At the 2008 Republican Convention in Minneapolis, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gilmore
Jim Gilmore was the Governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002. In Virginia, the Governor only gets one term. During his final year in office, he did double duty as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He did briefly run for President in 2008, but was crowded out by a field with other bigger names.
My interview with him is below.
1) What are the most important issues of 2008?
JG: “Energy policy and gas prices are key. Our incomes are disappearing now. They are dropping now. Gas prices is where much of that money is going. We need to drill now.”
2) What issues are most important to you personally?
JG: “Taxes. Government takes more and more of our money. We are losing our independence.”
3) Who are your 3 favorite political heroes?
JG: “Ronald Reagan, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.”
4) How would you like to be remembered 100 years from now? What would you want people to say about Jim Gilmore the person?
JG: “I was honest. I kept my word. I didn’t try to fool people. I lowered taxes. Federal leadership is important. I protected citizens. The Gilmore Panel was an adviroy panel that helped people.”
I then asked Governor Gilmore a lighthearted question that I have asked others. He was good natured, but defiant about the issue. The real amusement came with his aides that were standing by. I will leave out their names so nobody gets in trouble.
5) Given that Republicans offer Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thompson, and Jim Gilmore, and Democrats offer Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Chris Dodd, are the Democrats bigoted against the follically challenged? Can we finally crack the glass ceiling in the mdoern era and elect a bald President?
JG: “Well yes, but I am not one of them.”
(His aides were lip synching to me, “Yes, he is.”)
JG: “America can elect a bald President, but I am not losing my hair.”
(His aides again lip synched “Yes! He is!” They had big smiles on their faces that they had to cover up so they could turn stone serious when he turned around.)
Harmless mischief aside, Jim Gilmore has served his country and the Republican Party with distinction. Both entities benefited from his service. So did the people of Virginia.
Besides, in October of 2009 he only turns 60. Plenty of Virginians made it to the White House, and not all of them did so on their first try.
eric
How can a grown man make an incredibly stupid remark like “We need to drill now?” Either he’s an idiot, which I doubt, or he is intentionally pandering and lying to idiots to get their votes and/or support, which is pretty obvious. I will never vote for a person who says something really stupid like “we need to drill now.” I have ZERO respect for that sort of low-brow, rabble-rousing, idiotic rhetoric. And then he says “I was honest.” Amazing. Honestly? So this guy honestly believes(d?) “we need to drill now,” huh? We have about 3% of the world’s reserves, we consume roughly 25% of the oil, oil is a globally traded commodity. Now unless I’m functionally moronic, 1+1+1=3, which is roughly the number of cents we could reduce from the price of gas at the pumps if we “drill now.” It is the stupidest, sleaziest, low-browest, most pandering, ridiculous, stupid thing I’ve heard from a politcal party perhaps EVER. No wonder you guys are back in the woods. And worse, all the oil companies were trying to pull was a land grab – because they know darned well that 10,20, 30 years from now the price of oil will be up there with gold and they want to be in on the profits -which they will eventually be anyway, but at much better prices for the American people. It is OUR natural resource, the least the oil companies can do is cut US in on the profits. And THAT is the sleaziest facet of this whole “we need to drill now” push. It is unethical, immoral profiteering at the expense of the American people, and for THAT every “we need to drill now” pol should be exiled to Somalia, where they belong with the rest of the pirate rabble.
JMJ