Not extinct! (And I don't mean the ivory-billed woodpecker)

Joy spread this morning among moderate and conservative Southwest Virginians at the comfirmed sighting of a thoughtful, moderate political cartoon on the Roanoke Times' editorial page! Long thought extinct, the appearance of the cartoon by Jim McClosky of the Staunton News Leader bouyed hope that constructive political discourse in the region might be revived, and possibly even flourish. (Not available online, the cartoon asks, nicely, whether Tim Kaine will follow his conscience or his campaign promises with regard to the death penalty. A previous McCloskey cartoon "dissed" Jerry Kilgore.).

"Glorious, just glorious," said Bubba Quissenberry, born and raised in Southwest Virginia after Rick Boucher won William Wampler's seat in 1983 as 9th District Representative. "Granddaddy used to say moderate cartoons were once plentiful from Roanoke down to Bristol. He said he remembered how their calls weren't as harsh and nasty as the left-wing cartoons inhabiting the Times' pages these days."

Virginia Republican Party Chairman Kate Obenshain Griffin said, "This is a positive sign. We're hopeful that the appearance of this cartoon signals there may be others just like it. Many of us have told the Roanoke Times' editors that this was possible if they would just look. I urge Governor Warner and state Democrats to join with us in placing moderate-cartoon habitat high on the state's protected habitat list."

Reached by telephone at home, former state Delegate Barnie Day said, "Protect the habitat? That's nuts. Anybody that shoots one of those things should be given an award. They're dangerous if you ask me."