Governor Kaine Compares Special Session to Seinfeld

Because it was a "session about nothing".

So does that make Governor Kaine the person playing George Castanza?

Here's his post session "spin" on why he couldn't get the job done.  Governor Shrinkage it appears...

Comments

Moran should be Seinfeld. Saslaw is Kramer. Janet H is definitely Elaine.

Phil Hamilton is the evil Soup Nazi.

[t]

We need to have a special session to defund Planned Paranthood from receiving taxpayer subsidy.

t mooooooans when t contemplates the abortionists at PP

t mooooooans

[Not Hussein (formerly Not Ben)]

He couldn't get the job done, as I understand it, because his endorsement of Gerry Connolly made the other legislators not want to pass his legislation.

So if this is Seinfeld, who has "hand" - Kaine, the Dem Senate, or House Republicans?

maybe kaine should be the VP, he is perfectly aligned with obama. Both of them say a whole lot and it means nothing. They put forth plans that, not even their followers beleve in or support. They then blame anybody for their failure.
what a way to govern

[Larry Sabato's Hairpiece]

If the session was "about nothing" then why did he call it? He quickly forgets this was HIS session. He called it. He put forth a plan that he knew would not pass. He did nothing to close the gap with a majority of legislators. Hell, he even lied about his efforts when he said he met with Howell about it one time and it turns out they were seated next to each other at a dinner and the topic never came up.

Kaine owns this one. He wanted to get something done, but he refused to show some leadership and put forward something that would demonstrate even the faintest good faith effort to bridge the gap between his ideas and what was acceptable to a majority in the legislature. If he made no honest effort, why would anyone else do it for him when he wanted this session?

If you put forward a plan you KNOW will be rejected, just as similar plans have been spiked, and make no effort to change it in a way to make it even slightly appealing to some of those on the other side, then all you could get was a session about nothing. After all, isn't repeating the same act over and over, expecting a different result a sign of insanity?

Kaine knew this had no chance. He never put forward anything that remotely smelled of an idea that would have a chance. His efforts wasted a ton of taxpayer money since nothing was accomplished. He owns this. I'm sure he'll wear it proudly.

You call a special session when you have a solution that will be enacted, not to propose a plan that anyone with a brain more functional than a brain stem would know had zero chance of passage. The only real question is whether Kaine is just dumb, blind, lazy, intransigent, inept, or a combination of the above.

[Sic Semper Tyrannius]

Dear President Obama, blessed be his name:

Please nominate Tim Kaine to be Secretary of Transportation. If you could do before the election it would help all of us in Virginia. Kaine is stupid enough that he would take the job before the election. Timmy would be an excellent Secretary. He won't do anything, talks a lot, and he's far enough down the line of succession that when he plots to suceed you nobody will pay any attention.

[Ian Jordan]

More hateration. Does anything substantive come from Ben?

11:20, Morgan Griffith is Newman

[Larry Sabato's Hairpiece]

You can't let Kaine become Secretary of Transportation. Before you know it, every airport will be in meltdown and the highways will be wrecked because he could not raise some tax or another. Give him some inconsequential post where he cannot make much trouble, like Ambassador to the Bahamas. Better yet, since he always was proud of his missionary work in developing nations, let's make him Ambassador to Chad or Bukina Faso or some other Third World dump most people have never heard of.

[Loudoun Insider]

Did anyone read Tim Craig's article today parroting Kaine's pathetic message about this failed session of his? This was pathetic and he has no one to blame but himself. Now go and fix the f-ed up funding formula and simply give NoVA back what it puts in. That really solves NoVA's transportation problems.

[Not Tim Kaine]

well said to all. i couldnt have elaborated the point of Kaine's ineptitude better.

also, Insider...that's just exactlywhat a regional plan would do....give NoVA back what it puts in.

here's my impression of Moran as Seinfeld..."whhhhhyyyy can't i be Governor? why do i have this Massachusetts acccccent? Georrrrrge, whhhhhy did i spend 770,000 in less than 6 months to only make 990,000?" If you guys wanna keep up this Warner-Kaine brand (note having Kaine branding on you these days isn't necessarily a good thing) of leadership and consistency or lack thereof...then by all means elect "Bahhhston" Moran.

[Sean Holihan]

My favorite part about all this is that it's Kaine's fault that he even called a special session in the first place.

What was Gov. Kaine supposed to do? Just pretend that this Commonwealth doesn't have a problem that needs a solution?

Perhaps Kaine thought that the members of the General Assembly could do the job they were elected to do and provide funding for our roads.

Yet, somehow, it's Kaine's fault because he knew that Republicans wouldn't pass anything coming from the Senate and vice-versa.

Simply put, Gov. Kaine came up with a solution and it failed. At least he proposed a real solution, something that could be tweaked or comprimised, certainly. Unfortunately, that much cannot be said of many of the members of Virginia's General Assembly.

[Ghost of Alexander Hamilton]

Sean, Tim Kaine is the first Governor in history to call a special session without even the faintest outline of a deal already in place before the legislators got there. That's how big power politics is played.

Just having a plan doesn't cut it. It takes work, personal lobbying by the Governor to a broad cross section of the assembly.

Heck, if the GA hadn't recessed for 10 days, the House Democrats wouldn't even had a compromise plan they could support and vote for. They all were deathly afraid to vote on the Governor's plan.

[Larry Sabato's Hairpiece]

Sean, you're missing the point.

What if Governor Kaine's plan to fix the roads was to place Sean Holihan into perpetual slavery to pave the roads for free? Now that's a plan, I suppose, but I doubt anyone would vote for it. Which is a good thing, I'd hope you would agree.

Having a plan isn't enough. This isn't a government of one, it's a democracy with 140 other players at the General Assembly that you need to persuade. The problem is Kaine came up with a plan he knew could never persuade anyone. Now maybe he's inept or maybe he thought he could make some political points. Who knows? The outcome is the same. Nothing was done and a whole lot of money was wasted.

What bothers me most about this is the fact that Kaine made what appears to be no effort to try and find something to place in the plan that Republicans could agree with. I'm not necessarily saying the whole plan could have been funded without a tax increase--maybe it could and maybe it couldn't. What I'm saying there was not even one aspect of the plan that Republicans could get on board with. Nothing that even remotely looked like a compromise, or an attempt to bridge the gulf between Kaine and the GOP House. And, as the person calling for the special session, Kaine had the obligation to be the person to bring something to the table that was new and he didn't.

But the bottom line is that it's not enough to offer a solution. You have to offer one that other stakeholders are willing to even consider. Otherwise you are attempting to govern in a vacuum or by fiat, and this country had a revolution a couple of centuries ago about that issue.