Russ Potts

Russ Potts just announced his retirement in an explosive Senate speech.  Video on that coming soon...

Here's the famous TV Ad!  Thanks to Bill Hillsman (who Russ still owes money to- pay up Potts!) for the video.

Assembly Access has the video of the goodbye speech. 

Comments

[Hamilton]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m_Yyao8obPc

Not what you asked for, but still appropriate.

[We Want Potts]

Per The Roanoke Times,

"During his retirement speech, however, Potts all but renounced the Republican party, saying that although it was once "the party of ideas," that's "not the case today."

Potts said he'll work to "save" the party, "and if I can't save it, I'll leave it."

Sorry, Russ, it can't be saved. Remeber, it's all about God, Guns, & Gays!!

Potts is not a team player. Republicans should hand-deliver him to the nearest Democratic headquarters (and see how long it takes for them to mark "package returned, addressee unavailable").

[Riley, Not O'Reilly]

"During his retirement speech, however, Potts all but renounced the Republican party, saying that although it was once "the party of ideas," that's "not the case today."

Potts said he'll work to "save" the party, "and if I can't save it, I'll leave it."

Didn't he leave it in '05 and run for Gov. as an Independent? I don't recall him ever rejoining it, so is he just going to leave it even further now?

[UVA08]

and the polarization of the parties continues.... The only people who win are the extreme partisans. The majority in the middle should be saddened by his departure.

[James Young]

That's hilarious. So Potts says that, although the GOP was once "the party of ideas," that's "not the case today."

What a maroon! The GOP is, of course, still the party of ideas. It's just not the party of the "slower Socialism" ideas which once were its hallmark (i.e., when it was in the minority).

And, of course, the standard Liberal criticism for ideas you can't answer is to claim they don't exist.

Good riddance to bad garbage. The overall IQ of the Virginia GOP just increased appreciably.

[William Jackson]

And my wallet said "WHEW"

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Holy crap!

That video almost made Gail for Rail look sane!

[JMU Duke]

DIMV-Ha! ALMOST!!! But this year is the year for Gail the Rail!! Or next year....or the year after that perhaps...

HaHa,

Potts just screwed Chichester and Quayle by labeling them his heros in his goodbye speech.

You guys are nuts. I hope you enjoy the party you're left with. Maybe the young crazies will become statesmen when they have actual responsibilty. I'll not hold my breath.

I just hope Potts is not replaced with that Holtzman women who might end up being a clone of Potts in the future.

[William Jackson]

Holzman--a Clone of Potts? Hardly, She'll probably get the VCAP endorsement, she was on their board.

[eileen]

If Dems pick up the majority in the Senate, aren't we then in charge of naming the Chairman of the Senate Education and Health and wouldn't we be in charge of its membership, assuring that we have the votes to knock down the craziness coming from the House?

She'll probably get(feel free to insert BOUGHT for get) the VCAP endorsement

[novamiddleman]

The Republican party didn't leave Potts

Potts left the Republican party

From the Washington Post

Quotes from Chichester, 2 D senators and Mark Warner D governor.

From his speech an endorsement of Democrat Deeds for Governor and AG

Potts was a tool of the last 2 Democratic party governors used to promote the D agenda under the guise of bipartsianship.

[t]

t is saddened by Potts' departure. t is saddened that it did not occur ten years earlier.

Potts knows he was going down in flames, so he quits in the whiney cowardly fashion that characterized his entire political career.

Wimp.

[UVA08]

I have an honest questions for those on the right who are happy to see Potts go. Do you really think that your party's recent electoral defeats have been caused by moderates who aren't conservative enough?

I mean three top of the ticket losses in a row, the Lt. Gov spot was barely lost by a Northern Virginia liberal, and the AG spot was won by a tiny 360 vote margin. The argument could even be made that had the Ds nominated a more centrist candidate for LG we would have swept all three offices.

Looking back at the 2006 Election, Webb beat Allen by 20 points among ideological moderates. Now there are some out there who say that had Allen ran a more conservative campaign he would have won but my question is if Allen did run too far away from his ideological base why did he do so well among them (88%) and why didn't he do better among Moderates if he was running towards the center? Keep in mind that in 2004 Bush got 85% of the Conservative vote and 42% of the Moderate vote.

It doesn't seem like Conservatism is the problem here. I believe this is a centrist state with a right tilt but has opted for the Democrats in recent years because they bring views that are more centrist and less ideological. In my opinion you purge your party of all its moderates at your own peril.

[Opequon Operator]

Senator Potts, so sorry to see you go. . . NOT!

Now its Jill Holtzman Vogel's turn. She is more conservative and more qualified than both Russ Potts or Mark Tate.

Jill will make a fine state senator and will make us proud in the 27th District!

Holtzman plays a moderate game around moderates and conservative around conservatives until she was called out for it. Supposedly even had a Potts for governor suppoter host a fundraiser. No criticism ever of Potts that I can recall in the newspapers until last week. NO more Potts types.

[NoVAConservative]

AGAIN with this? Enough already! What "moderate types?"

Nobody has any idea what you are talking about.

The evidence you cite is a fundraiser by a former Potts supporter? So what? If that's your standard, that Mark Tate must be a flaming liberal because he took $10k from a Tim Kaine supporter who was a sponsor of his inauguration, and also gave money to Jim Webb. Oh yeah, and we can't forget good old John Warner. He's the very definition of a "Potts type." And who is he supporting? Mark Tate.

This drumbeat is pathetic. And inaccurate.

[NoVAConservative]

Oh yeah, and if you want criticism of Potts, I could cite to you a whole slew of articles dating way back to 2003 quoting Jill Holtzman Vogel criticizing Potts. But I guess four years is not enough?

Holtzman consistently refused to criticize Potts in the last months and year(s) until she was called out on it. Just a few weeks ago she consistently declined to comment on many different occasions to newspapers. This is because many of Potts good liberal friends are on board with her.

Once again, moderate around moderates and conservative around conservatives. I was pleased to see the pieces about abortion but I think her hand was forced by another campaign. What a game! Holtzman could turn out to be another Potts. We just can't take that chance.

[asmith]

Great points UVA08. I doubt you'll get much of a response from the GOP side.

[William Jackson]

UVA08, it's not because Potts is moderate, it's because he's not a team player. Much the same reason the right loves Zell Miller and most national dems want nothing to do with him.