Talk of Bullets Seals Fate of GOP Hopeful

Catherine Crabill is going to have a tough time getting elected to the House of Delegates this fall to represent a portion of the Northern Neck.

Although the Republican candidate was facing an uphill battle against Democratic incumbent Albert Pollard of Lancaster, she has just about taken herself out of the contest.

Why is that? In a word, extremism.

In a speech last month at a Heathsville “tea party,” she made her disagreements with the federal government and the Obama administration abundantly clear when she said, “We have a chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box.”

In other words, if she and her forces of darkness are not successful through fair elections at the ballot box, she will resort to guns to get her way.

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And who gets to define tyranny for Ms. Crabill? Well, since she has all the answers, she obviously does.

That’s not how the democratic system of government works, as she is finding out — belatedly.

Other Republican candidates are abandoning her campaign as quickly as they can. The chairman of the state GOP and the party’s candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general have all said they will stay clear of Crabill after her remarks.

Party Chairman Pat Mullins showed his clear disgust with her comments when he said, “We do not condone or support the comments Catherine Crabill has made. That kind of talk has no place in civil political discourse. She has received no assistance from the state party, nor will she in the future.”

Bob McDonnell, the GOP candidate for governor, has made it clear he will not be supporting her this fall. His spokesman, Tucker Martin, said, “It’s absolutely wrong for any candidate of any party to refer to the actions of the president of the United States and members of the United States Congress as ‘domestic terrorism,’ and to threaten to resort to violence if one fails to prevail in elections.”

Violence and threats of violence have no place in this or any other campaign in Virginia or America. Anyone who thinks they do has a seriously misguided view of the nation’s and state’s political systems.

The absence of guns at the ballot box separates America from the lawless tinpot dictatorships that crop up from time to time around the world.

Has Catherine Crabill sealed her own fate at the ballot box? Looking at the balance in her campaign treasury, one would think so.

As the Free-Lance Star reported last week, she has $1,815, with the largest contribution of $500 coming from the Lancaster County Republican Committee. Pollard has raised $18,320 in his campaign for re-election.

The voters of the district owe Ms. Crabill a debt of gratitude for revealing her political philosophy and who she really is before the election.

A Constitution Day Tea Party is scheduled for Sept. 17 in Lynchburg. Tea Partygoers up in the Northern Neck should take a lesson or two from the folks in Central Virginia about civility and reasoned public discourse.