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[Mantua resident]

Wow, talk about giving the wrong message to the wrong audience.

[Republicans say the darndest things]

And if your next door neighbor is participating in the free market by running a meth lab in their house? Call the police because they are violating the law? Hell, no! That is the liberal "big government" solution. You should offer to buy your neighbor's house if you don't want to endure the hazards of having a meth lab next door.

Forcing the tank farm to obey the law and stop dumping petroleum into the local waterways is just more liberal "job killing" regulation. If these people want to live in homes free from pollution they should sell their houses and move to a neighborhood that doesn't have a tank farm dumping into the waterways. That is the free market solution!

[Morris Meyer]

Wow. Thanks Chap (and h/t NLS) for giving folks a clear view of what it means to be a Democrat.

[Not NLS]

He's had four years to stop it. Why has he done nothing? Culipher for Senate.

[Republicans say the darndest things]

"He's had four years to stop it. Why has he done nothing? Culipher for Senate."

Is that really meant to be taken seriously?

I know of this problem and that it is one of long standing. It predates Petersen's election to the Senate. I don't know the most efficient way to solve this problem and to make this company obey the law and quit screwing over it's neighbors with impunity. I also don't know all that the Senator has done to work on this issue, but I'm willing to bet that it is completely inaccurate to say he has done "nothing" as Not NLS does. That sounds like something you just pulled out of your ass. Which is understandable when faced with a video of your candidate saying something so breathtakingly stupid to a group of voters with a very legitimate concern they quite rightly expect their elected officials to help them deal with.

If this weren't such a serious issue for these people I imagine they would have laughed Culipher right out of the room. I think they showed great restraint to continue to be civil to her after what she said to them.

And this nitwit expects these people to vote for her? I don't think Chap! has too very much to worry about on election day.

[Republicans say the darndest things]

I just had to go back and view that clip again. She really told a group of voters whose neighborhood is being polluted by a tank farm in violation of the law that the answer was for a group of average homeowners to buy the place rather than for the law to be enforced and the violator made to obey the law and take responsibility for cleaning up the mess they made.

Sometimes it really is better to not run a candidate when you can't persuade one worthy of a party's support to run. This woman is either dumb as a stump or is such an extreme ideologue that what she said makes sense to her.

Amazing!

[NotJohnSMosby]

The Pickett Road facility has been a nightmare since the big leak back in the early 90s. That said, Chap has done more to try and solve the problem in years.

I love how Chap kept his poker face while she buried herself. The only semi-serious Republican challenger in all of Fairfax this year is Caren Merrick, and her only chance of coming close to winning is if Favola screws up massively.

Chap should be insulted that a complete fucking idiot like Culipher is taking up his time by opposing him.

[emilie miller]

I was in the audience when she said we Mantuans should buy the Tank Farm. There was an audible gasp from the Mantua citizens when she said that. She wants us to spend $25 million on worthless land! She did not do her homework.

[Just Sayin']

There was bi-partisan support for holding the tank farm accountable for its pollution. The standards the tank farm is being held to are reasonable. I have to wonder where Gerarda Culipher was through this whole bit of local history? I mean, I vote Republican nearly all of the time, unless the Republican gives me reason not to. And she's giving me reason not to vote for her.

[Lovettsville Lady]

Chap says he came there years ago and heard about this problem. So why hasn't he fixed it? Give him one more term and this time he really, really, really, means business?

[Noticed]

I agree that the professorial answer was probably not the best fit for this (planted) question. However, it should be noted that legalistic answers are probably not going to be understood by the dropout crowd that operates certain left-wing blogs. We might also note the irony of criticizing Ms. Culipher's performance by someone who is managing Janet Oleszek's campaign.

Is there an analysis or prediction of the outcome of the 34th SD race forthcoming?

[Mantua resident]

I was at the meeting. It was not a planted question. It's the #1 neighborhood issue.

[Dan]

"I agree that the professorial answer was probably not the best fit for this (planted) question."

That was a professorial answer??? That has to be one of the most comical blog comments I've read in quite a while. Professorial? More like clueless.

In answering a voter's question it is sometimes necessary to tell them something they don't want to hear. If, for instance, the question had suggested an action against the owners of the tank farm that was not possible under the existing law then the candidate should have told the voter that what they suggested was not possible and why. And then a competent candidate would tell that voter what she WOULD do to help solve this major problem for a significant number of her constituents. But to suggest that they should just buy the place if they don't like the pollution is just an astounding thing for a candidate to have said.

The notion that this was some sort of "planted" or gotcha question is truly ludicrous. Since it involved a decades old problem for constituents in the district one would have thought a competent candidate would have anticipated questions about it and been prepared to address it a little more thoughtfully. Instead she gave an insultingly silly answer to a question about a problem of long standing for people she hopes to represent.

I'm thinking that blaming the voters for being concerned about the wrong things and for asking questions you either don't want to answer or are unprepared to answer is not going to be a terribly effective electoral strategy.

[NotJohnSMosby]

Lovettesville Looney,

Chaps legislation is meant to fix it. What else can he do?

[Noticed]

OK, so it's a #1 neighborhood issue planted by a Chap! supporter who may or may not live in the neighborhood. Speaking of which, doesn't Gerry Connolly live in that neighborhood? Hmmm, maybe that's why Ben would not otherwise care about this issue. Also explains how Chap! can pander rather well to the questioner.

Oh, is that the best you Chap! supporters can do?

[NotJohnSMosby]

Noticed, anyone living within a few miles of Pickett Road - in Mantua or not - considers the tank farm to be a major issue. So, it's not a plant.

Even if it was, however, how do you defend Culipher's brain dead response?

[Dan]

Noticed, you keep flogging the idea that this was some sort of ambush designed to flummox your candidate. Were that actually the case I imagine the question asked would have been one designed to surprise your candidate. Not one she could easily expect to be asked and for which she should have been prepared.

Your premise is ridiculous. It's like saying that a Northern Virginia voter asking a question about transportation is a "plant". No, you can guarantee that any candidate running in Northern Virginia will be asked about transportation.

The reality is that being asked about the tank farm was a great opportunity for your candidate and she booted it completely. It presented her with a golden opportunity to show empathy with the voters dealing with this issue and their frustration. Then she could have told them how she planned to assist them (maybe even saying how she might do it more effectively than her opponent).

It is not a crime to be a first time candidate. And first time candidates make mistakes. And I think telling a bunch of regular folks to just scrape together a few million bucks and solve their own damn problem qualifies as a doozie.

Your comments pretending that your candidate was somehow the victim of some imagined unfair treatment is not helping her. Time to move on and prepare better in the future.

[louis vuitton outlet]

This is definitely a blog worth following. You’ve got a great deal to say about this subject, and you can also tell that by the huge number of comments!