Politicians

This picture is pretty dated considering Creigh Deeds lost his bid for governor of Virginia a couple weeks ago but I wanted to put it up here anyway. He was shaking hands at a high school football game and I like how he is isolated amid this group of people. He seemed a bit ill-at-ease with the public and he spent more time chatting up local pols and the political reporter than meeting and greeting. I didn’t have a chance to photograph his opponent, Bob McDonnell, as I had the good sense to take vacation over election day. On a national scale, people made a big deal about the GOP winning in Virginia. Personally, I think it had to do with the quality of candidates more than a referendum on the president and his policies.

The other night Rep. Rob Wittman came through town to hold a meeting at a VFW post to discuss veterans’ issues. The upside was that nobody unlocked the post so he held it on the steps. Challenging light, but definitely better than fluorescent tubes and a podium! As expected people spent a lot of time griping about, taxes, healthcare and the evil, left-wing media. And by evil, left-wing media, I mean my employer and by extension, me.  It was a little scary when one guy started asking Wittman if he was going to hold congressional hearings investigating the infiltration in government of ‘avowed Marxists and Communists.’ What was scarier was that others agreed with him and nobody, including the congressman, tried to talk any kind of sense to the man. Every time I meet these people, the idea of becoming an ex-pat photog in some steamy tropical land is more and more appealing! It’s like the conversation is poisoned by an irrational anger that makes people unable to speak reasonably and respectfully to one another. As if the world was black & white and not shades of the Zone System!  For the record, I’m all about zone V!