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Vic Sprouse, who predicted fellow Republican serial adulterer Rudy Guiliani would be the next president of the United States and he's now a "motivational speaker," is now predicting John McCain will win West Virginia by 25 points.
Other forecasts made by Sprouse: each of his 22 marriages would be the last, victory would be achieved in Iraq in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, the Republicans would win enough victories to take over the State House and Capitol Hill in 2006, George W. Bush would go down in history as a great president and WVU Mountaineer Coach Turncoat Rich Rodriguez would win his legal fight.
WhooHoo!
We should just call Sprouse's predictions the Sprouse Curse.
UPDATE:
It is amusing how after Sprouse writes a blog post that tries to tie Barack Obama to all of Al Gore's positions since he's his "advisor" that Sprouse spends the very next column whining that Gazette columnist Phil Kabler ties Sprouse's candidates to Sprouse's less-than-pro-family values since Sprouse is their political advisor.
Sprouse should take it up with Gary Abernathy, who played the "guilt by association" card earlier this summer.
Republican attorney general candidate Dan Greear might want to rethink his choice of campaign consultant, given the outrage over the latest chapter of the Vic Sprouse - Amy McKinley divorce saga.
Seems Sprouse is trying to get his child-support payments reduced on the grounds that his son, Maxwell, who has CHARGE syndrome, is not in a vegetative state.
Sprouse also has a contempt hearing pending for failing to pay alimony.
While that fight has nothing to do with Greear, I've had several people tell me they won't consider voting for him as long as Sprouse is affiliated with the campaign.
If Greear is running on a pro-adultery, pro-child abandonment platform, I see no reason why he should fire Sprouse. The same with Jonathan Miller and the other Republicans who have hired him. Some might question them for taking anti-family stances, but that's their business. Because under Sprouse's own rules, what ever position he takes as their advisor should count against them completely.
Sprouse had just claimed in the previous post to his whining one that Gore's position on coal (Sprouse left out the part where Gore said every person employed in coal mining should be guaranteed a job in the clean-fuel industry) would cost Obama the election by 25 points in West Virginia.
Surely Sprouse isn't adding hypocrisy to all of his many other sins and saying the people he advice as a paid consultant should be held to a different standard than the very standard he had just set for Obama?
We were able to obtain videotape from the NSA of Sprouse at his home telling PHIL KABLER TO LEAVE HIM ALONE! Warning, Vic is very emotional here and some might not consider his appeal to Kabler as safe for work.
Now that is creepy!
And no, I don't know why he keeps referring to himself as Britney. Strange, though.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia University says ex-football coach Rich Rodriguez has agreed to pay a $4 million buyout clause after breaking his contract.
That would settle WVU's lawsuit that had been set for trial this fall. WVU attorney Tom Flaherty says the tentative agreement was reached late Tuesday night.
Rightwing Republican blogger Vic Sprouse made a big deal out of how Rodriguez was right to screw WVU, with his comments angering even his fellow Republicans on a football message board. Looks like Sprouse has to dine on crow. I'm sure it's a dish he's quite accustomed to eating.
Update by Clem G. Here's the link to the sports message board Carnacki mentioned. There's a few choice comments there.
West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Nick Casey asked today, "Why are Republicans wasting time and money dragging out a special session to debate a clean elections bill that almost all of them supported in the past?"
"This is a very simple bill," added Casey. "It merely requires that corporations that spend money trying to influence an election have to report where the money comes from? Who could possibly be against that?"
"This year Republicans are saying that the bill somehow limits free speech. But if that's the case why didn't they vote against the original bill when it was passed a few years ago? Now taxpayers are forced to foot the bill to the tune of $50,000 per day so Republicans can grandstand in an effort to allow big money out-of-state corporations to spend unlimited amounts of anonymous campaign cash to elect their handpicked candidates to office."
"If corporations are allowed to spend unlimited amounts to make anonymous attacks on candidates they don't like the integrity of our election system will be destroyed," Casey added.
I saw Del. Jonathan Miller(R-Don Blankenship) is one of those grandstanding on this. He's carrying water for his new "family values" mentor Vic Sprouse, who cares as much about ethics as he does his marital vows.
It's not surprising that though Jonathan Miller can't bother to show up to represent Berkeley County, he does show up to do Sprouse's bidding. I guess he's got different priorities than representing Berkeley County.
It's funny how many Republicans, like Miller, claim they represent Christian values, except when money is involved:
The Governor, a majority of the legislature, the Council of Churches, Citizens Action Group and the West Virginia AFL-CIO all support passage of HB 219 and are working together to ensure that citizens have all information needed to make informed decisions on Election Day by requiring full disclosure by both in-state and out-of-state groups who would rather hide behind their special interest money.
Gary Zuckett, Executive Director, WV Citizen Action Group stated, "Voters have a right to know who is trying to influence elections in West Virginia."
We've noticed new WV GOP political consultant, ousted Senate Minority Leader, and fitness center owner Vic Sprouse has allowed others to take shots at his fellow WV GOP political consultant Gary Abernathy before. Now he is doing it himself.
In Jake Stump's story in Monday's Charleston Daily Mail, (a nice story even if he did talk to two Republicans to one Democrat and could have emailed us here at West Virginia "Ad Space Available At Reasonable Rates" Blue for our comments), he interviewed Abernathy and Sprouse about GOP gubernatorial candidate Russ Weeks using Internet advertising to reach voters.
Abernathy is doing political consultant work for Weeks. In the previous post where this site (of all places) had to rush to Abernathy's defense, it was because of an accusation against Abernathy made by one of Sprouse's commenters regarding Abernathy's work for Weeks. Needless to say Sprouse let the accusation against Abernathy stay up for days until this site apparently embarrassed Sprouse enough to take it down. (I was hoping for a "thank you" from Abernathy, but just doing a good deed was thanks enough.)
Weeks hasn't raised enough money to air commercials on television so Abernathy has Weeks' commercial running on his web site and it's on YouTube as well. He's also advertising online too, a smart move since studies have shown nearly half of all people looking for information about candidates will look online for it.
Here's what Abernathy said in Stump's article:
Candidates, such as Weeks, who may not have the financial resources to saturate the airwaves or print media with ads, are turning to cyberspace in promoting their campaigns.
"The Internet has become the great equalizer," said Gary Abernathy, a political consultant who's working with Weeks. "Obviously, Russ is not going to compete with Manchin dollar for dollar. It'll be very lopsided."
Weeks' video is available on his official campaign site and on YouTube. Several Republican blogs have linked to the ad or reposted it.
"The Internet is a great avenue for campaign ads because other Web sites can pick them up," Abernathy said.
Yes they can. We're not one of them that will pick it up (being Democrats and all), but Republican bloggers like Sprouse and Don Surber can run it all they want on their sites for free.
Abernathy's doing what he can. When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade.
But what does Sprouse think of his GOP rival's strategy for Weeks?
"It's the cool and hip thing to do, but if you want to win an election, you've got to be on TV, radio and in the newspapers." (emphasis mine)
As an Elvis impersonator, Abernathy knows all about the "cool and hip" and he's won a few elections before in West Virginia. So where does Sprouse get off being so negative about Abernathy's campaign for Weeks? I'm sure Abernathy and Weeks both want to win. This sounds to me more like Sprouse throwing Abernathy under the bus - again - in order to drive candidates away from Abernathy and towards himself.
In that rivalry, I'm once again siding with Abernathy. He did after all bestow upon this site a "Thinking Blogger" Award. I've got Abernathy's back on this because with Sprouse chasing after him, that's what needs guarded.
Originally published June 20, 2006 at Daily Kos. Last week, West Virginia's Karl Rove wannabe Vic Sprouse described us on this site as "angry" and filled with "orgasmic venom" (whatever that means). This can serve as an explanation to all those who don't like us fighting back on why we do. ...
The Grit:
Karl Rove: "The Internet for the Left of the Democratic Party has served as a way to mobilize hate and anger -- hate and anger, first and foremost, at this President and Conservatives, but then also at people within their own party whom they consider to be less than completely loyal to this very narrow, very out-of-the-mainstream, very far Left-wing ideology that they tend to represent."
Dr. Mathias: [ referring to Dr. Simon Tam who has just helped his sister, River Tam, escape ] "Gave up a brilliant future in medicine as well. It's madness."
The Operative: "Madness?"
[ Ambles over to the holographic projection of River and Simon escaping through an air vent ]
The Operative: "Have you looked at this scan carefully, Doctor? At his face? It's love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous."
13 But now faith, hope, and love remain-these three. The greatest of these is love.
Dear Mr. Rove,
You recently described the blogs on the left as mobilized over "hate and anger."
I know you didn't mean it. It is just another of your Orwellian lies. But in case anyone on your side politically believes you, I thought I should explain the difference between love and hate.
Hate is accusing widows that they were happy when their husbands died in the attacks that your boss failed to take action to prevent despite numerous warnings he had received.
Hate is lying to the nation in order to lead the people into an unjust and unnecessary war.
That is hate.
You see, I'm angry because I do love my country. I love her Constitution. I love her people in all their glorious variety.
If I did not love, I would not struggle so hard to stop you. I would simply walk away. I would be apathetic. I would surrender.
But I love.
I love my ability to speak my mind. I love my privacy. I love my daughters so I want them to be treated fairly and equally. I love peace. I love my friends. I love the truth. I love scientific discovery.
Like his political hero Dick Cheney, "Delegate" Jonathan Miller, 24, the rightwing Republican from Berkeley County, had "other priorities" when it came to serving in the military for a war he supports.
But his priorities apparently don't include attending meetings when he's appointed to the boards.
Del. Jonathan Miller, R-Berkeley, indicated in writing that he wished to be reappointed, but County Commissioner William L. "Bill" Stubblefield made the motion to replace him with Elizabeth Layne Diehl, provost of the Martinsburg campus of Mountain State University.
Diehl's appointment to Miller's seat on the Eastern Panhandle board was unanimously approved by the commission.
Stubblefield cited Miller's lack of attendance at meetings for not reappointing the southern Berkeley County delegate to another one-year term.
Miller acknowledged that he had missed several meetings because of professional obligations, but that circumstance since had been resolved.
Like Miller, all three members of the Berkeley County Commission who decided to oust him are Republicans so it wasn't a partisan decision.
Miller, who was elected as a "family values" candidate, is now under the tutelage of "family values" politician and GOP political consultant Vic Sprouse.
RagingRed beats up on the McCain campaign for trying to pass off a man who ran as governor to gain revenge on Gov. Bob Wise for having an affair with his wife.
Calling Icky Frye a former West Virginia gubernatorial candidate is like calling Gary Coleman a former California gubernatorial candidate. He ran as a joke. He ran for attention. He ran because the incumbent governor, Bob Wise, had been sleeping with his wife. He ran as revenge.
Still, they featured him as a "prominent" Democrat in the "Citizens for McCain," a "grassroots effort" from "Senator" Joe Lieberman (I-Joe Lieberman).
How else will the Republicans use poor Frye? We can see it now, a new "grassroots" effort for inept Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, led by Frye and her campaign cheerleader former Sen. Minority Leader Vic Sprouse.
It'll be called "Cuckolds and Adulterers for Capito."
I've said plenty of negative things about Republican strategist Gary Abernathy, but you've never heard me call him a thief. But is that what new political consultant and right wing blogger Vic Sprouse thinks of him?
Here's a comment left on Sprouse's blog.
Now I know a blog owner isn't responsible for every comment on his or her blog, but a blog owner is responsible for moderating them. Sprouse has a reputation of deleting comments he doesn't like. However, if someone had put a comment like that on here, I would have demanded a link or some sort of verification to back it up or I would delete it. That's accusing Abernathy of a crime. I've deleted negative comments about Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito because they involved an unverified statement regarding her personal life and I don't think anyone here would accuse me of being a defender of Capito. There's responsibilities that come with running a blog, even a freewheeling one like this. It isn't a violation of anyone's free speech to moderate a privately operated blog.
Certainly we have many hard hitting comments and I'm happy we do. The difference is One Citizen and our other commenters are especially good about backing their accusations up with links to supporting, factual information.
So I'm curious why Sprouse would allow such an accusation to stand against Abernathy without publicly asking the commenter for any evidence to back it up. I don't think anyone would ever expect the following from me here, but I don't think that's fair to Abernathy.
UPDATE: Sprouse has (finally) deleted the comment. More words you probably didn't think you'd ever read on this site - we won a victory defending Abernathy.
Vic Sprouse was once touted as having a political future, until he found he liked talking more about family values than practicing them. He was a rising star of the West Virginia GOP, which may say more about the weakness of their bench than about Sprouse's qualities as a candidate. Nevertheless, the soon to be irrelevant former Minority State Senate leader has decided to mock Gov. Joe Manchin (D), for - well, if you read Sprouse closely - for being successful.
For like five minutes, I would love to live in the world that Joe Manchin dwells in... at first and when I first started listening to Joe speak, I really thought he was just spouting platitiudes and he was just a strong cheerleader of our state.
If Sprouse had ever advanced farther in politics or traveled outside of his overpriced gyms, he'd know that one of the things governors of all states do is talk about the positive attributes of their state and the job they're doing. One of the biggest problems with the West Virginia GOP, and why I believe the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce often is not supportive of their efforts, is the Republicans love to tear down West Virginia. They're so partisan in their effort to score political points they don't care if they hurt economic development efforts. States compete for employers and often political and business leaders of a state work together to attract companies. The West Virginia GOP has made a decision - a bad strategy for the state and for politicking - that they will constantly be negative about West Virginia's economy and government. They badmouth the state in an effort to convince voters they should be given the chance to run it.
"'Unleashing capitalism' will be our party platform next year," McKinney said. "Our philosophy will be, 'It's the economy, Stupid.'
"We've spent too much time in recent years on gun control and abortion."
Then John Raese, part time West Virginia resident and occasional darling of the WV GOP, wandered off his party's script:
"My family has been doing business in West Virginia since 1905. A lot of people have done business and done very well in West Virginia," he said.
"We have more natural resources in West Virginia than all but two other states, Texas and Louisiana. We have the finest work force of anywhere in the United States."
That knocked McKinney and his "Unleashing Capitalism" campaign for a loop, the real goal of which is to return to the days when coal barons could exploit workers and break unions, and not be hindered by safety or environmental regulations of any sort.
West Virginia experienced the days McKinney and Sprouse want to return to. They were the bad old days.
In his post, Sprouse is just continuing the WV GOP's smear of the state's economic development work with his snide comments about Manchin meeting with business executives. But I think there's also something personal as well as political about it with Sprouse. It doesn't take much reading between the lines to see Sprouse can't stand that Manchin is popular with voters and fairly successful at running the state government.
Unlike many other governors across the country who've overspent, Manchin's administration has a budget surplus.
"We'll miss the downturn of the economy, because of the energy surge and the demand for coal," Manchin told The Herald-Dispatch's editorial board. "But if we don't diversify our economy during the surge, we'll have problems."
Manchin said the state's commitment to pay down debts during his first three years in office was a primary reason why the state will have a $290 million surplus in this year's budget. But rather than use that money on one-time expenditures, the best option was to use it as an investment in education and diversifying the work force, Manchin said.
"It was a monumental task getting everyone to agree that we should invest $100 million in education," Manchin said of his Bucks for Jobs initiative. "I can say it was one of the hardest things I have ever done, because everyone had their own ideas for how to spend this money."
Under the Bucks for Jobs program, West Virginia University will get $35 million and Marshall University will get $15 million, provided both schools can match the funds with private donations within five years.
That's called investing in West Virginia's future.
Now I've done plenty of criticizing of the governor's policies at times, but criticizing Manchin for "cheerleading" for the state as Sprouse does is like criticizing a minister for preaching or an artist for painting or a gym owner for folding the towels and clean the sweat off the equipment. It's part of a governor's job.
A job, by the way, that Sprouse will never have though it's a certain bet he once dreamed he would.
That's the real reason, for five minutes, Sprouse would love to live in Manchin's world.
Serial adulterer and "family values" Republican Dick Louse - I mean Vic Sprouse - was once touted as having a big future with the West Virginia GOP. That was before his very public separation from his fourth or fifth wife (it's hard to keep track) over his cheating on her derailed his political aspirations:
Everyone, even the most cynical observers who have seen it all, appreciate seeing an individual or even a political party acting consistent with their stated beliefs. Hypocrisy, on the other hand, has no friends.
This is why the West Virginia Republican Party, long the standard- bearer for traditional family values in this very family values state of ours, should bring every bit of persuasion and force to bear on one of their own--before he manages to wreck the whole train in the 2006 legislative elections.
We refer, of course, to Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse, who has shown a near total disregard for his fellow Senators and GOP legislative candidates by clinging by his fingernails to his leadership post in the wake of his messy divorce with Amy McKinley, the daughter of former GOP Chairman and gubernatorial candidate David McKinley of Wheeling.
But wait, there's more. Aside from this being Sprouse's third divorce, this particular situation Sprouse has caused is a mockery of any semblance of traditional family values, which he himself has run on and tried to defend from time to time.
In this case, Sprouse left his pregnant wife only a little after a year of marriage, some say just long enough to get him through his last election cycle. To leave a woman in the middle of pregnancy to fend for herself is not the kind of "leadership" Republicans come to expect from their Senate Minority Leader.
Moreover, the continuing consequences of Sprouse's early decision to leave this marriage continue. The couple's little boy, Max McKinley, was born with serious problems as a result of being afflicted with CHARGE Syndrome. Only through the heroic efforts of Amy McKinley, her family, and the child's doctors is Max able to come home for Christmas after several months of touch-and-go in a Seattle children's hospital.
Since all this is getting more and more known across the state, it is hard to believe that the Democrats won't seize upon this political gift, given them courtesy of Vic Sprouse. Sprouse is safe this year, having won his last election with Amy McKinley giving him quite a boost.
But even after Dick Louse - sorry, silly spelling error again Vic Sprouse was forced to step aside as Senate Minority Leader, Sprouse continued to claim he was Senate Minority Leader on his web site for months afterwards.
Now Louse - okay, that one was a typo - Sprouse is so jealous of Democratic candidate Anne Barth for having a future that he's throwing a hissy fit on his blog.
spruceshoe called out Dick Louse - I mean Vic Sprouse - for misspelling Anne Barth's name and lying about her policies. Louse isn't exactly known for his intellect. After all, Vic Sprouse apparently does all of his thinking with the wrong head.
But Sprouse is trying to claim otherwise:
I'm going to have to purposely misspell words just to watch them jump jack-legged and declare their intellectual superiority to my little Chemical Engineering degree.
Really? Does he want to go there? Because good chemical engineers make big money either working for major corporations or launching businesses that utilize their chemical engineering skills. Dick Louse's chemical engineering degree is as relevant as his inability to spell properly at his career of folding towels and putting weights away at his overpriced ladies' fitness center.
While he may boast of having a chemical engineering degree, he obviously couldn't cut it in the world of chemical engineering.
We've got video of Dick Louse - I mean Vic Sprouse - in action at his fitness center where he likes to break a "mental sweat."
I don't know why the woman in the video keeps calling him a "good man," because he certainly isn't, but notice we even have him on the video misspelling a word by leaving off the "e"?
Let's clear up the name calling and factual errors in Vic Sprouse's diatribe this morning and then move on to the substance of the debate about which he forgot or ignored.
Actually, my guess is Ann can barely spell drilling and probably has no clue where ANWR even is.
Vic can't spell Anne's name when he's trying to call her out on spelling drilling.
It's Anne.
Don't be too upset, the Secretary of State's office made the same mistake on the ballots. They never fessed up either.
Later he goofs with facts again:
Ann has been in DC for 21 years hanging around the crazy libs there and actually think the people of West Virginia give a rat's behind about whether or not we disturb some Caribou.
Because Senator Byrd works in DC you assume his STATE DIRECTOR does too?
Has Vic Sprouse ever met Anne Barth in a professional setting? In his entire storied career, did he ever meet with her on issues important to the people of his district? She was right there, in Charleston, just at the other end of downtown for his entire career. It's not like Senators and Reps haven't had state-based staff until this week.
He really raised the level of debate when he said this:
Why doesn't Ann want to drill? Well, because Byrd told her it would be a bad idea the last time he bounced her on his knee.
I think that if you want to provide a conservative response to policy debates about our current energy problems, that calling the longest-serving Senator in the history of the Republic names would be far from your thoughts.
He then said:
"Of course, her Daddy Byrd has been in Congress for 100 years..."
What I'd say is that the people of West Virginia have elected a champion for their State and the nation a record-breaking nine times because they know he has been an effective representative for them.
Congratulations, though, on being able to go an entire post without typing the word 'wow.' Impressive. And I didn't think he had it in him.
Look, I'm sure Anne's staff will tell Vic all of this too. But I'm not sure he's honest enough with his ideas and posts to accept their answer and publish it. But he can't expect to have his own echo chamber anymore.
West Virginia lost 32 of our sons and daughters in Iraq or Afghanistan.
In a strictly non-political posts, both Clem and I honored the dead on Memorial Day.
Whether you agree or disagree with the reasons for war, their sacrifice should be honored and remembered every day, especially Memorial Day.
I spent nearly four hours on Sunday night after the children went to bed, finishing up about 1:30 a.m. I felt it a privilege to do my small part to remember them lest we ever forget the price they paid. They should be remembered.
Then I went to rightwing Republican blogger Vic Sprouse's site as I usually do to see if there was any of his usual falsehoods that had to be debunked.
My first response when I saw his "Memorial Day" post was, "Well what can you expect from a chickenhawk."
But my anger built into outrage. Vic Sprouse has spent years cheerleading for the Iraq war even though he refused to enlist though young enough to do so. To not spend a moment on his site reflecting on those who died in the war he supported is disgraceful.
Here is what he wrote:
Happy Memorial Day! Have an awesome Memorial Day weekend!
Below is another sad article about the WVU debacle that I couldn't resist posting from the AP...
3 professors cite degree scandal in resigning from WVU...
There are 32 West Virginian sons and daughters who are no longer to here to have a "happy" or "awesome" Memorial Day.
Indiana Jones was worth seeing May 26, 2008
Senator Vic Sprouse
Hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend!
Since Anthony was born, I think I have been to two movies in the theater.
I'm sure the families of those 32 sons and daughters of West Virginia care about the "sacrifice" Sprouse has had to make in his movie viewing since his son's birth.
I guess it is easier for him to support endless war when he forgets the dead.
When I say former GOP Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse doesn't get it I need to explain because when you've cheated on spouses as often as Sprouse has, he apparently does 'gets it.' A lot.
When it comes to his explanation whining about Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard's loss, Vic shows he may know how to get it, but he doesn't get it.
Vic blames it on Spike being a "Chamber Democrat," one of those Democrats that he sees as pro-business.
No Vic, it's because he was in Don Blankenship's pocket as the Monaco photos showed. That was why he lost.
Still, if someone is a West Virginia Chamber of Commerce member, Vic helps build a case why you should be angry about your money being wasted. That is, if they want to file a truly frivolous lawsuit.
Holy smokes, my mouth dropped open when I saw the State Chamber dropped a cool $400,000 with CRA here in Charleston for Spike.
Look, I like CRA. They are a good firm. If you want to run a multi-million dollar ad campaign for the hottest new product, go with them. They are creative and good at ad campaigns.
As for politics... I'm sorry, but they suck. Period.
I'm sick of seeing them run campaign after campaign of the people I root for, be five times more expensive than any other firm, and trot out ads that could be done for 20% of the cost by, oh.. a couple of high school students working on their TV broadcast project.
And, let me say this, with that pitiful ad they put together in support of Spike, if they didn't spend $399,000 of the $400,000 on ad placement versus commercial production, then CRA might feel better walking into the Chamber offices with skimasks and sawed-off shotguns to collect that check.
I'm sorry, but if the Chamber spent any more than say $3,000 on that ad for Spike with his photo on the one side and stuff popping up on the other, well, they got ripped off.
Considering all the negative pushpolling and robocalls aimed against Ketchum, perhaps that money wasn't all spent on TV ads.
Maybe it's a sign that in addition to tossing out ethically questionable politicians, West Virginians are getting smarter about not buying when it comes to negative campaigns being sold. Considering the WV GOP doesn't have anything positive to run on, that could really hurt them.
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