{"id":9563,"date":"2007-01-09T13:15:15","date_gmt":"2007-01-09T18:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/9563.html"},"modified":"2007-01-09T13:15:15","modified_gmt":"2007-01-09T18:15:15","slug":"president-gilmore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/president-gilmore\/","title":{"rendered":"President Gilmore?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a very hard time understanding why in the world former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) is running for president<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jim Gilmore, Virginia’s former tax-slashing Republican governor, on Tuesday took the first step in a long-shot bid for the presidency.<\/p>\n

Gilmore filed papers with the Federal Election Commission in Washington to form the Jim Gilmore for President Exploratory Committee, said his aide, Matt Williams.<\/p>\n

Citing the absence of what he considered a true conservative, Gilmore said in interviews last month that he would assess his own chances for a presidential run.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I lived in DC’s Virginia suburbs through Gilmore’s term as the state’s governor, and I think it’s entirely fair to say — in an objective, non-partisan fashion — that the guy was among the worst governors in modern history. I can’t begin to imagine what he’s thinking now.<\/p>\n

He ran for office on a pledge to eliminate Virginia’s car tax, and once in office, successfully pushed it through the legislature. The move ruined the state’s finances, prompting Republicans in the legislature to revolt and insist that Gilmore reverse course. The governor refused, sending the state’s political and budgetary system into a tailspin. Gilmore’s entire tenure set the stage for Mark Warner (D) to get elected, and more broadly, turn this once solidly “red” state considerably more “purple.”<\/p>\n

Better yet, after his one term ended (Virginia law prohibits governors from seeking re-election), Gilmore ran the Republican National Committee — run up until Karl Rove decided to fire him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With this record in mind, Gilmore now believes he should be … president of the United States?
\n
\nThe WaPo recently editorialized<\/a> on Gilmore’s interest in the presidential race, concluding, “Heaven help us. For if Mr. Gilmore does to the 50 states what he did to the Old Dominion, the federal government might as well declare bankruptcy now.”<\/p>\n

Let’s review the sorry Gilmore record. After taking office amid boom times in 1998, Mr. Gilmore immediately set about draining Virginia’s coffers by promoting ill-advised tax cuts that, when the predictable economic downturn arrived, left the state penniless. He pushed ahead with his narrow political agenda of eliminating the state’s car tax despite repeated warnings of the dire consequences, which included diverting funds that should have gone to transportation and public education. (If you’re mad about traffic and the state’s neglected roads, Mr. Gilmore is high on the list of people to blame.)<\/p>\n

As a swan song near the end of his four-year term, Mr. Gilmore forced a bitter budget impasse with the legislature, unprecedented in Virginia, that enraged Republicans and Democrats alike and torpedoed the election prospects of his own party’s nominee to succeed him as governor. When he finally left office in 2002 — condemned by both liberal and libertarian think tanks for his managerial incompetence — Mr. Gilmore bequeathed to his successor, Mark Warner, a budgetary mess that Mr. Warner spent a good part of his own governorship trying to clean up. All in all, a terrible performance by Mr. Gilmore.<\/p>\n

Let’s summarize: A former governor from the South, zealous about tax-cutting and allergic to opposing views, who stubbornly insists on ill-fated policies despite abundant and well-founded warnings that they are leading to ruin. Maybe this guy is presidential material after all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shouldn’t presidential candidates have something<\/i> to point to? A record of accomplishment, an ability to inspire, a vision for effective government? Gilmore has an abysmal record and a dull personality. If he comes in seventh in Iowa, I’ll be very impressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a very hard time understanding why in the world former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) is running for president. Jim Gilmore, Virginia’s former tax-slashing Republican governor, on Tuesday took the first step in a long-shot bid for the presidency. Gilmore filed papers with the Federal Election Commission in Washington to form the Jim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}