Manassas City Theater in the Round: Epilogue
Manassas City Theater in the Round: Epilogue
The election has come and gone, but the theater continues. Those who have lost the most, try not to “wawl and cry” nor “mewl and puke” and instead have chosen to spin with much “pride, pomp , and circumstance,” the post-election eulogy of their effort. Much mirth we draw (not to mention laughter) in watching those who made such a noise for their chosen slate, try to salvage a faux victory from what is in fact a stunning defeat.
In some ways, the silence is deafening so, again, rather than charge into the fray, we have chosen to give our “ thoughts no tongue” for a time, let the dust settle, gather numerous perspectives on the election results, and develop what we believe to be a much clearer picture of what happened, and, what it all means.
Just to recap the council results:
Wolfe – 1363
Way- 1327
Lovejoy- 1243
Write -in – 1052 (Bass received 997 of these votes)
Carman – 842
Richie-Folks -787
School Board Results:
Chavez – 1366
Albrecht – 1307
Bushnell – 1211
Purdy – 1185
Dance – 1055
Magee – 854
Sutherland – 805
Write-in – 805
So what does it all mean? Here’s our take:
The biggest victor on Tuesday was indeed Mark Wolfe. Councilman Wolfe was targeted by the Tea Party, at the convention, and survived. He was targeted yet again during the general election, and garnered the most votes of any candidate. We are sure his detractors will have difficulty squawking for a time, as it will take quite a while for them to finish the heaping plate of crow, of which they must now partake. Sharing the laurels of victory, are Councilman Jonathan Way and Councilman-elect Ian Lovejoy. Also worth mentioning are the Manassas GOP, and uber-Republican Chairman Steve Thomas who also probably took a lap or two. We wonder who secretly breathed a sigh of relieve from the winner’s circle.
The biggest loser on Tuesday was the coalition of Manassas Tea Party, Greg & bvbl, Doug Brown & ABTF. First, they failed to defeat Mark Wolfe not once, but TWICE. Second, their “preferred slate” lost. Now they may try to claim some partial victory in the elections of Way and Lovejoy, but these candidates were on the GOP ticket. Look at the numbers above and ask yourselves what Carman’s 842 votes, and Sutherland’s (their lead horse for school board) 805 votes, say about the ability of this uber-conservative, anti-establishment coalition to carry a candidate to victory. Not as many torches and pitchforks are in the little city, as the Tea Party coalition would like us to believe there are. Even more telling, the complete rejection of their two “anti-establishment” candidates, leads us to believe that the Tea Party message is a dud.
In a post-mortem on a certain dark blog, both the analysis and the comments indicate that this hasn’t quite sunk in. They’ve yet “To seek the light of truth, while truth the while,”and while on the subject of blogs, one in particular rose to the stage this season: A Bridge Too Far.
The title of this blog seemed very familiar. We knew there was a movie with the same title. Turns out it’s about the very real WWII mission “Market Garden”, in which the allies tried an audacious plan to seize a series of bridges, which would get them into Germany quicker, and end the war. Rather than sit through a 3 hour “guy movie”, we just asked a couple of guys to fill us in. It turns out the mission was a failure, because the allies were overreaching, and it ended in disaster. In an election so full of irony it has become theater, we think Doug Brown’s title for his blog was ironic as well. For you see, the Tea Party coalition, and its blogger and elected allies were overreaching throughout. They tried to go “A Bridge Too Far”, and received an electoral disaster for their troubles.
Many questions remain, and the overly optimistic prognostications of the torches and pitchfork crowd notwithstanding, we think politics in the little city bear watching. Will the Lady Bass run again, but this time be fully prepared for the convention, backed by a “pink army”? Will Ian Lovejoy realize it was his place on the party ticket that carried him to victory, and will he distance himself from the Tea Party? Will Doug Brown run out of people to attack on his blog? Will people even read his blog, considering his support is a political “kiss of death?” Will Chairman Steve be able to unite the GOP in time to face the Barrack Obama freight train in November [evil grin]? Will the Manassas Democrats ever find a local candidate, who can win? Is Andy next on the Tea Party’s hit list? What will Jerry Carman do? What doth this portend for the Baron and the Prince? Many questions indeed. We, your humble ‘howlets, shall watch and report. Stay tuned!
[Aside: The Little Theater in the Round was brought to you by the many requests from our friends.]
If we were of the Republican persuasion, we might be tempted to exclaim: All’s well that ends well.
@ NTK: Well “SNAP” !!!!!
In thinking about why the Teabaggers lost, I believe it’s because they burn their bridges with the average Joe and Jane. We’ve seen them in action in HSM (many of the same folks). What did that do? It painted a big bull’s eye on Manassas that said it’s a crummy place to live. That reputation still resonates on City Data forums and Topix. (Some neighborhoods in PWC still suffer from the reputations their own residents created by bitching about immigrants.)
When people are antsy about their home equity, they don’t want a group which complains, complains, complains representing them publicly. Hate the school scores? Go volunteer. Tutor. Do something other than give the area a black eye.
And their mantra of lower and lower taxes just means fewer and fewer services. Despite my being an Art major, I know “less is more” isn’t always true. Sometimes it’s just less. I think the majority of voters wanted more than bare bones services.
I wouldn’t overanalyze it. They lost because they put up a novice that didn’t know how to get his vote out and got steamrolled by the well-oiled machine that is the MGOP. The end. Oh and P.S. – it’s always bad form to run as an “independent” after you get rejected at convention. You turn a lot of otherwise sympathetic voters off.
How simplistic. First off, who do YOU mean by THEY?
As for running as an independent. Mrs. Bass didn’t run. She supported the full slate of her party. I saw somewhere where someone said….they should have been stopped. How does that happen? How do you stop supporters from running someone as an independent?
I believe that those running the Pink Write-In campaign found just the opposite to be the case.
If you think the tea party/Aveni’s Army or whatever they care called won, I think that is definitely counting chicks before they are hatched. From the folks we have talked to, there is one major reason: They like their city and they don’t want to go all austere.
Stay tuned. We will continue to report sentiments from the city.
When the tea party members learn how to compromise, they will start seeing the local government evolve into something closer to what they want. Everyone wants less costly government, everyone wants better performing schools, everyone wants safer neighborhoods, everyone wants less tax. Their slash and burn methods are their own downfall. When their name calling ceases, their success rate will climb.
@Moon-howler
I wasn’t referring to Mrs. Bass, and it’s simplistic because it really is that simple.
@Moon-howler
I’m gone for a day and come back to find some interesting comments and bogus attempts to “out” people. For the record, I oppose local funding for all arts organizations, ballet, symphony or any of them because I don’t consider the process fair and transparent.
I’m not singling out Wolfe’s ballet or any other organization. I have joined Moon and other MH contributors opposing funding for many boondoggle items. The standard for funding should be providing a public benefit to a large portion of the community. Too much of this funding is for the whims and hobbies of those with influence. The worst you can fault me for is not wanting to waste taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
Emma is right. It’s time to give up on this. When no cogent arguments arise; only attacks unworthy of comment, it’s time to move on.
You and Emma seem to want to direct this entire thread at one person, including personal attacks on both the councilman and his wife. You have singled him out. Do you honestly think this is a shooting range where no one ever shoots back? I don’t have the time or desire to baby sit the blog morning, noon and night.
The thread really was about beating back the tea party.
@Cato, weasel words? You didn’t need to call her out by name. Process of elimination works fine.
@Censored bybvbl
You make a great point regarding rigidly clinging to a “less is more” ideology. This group seems to be led by a group that sends their kids to private schools, or homeschool as a matter of choice. I am not saying this doesn’t come with financial and personal sacrifice. But this election, they did nothing except tear down the public schools. They expect fixes, and they want those fixes to be done without any additional costs. They want to attract people to the city, the “right” people.
Think about this? What type of person is the “ideal” the city would want? College Educated, high-wage professional, with no children to add to the school population, who lives and either works in the City, or takes public transportation or mass transit to commute to a high-paying job in DC and doesn’t further burden the roads with additional cars. They’d live in or close to old town. They walk out of their condo, which has a higher value and tax rate than a single family or even a town house. They stop by a coffee shop in old town to grab a cup and a bite, and get on the VRE. They travel to their DC job, work all day, and then take the VRE home. They stop by Okra’s for dinner, and have a few drinks at Monza, paying meals taxes. They spend their leisure time in the city, shopping locally, at the farmers market, then off to the Opera House for a nice bottle and some eats, and take it home.
What would attract someone like this would be things like the ballet, and bike trails, the Hylton center and sidewalk dining at Okra’s or City Square. What would turn them off to this city is a noisey crowd of angry people who think as long as potholes are filled and trash is picked up, everyone should be satisfied.
Don’t forget the gardens, hanging baskets and the murals. I am pushing those as an “almost city” resident.
Oy Vey,
You are addressing how to build a community that benefits everyone. I feel the same way about PWC. Investing the least in our schools and parks is nothing to brag about in my opinion.
@Oy Vey
I agree with what you’ve said. Manassas has some unique features for a DC ‘burb – the VRE, an actual old town as opposed to merely strip malls, an ice skating rink/farmer’s market, an airport, decent restaurants, some boutique shops. It should be possible to attract a professional crowd. I’m guessing that some headway toward that goal was slowed by the recession. I’m hopeful that it will pick up again.