Press "Enter" to skip to content

The rumors start

There is already a rumor starting that Former Rep. Virgil Goode, who lost his seat last Tuesday, may be joining the Constitution Party before his time is up in Congress, joining the Constitution Party afterwards, or running for President in 2012. These rumors come from credible inside sources and you heard it here first.

25 Comments

  1. kevin January 14, 2009

    Any word if Goode has joined the constitution party yet?

  2. paulie cannoli November 9, 2008

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Goode#Controversies

    Congressman Virgil Goode actively opposes any rights for homosexuals…

    In 2006, Keith Ellison was elected as the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Some criticized Ellison’s intended use of the Qur’an for his unofficial swearing-in ceremony; among them, Goode was vocal in his opposition to Ellison’s plan. One of Goode’s constituents posted a letter online from the congressman regarding Ellison. The letter says in part:

    “When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.”

    Ellison criticized Goode for this letter, stating that he is not an immigrant and that Goode does not understand Islam. He has also offered to meet with Goode to discuss the matter. The copy of the Qur’an used by Ellison in his private swearing-in ceremony was once owned by Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president and author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Jefferson was actively involved in advising Congress at the time on the matter of Muslim-backed pirates and their philosophical position in the run up to the First Barbary War. Monticello, Jefferson’s home, is located in the congressional district that Goode represents.

    In recent interviews, Goode has also stated that he is in favor of decreasing legal immigration to the United States and that he wants to do away with Diversity Immigrant Visas. Goode argues that these visas may allow people “not from European countries” or from “some terrorist states” to enter America. Goode also repeated his views on a January 1, 2007 post to the USA Today blog.[19]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Goode#Political_positions

    His primary policy initiatives are anti-amnesty immigration reform, veterans’ healthcare, and the enactment in 2004 of a $9.6 billion buyout for tobacco farmers. Goode has sponsored legislation to permit deployment of the U.S. Armed Forces to the U.S.-Mexico border. He voted in 2002 to authorize the Iraq War and in support of an $87 billion Iraq War supplemental spending bill.

    Goode is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

    Goode voted in 2007 against a resolution opposing the increase in troop numbers in Iraq, saying that he didn’t want to “aid and assist the Islamic jihadists who want the green flag of the crescent and star to wave over the Capitol of the United States and over the White House of this country” and that “radical Muslims” wanted to control the world and put “In Muhammad We Trust” on American currency.

  3. Jeremy Young November 9, 2008

    Richard, I don’t think those two candidates did particularly well for being former Congressmen, especially considering that some of the Prohibition Party candidates had no political experience at all and did nearly as well (Silas Swallow, Eugene Chafin) and that one of the worst-performing Prohibition Party candidates was a former Congressman (Green Clay Smith). Similar to Barr this cycle, Bidwell and Hanly did slightly better than non-Congressman candidates, but not nearly so well as one would expect of federal officeholders. They didn’t provide the kind of surge in vote total that third parties need right now.

  4. Steve Rankin November 8, 2008

    Virgil Goode has been a Democrat, an independent, and a Republican… he might as well try the CP next.

    I recall the debate when Goode ran his losing race for US senator. He has a pretty strange accent.

  5. Andy Craig November 8, 2008

    I love the man, but I think Ron Paul has proven that he has no idea what he’s doing outside of preaching the message. All of his efforts at strategic planning or organizational leadership has been disappointments at best. Look no further than his schizophrenic endorsement policy.

    They’ll be another someone like Ron Paul eventually, but I don’t think the next Great Libertarian Hope will have any kind of formal organizational continuity from the Ron Paul movement.

  6. Trent Hill Post author | November 8, 2008

    10/4.

  7. Chris Cole November 8, 2008

    One little correction to your wording here: Goode is an OUTGOING congressman. He won’t be a FORMER congressman until his term actually ends in January.

  8. johncjackson November 8, 2008

    And I say that because I thought the biggest moral problem of our time ( as stated by Ron Paul) is pre-emptive war, and RP has spoken against that type of anti-Muslim nutty talk.

    I just find his support of a mishmash of anti-liberty politicians to be curious..

  9. johncjackson November 8, 2008

    Didn’t Ron Paul endorse this xenophobic war-monger?

  10. Trent Hill Post author | November 8, 2008

    Virgil Goode, for all his imperfections, isnt an establihsment hack. For that, he earns a modicum of respect from me.

  11. millerpolitics November 8, 2008

    How did he go from easily winning elections to losing this one?

  12. richardwinger November 8, 2008

    Ex-Congressmen who ran as Prohibition Party presidential nominees were successful. John Bidwell, who had been a California Congressman, was the Prohi nominee in 1892 and got 2.25%, which was the best the party ever did for president. J. Frank Hanly, who had been an Indiana Congressman before he was Indiana Governor, was the Prohi nominee in 1916. Although he only got 1.19%, he caused the Republicans to lose the presidential election (by tipping California) and thus persuaded congressional Republicans to pass the 18th amendment in 1917.

  13. sunshinebatman November 8, 2008

    Goode also was one of a handful of Democrats to impeach Clinton.

    More recently, he’s been actively anti-NAU and donated money in the GOP primaries to Dr Paul, Tom Tancredo, and Duncan Hunter.

  14. George Dance November 8, 2008

    The only thing I know about Goode, I discovered researching the Lautenberg amendment: in 1999, as a Democrat, Goode was the original sponsor of the States’ Rights and Second and Tenth Amendment Restoration Act, to repeal the amendment.

  15. Jeremy Young November 8, 2008

    Should have said “Prohibition Party candidates in the late 1800’s.” (Love ya, Earl Dodge, but you weren’t a particularly good candidate.)

  16. Jeremy Young November 8, 2008

    No former U.S. House member has ever done well as a third party candidate. That’s reaching back to William Lemke’s run on the Union Party ticket in 1936, and the Prohibition Party candidates in the late 1900’s. Former House members have virtually zero national name recognition. The poor performances of Bob Barr and Cynthia McKinney this cycle reinforce that pattern.

    Now, it’s possible for a U.S. Congressman to become a phenom in his/her own right and do pretty well that way (Abraham Lincoln, Ron Paul). But then again it’s possible for anyone to do that. Being former/current Congressmen isn’t what did it for those guys.

    That is to say: they should run Goode if they want to. But he’s not going to do any better for them than Baldwin did unless he’s a superior candidate (which would be hard to do, since Baldwin was a pretty damn good one). A U.S. Senator like Bob Smith would do much better for them.

  17. LaineRBT November 8, 2008

    It is a good thing to attract big names but after the lack luster showing of McKinney and Barr it does not seem to translate into actual electoral results.

  18. Eternaverse November 8, 2008

    He was a Democratic from 1997-2000, then an Independent from 2000-2002 then a Republican 2002-present. And he might change again?

  19. Eternaverse November 8, 2008

    From wikipedia, “Goode voted in 2007 against a resolution opposing the increase in troop numbers in Iraq, saying that he didn’t want to “aid and assist the Islamic jihadists who want the green flag of the crescent and star to wave over the Capitol of the United States and over the White House of this country” and that “radical Muslims” wanted to control the world and put “In Muhammad We Trust” on American currency”

  20. Catholic Trotskyist November 8, 2008

    Sounds like the next Alan Keyes. I think he’s pro-war.

  21. Trent Hill Post author | November 8, 2008

    I dont have a comment on him. But whether or not it’ a good idea, great for the CP to be attracting such names.

  22. LaineRBT November 8, 2008

    Hmmm..interesting but I have to say that it didn’t work for Barr or McKinney so I don’t have high hopes for him if the rumors are true. His support for big tobacco doesn’t sit well with me either but it would probably help him with his former constituents in Virginia.

  23. Eternaverse November 8, 2008

    He looks like a xenophobe and a homophobe from what I’ve read on Wikipedia and on his campaign website. Sounds like a Constitution Party guy.

Comments are closed.