Pundits throughout the media realm are pontificating on Arizona’s new immigration law, and Virgil Goode recently added his voice to the fray.
|
Will former congressman Virgil Goode throw his hat in for a third-party run? Seems unlikely, but he can still combat political correctness around the Fifth District. |
Goode, the Fifth District’s former Republican congressman, told supporters at a rally for Second District candidate Kenny Golden that Virginia should use Arizona’s new law as a model. And, while Goode has said he will not seek a rematch with Tom Perriello in November, he showed May 11 that he still has political fire in his belly.
“The first thing we ought to do is get every state in the union to lock arms with Arizona and say, ‘You’re exactly right,’” Goode said at the Spring Creek Sports Club in Gordonsville. “We have got to stop the illegal invasion.”
The former representative said that the Obama Administration has been so brazenly critical of the new law—unusual, since it is state legislation—because Democrats benefit from the amnesty of illegal immigrants.
“The feds want to keep the states from doing anything,” Goode said. “It’s about gaining control of the country. What Obama wants, and what I think most of the Democrats want, is to give citizenship to all those who came in illegally so they will be a voting bloc and expand the Hispanic caucus. That’s what it’s all about.”
However, the former Congressman’s criticism was not reserved solely for Democrats. Goode also scolded Republican leaders for allowing politics to weaken their principles.
“You’ve got half the Republicans who are frozen like they’re standing in concrete because they think they’re going to capture the Hispanic vote,” Goode said. “They don’t want to say anything that is politically incorrect, and I think that makes it a fertile field for others to come in and make large-scale changes.”
Goode’s frustration toward the GOP was evident recently when he appeared as a keynote speaker at the Constitution Party’s Spring National Committee meeting in Minneapolis. On its official Web site, the Constitution Party says its main goal is to “restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.” The party also supports a moratorium on legal immigration.
Some have speculated that Goode’s speech in Minnesota was the first step in a Fifth District run as an independent or third-party candidate, a claim he has denied.
However, the Second District candidate that he travelled to Gordonsville to support, Kenny Golden, recently dropped his GOP affiliation and has joined the independent ranks. Goode commended Golden for making the switch. If Goode were to run as an independent or third-party candidate, he would have to send 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters to the State Board of Elections by June 8.
C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.