument (unveiled in 1890). "Mercie's Lee," by yours truly, was done in ink and pastels.

The Bijou Backlight

The Bijou Backlight is a new blogzine based in Richmond, Virginia. It is devoted to the appreciation of film in all of its forms. Beyond its focus on movies, old and new, it exists to help develop and promote the Bijou, a "little cinema" that is a work-in-progress.

Click here to visit the blogzine to learn more; I am serving as its editor.

Click here to see the Bijou Backlight’s Facebook page.

Splattergate 1998

In 1998, with impeachment in the air and the Clinton administration being hobbled by the investigation of the nature of the president’s relationships with various women -- most notoriously, Monica Lewinsky -- I felt called upon to lampoon the scandal. So I created a series of caricatures featuring some of the main characters and wrote goofy captions for them.

That was "Splattergate," which was my fifth series of collectible cards on a theme. Below the reader will see seven of the nine frames for the Splattergate cards (click on an image to enlarge it).

Haven't done another set of cards since this one. Now I'm working on a new series of caricatures based on a political scandal. At the center of this scandal, rather than a randy president, we have a tacky governor. We'll see what comes of that.

Nixon Got What He Deserved

Note: This is piece a I wrote for Richmond.com in 1999 (with some touch-ups to update it). I did the illustration back then, too.

August is usually a slow month for news, so we are spoon-fed anniversaries to contemplate: Hiroshima’s 68th, Woodstock’s 44th and 39 years ago Pres. Richard M. Nixon took the fall -- he resigned.

The entire culture shifted gears the day President Nixon threw in the towel. The brilliant strategist, the awkward sleuth, the proud father, and the coldest of warriors had left the building.

August 9, 1974 was a day to hoist one for his enemies, many of whom must have enjoyed his twisting in the wind of Watergate’s storm. It was the saddest of days for his staunch supporters, whose numbers were legion.

Either way, Richard Nixon’s departure from DeeCee left a void that no personality has since filled.

For the first time since his earliest commie-baiting days, in the late-‘40s, Dick Nixon didn’t matter. With Nixon gone being anti-establishment promptly went out of style, too. With the war in Vietnam no longer a front burner issue, "streaking" -- running around outside naked -- replaced the anti-war rally as the most popular gesture of defiance on college campuses.

Soon what remained of the causes and accouterments of the ‘60s was packed into cardboard boxes to be tossed out, or stored in basements. Watergate revelations killed off the Nixon administration’s chance of instituting national health insurance. Many people have forgotten that his regime was also easily more liberal on racial and environmental matters than any before it.

Although he was a hawk, Nixon was moderate on some of the social issues. His opening to China and efforts toward détente with the Soviets are often cited as evidence of Nixon's ability to maneuver deftly in the realm of foreign affairs. No doubt, that was his main focus. But at the bottom line, Nixon is remembered chiefly as the President who was driven from office. And for good reason.

Nixon’s nefarious strategy for securing power divided this country like nothing since the Civil War. Due to his fear of hippies and left-wing campus movements, Nixon came between fathers and sons. To rally support for his prosecution of the Vietnam War he demagogued and exploited the bitter division between World War II era parents and their baby boomer offspring in such a way that many families have never recovered.

However, Nixon’s true legacy is that since his paranoia-driven scandal, the best young people have no longer felt drawn into public service. Since Watergate, for 30-some years now -- taken as a whole -- the citizens who’ve gravitated toward politics for a career have not had the intellect, the sense of purpose, or the strength of character of their predecessors.

Some trace the cycle of endless paybacks across the aisle to that era, as well. We can thank Tricky Dick for all that and more.

So weep not for the sad, crazy Nixon of August, 1974. He did far more harm to America than whatever good he intended. On top of that, he had twenty years to come clean and clear the air. But he didn’t do it. He didn't even come close. In the two decades of his so-called “rehabilitation,” before his death in 1994, Nixon just kept on being Nixon.

Some commentators have suggested that he changed over that period, even mellowed. Don't buy it. The rest of us changed a lot more than he did. While I acknowledge his guile and I'm still astounded at his monumental gall, President Nixon was a man who choked on his own bile.

So, spare me the soft-focus view of the Nixon years.

Yes, dear reader, I’m here to remind you that Tricky Dick Nixon's fall from grace should be a lesson to us all -- he got what he deserved.

Flashback: Armageddonville, Texas

From the cover of SLANT, December 2003

Armageddonville, Texas is the story of the proud Blusterbush clan. G. Phineas T. Blusterbush, the patriarch, owned miles and miles of all he surveyed. The scion of a wealthy Connecticut family, young Gee-Phinnie Blusterbush settled in Texas for a reason that was never quite clear.

With his utter determination to succeed, and a carpetbag full of Wall Street bread, Blusterbush eventually became a cattle rancher of mammoth proportions. A tall and flinty man, Gee-Phinnie believed he owned the Armageddon River that flowed across his land. To make his belief a reality, over the years, he steadily bought up any property along the river he could. He had a special way of convincing the small ranchers and sod-busters to sell off their land and leave the area.

Note: This character’s costume is patterned after Phineas T. Bluster, a puppet villain on the Howdy Doody Show television show of the 1950s. He carries a derringer, hidden in his coat pocket.

Gee-Phinnie’s oldest son, G. W. “Dubya” Blusterbush, a ne’er-do-well in his youth, swore off booze and subsequently found religion (or maybe it was the other way around.) Always on the trail of two nasty villains, Dubya was out to prove he was worthy of walking in his father’s boot-prints.

Dubya was convinced that the two villains were allies - O’ Sammy Benlion and Sa’ad Hellsbells - because it came to him in a dream in which a dead horse rose up and spoke to him in the voice of Jesus.

Note: That's the dream that makes Dubya get off the sauce. Since Dubya had always been afraid of horses, anyway - he rides around in a blue designer stagecoach to keep from having to mount a horse - this dream rocks his world. Dubya’s signature outfit is an all-leather affair. For protection Dubya always carries his matched pair of .44 caliber Colts - blue, of course.

Gee-Phinnie also owned Amageddonville’s sheriff, a defrocked preacher named Johnny Asskleft. Asskleft had to leave his final post as a pastor in great haste. Blusterbush, the elder, was the only man who knew the reason, thus, he had a firm grip on Asskleft.

Note: Asskleft bares a strong resemblance to Paul Lynde, of Hollywood Squares fame. He wears the stock Western Movie sheriff wardrobe.

Gee-Phinnie also secretly owned half of the town’s saloon, The Tumbleweed, operated by his partner, who fronted the business - the lovely and semi-talented Miss Candi.

Note: The sloe-eyed, sepia-toned Miss Candi is cute as a button, but she has no originality whatsoever - her wardrobe is a total ripoff of Miss Kitty’s (Gunsmoke). Still, Miss Candi was loyal to Gee-Phinnie to a fault. Whoa, Nellie! Is something going on there?

Dickie Chains was the foreman of the Blusterbush family’s ranch, the “Flying W.” As a teenager Chains was at the Battle of the Alamo. He survived because he proved to be quite an actor - Chains convinced Santa Anna that he was the shy female servant of an officer. He and a handful of others were released to tell the bloody story of what happened

Note: The swaggering Chains dresses as a cowhand and rides a huge red horse. The horse swaggers, too.

Don Rumdummy was part-owner of an expanding railroad company that wanted to put tracks through the town. He had a secret alliance with Gee-Phinnie to acquire the land. Even more secretly, Rumsdummy and Chains were partners in slime - they sold whiskey and guns to renegade Indians, highwaymen and anyone with the cash to pay.

Note: Rumdummy dresses in the all-black garb of a Pinkerton agent, which he had once been. He carries guns of various sizes, wherever he can.

Collard Kungpowell was the figurehead mayor of Armageddonville. He had no real power and he was eaten up with guilt. He was addicted to laudanum.

Note: Once a soldier, Kungpowell had hung up his guns. He dresses like a banker.

O’ Sammy Benlion, a half-breed, was the adopted son of an Indian chief, who was assassinated by Chains’ henchmen. The kindly old chief had been unwilling to sign the bad treaty the federal government was offering. Before the tribe moved to the reservation O’ Sammy took several young warriors with him. The group became marauding renegades. O’ Sammy and his band of snake-handling, whiskey-drinking followers were determined to wreak havoc. They blew up barns and poisoned water holes, just for fun.

Note: O’ Sammy dresses in a skintight outfit with an “O” on his chest and a cape! He thinks Hellsbells is yesterday’s heavy, riding for a fall.

Sadistic Sa’ad Hellsbells was a mustachioed Mexican bandito chief with a mean-as-dirt gang. They rustled cattle and robbed the stagecoaches that passed through the region with impunity. They shot up the town when they felt like it, too. Sa’ad also had a prize stock of Arabian horses, in his secret mountainous hideout.

Dubya spent most of his waking hours searching, in vain, for those nasty hidden horses.

Note: Hellsbells wears the obligatory bandito outfit - big sombrero - “we don’t need no steenking badges!” - and ammunition belts across his chest.

This swashbuckling story, set in Texas - the land of hot air and bum steers - will continue.

-- This piece appeared in the special Summer 2003 issue of SLANT. 
Words and art by F.T. Rea

Now there's a Bijou Backlight

The Bijou Backlight is a new blogzine about film in all its forms. It is based in Richmond, Virginia. Beyond its focus on movies this new publishing venture exists to help develop and promote one particular movie theater, the Bijou, which is still a project-in-the-planning-stage.

A famous backlit scene from "A Clockwork Orange" (1971).

The Bijou Backlight is being edited by yours truly and it just went live today. James Parrish is its publisher.

Click here to visit the Bijou Backlight, where you can read about some good movies and learn more about the "little cinema" that is in the works. 

Redskins in Richmond

Summertime

Remembering the Bogus Search for the Redskins Training Facility

Hail to that $50,000 contribution

Last year, when the deal that has brought the Washington Redskins’ preseason training camp to Richmond was being put together, I was being put off by the strange way it was happening. After a deal to build it in Richmond had been made, THEN you choose the site?

Over the summer months and into the fall, I thought the mysterious process of selecting a site for the Redskins was a sham and should have been challenged by the candidates running for City Council. Basically, now I’m saying that all along the delay -- ostensibly about a search -- was more about timing the announcement to force City Council to have to act without the proper time to study the plan.  

Unfortunately, the timid candidates all stood aside and let the mayor’s office have its way. Then, sure enough, when the deal's details were unveiled in October, City Council was told it had to OK the pact, pronto, or lose it.

Now, with all those old trees gone and the buildings all built, the Redskins camp is set to open tomorrow. While lessons should have been learned from how things got done, it’s too late to oppose what brought the Redskins to Richmond.

So, while I have my doubts about City Hall’s blue-sky predictions about how many tourists are really going to show up to watch football practices, every day, I hope the adventure is successful for Richmond in the long run. At this point, pushing sour grapes off the table, I can see no good reason in wishing for failure.

Last summer, hoping to goose the councilmanic candidates into making it a campaign issue, I wrote several pieces that questioned/mocked the site selection process as being a sham.  It didn’t work. Then, as the sitting Council was about to vote yes or no on the deal, I posted this piece, with links to some articles about the way the deal went down.

Now I laugh when I see local politicians claiming they opposed the Redskins deal from the start. Because, I know that if they did, they pretty much kept it a secret when it counted. And, I laugh when I remember that the Redskins donated $50,000 to Gov. Bob McDonnell's campaign effort in 2009.  

Nonetheless, as a lifelong Redskins fan, now I say, “Hail to the Redskins.” And, in parting, I ask this:

Given what we’ve learned about how he operates, are we going to let Mayor Dwight Jones shoehorn a baseball stadium into Shockoe Bottom?

-- Photo from the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Film Gems on YouTube

Of course I’d rather watch a brand new print of any movie than an old beat up print. Likewise, given the choice, I’d rather see that pristine print projected onto a large screen than watch it on a laptop. But if the choice is between seeing or not seeing a film, let’s say it’s old film noir I’ve read about but never seen, the laptop will do.

Enter YouTube.

Over the last few months I’ve watched a bunch of old movies on YouTube at no charge. Apparently, thousands of titles are available. Sometimes the look of the picture has been better than others. Some of the films are in the public domain, others may not be and they might not be available for long, due to rights issues.

Several of the gems I’ve watched recently have been pulled, so don’t wait to see one on the list you really want to see. It might be gone tomorrow.

In particular, I’ve been enjoying the black and white movies from the 1950s and early-‘60s. Of the movies in that category I’ve watched recently on YouTube, my favorite five today (with links that still work at this posting) are as follows:

“The Big Heat” (1953): B&W. Directed by Fritz Lang; Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Lee Marvin. Note: Ford is the cop who won’t be scared off of investigating the death of a colleague. Grahame is the gangster’s moll who gets caught in the middle. Marvin is the second-in-command in a crime syndicate who routinely terrorizes people, especially women, for his own amusement. Click here to watch it.

“The Hitch-Hiker” (1952): B&W. Directed by Ida Lupino; Cast: Edmund O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman. Note: Based on a true crime spree story that had been covered extensively in the press in 1950. For a woman to direct a lean and brutal movie like this one was a breakthrough in its time. Talman’s quirky portrayal as the psychotic murderer is memorable. Click here to watch it.

“Paris Blues” (1961): B&W. Directed by Martin Ritt; Cast: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Pointier, Louis Armstrong, Diahann Carroll. Note: Seeing the good looking stars of this story about Americans wrapped up in the jazz scene in Paris is well worth it. Some expatriates were way too cool for the processed rhythm and blues, country & western, and folk music that was dominating the pop charts in the USA. Click here to watch it.

“Patterns” (1956): B&W. Directed by Fielder Cook; Cast: Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley. Note: Written by Rod Serling, “Patterns” was first presented on the Kraft Television Theatre in 1955. A year later it was reworked as a feature film. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this story of dog-eat-dog immorality in the business world is how well it holds up. Click here to watch it.

"Shake Hands With the Devil" (1959): B&W. Directed by Michael Anderson; Cast: James Cagney, Don Murray, Dana Wynter, Richard Harris. Note: This story about an American medical student (of Irish heritage) getting inadvertently involved with revolutionary politics is set in Dublin in 1921. The student, who is also an apolitical WWI veteran, gets dragged into the IRA’s bitter battle with the thuggish Black and Tans. Click here to watch it.

That's a Lot of Turkey

If you can pull yourself away from reading about the Zimmerman trial aftermath and the Uncle Jonnie’s Rolex scandal, I’ve got a story about the Virginia gubernatorial race. There was a 90-minute debate between the two major party hopefuls, Ken Cuccinelli and Terry McAuliffe, on Saturday morning and something telling happened.

It was something that was rather surprising to me.

Yes, it’s still mid-July -- perhaps the peak of the silly season for politics -- but what happened on the tony Homestead's debate stage in Hot Springs may play out to make a difference in the outcome of the race. But first, here’s what happened at the debate before the Virginia Bar Association audience, if you only focus on what was said.

Essentially, both candidates stuck to their scripts, so there weren‘t many surprises in the content of what they said. No, the surprise for me was all in how they said it; the difference in the body language and demeanor of the two candidates was striking.

As far as what was said, here it is in a nutshell: The Republican candidate, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, repeatedly said that his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, is a Washington insider (read that as saying he's not a true Virginian). McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, repeatedly cast Cuccinelli as an ideologue who is backward on social issues (read that as saying he will keep new businesses from locating in Virginia).

In the first half of the Judy Woodruff-moderated debate Cuccinelli seemed in over his head. He appeared to be scared and unsure of himself. At the same time, McAuliffe hit the ground running, brimming over with confidence. He was well prepared and it showed.

Among the topics covered were:

• Teachers’ pay.
• A $1.4 billion tax cut proposed by Cuccinelli, about which he refuses to divulge any specifics.
• Same-sex marriage
• Abortion
• McAuliffe’s car company failings
• Transportation in Virginia
• Gifts from Star Scientific
• Should Gov. Bob McDonnell resign?
• Health care/Obamacare
• The Sequester’s impact on Virginia
• Immigration Reform

Cuccinelli scored best on Obamacare and the Sequester. McAuliffe scored best on the social issues and transportation.

When Cuccinelli did manage to recover somewhat from his shaky start, in the debate’s last half-hour, he tried to affect his cock-of-the walk style. However, it seemed a little forced and he still looked self-conscious. Which all seemed to underline the notion that Cuccinelli’s style works much better when he’s working a highly partisan crowd, or being interviewed by sympathetic questioners.

McAuliffe chided Cuccinelli for accepting a trip to New York, paid for by Jonnie Williams, when the attorney general’s office was dragging its heels on a tax dispute between one of Williams' companies and the commonwealth. Cuccinelli said he was merely standing in for Gov. McDonnell, at the governor‘s request.

McAuliffe mentioned a $1,500 turkey dinner the AG presumably enjoyed, for which Williams picked up the check. Then the Democratic candidate chuckled, “That’s a lot of turkey!”  

Yes, it was surprising to me how much better McAuliffe performed in this first debate. He seemed likeable and quick on his feet. Up until today, I had been more than a little worried than Cuccinelli would be the more confident debater. Now I wonder if Cuccinelli ought to just avoid any future one-on-one debates.

McAuliffe's biggest stumble was caught by PolitiFact. McAuliffe said a report on connections between Uncle Jonnie and Cuccinelli, issued by Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring, said Cuccinelli should have been prosecuted. It did not.

Of course one debate shown on PBS in July won’t settle the contest. But with McAuliffe slightly ahead in the early polls and his strong performance on Saturday, momentum is now clearly on his side.

For his part, Cuccinelli tried to distance himself from McDonnell’s snowballing Uncle Jonnie problem, but it wasn’t convincing. When questioned about abortion Cuccinelli mostly ducked the opportunity to double-down on his anti-choice, anti-contraception positions of the past.

So, here’s why this first debate matters -- of course, it’s the money. Cuccinelli is probably going to have more trouble raising money now. Some of the GOP’s fat cats may already smell a loser. Smart Republicans may son decide to invest their time and money into holding onto the AG’s job and maintaining control of the House of Delegates.

So, even though this is just July, Cuccinelli may already be in trouble. If he can’t raise enough money to saturate Virginia with commercials in the fall, AND he can’t best McAuliffe in debates, he’s probably going to lose in November by double digits. Like McDonnell is expected to do, he could end up hurting other Republicans in their own races.

For the first time this year, I see McAuliffe’s chances to overcome Cuccinelli’s advantage of his well-cultivated right-wing media darling image as being pretty good.

All in all, July 20, 2013, was a good day for Virginia Democrats -- especially for the most relentless of the Cooch Watch activists.

*

Update: To watch a recording of the debate click here.

Who'll give the Cooch a hand?

Virginia’s still-sitting attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, has been using a ten-foot-pole to push away from some of his own more Tea Party-esque/extremist positions in the past. That’s not unusual. Candidates, both Republican and Democratic, tend to try to move to the center for a general election.

Then the Cooch got a “gift” from the GOP convention held in Richmond in May. It nominated Rev. E.W. Jackson to run as No.2 (Lt. Gov.) on the ticket with Cuccinelli. Jackson has said enough wa-ay crazy things to almost make Cuccinelli seem run-of-the-mill by comparison.

So out came another ten-foot-pole; Cuccinelli announced he will not be defending any of Jackson's statements or positions. Picture the busy-as-a-beaver Cooch with a pole in each hand push, push, pushing away.

Speaking of gifts, now comes the embarrassing list of gifts, loans, etc., Gov. Bob McDonnell has received from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams.

Oy vey.

As he must, Cuccinelli is now trying to distance himself from the still-sitting governor. Which might not be so easy, since the sitting AG has also been linked to the snowballing "Giftgate" scandal.

While the Republican Party may have a garage full of sturdy ten-foot-poles, it seems the beleaguered Cooch may need to grow a third hand.

-- Ken Cuccinelli image from Richmond.com 

RunBobRun meme gaining momentum

You start with P. Kevin Morley’s photograph of a giddy Gov. Bob McDonnell at the grand opening of the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center here in Richmond, which ran in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on July 8, 2013. Then you add some imaginative sarcasm and photoshop skills. Shake liberally and pour through a strainer.

What do you get?

A series of humorous images of the trotting, dancing, perhaps fleeing governor. In today’s Internet-driven parlance you get a new "meme" that is jumping from one Facebook page to the next as you read these words.

Launched by Barry Fitzgerald, the RunBobRun meme, as memes tend to do, has inspired other artists hop onto the bandwagon. From what I can tell, so far this is a Richmond-based phenomenon. Go here to see the series at Tumblr.

Given the “Giftgate” news that’s been leaking -- drip, drip, drip -- out about the list of gifts, loans, etc., McDonnell has received from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, it’s no wonder the governor is on the run. 

Given the particularly tacky aura of this scandal, I’ll venture a guess that people close to the McDonnells, those who are well acquainted with their personal history, are not as surprised by these shocking revelations as some of us are.

Hey, should we believe that Bob and Maureen have suddenly become the sort who would happily accept a bunch of payments under the table?

Really?

Giddy-up, Bob, giddy-up!