Sic Semper Tyrannis

That is the motto of the very misnamed "Commonwealth of Virginia", famously used as an exit line by some thespian advocate of regime change (later treated as an enemy combatant ahead of his time). Now horror novelist Stephen King has gone to the Old Dominion to give us a new quote for our own time:

Being a poor Republican is like being on death row and greasing the electric chair as a hobby.

He was speaking at a fundraiser for Jim Webb for U.S. Senate. Another notable there was lawyer-novelist John Grisham, who added this:

On the one side ... those who wear cowboy boots ... pretend to be tough. They're not real cowboys. ... To prove they're 'tough' they say things like 'bring it on,' 'mission accomplished,' and 'welcome to the real Virginia.'

(Spotted by the Mystery of the Haunted Vampire.)

Meanwhile the Repugnant incumbent just can't crawl away from his adopted history:

State leaders of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have scheduled a news conference today to criticize Allen's recent remarks that the Confederate flag could be seen as a symbol of hate.

"George Allen was a good friend of ours, and we don't appreciate him turning on us to get out of political trouble," said Frank Earnest of Virginia Beach, commander of the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "He's degraded us, the flag and our heritage."

If I was a member of the General Assembly at Richmond, I would introduce a bill to ban disrespect for the confederate flag, specifically including referring to it as a symbol of hate. To paraphrase the old story about Lyndon Johnson's comments on spreading a tale that your opponent enjoys carnal knowledge of swine, I don't want them to pass it -- I just want to laugh my rear off watching them debate it.