Steven Latimer

Today is a day of reflection for many: and a day to look back. One year ago today we lost Tony Snow. Snow was the affable White House Press Secretary from 2006 to 2007, serving a little over a year until he retired due to poor health (and because he could make more money in the private sector: his gig in the White House paid only 180,000 or so dollars annually -- a drop in the bucket compared to what he earned when he worked in media.)

While I pride myself as a person who is knowledgeable on all current events, I readily admit I probably would've passed over the anniversary of Snow's death (it was cancer; he was only 53) had I not tuned into FOX News this morning. Snow, who used to work at FOX, was being remembered fondly by his former Fox News Sunday coworkers in between news stories.

Before I divulge more, I want to say that I still - and perhaps always will - remember when and where I was when I learned of Snow's death: interestingly enough, I was on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where I was attending the Ron Paul Revolution March, which I blogged about a year ago. (summary here, videos here)

I met up on the Hill with my friends from VCU and my good friend and freedom-lover Conor Murphy, a huge fan and devotee of Snow, broke the news to me. I knew Snow was in poor health, but I was taken aback to learn of his death from Conor.

Robert Dougherty, a contributor at Associated Content, writes a great article on Snow, FOX News, and his role he played as press secretary.

I think Snow will be remembered for years to come, especially in a time in which people think press secretaries are so important. (Who doesn't know who Robert Gibbs is?)

Snow had the pizazz, story, and attractive flair that Ari Fleisher and Scott McClellan did not.

Rest in peace, Tony Snow.

It seems like every now and then a bunch of celebrities drop dead in a very condensed time frame. One must be living under a rock to not know that Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays have died within just three days of one another.

This reminds me of a time last summer in 2008, when Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, and George Furth died on August 9th, 10th, and 11th, respectively. Their deaths were preceded by household names like Tim Russert, George Carlin, and Tony Snow who died in June and July.

So I surmise that celebrity deaths must be coming in spurts, or something.

Regrettably, I was not able to attend yesterday's TEA (Taxed Enougth Already) Party down in Chesapeake, Virginia, but I see someone has written a synopsis of the event, with photos, here. I was busy turning 22 and the friend I was going to go with was out of town that week, anyhow.

This takes the cake (original story here). A hat tip to Matt Gagnon for posting this to his Twitter.

Last night Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) won the Democratic nomination for Governor of Virginia. He will face Bob McDonnell in November. A few thoughts are in order.

I realize Deeds won his primary with about 50% of the vote in a three-way contest, which is mighty impressive. But I do not understand how he won. I know of no one who voted for Deeds, or said they would (perhaps there were some closeted Deeds supporters who can now come out of the woodwork?) I mean, I knew he could win, but I didn't think he could do it. I know of at least 4 people who definitely voted in the primary, and I'm pretty sure they voted for either Moran or McAuliffe.

Deeds has a reputation as a conservative, which makes this all the more interesting. But when he claimed victory last night at his party in Charlottesville, he sounded much more like a bitter liberal. Deeds said something along the lines of, "I will continue the Mark Warner-Tim Kaine legacy, while Bob McDonnell will take us back to the years of George W. Bush, blah, blah, blah ..."

There are more than a few problems with this. First of all, Bush is not the president anymore. He has been out of the Oval Office for several months now. It is not the 2008 campaign anymore. It's 2009. Secondly, it is not a good idea to compare yourself to Warner and Kaine. Deeds, too, quenches for taxation, and the voters are weary of liberals who campaign as conservatives and take up taxes like leftists. The Republican Party of Virginia has already issued a blistering press release assailing the ticket. (here)

Save his admirable position on guns, and in general being a good-ol' country boy from Bath County, Deeds showed little to admire last night.

Even if he were a real conservative, there would be little sense in conservatives voting for him (Deeds) in November: Bob McDonnell has had his party's nomination longer than Deeds has, and there would be little sense in swapping horses midstream.

Yesterday morning, I attended the grand opening celebration of one of the Republican Party of Virginia's field offices. This one is in Newport News and is one of 14 statewide "victory offices" that will be open until November. Such offices serve the task of helping elect the statewide ticket (McDonnell, Bolling, Cuccinelli). Eventually some type of phonebanking system will go here. I made some new friends and also went door-to-door afterward, which was an adventure.

Rob Wittman, Ken Cuccinelli, Tommy Norment, Brenda Pogge, Glenn Oder, Phil Hamilton, and Pat Woodbury were the special guests.

Pictures that I took can be found here.

This was spotted just west of Boulevard in Richmond tonight at about 7:30pm.
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